“Trump is the worst criminal in history, undeniably,” Chomsky told Brooks. “There has never been a figure in political history who was so passionately dedicated to destroying the projects for organized human life on Earth in the near future. That is not an exaggeration.”
Actually, any rational accounting would have Nehru having killed more through enforced poverty etc.
Chomsky is 91.
I’ve also found Chomsky chilling and not a little sinister.
Chomsky is 91. On the most evil people list?
C’mon, Noam, I’ve told you a million times not to exaggerate.
“as you can see, DRUMPF equates to over 6,000,000 Hitlers on my completely scientific scale, expertly calibrated by a crack team of ridiculously elderly Marxists and esteemed gender studies professors” he added.
“The quantum fabric of Minkowski spacetime itself will start to unravel and cause the complete extinction of all baryonic matter in the universe as well as totally screwing up your alarm clock… unless we elect Joe Biden. That is not an exaggeration.” explained the professor, as he furiously masturbated with a Yasser Arafat plushie.
Says the man who defended Pol Pot.
(And who has an offshore tax efficient vehicle to prevent his children getting hit with taxes when he dies. Something he is happy to defend)
Dear God, Trump isn’t even the worst criminal to live in the White House by a long way.
Bit unfair to put Genghis Khan in that company, by the standards of his time, and the society in which he lived, he was not particularly violent, just better at it.
Noam is to Linguistics what Adam Smith is to Economics, pretty much invented it.So a giant upon whose shoulders many stand. The problem is that in retirement he took up, full time, his long term hobby, which is far left politics, especially anti Israeli politics, along Marxist lines.
I despise Trump and I quite understand how we cannot let this race baiting idiot become normalised. I think bored contempt is a better stance than apocalyptic terror.
Noam has it wrong but then who cares you might as well sit around discussing Churchill’s Painting , its just something he did to pass the time and because he enjoyed it .Its crap …obviously
Newmania June 24, 2020 at 12:03 pm – “Bit unfair to put Genghis Khan in that company, by the standards of his time, and the society in which he lived, he was not particularly violent, just better at it.”
No surprise to see genocide-defending from Newbie. Genghiz Khan is likely to have killed more people than World War Two. He was significantly better at it. He was also very persistent at it. One of the oddities is that he never stopped. He never looted and killed enough. There were always more people that needed a killing. And no one knows why.
“Noam is to Linguistics what Adam Smith is to Economics, pretty much invented it.”
Chomsky came up with one great idea that revolutionised Linguistics. But to say he invented the field is absurd.
“Its crap …obviously”
So a lot like your posts here then? Interestingly politics is something that Trump took up in his retirement. Turns out he is pretty good at it.
Noam is to Linguistics what Adam Smith is to Economics, pretty much invented it.
Good to see Newmania knows as much about linguistics as he does economics, history and political science. The theories of universal grammar and generative grammar have resisted all attempts at confirmation via controlled scientific study since Chomsky proposed them. Given Chomsky’s stature and his well-known vindictiveness, most of the linguistics community is simply waiting for him to die so they can scrap them and move on. Adam Smith’s observations have been proven correct over time… Noam Chomsky’s haven’t (and never will be).
Newmania quoth: “Noam has it wrong but then who cares you might as well sit around discussing Churchill’s Painting , its just something he did to pass the time and because he enjoyed it .Its crap …obviously”
Yes, when I go to an art shop, I simply can’t move for prints of Churchill’s paintings. Unlike when I go to a bookshop and wander into the politics section, where there’s absolutely never a book by Our Noam to be found on the shelf, let alone positioned in a prominent position. Absolutely the same societal impact, yes… [quietly calls Nursey to give Newmania his meds…]
I despise Trump and I quite understand how we cannot let this race baiting idiot become normalised.
So you support Joe Biden? The Joe Biden who has proudly touted his role in the mass incarceration of blacks and minorities, and who consistently voted in support of white segregationists back in the 1970s? That Joe Biden?
“I despise Trump….”
Well that makes you so significant and a big boy who should have a medal.
Comparing you to Trump, is like comparing a turnip with a prince.
It would have been more apt to compare Chomsky the linguist to Marx the economist. Wrong, and on a scale that is unprecedented.
Just comparing Barmy and Trump, Barmy mongered at least five wars; Trump has tried to wind them down and avoid more.
I cringed at Chomsky’s comment about “organized human life”. I always assume that when someone says something like that they mean I should do what they tell me to do.
No surprise that Violet Elizabeth Rochester-Murphy despise Trump and would prefer Joe “Sniffer” Biden in the White House. Maybe VE and creepy Joe both have a thing for little girls’ hair.
