A terrific overview of the history of chess machines. It brought back memories of several of those iterations. Article is freely available here.
Chess as Played by Artificial Intelligence
What can we learn from Michael Oakeshott’s effort to understand our world?
The dean of Oakeshott studies, Tim Fuller, has an online talk scheduled on the 29th.
Zeno’s Conscience: quotes (23)
And despite the fact that I was so different from him, I believe he reciprocated my affection with equal fondness. I would be more certain of this if he hadn’t died so soon. He continued assiduously giving me lessons after my marriage and he often seasoned them with shouts and insults, which I accepted, convinced that I deserved them.
I married his daughter. Mysterious Mother Nature led me and it will be seen with what imperative violence.
Intellectual Freedom and the Culture Wars
A Confederacy of Dunces: quotes (23)
Suddenly Mrs. Reilly remembered the horrible night that she and Mr. Reilly had gone to the Prytania to see Clark Gable and Jean Harlow in Red Dust. In the heat and confusion that had followed their return home, nice Mr. Reilly had tried one of his indirect approaches, and Ignatius was conceived. Poor Mr. Reilly. He had never gone to another movie as long as he lived.
30% discount code available here
Hot Rats
Released on this day in 1969.
Hot Rats’ genius lies in the way it fuses the compositional sophistication of jazz with rock’s down-and-dirty attitude — AllMusic.
Zeno’s Conscience: quotes (22)
A reputation for cleverness was very useful. For one thing, many came to seek his counsel, bringing him the latest news, while he gave them the most helpful advice, confirmed by experience accumulated ever since the Middle Ages. At times he happened to gain, along with the news, the possibility of selling some merchandise. Finally – and here he started shouting because he felt he had at last hit upon the argument that should convince me – to sell or to buy profitably, everyone seeks out the most clever man. From the fool they could hope for nothing, except perhaps to persuade him to sacrifice his own interest, but his goods always cost more than the clever man’s, because he has already been swindled at the moment of purchase.
A Confederacy of Dunces: quotes (22)
Mr. I. Abelman, Mongoloid, Esq.,
We have received via post your absurd comments about our trousers, the comments revealing, as they did, your total lack of contact with reality. Were you more aware, you would know or realize by now that the offending trousers were dispatched to you with our full knowledge that they were inadequate so far as length was concerned.
“Why? Why?” you are in your incomprehensible babble, unable to assimilate stimulating concepts of commerce into your retarded and blighted worldview.
30% discount code available here
COSMOS+TAXIS: Next Issue
Zeno’s Conscience: quotes (21)
When I admire someone, I try at once to resemble him. So I also imitated Malfenti. I wanted to be very clever, and I felt that I was. Indeed, I once dreamed I was smarter than he. I thought I had discovered a flaw in his business organization: I decided to tell him immediately in order to win his esteem. One day at the Tergesteo table I stopped him when, in a business argument, he was calling his interlocutor a jackass. I told him I thought it a mistake for him to proclaim his cleverness far and wide. In my view the truly clever man in business matters should take care to appear foolish.
