Peter Higgs: I wouldn't be productive enough for today's academic system

Post by judk » Sat, Dec 07, 2013, 4:53 PM UTC

silverlake wrote: post #117

oeqa wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an interesting link. I always assumed that Rich Hickey came from academia, given that he made a successful programming language. Are there any biographical articles talking about his background?

He was a consultant. FYI: It's extremely rare for anyone from academia to make a commercially successful language. Their incentives are different. They want publishable novelty, and they don't care about building a useful suite of libraries and a vibrant community. Jones (Haskell), Syme (F#), and Odersky (Scala) are the only designers w/ academic backgrounds I can think of for marginally popular languages.

Post by judk » Sat, Dec 07, 2013, 5:07 PM UTC

avrilkiki wrote: post #83

vorg wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The word nerd doesn't mean nowadays what it meant 20 or 30 yrs ago. It's been appropriated by business sorts as a label so they can pass themselves off as creators of genuine stuff as part of their sales routine. Look at most of the nerds nowadays and ask if these people are really "persons of above average intelligence who don't care about their appearance"? Real nerds tend to use the aspie label nowadays.

The nerds on TBBT really are real nerds. All of them. They are different flavors of nerd. Sheldon is the aspie pervert creep. Raj and Howard are creepy manchildren. Leonard is the low self-esteem self-conscious self-hating type.

Post by judk » Sat, Dec 07, 2013, 5:19 PM UTC

dl8 wrote: post #69

Systemic33 wrote: post #6

I loved the ending: "He has never been tempted to buy a television, but was persuaded to watch The Big Bang Theory last year, and said he wasn't impressed." The show is despite what some think, not a celebration of science, but a ridicule of science, and takes the stereotypes to new levels. Edit: I also watch the show, but as the article that GuiA links to mentions, the show wnats you to laugh at the nerds, and not t…

The main thing I don't like about BBT is that it's generally not funny. Look how the show holds without its laugh track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKS3MGriZcs

Post by judk » Sat, Dec 07, 2013, 5:29 PM UTC

fargolime wrote: post #71

chunky1994 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In reading that link here are just a few things that seem to be wrong with it on first glance. (In the link attempting explain the flatness problem), one cannot just assume all galaxies are moving towards each other without first positioning a center (of those galaxies). That in itself invalidates the rest of the flatness argument, which is required for the article on your link. This was based on a precursory read, s…

There's no need for a center. Take the infinite universe as it is, and steadily decrease all the distances between the galaxies. There you have it: all galaxies moving towards each other with no cosmic center. It's definitely possible in principle.

Post by oeqa » Sat, Dec 07, 2013, 5:40 PM UTC

silverlake wrote: post #117

oeqa wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an interesting link. I always assumed that Rich Hickey came from academia, given that he made a successful programming language. Are there any biographical articles talking about his background?

He was a consultant. FYI: It's extremely rare for anyone from academia to make a commercially successful language. Their incentives are different. They want publishable novelty, and they don't care about building a useful suite of libraries and a vibrant community. Jones (Haskell), Syme (F#), and Odersky (Scala) are the only designers w/ academic backgrounds I can think of for marginally popular languages.