Noam Chomsky Joins Faculty at University of Arizona • Hacker News Board

Re: Noam Chomsky Joins Faculty at University of Arizona

#181

Post by foldr » Sun, Aug 20, 2017, 10:38 AM UTC

jtraffic wrote: post #62

I suspect that when Chomsky dies, a burst of new and valuable linguistics research will arrive. I'm not saying I hope he dies soon. However, I think his current impact on the field is probably negative. My theory derives from these sources: https://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21695371-theor... (Chomsky's recent theory of how language evolved has not been accepted favorably), and http://www.nber.org/papers/w…

Chomsky has far less of a grip on the field than people outside it imagine. There are already lots of people doing research in linguistics that's fundamentally different in its approach. So I would not expect any very sudden sea change once Chomsky dies.

Note that the economist article is very badly informed. Since another poster didn't link directly to the relevant article on the 'facultyoflanguage' blog, here is a link:

http://facultyoflanguage.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/it-never-end...

Re: Noam Chomsky Joins Faculty at University of Arizona

#182

Post by taw55 » Sun, Aug 20, 2017, 11:03 AM UTC

Stratoscope wrote: post #116

thethirdone wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Instead he generously chose to engage someone who had already made their conclusion and just wanted to "debate" without actually ceding to any points (take a shot any time OP says "liberal" or "PC"). Chomsky was not prepared to cede any points either. In many places, he does not respond to the probing questions asked of him at all (this is assuming the poster didn't add them in afterwards) instead opting to insult…

Readable version... Poster: > 1: By what mechanism do white supremacist elements impose American black culture on the American black community today? > 2: For example, how is white supremacy responsible for single-parent families in the American black community? Allegedly single-parent rates have skyrocketed since the Civil Rights Movement. Chomsky: > Racism is quite extreme today, and by many measures increasing. I…

Worth noting that the questioner was pretty much stonewalling him by asking the same question over and over. That's not how to have a constructive dialogue.

Re: Noam Chomsky Joins Faculty at University of Arizona

#183

Post by nindalf » Sun, Aug 20, 2017, 12:30 PM UTC

hindsightbias wrote: post #134

nindalf wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've made my mind about Nazism, because it strikes me as an abominable philosophy. I haven't read any books about it though. Would you dismiss anything I said about it until I read Mein Kampf? Most people have only read a handful of books. If they were limited to expressing their views on those topics, there wouldn't be very much said about anything in society. I'm not sure society would benefit from that.

Well, Godwin is Godwin. I think a better example would be Marx's Das Kapital. I probably wouldn't waste any time talking to someone about 20th century political & economic history/theory who dismisses it out of hand. And I can tell you the vast majority of Americans will dismiss it. The standard response to "I've read it" is: "What, you're a commie?"

Yes thank you. You gave a much better example than I did. I just chose Nazism because Charlottesville was fresh in my mind.

Re: Noam Chomsky Joins Faculty at University of Arizona

#184

Post by nindalf » Sun, Aug 20, 2017, 12:33 PM UTC

BuckRogers wrote: post #137

nindalf wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've made my mind about Nazism, because it strikes me as an abominable philosophy. I haven't read any books about it though. Would you dismiss anything I said about it until I read Mein Kampf? Most people have only read a handful of books. If they were limited to expressing their views on those topics, there wouldn't be very much said about anything in society. I'm not sure society would benefit from that.

You have an opinion about Nazism. You certainly do know less than someone who has read Mein Kampf, so your opinion is to be discarded versus someone like Noam Chomsky's. Who probably has read Mein Kampf. As long as you accept that, and accept why some outsider would take Chomsky's take on Nazism over yours, then we're on the same page. I do think society would benefit greatly if we cut out the masses who have strong…

I'd like to think I wouldn't be a brownshirt, because that makes me feel better. But I guess its definitely possible if I didn't make up my own mind about things and I went with the crowd.

Re: Noam Chomsky Joins Faculty at University of Arizona

#185

Post by valuearb » Sun, Aug 20, 2017, 6:44 PM UTC

etplayer wrote: post #147

valuearb wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In 2017, 36% of the US GDP is government spending, including federal, state and local governments. Of the remainder, most is highly regulated giving government specific controls over how companies can speak, hire, employ, operate, manufacture, and how their ownership is determined and profits distributed. At what level of government control over the economy do you draw the line between socialism and capitalism? It ca…

>At what level of government control over the economy do you draw the line between socialism and capitalism? No level, where do you get this idea that Socialism and capitalism exist on a scale between government control over the economy and no control over the economy? I can't imagine what would arouse such an opinion. Marx never said "Socialism is when the government does stuff, and the more stuff it does, the more…

I was talking about real world definitions of socialism, not fantasies Marx used to trick people into buying into his concepts.

The real world definition of socialism is government control of economic activities. And there has never been a "socialist" economy without dictatorship and fascism. Socialism is a mandatory step on the road to fascism.