Quit Your Technology Job and Get a Humanities Ph.D.

[@chansetwo]

Great video. One cannot truely be an educated member of society without a solid foundation in philosophy.

[@josky852]

This is so excellent! Yeah, there were a few "uh"s and "um"s, but, excepting those, Horowitz is certainly one of the most articulate people I've ever heard deliver a lecture.

[@josky852]

Then again, I must concede that my statement may simply indicate the fact that I haven't listened to enough lectures and am drawing on an insufficient supply of knowledge.

[@Countrymusicnumber1]

I can't unnotice those "uh" and "um"s now! LMAO

[@D503z]

@SamaelTePersigoaTi I totally understand you. I had a pshychology teacher in high school who was unable to tell her 8 year old son to behave himself, and was becoming hysterical. On the other hand, she was full of theoretical knowledge about how to raise your child perfectly. My girlfriend is about to become a teacher, an on her college she is taught by people who spent 20 years in academia, without EVER having to teach average kids in school, not even for one day. That's humanities for you.

[@eeyepie]

While I like this, to many people in society are shaped by what they know, philosophers included. If you doubt Computer Science is a philosophy as well as a mathmatics, as well as Engineering. I would contend a Mathmatics PHd would give you philosophy and a means to express the philosophy in tangable ways. But a PHd in humanities can include this also. Doug Schmidt is a prominent example.

[@jdxcc]

He seems like a great person and I like his point. I think someone should just talk to him regarding his speaking skills. Again, truly, nothing against the guy himself, just the constant "um, uh, um" after every sentence really throws off a great speech.

[@godscissorer]

Sounded like a speech impediment. He spoke fast to try defeating it. They know about it I think.

[@rogo22]

@tubub The world is not losing poverty; the gap between rich and poor is getting bigger in many countries. About half the world lives in third world or relatively poor countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. You might say they are poor because they lack technology but its technology that allows them to live so long and overpopulate their countries. This overpopulation is a cause of the poverty. Also, living longer is not necessarily positive. Its about quality over quantity.

[@wattyofthewattykins]

@SamaelTePersigoaTi A human brain is not the only place intelligence can exist. If we can define intelligence, something that philosophy can help you do, then you can begin to work through how to replicate it. Asking the right questions is imperative to solving a problem.

[@michalchik]

@SamaelTePersigoaTi LDP (long term deprssion) it is the opposite of LTP. STP is short term potentiation and is thought to be important in working memory and perhaps sense memory. Sensitization is a non associative learning process that aids sense memory and probably object reacquisition in noisy data streams.

[@thebradybrunsh]

@DarthKazi Why this isn't an argument is explained in the last 3 minutes. This video doesn't explain why you should live off just a PhD, or why just anyone should get a PhD, it explains why 'technologists' - people already in the technology sector - can benefit from adding experience with the humanities to their education. Also PhD programs tend to be funded; you don't take out loans or work at burger joints.

[@The3xcal1bur]

The lady "knowingly" eyeing the younger woman chewing between 3:31 and 3:43 was well spotted (perhaps her daughter). I think the camcorder operator definitely combined technology with morality. Well worth watching for that. This video should be watched with his speech at TED ("moral operating system"). He makes a valid point.

[@user8er]

Good points, esp. about technology leaders becoming more aware of cultural implications of products. But you don't have to quit your job to pursue humanities education! Lots of school, including Stanford, have part-time humanities masters programs. See: mla.stanford.edu

[@acann2155]

I cannot get over the amount of times he says "um" under his breath lmao

[@michalchik]

@SamaelTePersigoaTi Information structure not physical structure. Parallel systems can be simulated on serial ones and visa versa. Computers are getting better and better at pattern recognition. In some pattern recognition tasks they are better than biological systems but biological systems are still far more flexible. That aside, the important point is that human brains are just one small type of parallel system which is one small type of pattern recognition system.

[@rvtj40]

You seem like using philosophy as a tool for positive technical goal. As long as we are trying to use philosophy as a weapon, we never will understand philosophy because we will always interpret towards the goal. If we really understand philosophy, we won't really use it for anything.

[@ILikeReadingTho]

I don't think so. Philosophy at some point, is about the true natures of such things but Philo-Sophia is truly about "fulfillment" which you can experiece in any realm but might not be equal to one another because of its realms. In the realm of contemporary technology, we need to use philosophy as a mind-tool for foundation and organizer for all ethical issues.

[@chantzukit681]

By positing that philosophy is really used for nothing, it seems like you also misconstrued what philosophy is as well.

[@cskvarma6]

Insightful talk even though I do not agree to all the points made in it. Surprised to find myself being the first user to view and like this video

[@KinnieTheExplorer]

STOP GOING UMM

[@michalchik]

@SamaelTePersigoaTi I think sentience is probably much harder or more confusing without massive parallelism. The thing is that von neumann machines (the type of computer we have) can simulate all these features to an arbitrary level of accuracy. It is just a question of speed that is why they can handle massively parallel processes like protein folding, weather simulation, and the like but it requires supercomputers or distributed computing.