Those projects for organised human life must include the Chinese Communist Party. Come on, Newmy, how can you get everything so spectacularly wrong? If only the last 2 presidents had done something to resist the horrible oozing into significance of China
Genghis Khan was a Person Of Color, therefore all his murdering, raping and looting was righteous and just.
.. ‘so passionately dedicated to destroying the projects for organized human life on Earth in the near future”..
So what if Chompsky’s real complaint? Trump wants people free, not part of a government controlled and dictated (organized human life) society which Chompsky felt was a done deal.
Arthur the Cat:
“Dear God, Trump isn’t even the worst criminal to live in the White House by a long way.”
I like the way you put that . . . Hillary lived there for 8 years.
I see the ‘noose’ in the black NASCAR drivers garage was just a rope pull for the garage door….instead of embarrassment he’s doubled down and insisted it was a noose, I guess a rope can identify as a noose if it wants, but I hope they give him an eye test before racing
Last year under Trump, US Co2 emissions decreased by over 150 MtC Co2 whereas China’s increased by over 300 MtC. China is already the largest emitter of Co2 on the planet.
Now I’m prepared to grant that Chomsky is so senile, (or so batshit crazy), that he doesn’t know these facts, but there are plenty who quote him approvingly who do know that he’s talking dangerous nonsense but are quite happy to continue lying in order to bring down Trump.
But it is also obvious that this is nothing to go with Trump per se. It’s long been clear that the whole scam is designed to bring down the West but I wonder if the lying bastards pushing it know how it’s going to turn out for them when they succeed and whether they ever have the slightest doubt of the righteousness of their cause.
Chomsky has overlooked the group manipulating Greta Thunberg, but as an expert on linguistics he has phrased his insult to exclude Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot as well as Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, Attila etc with his limiting discussion to impacts on human life in “the near future” rather than the past.
Has Trump lined up the Obamas in front of a firing squad like Lenin did to the Tsar? No, but Chomsky phrases his insult in a way that sidesteps that sort of inconvenient reality.
If Facepainter tried to molest a 6 year old girl she’d beat the shit out of him and leave him sobbing in the gutter.
As for Chompy Senilebollocks–he is like Soros and Gates another POS who should have had a terrible accident decades ago.
Newmania:
Chomsky’s theory of universal grammar has been challenged on its evolutionary infeasibility,the lack of universal characteristics between languages,and the empirically unproven link between innate/universal structures and the structures of specific languages.
“instead of embarrassment he’s doubled down and insisted it was a noose”
Yeah, he’s a race card driver.
Good one
Theophrastus June 24, 2020 at 9:16 pm – “Chomsky’s theory of universal grammar has been challenged on its evolutionary infeasibility,the lack of universal characteristics between languages,and the empirically unproven link between innate/universal structures and the structures of specific languages.”
I am not convinced by this. For one thing it is an attack on the blank slate. It suggests that language developed through the evolution of the brain. I don’t see that as being infeasible. It is pretty clear to me that all languages I have come across do share universal characteristics – is there one that does not make a distinction between nouns and verbs?
I am not entirely convinced by his argument, and Chomsky is a shit in a Leftist world of shits, but I would not write off his universal grammar just yet
@SMFS Nah…. Chomsky has always be wrong from the start.. Or rather, he completely failed to incorporate new knowledge and insights into his basic assumptions.
His scientific views weren’t entirely unreasonable in the 50’s, but by the ’70’s/’80’s he should have noticed that his notion of language, and the definitions he created were already debunked.
His insistence that language is uniquely a human thing because of us alone having recursive thought processes was disproven the moment it became clear recursive thought processes are an integral part of what we call “intelligence” , which means it’s not limited to humans at all.
We simply benefit from a specific (set of) mutation(s) that allows us to use our voice in more flexible ways compared to other species, allowing us to communicate information much more efficiently.
Take for instance your nouns and verbs. The great ape language experiments clearly show that the concept of a “thing” (noun) and “action” (verb) are part of the thought processes of at least the greater primates, along with our more basic “abstract” concepts ( good/bad, here/there, now/soon, like/dislike, self/other).
They don’t use grammar rules like we do, but they sure as hell can string concepts together in a way we can understand.
This means that the roots for the basics of our languages go much deeper than Chomsky allows for, or will ever allow for, since he still holds on to the notion that language is a Human Thing. Despite empirical evidence that this clearly isn’t the case.
Noam is more than a little pissed because his life work on transformational grammar has turned out to be totally useless in creating a model of language. But as Tim W has pointed out, we need people to take those wrong directions to settle the debate over whether they might just work.
