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PrlConf 2016 is cancelled

jonprl.org

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Re: PrlConf 2016 is cancelled

#51

Post by masklinn »

Karunamon wrote: post #30
MattRogish wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, he's no garden variety racist. He's the creator of the "Neoreactionary Movement" http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Neoreactionary_movement Regardless of whether or not you think a racist should or should not present (be paid to speak? Edit: they are not paid to speak at this conf although some expenses are covered) the founder of a pro slavery, pro facist movement speaking at your conference is a different sort of t…

the founder of a pro slavery, pro facist movement speaking at your conference is a different sort of thing. Unless he is speaking about pro slavery and pro fascism, I have absolutely no reason to care. Can we please learn to separate technical concerns from nontechnical concerns? And before anyone starts replying with "they're one in the same!" - only under certain circumstances. If the subject of the talk is garbage…

Why do you care so much what other people think and do? You don't care? Then don't. Other do care? Let them, since you don't care keep not caring?

Re: PrlConf 2016 is cancelled

#52

Post by jonsterling »

ktRolster wrote: post #42
jonsterling wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry about that. This note replaced our "call for proposals", which had much more formatting. Also, I'm a shite web developer, so there's that.

What does prlconf have to do with lambdaconf? How does a speaker at one conference cause the closure of another conference?

LambdaConf is the host conference, and PrlConf is a collocated workshop. My boss and friend John De Goes initially suggested that I put on this workshop at LambdaConf.

Re: PrlConf 2016 is cancelled

#53

Post by mjs »

jonsterling wrote: post #29
OoTheNigerian wrote: post #22

I'm African and should be very disgusted by this person's views (I am) [1] However, the views were written under a pseudonym years ago and has no bearing on technology. Basically, these were anonymous talks jotted down somewhere. It is shocking that this person John Sterling canceling this talk thinks it's a good idea to permanently sentence a person for what the wrote UNDER A PSEUDONYM years ago and may or may not l…

Curtis Yarvin still believes what he said years ago; he has written as much today on Reddit. I would not have made the decision I did if he had renounced his prior views. Lord knows, I had very regressive political views once upon a time, though never as horrid as his.

> The program committee feel that we cannot possibly organize a workshop under the umbrella of a conference that values the free expression of racist and fascist views over the physical and emotional safety of its attendees and speakers…

From reading the link, I would assume that no "racist and fascist views" will be aired or otherwise expressed at the conference: it's a technical conference, it's against the pledge of conduct, and in addition the organizers sought out a public statement from the speaker "clearly stating the speaker’s views on violence," which they duly got. Do you not believe them?

Re: PrlConf 2016 is cancelled

#54

Post by masklinn »

setra wrote: post #45
jonsterling wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curtis Yarvin still believes what he said years ago; he has written as much today on Reddit. I would not have made the decision I did if he had renounced his prior views. Lord knows, I had very regressive political views once upon a time, though never as horrid as his.

The virtue of tolerance is not very virtuous if you don't have to tolerate anything.

Not tolerating intolerance is very different than "not tolerating anything". Popper argued that it is proper and warranted to refuse to tolerate intolerance, and Rawls noted that a reasonable right to self-preservation supersedes the principle of tolerance.

Re: PrlConf 2016 is cancelled

#55

Post by erichocean »

teacup50 wrote: post #50
jonsterling wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curtis Yarvin still believes what he said years ago; he has written as much today on Reddit. I would not have made the decision I did if he had renounced his prior views. Lord knows, I had very regressive political views once upon a time, though never as horrid as his.

Curtis Yarvin seems to have some really stupid ideas, but the only reason we're wasting time discussing them is because people like yourself felt it appropriate to introduce them in an unrelated context while asking everyone to pass judgement on their basis. There's a time and a place for that discussion, if you seriously want to spend time making sense of Yarvis' views in the first place. However, evaluating his pro…

Obligatory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect

Re: PrlConf 2016 is cancelled

#56

Post by jonsterling »

tel wrote: post #18
jblow wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah ... I don't know what PrlConf is (and the link does nothing to explain) but LambdaCon's policy and statement about it seem totally well-reasoned and fine. So cancelling whatever Prl is seems like yet more internet outrage culture that we would be better off with less of.

Without commenting on LambdaConf's statement, PrlConf refers to the JonPrl language but much, much more broadly the general PRL ("Proof Refinement Logic") system of proof languages of which Cornell's NuPRL ( http://nuprl.org/ ) is by far the most advanced example. Unfortunately, NuPRL is engineered such that it is really difficult to get started with it and usually depends upon having access to an instance of a NuPRL…

Great summary, thanks!

One clarification—we called it PrlConf intending to talk about proof assistants, but as our program came together, it turned out that most of the talks were about category theory, type theory and denotational semantics. I think these things are even more interesting than proof assistants!

I hope that we can find a way to put it back on somehow.

Re: PrlConf 2016 is cancelled

#57

Post by teacup50 »

masklinn wrote: post #38
jimrandomh wrote: post #36

If you're going to start a massive drama based on accusing someone of saying something bad, please quote the bad thing directly . When you call someone an "advocate for slavery", I check your accusation for links and verifiable quotes. If there aren't any, then I reflexively assume this is someone who ran over your dog, stole your girlfriend, and said nothing of the sort. Thank you. EDIT: I have been informed that Jo…

The individual in question is Curtis Yarvin aka "Mencius Moldbug". Quote: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CGr9pDjW8AA23uT.jpg Source: http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.be/2009/07/why-carl... Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Yarvin

That quote is out-of-context. In context, he's apparently attempting to explain Thomas Carlyle's views.

I forced myself to read that entire article, and by the end of it, I still had no idea whether Moldbug held the views he ascribes to Carlyle.

Re: PrlConf 2016 is cancelled

#58

Post by rwmj »

masklinn wrote: post #38
jimrandomh wrote: post #36

If you're going to start a massive drama based on accusing someone of saying something bad, please quote the bad thing directly . When you call someone an "advocate for slavery", I check your accusation for links and verifiable quotes. If there aren't any, then I reflexively assume this is someone who ran over your dog, stole your girlfriend, and said nothing of the sort. Thank you. EDIT: I have been informed that Jo…

The individual in question is Curtis Yarvin aka "Mencius Moldbug". Quote: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CGr9pDjW8AA23uT.jpg Source: http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.be/2009/07/why-carl... Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Yarvin

He certainly is a wind-bag. I always suspect that these looney philosophers are deliberately obscure and long winded because their arguments wouldn't stand up if they were written in plain english.

Re: PrlConf 2016 is cancelled

#59

Post by bcook »

carapace wrote: post #26

It is correct and proper to shun and revile a person who actually advocates slavery. To say, "Well, as long as he is not advocating slavery at the con, that's fine." is ridiculous. Throw the racist evil nasty bum out and let someone else who actually deserves the timeslot talk.

Condemn what the man says, not the man. He may have some interesting or insightful things to say about other topics like Computer Science.

I disagree with everyone on at least one topic... throw them all under the bus because of that?

Re: PrlConf 2016 is cancelled

#60

Post by [deleted] »

spicyj wrote: post #5
Karunamon wrote: post #2

From the linked site within the linked site: > The controversy had nothing to do with the talk, which by all accounts was a great fit for the eclectic topics served up every year by the conference. Rather, the controversy surrounded the speaker’s political views, which were penned under a pseudonym years prior. Can we please stop this? If I read right, this guy decided to kill a conference because he didn't like the…

Just so everyone's on the same page, some of the thoughts in question: https://twitter.com/aphyr/status/606576005667504129

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