[@Zralf]

i don't need to go to school for 5 years to learn how to be a human.

[@artesiningart4961]

yes true. but it will teach you how to be a human who is more appreciative, who have a deeper understanding of ideas and can deal with new ideas logically, who values culture, and who values other human beings in a much deeper level of thought and empathy. Maybe not a good job or career to earn a living with, but can aid in becoming a holistic and well-rounded individual not just with good mind, but a good heart towards humanity itself and in understanding the value of becoming one. :) I think the main goal of humanities and the liberal arts is not to define 'human' or to teach the process of how to become one, but on how to stay being one and being a better one. You're already a human, so no need to learn what a human is and how to be a human, but how to stay like one and be more connected to other human and to the entire human race of people from past to present in order to decide well for one's own future better. Humans now are becoming less connected to their identities, personalities, culture, ethnicity, uniqueness, and to fellow human beings and nature. We became more of being less sociable people to other people near to us and much more of people different than us in ways of thinking and beliefs, we became less caring, less empathizing, less cultured, and even less of becoming and staying as a human person, and the humanities just serves as ways for us to understand others and build connections, if not stronger connections. We develop our empathy and emotions when reading books and literature, we understand our past mistakes as a human race to be able to decide for ourselves better in the present and for future, we appreciate our "being" and wonder and be in awe about our great achievements and failures through the ages and as seen in products of our culture, and these gives us reasons why life and humanity should be valued and saved. The sciences are essential for us to stay alive and keep alive especially in these days, these are also the essential things and ideas to make as live and thrive, but the humanities will give us at least the views and reasons of why we live, what are we living for, and what are their worth and values to be reasons of why we live in the very first place. A person with all riches, technology, fame, prestige, good relationships and family, money, and all, but without something to aspire and reason to live still ended up in suicide or to have a living physical body but with a dead mind and emotion or dead soul, a person with no meaning, a person with no culture, a person with no soul. After all, these two fields are both essential and no one is greater of importance than the other. :) Peace be with you.

[@artesiningart4961]

Though we have humanities-related degrees in my country which is about 3-4 years in school, the humanities are integrated with the other degrees and called the general education courses or liberal arts courses. So here in my country, you can't graduate a degree in nursing, computer science, engineering, accountancy, or others without passing a course about language, literature, history, philosophy, the arts, and others. Also, those majoring in humanities-related degree like English language, History, Fine Arts, Music, Film, Foreign Languages, and others also do need to pass general sciences courses in math, natural science, and social sciences, also as part of liberal arts courses. This is to ensure well-rounded and holistic graduates which are not just developed through mind and skills, but also to emotions, soul, and personality. Also, most humanities graduates in my country either ended up becoming a researcher, a writer, a government employee for research or for culture-related departments, or a college professor or high school teacher to teach social sciences, arts and music, or language arts, and they can practice their scholarly or artistic study and work part-time or in free time. Some ended up becoming call center agents, and some learn how to do business and become entrepreneurs while still doing their passion for social work and scholarly study in free time.

[@michalchik]

@SamaelTePersigoaTi My masters degree was in neuroscience and I worked on AI design for A2I2 so yes i am familiar with LTP, LDP, STP, sensitization, etc, They are all easily modeled on computers and have been so for decades. You might want to look at Peter Voss's papers on AI. They are relatively nontechnical.

[@michalchik]

@SamaelTePersigoaTi Look up neural network software. There is a huge amount of it some free available for home PC's. It is not even close to powerful enough for useful AI but it will show you what is possible. You might also be interested in cellular automata if you are not familiar with them.

[@D503z]

I really don't understand why this guy is giving a lesson on Stanford. Here in Zagreb, Croatia, we have a faculty of philosophy, and I can tell you that any freshman can give you this speach after a bottle of wine. Maybe we should start exporting those guys to elite universities abroad.

[@michalchik]

@SamaelTePersigoaTi Yes, but this kind of dynamic quasi stability can be modeled on other substrates including binary Von Neumann type machines (i.e. regular computers).

[@brianbelgique3267]

Well, you can hardly be a decent humanist without having participated in another field. You can't do philosophy if you don't do purely production oriented work, you simply wouldn't understand. You can't be a philosopher, you have to be an economist philosopher, a mathematician philosopher, medical philosopher, psychology philosopher, mechanics philosopher, computer tech philosopher etc. Anything else is simply being a bullshit artist. You don't need a PhD in philosophy unless you plan a career in teaching it in academia or high school.

[@TGcashmoney]

Um

[@michalchik]

@SamaelTePersigoaTi This is a deep question That I don't really know how to address in a forum this small. Suffice it to say that I and other people believe they understand the general principles of mind well enough that it is clear that there are other ways to implement it. The brain is not archetypal but just one case of many and a case that does not come close to fulfilling the meaningful range of what intelligence can be. If you are genuinely interested I will chat with you more.

