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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBainsBane
(53,003 posts)I see something that captures the day. This image does that for me.
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)That's the punchline to a joke probably told in many places, but in this case, it was in the Minnesota Daily - the paper for the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities.
The joke goes that there is a computer program set up to converse with people at various levels of intelligence. You type in an IQ number and the computer responds at that intelligence level. This guy is testing it and he types in 120, and the computer responds with:
"The general awareness of rights to be claimed or asserted against others, particularly the government, is what we mean by 'rights consciousness'. People are certainly aware that they posses 'rights' that the government and other citizens should not abridge. They may express their belief in these rights at a high level of generality and often misunderstand the content of the rights they actually have, overestimating their scope. But even if members of the public do not understand the precise content and scope of their rights, they have become more willing to seek recognition and expansion of those rights and to assert an entitlement to them" (p. 459)
The guy says "wow, this is awesome" and type in 160, and the computer responds with:
"At the same time, science requires the most vigorous and uncompromising skepticism, because the vast majority of ideas are simply wrong, and the only way to winnow the wheat from the chaff is by critical experiment and analysis. If you're open to the point of gullibility and have not a microgram of skeptical sense in you, then you cannot distinguish the promising idea from the worthless ones. Uncritically accepting every proffered notion, idea, and hypothesis is tantamount to knowing nothing. Ideas contradict one another; only through skeptical scrutiny can we decide among them. Some ideas really are better than others." (p. 305)
"Amazing," says the fellow, and types in 60, and the computer responds with:
"How about them Vikes?"
BainsBane
(53,003 posts)That looks interesting.
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)or this one?
http://www.mndaily.com/
I am just about made of links.
I'm like the missing link.
BainsBane
(53,003 posts)Where did you get the story?
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)(or I mean, a joke, much like my typing skills) from 30 years ago or so, perhaps even written by James r Lileks who was one of the editors.
There is no program that I know of like that.
It's just a fairly elaborate way to poke fun at Viking fans.
But since I could not remember the exact joke, I quoted "The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court" for the first one and "The Demon Haunted World" for the second one.
BainsBane
(53,003 posts)I'm a Minnesotan. I know.
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)It would be pretty hilarious (if highly unlikely) if you were my oldest niece.
When I flew back from Europe in 2001, I ended up sitting next to a Math prof from the U of M. Which was pretty strange since I was a math major back in the 1980s. So strange things can happen.
Then again, flying into Twintown, it is not THAT unlikely you will sit next to a U of M prof.
About ten years ago, my older sister called herself a Minnesotan, and I was like, "shoot, sis, I have lived in Minnesota longer than you have". But that's no longer true.
BainsBane
(53,003 posts)The person who would call me that lives in TN and FL. I think he's a Republican on top of it.
When did you live here?
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)Is it about ideas, or about people?
Bonobo
(29,257 posts)The author would like to enjoy the ability to make comments about people with this quote while maintaining the pretense of making a comment about "ideas".
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)But she manages to include both discussing an idea and discussing people, inside the quote itself.
Clever.