Regarding the date, the HTML appears to be hand-edited. There is a comment at the top of the file saying:
<!-- Changed by: John McCarthy, 9-Dec-2006 -->
and the same date appears in the title page.
I think the author would be well-served to delete the whole piece. It's like pub chit-chat from a doddering parent or grandparent -- just a bunch of preconceived notions and outmoded viewpoints.
It does serve the unwitting purpose of illustrating how deep are the origins of tech's problem with inclusion of women.
I'd just treat it for what it is: a short off-the-cuff essay written by a retired CS professor in his late 70s, speculating on a subject he hadn't done much research on. It appears among this unfinished draft collection of futurist speculations: http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/future/. Some of them are interesting, some not too great. IMO lots of the stuff he wrote in AI is great, and I'd start with those essays if you want to read something by McCarthy on a subject where he was both knowledgeable and insightful: http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/#pub_ai
I agree that experts are best read when addressing what they are experts at. But sometimes the other stuff can give insights on who they were, and I guess this piece is like that.
As people age, they don't always "keep up" on all the social changes. McCarthy clearly didn't. I've met a lot of old folks say things that would be gaffes, outdated, or otherwise out of step with the current social norms.
I'm middle aged, and have started to notice myself falling into these patterns, particularly regarding transgender people and some LGBT issues. I've never been in a situation where these issues were so prevalent that I "just know" the right thing to do. I used to be educated on the issues, so I could be conscious about them. Now, I'm in need of more education. I ask more questions.
I'm also a sexist. I don't mean a raging sexist or "bro", but as things have gotten better for women, I don't know if I'm as free of sexism as younger men.
It's an uphill battle for everyone, to shed old habits and develop new ones.
Props to you for owning up to being a sexist. I am too. Pretty much everyone has sexist and racist biases. It's the sea we swim in. I wish more people would face up to it like you. Some conversations would be easier if people didn't get their feelings so hurt by being called sexist.
Am I the only one that thinks it is sad that we have to sanitize our web presence this way in the age of Gawker? It ought to be okay to write an article with ideas that go out of fashion in following years or decades to the extent that it sounds antiquated and just forget about it. If someone finds it they can rebut it or ignore it. It should be that people can disagree with you without hating you.
It also should be that outdated information stays available since it's a nice, humbling reminder of where "we" were wrong and learned. Though having a clear date of when it was written helps a lot.
Comments
Regarding the date, the HTML appears to be hand-edited. There is a comment at the top of the file saying:
and the same date appears in the title page.I think the author would be well-served to delete the whole piece. It's like pub chit-chat from a doddering parent or grandparent -- just a bunch of preconceived notions and outmoded viewpoints.
It does serve the unwitting purpose of illustrating how deep are the origins of tech's problem with inclusion of women.
The author died in 2011, so I guess that won't happen (though the site might disappear entirely at some point): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCarthy_(computer_scienti...
I'd just treat it for what it is: a short off-the-cuff essay written by a retired CS professor in his late 70s, speculating on a subject he hadn't done much research on. It appears among this unfinished draft collection of futurist speculations: http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/future/. Some of them are interesting, some not too great. IMO lots of the stuff he wrote in AI is great, and I'd start with those essays if you want to read something by McCarthy on a subject where he was both knowledgeable and insightful: http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/#pub_ai
"...I guess that won't happen..."
Touché. My mistake.
I agree that experts are best read when addressing what they are experts at. But sometimes the other stuff can give insights on who they were, and I guess this piece is like that.
As people age, they don't always "keep up" on all the social changes. McCarthy clearly didn't. I've met a lot of old folks say things that would be gaffes, outdated, or otherwise out of step with the current social norms.
I'm middle aged, and have started to notice myself falling into these patterns, particularly regarding transgender people and some LGBT issues. I've never been in a situation where these issues were so prevalent that I "just know" the right thing to do. I used to be educated on the issues, so I could be conscious about them. Now, I'm in need of more education. I ask more questions.
I'm also a sexist. I don't mean a raging sexist or "bro", but as things have gotten better for women, I don't know if I'm as free of sexism as younger men.
It's an uphill battle for everyone, to shed old habits and develop new ones.
Props to you for owning up to being a sexist. I am too. Pretty much everyone has sexist and racist biases. It's the sea we swim in. I wish more people would face up to it like you. Some conversations would be easier if people didn't get their feelings so hurt by being called sexist.
You sound like a book burner.
What are your complaints?
Am I the only one that thinks it is sad that we have to sanitize our web presence this way in the age of Gawker? It ought to be okay to write an article with ideas that go out of fashion in following years or decades to the extent that it sounds antiquated and just forget about it. If someone finds it they can rebut it or ignore it. It should be that people can disagree with you without hating you.
It also should be that outdated information stays available since it's a nice, humbling reminder of where "we" were wrong and learned. Though having a clear date of when it was written helps a lot.