On Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:02:44 -0400, William Scott wrote: > This was in the unabomber manifesto, I think.
Give the man a Cohiba! As mentioned in Dooling's article, Kurzweil apparently is fond of presenting the quote to folks and then asking who is the author (i.e., Ted Kaczynski). For people who are unfamiliar with Kurzweil (who has some stange views of his own) I suggest taking a look at Hamid Ekbia's "Artificial Dreams", chapter 3, "Cyborgs: Cybernetic AI". According to Ekbia, Kurzweil predicts that by the end of this century, AI/cyborgs will have achieved knowledge and intelligence greater than that of the entire human race. Bottom line: Be nice to your computer. Your cyborg masters will remember. > Pretty prescient, eh? Nobody said the guy wasn't smart. In some ways yes, in other ways no. It is interesting to read the Wikipedia entry on Kaczynski (standard disclaimers apply); see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unabomber There have always been people who were afraid of and/or fought scientific and technological development (e.g., the Luddites; Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" is a dystopian vision of science and technology in the service of the basest of human political interest, namely, "classism") but what distinguished Kaczynski from others was that he somehow thought that sending bombs through the mail would counteract the "evils" he was concerned with. Instead of reading Joseph Conrad's "The Secret Agent" (mentioned in the Wiki article), he might have been better off reading Isaac Asimov's Foundation Triology and taking "Hari Seldon's" maxim about violence to heart (I leave it to reader to find this maxim if they haven't read the triology). Oh, for relevant psychological content, while an undergraduate at Harvard, he participated in some of Henry Murray's "stress interviews". It is also interesting to see how variable his FBI profile was. -Mike Palij New York University [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Bill Scott > > >>>> "Mike Palij" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 10/12/08 12:52 PM >>> > In an article today on the mathematical wizardy that unlies > the derivatives that have caused the recent financial unpleasantness > and their opaqueness to almost everyone who isn't a math > wizard, the following quote was provided because it is an > analogy to the electronic trading that appears to have enabled > the unpleasantness: > > |But we are suggesting neither that the human race would > |voluntarily turn power over to the machines nor that the > |machines would willfully seize power. What we do suggest > |is that the human race might easily permit itself to drift into > |a position of such dependence on the machines that it would > |have no practical choice but to accept all of the machines' > |decisions. ... Eventually a stage may be reached at which the > |decisions necessary to keep the system running will be so > |complex that human beings will be incapable of making them > |intelligently. At that stage the machines will be in effective > |control. People won't be able to just turn the machines off, > |because they will be so dependent on them that turning them > |off would amount to suicide. > > Who said/wrote this? Was it: > > (a) Ray Kurzweil > (b) Alan Turing > (c) Norbert Wiener > (d) George Dyson > (e) None of the above > > (No fair if you read Richard Dooling's Op-Ed in the today's > Sunday NY Times "Week in Review"). > > -Mike Palij > New York University > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Subject: RE: What would YOU do? > From: "William Scott" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:12:44 -0400 > X-Message-Number: 19 > > quote: > . PLUS, never show any weakness--it > will come back to haunt you. > > I totally disagree with this. The more you show that you are an ignorant > person trying desperately to understand this subject (and your methods), the > better teacher you will be. > > Bill Scott > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Subject: RE: AP Sociology Curriculum > From: Jodi Gabert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2008 21:54:33 -0400 > X-Message-Number: 20 > > David, et al., > The brain trust at Michigan DOE most likely came up with this after the > screaming stopped after the ACT/Merit scores for this year. The social > studies test scores (scanty breadth in the curriculum and no way is there any > depth) were in the dumpster overall. The memo was released two weeks ago and > is just now getting disseminated. I found out from the Michigan Education > Association's hotline. > My school district decided to drop AP Psych this year (16 years of being the > only AP social studies program in our 6 district ISD) after discovering that > they had an unqualified teacher (not me) teaching it. Actually, the > curriculum didn't go through the audit. I was in the process of doing it when > I was reassigned and I expressed concern that it was going to be dropped > because of it. They responded that it would be taken care of. Obviously, it > was. > It won't be a district decision to drop psych and soc. It will come from the > state. Unfortunately, we don't have a presence with Michigan Council for the > Social Studies and we don't have a state level organization for high school > teachers for either psych and soc. So I am really worried that it will be a > bulldozing. I will be happy to send Dr. Jenkins contact information to you > and any who agree as you do that this is wrong headed. > > Jodi > > > Jodi Gabert > Reed City High School > > Where we have 16 sections of advanced strength conditioning and 1 section > each of psychology and sociology in a 5 period trimester schedule. > > > >> Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:46:02 -0400> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: >> tips@acsun.frostburg.edu> Subject: Re: [tips] AP Sociology Curriculum> > >> Jody: When did the notice go out from MDOE re the discontinuation of >> psyc/soc courses? Has Reed City DOE made a decision yet? It's certainly a >> wrong-headed decision, eh? David> > >>> Jodi Gabert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> 10/10/08 12:36 PM >>>> > A while ago, someone asked about the proposed AP >> Sociology curriculum. The link to it is at >> www.asanet.org/cs/root/topnav/sociology_depts/an/aptype_sociology_high_achool_course> >> > Unfortunately it seems that the latest casualty of the state graduation >> tests and increased graduation requirements will be psychology and sociology >> courses. Michigan DOE has sent out a memorandum stating since those two >> courses aren't on the test, they don't need to be taught and they're >> recommending to Michigan colleges and universities that they should no >> longer offer psychology and sociology as teaching majors.! > > > I know there's been heated discussion about thie merits of teaching HS > > > psych and soc here in the past, but as someone who loves the two orphans > > > of social studies, there is a feeling of a door slamming hard and I hate > > > that.> > Jodi> > Jodi Gabert> Reed City HS> > > > _________________________________________________________________> See > > > how Windows connects the people, information, and fun that are part of > > > your life.> http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/msnnkwxp1020093175mrt/direct/01/> > > > ---> To make changes to your subscription contact:> > Bill Southerly > > > ([EMAIL PROTECTED])> > ---> To make changes to your subscription > > > contact:> > Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > _________________________________________________________________ > Stay up to date on your PC, the Web, and your mobile phone with Windows Live. > http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/msnnkwxp1020093185mrt/direct/01/ > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Subject: RE: What would YOU do? > From: "DeVolder Carol L" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2008 22:26:38 -0500 > X-Message-Number: 21 > > Thank you all for your thoughtful answers. I still haven't completely decided > what to do, but I have some good ideas now. I really appreciate all your > input. > Thanks again, > Carol > > > Carol L. DeVolder, Ph.D. > Professor of Psychology > Chair, Department of Psychology > St. Ambrose University > 518 West Locust Street > Davenport, Iowa 52803 > > Phone: 563-333-6482 > e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > web: http://web.sau.edu/psychology/psychfaculty/cdevolder.htm > > The contents of this message are confidential and may not be shared with > anyone without permission of the sender. > > > > > --- > > END OF DIGEST > > --- > To make changes to your subscription go to: > http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english > --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
