Interesting Links for 20-11-2023

[andrewducker]

1. Is My Toddler a Stochastic Parrot?

(tags:ai learning humans )

2. Myth-busting the Van Halen brown M&M Story

(tags:bands music history myths )

3. No, "the Church" did not kill Joan of Arc

(tags:religion history Europe France uk )

4. Thread of wheelchair representation so far in televised Doctor Who

(tags:disability drwho TV )

Comments

[cmcmck]

3. No, the English did that!

[andrewducker]

Damned English, always up to no good!

[autopope]

And by "English" we mean the subjects of the Duke of Normandy! (Because history is complex.)

[andrewducker]

Well, obviously. Not the subjects of Harald Hardrada. That's a whole different AU.

[calimac]

Some of these arguments are not very impressive.

2) Of course the stage electricians and those who stock the dressing rooms are not the same people! But they're both under the control of the same supervisors, who will either ensure their employees follow instructions or they will not. And the dressing room rules, being less vital in the eyes of the lazy and careless, can serve as the canary in the coal mine. I see no reason to assume that David Lee Roth is lying about his own experience and motives.

3) So the Church didn't prosecute Joan. But then it says: "You know who put her on trial? Cauchon. That’s who." And who was Cauchon? A bishop of the Church. I see no reason to quibble over whether the Pope gave a hoot about it or not, and, sure, the English authorities wanted her dead, but the Church - a bishop of the Church - put her on trial. QED.

1) On the other hand, this is an outstanding and moving piece of work. Must be especially meaningful to you as the parent of small children.

[mountainkiss]

I agree with this on the M&Ms. This article reads as the defensiveness of someone who feels his profession is being attacked. I don’t think the argument holds strongly either - the same culture would be likely to govern the engagement, incentives and behaviours across the team. I also don’t think the band members are spending a lot of time thinking about the reporting lines and various remits of their crew. I’d be much more inclined to believe this if the article adduced any evidence to support this view of Roth’s character, but as far as I can see it doesn’t.

[original_aj]

Pretty much my reaction. I also thought that, from the band's perspective, it's perfectly valid. It the M&Ms are wrong that rings alarm bells and tells them they need to ask the crew if the set up is OK, otherwise it's a reassurance for the band. THe crew would of course be doing their own checks and so on anyway. The band probably saw it as a cool idea from their perspective, without really considering the crew's needs.

[anef]

3. Well, no. He did it outside church procedures, and when the church did find out about it they said it was wrong.

[calimac]

And after all the things the Tory government has done, and then after they got roundly criticized for them said they hadn't meant to do it, or it was some flunky's fault, you're going to make an argument like that?

[andrewducker]

It seems obvious to me that there is a difference between "These people who were members of a giant sprawling organisation, and clearly hid their actions from the hierarchy, acting against its rules, with no evidence that they were encouraged to do so by the leadership" and "the organisation itself".

If they *had* been following the rules, or there was any evidence that they were being encouraged from the top then that would be different, of course.

[calimac]

It seems obvious to me that there is an enormous incentive on the part of an organisation that is doing B to pretend that they're doing A.