[@DavidAKZ]

@SamaelTePersigoaTi Gillain Tett who is Deputy Editor of the Financial TImes has a PhD in Anthropology

[@omghai2u]

@dojohansen123 "the humanists I've known are comparative lightweights and often only superficially interested in understanding or truth" spot on my good sir, well put

[@nu785]

Thank you...

[@DavidAKZ]

@SamaelTePersigoaTi See 'Fear of Freedom' Erich Fromm. Sounds like you need to avoid the possibility of quiet desperation. Physical, spiritual and emotional health have nothing to do with logic and rationalisation

[@heathergilman01]

I wanted to be engaged in his presentation but I kept becoming distracted with the number of times he nervously uttered "um".

[@grunder20]

good video about man and its fields

[@michalchik]

@SamaelTePersigoaTi I doubt the shortest path to AI is designing it to imitate the human brain. Evolution does not build things that are conceptually simple or globally optimal. We will get good ideas from biology but not clear design specifications.

[@drgerke]

Is that Martha Nussbaum's voice in the intro graphic?

[@alaychoksi1582]

#ncsu20

[@Tastychip22]

+Alay Choksi wow alay

[@ragsiruh]

@saris42 :-). yeah, he sounds like a wildebeest who has good thoughts

[@jingpang1217]

谢谢

[@wattyofthewattykins]

@SamaelTePersigoaTi It can help shape the conversation that may allow for the creation of AI. Also: philosophy is not evil. Your rant seems to target one aspect of philosophical discussion: rhetoric. However, you should remember that in philosophy, rhetoric's purpose is to convince others of goodness for goodness sake (whatever you may define that as) if you want to use rhetoric as a ploy to do things that aren't good then you're a sophist and not a philosopher.

[@saris42]

@lilchimy Sorry :(... I liked the Presentation, Made me think about things, wasn't boring or anything, the information presented was good. Just mentioning that the man giving it, should have paid a little bit more attention in his public speaking classes.

[@michalchik]

@SamaelTePersigoaTi LOL, Sorry I screwed up the, LTD is the more common one. I had a prof that always used to write that and we made fun of him. Now after 20 years I do it ;-)

[@WeirdestGuy29]

Good idea. Put yourself in a lifetime of debt, just so the other guys at the burger joint can call you "Doctor". ;)

[@dannysze8183]

obviously he is from a rich family.

[@rogo22]

@dojohansen123 Technology is overrated

[@Icemario87]

Awesome. Too bad I'm not a "technologist"

[@456keren]

you may want to work on your multiple hmmms before the next speech... from the composer who "had no right to write about 9/11"

[@luigisopa]

"erm"

[@D503z]

@SamaelTePersigoaTi Yes, but that does not imply that there is no progression without empty blabber. If I were to go out and give lessons on how fantastic the flat Earth theory is, that would not be my contribution to progress, it would be just nonsense. :-) Btw, I am not bothered by this guys opinion of how "higher" or more noble philosophy is, I am bothered by his narcissistic view on technology and science, and most of all on his utter ignorance of basic economy.

[@KinnieTheExplorer]

fuck its driving me crazy

[@McSmitty69]

Umm Really Umm ?

[@cowpacino]

um

[@nononouh]

4 9

[@ninisrose]

#ncsu20 :-)

[@DavidAKZ]

@SamaelTePersigoaTi ontological ?

[@GoldenLegionHoney]

Looks like stanfords humanitites department is lacking enrollment!

[@DavidAKZ]

@SamaelTePersigoaTi and the world is full of intellectual derelicts

[@kevinalexander4347]

#NCSU20

[@zaori2785]

so what the fuc' does he do???

[@DSBrekus]

@DSBrekus thinks* not things* lololol

[@saris42]

this should be called, listen to a man say UM...... Jesus! good topic, BAD public speaking

[@Pranaysood1]

this has aged poorly

[@Davemckerracher]

for someone representing the humanities, he's an awful speaker. I mean, there were better speakers in my CC Comm 101 class. Why does Stanford have this video on their site? lol

[@Egendomlighet]

is this a joke? "take on tens of thousands of dollars worth of debt so you can learn what plato thought about how to live well"?

[@benmac1089]

You don't necessarily have to go to school and pay tons of money to learn this stuff. You can self-teach which is what I'm doing. Be near a good library and pay little to nothing.

[@dannysze8183]

Obviously he is from a rich and well educated family. Columbia bachelor, MIT master and Standford PhD.

[@dojohansen123]

Oh my.. what an exercise in mediocrity. So he didn't realize tech is providing means to an end until he went to philosophy class. Pity his philosophy class hasn't equipped him to understand not all are like him. I guess MY personal experience is about as interesting. It is this: techies tend to be intellectuals; the humanists I've known are comparative lightweights and often only superficially interested in understanding or truth. If you can't build it, you don't understand it.

[@benmac1089]

You have a weakness if you exclusively choose to focus on only one side. Having both works and the sum is greater than the parts.