The Sussman's take on /prog/'s SICP fan club

Your message was perhaps one of the strangest pieces of email I have ever received. Although it is flattering to have a ``fan club'', in fact, it is a very bad idea. Unlike most of human society, science and engineering are based on the idea that each of us is capable of evaluating evidence and thinking on our own. Each of us can do experiments, work out the reasoning, and determine the truth for ourselves. There is no room in science or engineering for ``fans'' representing group approval over individual thought. One of my heros, Galileo, put it very well:

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual.

I am pleased to talk with people about matters of science or engineering, so you and your colleagues may certainly send me mail. I hope to learn as much from your experiences as you may learn for me. But please get rid of the ``cult of personality'' way of thinking. It is unscientific and ultimately destructive.

>>223
Simulating one step of a neural network with N neurons is asymptotic to O(N²) if you want it to learn by itself (like humans do) instead of having a separate learning phase.

Oh, and we still haven't figured out what the fuck is going on during sleep.