Re: good luck! its obviously a worthwhile endeavor

On 13 Jan 2012, at 21:39, Peter Williams wrote:

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> Believe it or not, some of us actually studied the whole Cambridge school post undergrade (vs the French/German school). My own first introduction at 12 was the Monty Python sketches (about philosophy, and the 19 variants of modernist thinking).

yes, though the Monty Python sketch is funny, it is seriously misleading in its portrayals of philosophers as people incapable of action. It makes people who don't like "intellectuals" of which there is somewhat of a sad tradition in england feel good. As opposed to the way the Python Football sketch presents Socrates, one should be reminded that he did in fact go to war sward and all as every free greek did, that he was a sculptor in Athens - a very manual labor -, that Plato himself travelled to Sicily was made a slave, and found his freedom again, that Wittgenstein went to fight for Austria in the trenches of World War I and then later came back to teach in Cambridge. 

> There was no point studying mechanical rules for endless symbol shuffling via predicate calculus (i.e. Kingsley proof type systems for security and integrity) without also comprehending the 1900-1930s background, all founded on the functional lambda symbol (de-referencing). And, from there, one got to study the basis of AI, in Turing. And, thats why I got into crypto (given the early cryptanalysis of the modern era was about intuitive cryptoanalysis - harmonizing powerful wo/man with rather a basic computing machine going clunk (rather fast). The machine existed to enhance the better human, not subjugate her.

Those who think humans are machines would not find that distinction very helpful.

Well, I still want to read Cryptononikon, by Neal Stephanson. Too many good books to read.

Henry

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Social Web Architect
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Received on Friday, 13 January 2012 22:48:43 UTC