sudo register cs458Also, see hw 2
The Wall Street Journal is reminded of Buckley by the upcoming book After Disbelief, by Anthony Kronman, to be published by the Yale University Press next month. This past weekend, the Wall Street Journal published an interview with Kronman, entitled God and Man at Yale Law. It is behind the WSJ paywall, but as a Yale student, you get free access to the WSJ.
Kronman, who is a professor at the Yale Law School and a former Dean, is also a classically trained philosopher, who reads Plato in Greek. He is also a friend whom I have know for nearly 40 years.
The interview is interesting and no doubt the book is as well. However, I want draw your attention to the comments section of the article. As of Monday morning, there are 439 comments.
As one of the optional paper topics, I pose the question: what do these comments tell you about thought, conversation, and persuasion? What knowledge structures would a computer require to encompass the vast range of perspectives found in these comments? What would it take to have a computer post a comment?
Note: I am not asking you to evaluate the comments - to say who is right and who is wrong. I am also not asking you to weigh in on the existence of God, which is sometimes a thorny issue for artificial intelligence.
The question of the existence of God crops up in science fiction, often with the following trope originating in the following 1954 (very) short story:
Dwan Ev ceremoniously soldered the final connection with gold. The eyes of a dozen television cameras watched him and the subether bore throughout the universe a dozen pictures of what he was doing.He straightened and nodded to Dwar Reyn, then moved to a position beside the switch that would complete the contact when he threw it. The switch that would connect, all at once, all of the monster computing machines of all the populated planets in the universe -- ninety-six billion planets -- into the supercircuit that would connect them all into one supercalculator, one cybernetics machine that would combine all the knowledge of all the galaxies.
Dwar Reyn spoke briefly to the watching and listening trillions. Then after a moment's silence he said, "Now, Dwar Ev."
Dwar Ev threw the switch. There was a mighty hum, the surge of power from ninety-six billion planets. Lights flashed and quieted along the miles-long panel.
Dwar Ev stepped back and drew a deep breath. "The honor of asking the first question is yours, Dwar Reyn."
"Thank you," said Dwar Reyn. "It shall be a question which no single cybernetics machine has been able to answer."
He turned to face the machine. "Is there a God?"
The mighty voice answered without hesitation, without the clicking of a single relay.
"Yes, now there is a God."
Sudden fear flashed on the face of Dwar Ev. He leaped to grab the switch.
A bolt of lightning from the cloudless sky struck him down and fused the switch shut.
(Gold, Fredric Brown, 1954)
There are always people opposed to something new. Note: Larry always has a reason.
We assume that you have relationships with a variety of people: family, friends, colleagues, classmates, etc. Also discuss who among them will be affected by your choice, either positively or negatively.
See Yale researchers work with UNICEF and Facebook to counter vaccine misinformation Yale Daily News, 2/13/2022.