CS guys... stop hating on the humanities...

https://www.wired.com/2017/04/hey-computer-scientists-stop-hating-humanities/ What do you guys think ont his text? I agree with it. I also think it could help largely to improve the online anonimity narrative.

So what's his point? Some algorithms calculated numbers he didn't like? If you write a program that doesn't give you useful information, that is a problem. One which you can fix with a computer scientist. If your program works but tells you things you don't want to hear, that isn't a software issue. I don't understand how bringing in humanities people would even help. Are they going to convince them to re-write to program so that they get answers that they want? Actively eliminate anything that could possibly cause bias in your system? If your software is deliberately written to introduce discrimination then yes, that is a problem, not least because it probably means that your results are of no use to anyone. If, instead, it merely highlights biases or skew that exists in the real world, that is (arguably) a good thing. You can then address the underlying cause, rather than ignoring it and hoping it goes away.

>>1558 I think the point is that he's afraid of computer scientists doing destructive stuff because nobody ever codified, "CS ethics," which is bullsoykaf because the, "Hacker Ethic," at least, has been a thing for fifty years; he's probably just ignoring it because decisions based on it don't match what he'd like them to be.

>>1558 >>1559 The writer of the article is still framed under deep liberal ideology but they rise some serious issues. Programming and CS are full of psychopaths that we know have put the safety of common people to profit off them. A simple ethics course will not stops the Elon Musks or Mark Zukerbergs of the world from doing harm but will open the door for higher standards and help to make people aware of the dangers that the current profit strategies carry. Eliminating the "get rich fast" idiots who just want to make apps is a different deal but they're also a problem.

Just a random related thought: How do you want to make CS students care about ethics when a lot of them don't even really care about CS? A lot of them are just in it for the money or because they can't think of anything else. I think that CS is only second to business as the field of study with the most people who don't actually care. I'm obviously not arguing that all CS students don't care, just a saddening portion of them.

>>1571 Actually I'm sick of this "you have to be passionate about programming" bullsoykaf.

>>1576 Yeah, I have to pass the time until I'm dead somehow; why is CS a worse choice than business or communications or whatever? At least this way, we're actually learning things.

>>1576 To be clear, I'm not pushing the "you have to be passionate about programming and slave away all your waking hours at my company without compensation"-narrative. On the other hand, I do expect people not to spend a whole lecture playing video games on their laptop. Especially if it's the same guys you see struggling to answer basic questions in the tutorials. If you think about it, this thread is actually about how a single minded focus on CS can do more harm than good. I find the people who care about nothing but CS, video games and internet culture just as hard, if not harder, to deal with than people who don't care.

>>1576 What? Why would you not want people to pursue what they're passionate about in life?

>>1586 That's not what was said.

>>1586 >What? Why would you not want people to pursue what they're passionate about in life? That's not what he said, what he said is that people are forcing unpassionate people to be passionate. Well I see his issue, but I am not sure if I agree with him.

>>1586 Some of us are incapable of being passionate aboute things.

>>1660 I am passionate about my dispassion.

I think it depends on the education system. For instance, in my country (italy btw) almost all scientists have a strong background on humanities while humanists know absolutely NOTHING about STEM matters, maths in particular, cause school system is heavily biased toward humanities. I heard that in murrriga is exactly the opposite, so i think probably school system needs only to find the right balance. Anyway i think the "more humanities" way is a little bit better than the "more science" way, cause humanists with no knowledge of science are useless, but scientists with no knowledge of humanities can be dangerous if the wrong person manipulates them

>>1712 I understand and mostly agree but I'd like to point out, that's not what "humanist" means in English. Humanism is an ideology and is completely unrelated to what you studied or didn't study at school. I don't know any single word for "student of the humanities" in English actually.

>>1715 Okay, thanks for improving my english! I was fooled by pic related

>>1718 According to that pic the word has two meanings and I'm the one who is wrong. Oh well.

I think the general problem is that people are ignorant of what their work is being used for. I can hardly blame cs people for hating on humanities, after all there is so much nonsense in humanities now and cs is about logic and order, i hardly doubt humanities cover any of the underlying issues anyhow, its more of a psychology/sociology thing.

>>1720 I've never come across it in that usage either, I don't think it is very common

>>1736 >I can hardly blame cs people for hating on humanities, after all there is so much nonsense in humanities now and cs is about logic and order, i hardly doubt humanities cover any of the underlying issues anyhow, its more of a psychology/sociology thing. This exactly the attitude the author of the article and the people in this thread are complaining about. Correct me if I'm wrong, but from the way you talk about it, it doesn't sound as if you've even heard a single philosophy lecture in your life. This woeful ignorance backed up by "I have once heard a humanities major say something illogical" is just awfully short-sighted. Also, at least where I'm from, sociology and psychology are considered humanities.

>>1745 >Correct me if I'm wrong, but from the way you talk about it, it doesn't sound as if you've even heard a single philosophy lecture in your life. Different anon. No I haven't and I don't plan to. Computer science and other sciences are responsible for the technologies that make my life better. What's philosophy good for?

>>1761 Well somebody has to make the pizza you get at hackathons. Would you rather have art majors do it?

>>1761 Philosophy has given us science. Only by thinking about the nature of truth and knowledge can you come up with the scientific method.

>>1764 Art majors can arrange the toppings in pretty patterns. >>1765 We already have the scientific method, what is philosophy good for in the present day present time?

>>1767 But then they'll decide it has the wrong color balance and put some weird soykaf on it to even it out.

>>1767 >what is philosophy good for in the present day present time? Here's an answer from someone who's had zero formal education in philosophy, but has spent a significant amount of their time thinking. Technology asks and seeks to answer the question "can we", philosophy asks and seeks to answer the question "should we". EVEN IF one refuses to do any introspection, they do not meditate or seek to understand / know themself, things like "reality" or "the real world" can only be percieved once you've thought about / emotionally processed what you've physically sensed. In this way we live much of our lives in our own heads. While technology may make life easier outside of our minds, philosophy can help make life easier inside.

>>1770 true enough

>>1771 >Technology asks and seeks to answer the question "can we", philosophy asks and seeks to answer the question "should we". "Once the rockets go up, who cares where they come down? That's not mt department," says Werner Von Braun.