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John McCarthy Has Died

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Re: John McCarthy Has Died

#41

Post by ErrantX »

apgwoz wrote: post #34
ErrantX wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a source (i.e. link to the mailing list)? Unfortunately the person who added it to the Wiki article didn't add one.

The archives to the mailing list are private, so I can't link. You can see in the wikipedia history that who ever made the edit claims to have received word from McCarthy's sister.

Yeh; unfortunately that's not a strong enough source, particularly for this sort of edit :)

Thanks anyway - I am sure it will appear in time.

Usually stuff like this is legit; but sometimes it isn't. So the policy is to have a reliable source or nothing.

Re: John McCarthy Has Died

#42

Post by kogus »

estel wrote: post #20

This really needs a better source. There's no citation provided, and Wikipedia can't keep any details of his death up without one. Basically, I have a spoonful of salt to hand.

This news site supports the claim (if you translate it): http://g1.globo.com/tecnologia/noticia/2011/10/morre-john-mc...

Re: John McCarthy Has Died

#43

Post by apgwoz »

apgwoz wrote: post #2

Does anyone have a better article? I can't find any other information about it. I found out from the NYC Lisp mailing list, and Wikipedia confirmed it. Sad, sad, sad day. :(

I tweeted at @stanfordeng, hoping that they can confirm.

Re: John McCarthy Has Died

#44

Post by ErrantX »

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…

Whether or not he has passed; if anyone has the book and fancies spending a little time adding interesting material to the WP article about him, that would be nice :)

Re: John McCarthy Has Died

#47

Post by asolove »

kogus wrote: post #42
estel wrote: post #20

This really needs a better source. There's no citation provided, and Wikipedia can't keep any details of his death up without one. Basically, I have a spoonful of salt to hand.

This news site supports the claim (if you translate it): http://g1.globo.com/tecnologia/noticia/2011/10/morre-john-mc...

Ok, come on. Both here and on Wikipedia people are posting links to blog posts or minor news sites that supposedly "support" the claim. But these are clearly instigated by the original Wikipedia edit itself, so that they don't provide any additional proof.

Re: John McCarthy Has Died

#48

Post by rglullis »

kogus wrote: post #42
estel wrote: post #20

This really needs a better source. There's no citation provided, and Wikipedia can't keep any details of his death up without one. Basically, I have a spoonful of salt to hand.

This news site supports the claim (if you translate it): http://g1.globo.com/tecnologia/noticia/2011/10/morre-john-mc...

They also provide no source, and they published after it was published here. Not reliable.

Re: John McCarthy Has Died

#50

Post by Protonk »

sajid wrote: post #32

Death date removed from Wikipedia. Latest edit shows: "(Protected John McCarthy (computer scientist): Violations of the biographies of living persons policy: Rumors of his death added to page. May be true, but better to wait than edit war."

That was me. I saw the laughing squid link, followed it here, then discovered that their ultimate reference was the wikipedia article. I'm keeping tabs on the news so if an article pops up I'll add it or unprotect the article.
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