HN user
Weizenbaum is discussing the received doctrine of most computer scientists. Probably most of you think we are making "just tools" and that their end use is not our concern. As you read this article, particularly the later portions, think about all the codenames we've heard since PRISM and how much the problem has grown since 1985.
See also his book "Computer Power and Human Reason."
Quote:
"The computer has thus begun to be an instrument for the
destruction of history. For when society legitimates only
those 'data' that ... 'can easily be told to the machine',
then history, memory itself, is annihiliated... Soon a
supersystem will be built, based on the New York Times' data
bank.. from which 'historians' will make inferences about
what 'really' happened, about who is connected to
whom, and about the 'real' logic of events."
Computational Linguists are Biased Toward Computers, Say Happy Humans
I want a GIF of the Death Star blowing up Alderaan, under the entry for Common Lisp.
Previously discussed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2475210
For those who don't know: Ballblazer was a great game from Lucasfilm Games back in the 80's, for various 8-bit home gaming and computer systems. I've played it a bunch on the 7800 and that inspired me to write a pseudo-clone of the game, with my own spin and with more selectable variations.
I also found a really interesting paper about UNIX, Lisp, and Ballblazer: http://www.langston.com/Papers/vidgam.pdf