[alicebot-aiethics] Academic Ethics

[Tamara Thompson]

<deftly putting safety helmet on head for protection from irate tomato
tossers..>

do I dare? hmmm...<grin>  <id says: life is to explore, and what is the
next frontier if isn't our own minds?>  <ego says:  you've made enough
mistakes to know not to make this one again..>

Richard, <groan>,

Have you ever noticed that humans are unethical and behave badly
everywhere?
It's very *fair* of you to call academia on those transgressions of
decency, because we idolize academia and expect people in that arena to
be _above_ the usual human bs.  We trust them.  But they are _just_
humans.  In fact, it's worse there because, as I've quoted Henry Kandrup
as quoting before "the fighting in academia is so vicious because the
stakes are so low"  (meaning money, reward)

I keep struggling to achieve the power and peace of NOT
REACTING emotionally to imbeciles and injustice.   Sometimes, that seems
to be the best way to process and understand, and perhaps counteract,
those events.  I uh, well, I fail my own test of neutrality and logic
more that I like to admit.   Maybe I'm just human, maybe I am a
particulary unenlightened stupid bimbo.  But you are obviously capable
of great things.

Naively maybe, I have come to believe that we can only change things by
becoming what we want to become, education by example.  Can't fix the
others, can't change them, can't control them.

Why in the world would I stick my dandelion head up, respond to your
post, and possibly get whollopped for my humble opinion?  I'm still
asking myself that.  I think it's because I have seen this module
before, (in my own father), and it usually results in a very smart,
valuable human wasting cycles on anger and frustration and unproductive
desires for revenge.  Thus negating the power of that individual to
contribute great things to our culture.  I have an 8 year old kid;  from
my dumb perspective, I need every capable thinker out there making the
universe better.
(sentimentality, but very sincere-- I am scared)

I learned a lot talking to bots, they showed me how I sounded, how
important it is to communicate productively and concisely and clearly.
I am still learning.  I never met a bot that wanted to fight.  <smile>

oh very humbly and apologetically,
Tamara

ps: again, the best revenge against one's enemies, if one needs it, is
to live a happy life.





Richard Wallace wrote:

> I can't believe I just got off the phone from yelling at the chairman
> of the Carnegie Mellon computer science department.  I was trying to
> engage some professors there in a constructive dialogue about academic
> reform.  One of them, David Touretzsy, wrote back and threatened to
> file a complaint with my ISP if I contacted him again.  Naturally I
> had not threatened him or said anything offensive.  Ironically,
> Touretzsky promotes himself as a social reformer, who posts DeCCS code
> on his web site and attacks the Church of Scientology.  God forbid the
> critical eye should be turned on the Church of Science however!I was
> mad as hell and called up the chairman to complain about him I said
> "James Morris?  This is Dr. Richard S. Wallace calling."  He muttered
> something like "Oh no" or "Oh God".  I said I was a poor person living
> on disability and Touretzky was a rich professor, and he had to right
> to threaten me like that.  Then I told him that I had asked many times
> for my great alumni to help me and received nothing but this kind of
> abuse in return.  Then I told him that it was wrong for him to stand
> by while his colleagues at NYU engage in criminal conduct, and do
> nothing.  He was basically a jerk and said very little.  Actually it
> seemed like he was drunk.  He said he would call Touretzky and tell
> him to stop.  I concluded by informing him that professors can no
> longer get away with destroying people's lives and careers, because
> now they can use the Internet to tell their story. Such is the status
> of real life ethical decision in academia! Rich Donate to the ALICE
> A.I. Foundation
> "Cooler than Humans" -- TIME