tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post110978521803113934..comments2024-01-13T18:57:18.243-05:00Comments on Information Processing: History repeatsSteve Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02428333897272913660noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-1109869389212976522005-03-03T12:03:00.000-05:002005-03-03T12:03:00.000-05:00Imagine, a pipa player. We enrich ourselves in mn...Imagine, a pipa player. We enrich ourselves in mnay ways :)<br /><br />AnneAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-1109869283022197862005-03-03T12:01:00.000-05:002005-03-03T12:01:00.000-05:00http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/03/arts/music/03pip...http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/03/arts/music/03pipa.html?pagewanted=all&position=<br /><br />The Musical Odyssey of Min Xiao-Fen<br />By JOSEPH HOROWITZ <br /> <br />In his well-known Norton lectures at Harvard in 1973, "The Unanswered Question," Leonard Bernstein asked, "Whither music in our time?" The influences of Schoenberg and Stravinsky were duly pondered; the question remained unanswered. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-1109867915668606452005-03-03T11:38:00.000-05:002005-03-03T11:38:00.000-05:00At a table with a physicist and a few students, th...At a table with a physicist and a few students, the physicist was asked whether the work he was doing was applied or theoretical. The answer was, "I am a pure physicist." I really really did not smile :) Of course if I were a pure philosopher, I could be more sympathetic. How much more than Hamlet is the Central Limit Theorem worth :)<br /><br />AnneAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-1109867445389507072005-03-03T11:30:00.000-05:002005-03-03T11:30:00.000-05:00Was me :) No worry, I still think the world of yo...Was me :) No worry, I still think the world of you, Steve. MFA too. There is easily as much value in knowing Macbeth as knowing the Central Limit Theorem or other way round, easily as much.<br /><br />AnneAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-1109867166704257782005-03-03T11:26:00.000-05:002005-03-03T11:26:00.000-05:00http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/01/science/01eins.h...http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/01/science/01eins.html?pagewanted=all&position=<br /><br />The Next Einstein? Applicants Welcome<br />By DENNIS OVERBYE <br /> <br />He didn't look like much at first. He was too fat and his head was so big his mother feared it was misshapen or damaged. He didn't speak until he was well past 2, and even then with a strange echolalia that reinforced his parents' Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-1109860542908386242005-03-03T09:35:00.000-05:002005-03-03T09:35:00.000-05:00Well, this 'complacency' I think it is an inevitab...Well, this 'complacency' I think it is an inevitable feature of prosperity and dominance ("we were the best, ergo, we are the best and will be" and "all the best ideas come from here, others can teach us little" etc.). 100 years (or so) from now the Chinese intellectuals will be lamenting similar things about their populations: they are not studying hard sciences, or working hard, etc. (the "backAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-1109821138957501172005-03-02T22:38:00.000-05:002005-03-02T22:38:00.000-05:00I was referring specifically to our elites. While ...I was referring specifically to our elites. While a few students may get through Harvard without learning very much, most learn a great deal.<br /><br />But what do they learn? Would you be more disturbed that a Harvard grad knew little about Macbeth, or the Central Limit theorem? I think our current educational standards are deeply slanted in the wrong direction. I think Brad Delong was Steve Hsuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02428333897272913660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-1109811339679006642005-03-02T19:55:00.000-05:002005-03-02T19:55:00.000-05:00Nice, Caron :) We have a problem, and I do worry,...Nice, Caron :) We have a problem, and I do worry, but Steve needed arguing.<br /><br />AnneAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-1109800529720533912005-03-02T16:55:00.000-05:002005-03-02T16:55:00.000-05:00If only they did study Shakespeare, Milton and yes...If only they did study Shakespeare, Milton and yes even Derrida. Have you tried to read Derrida, it takes concentration. The question is how many know who won American Idol, compared to how many know how the fridge works.Carson C. Chowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08464737817585277975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-1109796637815907772005-03-02T15:50:00.000-05:002005-03-02T15:50:00.000-05:00Imagine, knowing King Lear we are doomed :) Macbe...Imagine, knowing King Lear we are doomed :) Macbeth, I can understand but surely not Lear. Just when I thought it was safe to read Jane Austin again I grow afraid of undoing the empire.<br /><br />AnneAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-1109794293299272732005-03-02T15:11:00.000-05:002005-03-02T15:11:00.000-05:00Well, you are right, but I am vaguely annoyed by y...Well, you are right, but I am vaguely annoyed by your snuffling at Shakespeare. There are Asian and eastern European students about who happily adore Shakespeare. Oh dear, can I be subverting them? Why the family of an Asian student has even taken to recording bird songs to surprise me. Oh dear, what have I done :) Yes, there is even painting in China :) Shudder...<br /><br />AnneAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-1109787863851161832005-03-02T13:24:00.000-05:002005-03-02T13:24:00.000-05:00Somehow, I don't think our current elite leaders s...Somehow, I don't think our current elite leaders studied much Shakespeare, Milton, or Derrida either, despite having spent time at Harvard and Yale. <br /><br />Carly, on the other hand, did study mideaval history at Stanford, if memory serves, and probably still doesn't know what a photon is even after Lucent and HP labs.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com