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John McCarthy Has Died

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Re: John McCarthy Has Died

#161

Post by bhickey »

SkyMarshal wrote: post #74
gonzo wrote: post #26

McCarthy's wife died in 1977 in a climbing accident http://www.mcjones.org/System_R/SQL_Reunion_95/sqlr95-Vera.h...

Very interesting. Off-topic thought, but... "So she joined the group to climb Annapurna, and was part of the second team to attempt the summit. You go up in pairs, so you do pairwise summit attempts - these Himalayan style things where you do base camps. So she was working her way to the upper camp as the first summit team was coming down between the topmost and the second topmost. They passed, and then she was lost…

Crevasses are normally encountered during glacier travel. These aren't particularly common on steep slopes.

Moreover, climbing as a trio tends to be (much) slower than traveling as a pair. When weather and hypoxia are your biggest threat, speed can literally be the only thing keeping you alive.

Re: John McCarthy Has Died

#162

Post by rayiner »

jrockway wrote: post #151
redthrowaway wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Between Gates, Zuckerberg, Larry and Sergey, Torvalds, RMS, Knuth, and a few others, there're still plenty of icons left and so I don't forsee your scenario happening anytime soon. I am generally an optimist, and think the number of icons to come is far greater than those who have come and gone.

Is it really fair to compare Zuckerberg to Knuth? Zuckerberg made a PHP site for people to stalk their classmates. Knuth wrote TeX, hundreds of papers, and a series of books considered among the 100 most important scientific works of the 20th century. http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/pub/100-or-so-boo... Zuckerberg is definitely a successful dude that one can look up to. But in terms of advancing the field…

Your comment presupposes that advances in mathematics are more important than advances in social communication. Is Mozart less iconic because his achievements were in music?

Re: John McCarthy Has Died

#163

Post by elliottcarlson »

asolove wrote: post #6

For a fun portrait of McCarthy's early life and aspirations, see the passages about him in "What the Doormouse Said". [1] - Born to communist activists in 1920s Boston - Studied math with John Nash at Princeton - Organized the first computer-chess match in 1965, pitting his own algorithm against one created by computer scientists in the USSR, with moves communicated by telegraph. While many will remember him for Lisp…

I wonder if the chess match had any influence on the movie "Colossus: The Forbin Project"

Re: John McCarthy Has Died

#164

Post by icandoitbetter »

rayiner wrote: post #162
jrockway wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it really fair to compare Zuckerberg to Knuth? Zuckerberg made a PHP site for people to stalk their classmates. Knuth wrote TeX, hundreds of papers, and a series of books considered among the 100 most important scientific works of the 20th century. http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/pub/100-or-so-boo... Zuckerberg is definitely a successful dude that one can look up to. But in terms of advancing the field…

Your comment presupposes that advances in mathematics are more important than advances in social communication. Is Mozart less iconic because his achievements were in music?

Not sure why you're being downvoted. Somehow people have this picture of mathematics as this universal body of knowledge, but that couldn't be further from the truth. They are as earthly as anything else we've been doing as a human race. For an interesting perspective on mathematics from a cognitive-scientific point of view, check out George Lakoff's book "Where Mathematics Comes From."

Re: John McCarthy Has Died

#165

Post by jhuni »

dlss wrote: post #125
foenix wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Death is the only guarantee in life and in fact is necessary for human ecology. I too am deeply saddened by this loss, but am supremely grateful that a man like John McCarthy was able to contribute to the humanity's knowledge. May his work be the foundation in many more advances in human understanding, and may his void be filled by someone who respects this journey. RIP, John.

> Death is necessary for human ecology Ugh, not now. References or stop talking. I have my fingers crossed he was signed up for cryonics. This is tragic.

Even if you can live for a million years from advanced technologies, you still inevitably will die. We all do.

Re: John McCarthy Has Died

#167

Post by elliottcarlson »

cpher wrote: post #160

Why in G-d's name are you people hemorraging about who or where the source came from? As great a man as he was, this doesn't warrant coniption fits about who knew what first. You're acting like he held national secrets that upon his death would lead to some catastrophe. Give it a rest. The man was in his 80s and led a wonderfully productive life. Get back to work, assholes.

While there may be a bit too much bickering going on about it - having a factual source is important instead of just believing a single tweet or Wikipedia edit.

Re: John McCarthy Has Died

#168

Post by 0x12 »

icandoitbetter wrote: post #164
rayiner wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment presupposes that advances in mathematics are more important than advances in social communication. Is Mozart less iconic because his achievements were in music?

Not sure why you're being downvoted. Somehow people have this picture of mathematics as this universal body of knowledge, but that couldn't be further from the truth. They are as earthly as anything else we've been doing as a human race. For an interesting perspective on mathematics from a cognitive-scientific point of view, check out George Lakoff's book "Where Mathematics Comes From."

> Gates, Zuckerberg, Larry and Sergey, Torvalds, RMS, Knuth

It's not too hard to imagine a world without facebook, but I'd find it very hard indeed to imagine a world without Microsoft, Google, Linux, Open Source or the Art of Computer Programming.

It's almost like this is one of those trick questions: "which name does not belong in this list". Zuckerberg pops out at me immediately.

All the rest is timeless, Facebook will one day be gone again, I'm fairly sure of that.

Re: John McCarthy Has Died

#169

Post by alecbenzer »

rayiner wrote: post #162
jrockway wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it really fair to compare Zuckerberg to Knuth? Zuckerberg made a PHP site for people to stalk their classmates. Knuth wrote TeX, hundreds of papers, and a series of books considered among the 100 most important scientific works of the 20th century. http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/pub/100-or-so-boo... Zuckerberg is definitely a successful dude that one can look up to. But in terms of advancing the field…

Your comment presupposes that advances in mathematics are more important than advances in social communication. Is Mozart less iconic because his achievements were in music?

> Your comment presupposes that advances in mathematics are more important than advances in social communication.

I don't see that... he just said it wasn't a fair comparison. If it comes off like he thinks advancements in mathematics are more important that other advances, it might be because he does think so, but that's not exactly what he's saying.

Re: John McCarthy Has Died

#170

Post by cpher »

elliottcarlson wrote: post #167
cpher wrote: post #160

Why in G-d's name are you people hemorraging about who or where the source came from? As great a man as he was, this doesn't warrant coniption fits about who knew what first. You're acting like he held national secrets that upon his death would lead to some catastrophe. Give it a rest. The man was in his 80s and led a wonderfully productive life. Get back to work, assholes.

While there may be a bit too much bickering going on about it - having a factual source is important instead of just believing a single tweet or Wikipedia edit.

A bit too much? Half of the posts in this thread are debating this very topic. It's like everyone missed the forest for the trees.
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