Old note: hating humanities?

Another note from reading this article “Hey, Computer Scientists! Stop Hating on the Humanities” in Wired on ethics in tech and science.

The fact that so many computer scientists are ignorant or disdainful of non-technical approaches…

Really? Fact?

The author fails in her arguments, not only in this paragraph. She goes off the rails in more places.

A more socially focused curriculum would not only make coders less likely to cause harm; it might also make them more likely to do good.

Computer scientists are bad people that hate humanities, but can be converted into good people if they are exposed to the humanies.

That me a bit too much of the religious othodoxy I was exposed to in my childhood.

The topic of ethics in technology is too important to be discussed in platitudes.

Note from 28 August 2016, moron

I make the loose notes in my iPhone Notes app. Digging through old notes, I found this one. No clue why I saved this. Must have been in some weird or vicious mood.

moron  stupid, cool 

8    dummy stupid, fool 

8    lowbrow  stupid, fool 

8    philistine  person, fool 

7    dunce , stupid, cool 

7    fathead n.stupid, person, fool 

7    nitwit  stupid, fool 

7    slacker  stupid, fool 

6    dolt n.stupid, person, fool 

6    goldbrick n.stupid, person, fool 

6    half-wit  stupid, fool 

6    pinhead n.stupid, person, fool 

6    simpleton n.stupid, person, fool 

5    dumbbell  stupid, fool 

5    anti-intellectual  person, fool 

5    blockhead  stupid, fool 

5    dope n.stupid, person, fool 

4    goof-off n.stupid, person, fool 

4    underachiever n.stupid, person, fool 

4    extravert  active 

4    extrovert  active 

4    gregarious adj.talking, feature, which 

3    imbecile n.stupid, person, fool 

3    klutz  active 

2    hunk n.fool, stupid, person 

2    friendly adj.talking, feature, which 

2    outgoing adj.talking, feature, which 

2    sociable adj.talking, feature, which 

2    energize v.action, active, doing 

2    pretty boy  fool, charismatic 

1    anti-nerd n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    au courant adj.cool, person, fashionable 

1    ball player n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    beefcake n.fool, stupid, person 

1    benighted adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    bonehead  cool, charismatic 

1    cannon folder n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    charisma n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    cheerleader n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    chowderhead  cool, charismatic 

1    cool adj.person, fashionable 

1    def adj.person, fashionable, cool 

1    downtown adj.person, fashionable, cool 

1    drop-out n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    dumb adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    dumb jock n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    fashion plate n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    foolish adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    geek n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    groovy adj.person, fashionable, cool 

1    idiotic adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    ignorant adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    illiterate adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    jock n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    mod adj.person, fashionable, cool 

1    moronic adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    mundane n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    nonintellectual adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    now adj.person, fashionable, cool 

1    pimp n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    player n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    retard  cool, charismatic 

1    slick n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    slow adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    socialite n.charismatic, cool, person 

1    stud n.fool, stupid, person 

1    stupid adj.fool, idiot, person 

1    superstud n.fool, stupid, person 

1    trendy adj.person, fashionable, cool 

1    turned on adj.cool, person, fashionable 

1    uncultivated adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    uncultured adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    uneducated adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    unenlightened adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    unintelligent adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    unlettered adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    unread adj.fool, idiot, stupid 

1    with-it adj.person, fashionable, cool 

Private property

Can’t help myself finding this a funny a anthropological manifestation.

Frog / toad

Frog in windows till at Key Largo. Probably a Cuban tree frog.

Notice

I cannot get used to seeing this in a civilized country.

Hoos

Hoorn, Terschelling, a walking island and an ugly watch

What was a white beach in my youth – 45 years ago – now seems to become an illustration of a walking island.

I once lost one of the first digital watches here—a Trafalgar with red numerals that lit up only when you pressed a button. My father had gotten it from a colleague, who had gotten it as a business gift but thought the thing was too ugly—something like the one below. Very ugly indeed.

News not worthy

How often does it occur that information provided you on morning radio or television, or in the morning newspaper, causes you to alter your plans for the day, or to take some action you would not otherwise have taken, or provides insight into some problem you are required to solve?

Neil Postman

Good taste

Good taste, to me, is liking what you see and knowing why you like it.

Seth Godin writes in The Practice:

… the ability to know what your audience or clients are going to want before they do.
… watch what the market does and learn from that.

To me, that is too much of a market-oriented view of taste. The second statement also disagrees somewhat with the first.

I don’t think you learn about good taste by observing the market. You only learn what is out there and what the people with the most enormous mouths say about what they like.

Good taste is about appreciation for the specific. The market is about appreciation for the average.

No molar picture, two chances left

Last week, my first wisdom tooth was pulled.
It wasn’t that bad—fifteen minutes of prying. And I have two more.

Forgot to ask for the molar. So, no picture.