Grikath said:
“Take for instance your nouns and verbs. The great ape language experiments clearly show that the concept of a “thing” (noun) and “action” (verb) are part of the thought processes of at least the greater primates, along with our more basic “abstract” concepts ( good/bad, here/there, now/soon, like/dislike, self/other)”
Good grief, he must be a cat person; my previous dog understood the noun/verb distinction (“Find X”, where X was one of several types of toy); doesn’t even need a primate for that. Some concept of “here/there” too (“closer”, when I was sat in a deckchair and he’d dropped the ball he wanted throwing out of reach).
Don’t think he ever really understood the future tense though – “soon” when he wanted a walk seemed to get the same disappointed reaction as “no”.
Chomsky has always seemed to me to be the complete archetype of the “intellectual”… Fiendishly intelligent, but serving no discernible use or purpose.
ISTR that the first Chimpanzee to be successfully taught AMSLAN sign-language was called “Nim”… Full name “Nim Chimpsky” as the research team raised a middle digit to good old Noam.
Dennis said:
“Given Chomsky’s stature and his well-known vindictiveness, most of the linguistics community is simply waiting for him to die so they can scrap them and move on.”
Isn’t there a saying along the lines of “science advances one death at a time”? Fairly common for theories to be overturned or at least radically altered, but that can’t happen until the venerable person who first advanced them is safely out of the way.
Says a lot about their dedication to scientific method and how much attention we should pay scientists.
Chomsky’s work has been useful in the development of computer languages, or more precisely, the structure of such languages to make them parseable by computers. However that’s a far lesser target than human (or even animal) languages, which has probably contributed to the grumpiness.
Grikath June 25, 2020 at 4:36 am – “clear recursive thought processes are an integral part of what we call “intelligence” , which means it’s not limited to humans at all.”
I do not want to defend Chomsky but that is begging the question. What other forms of intelligence do we know? Humans really are special.
“We simply benefit from a specific (set of) mutation(s) that allows us to use our voice in more flexible ways compared to other species, allowing us to communicate information much more efficiently.”
Dolphins? I reject this attempt to claim humans are just one animal among many. We aren’t. As far as we can tell.
“Take for instance your nouns and verbs. The great ape language experiments clearly show that the concept of a “thing” (noun) and “action” (verb) are part of the thought processes of at least the greater primates, along with our more basic “abstract” concepts ( good/bad, here/there, now/soon, like/dislike, self/other).”
This assumes that any of the other great apes can speak. There have been no credible great ape experiments that show any communication. They will not allow outsiders to test their animals as a general rule, and their interpretation of what constitutes a sign is highly creative. All we can tell from this is that their “intepreters” know what a noun is.
“This means that the roots for the basics of our languages go much deeper than Chomsky allows for, or will ever allow for, since he still holds on to the notion that language is a Human Thing. Despite empirical evidence that this clearly isn’t the case.”
Well I am with Chomsky then. As there is no empirical evidence that any other species communicates worth a damn.
RichardT June 25, 2020 at 8:35 am – “Good grief, he must be a cat person; my previous dog understood the noun/verb distinction (“Find X”, where X was one of several types of toy); doesn’t even need a primate for that.”
Something like a third of British dog owners think their dogs are about as smart as college students. Which is fair enough if you meet enough college students. But you have to be careful. Maybe your dog is learning from your tone of voice or body language. And is not learning any words at all much class abstract ones
Baron Jackfield June 25, 2020 at 9:35 am – “ISTR that the first Chimpanzee to be successfully taught AMSLAN sign-language was called “Nim”… Full name “Nim Chimpsky” as the research team raised a middle digit to good old Noam.”
For some definition of “successful”. Again what proper outside independent testing has their been? None of these cases look all that successful to me. But they should be. Chimpanzees share, after all, something like 99% of human DNA
Narrator: it was an exaggeration, a enormous, hysterical and absurd exaggeration.
“Gödel, Escher, Bach:” was something I read a long time ago when I was interested in machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Hofstaders book was a fascinating riff about what intelligence really is. From what I gleaned from it , it seems that intelligence is an emergent phenomena which exists along a spectrum rather than a binary on/off thing.
“there is no empirical evidence that any other species communicates worth a damn”
(Going from memory), there was a lot of time spent going into how ant colonies function. Each individual ant is essentially “dumb” with little agency. However there is considerable communication between ants using pheromones, and whilst each individual ant is essentially interchangeable, the colony as a whole develops what can only be described as intelligent behaviour.
I can see how, in evolutionary terms there was an advantage given to those who worked together.
This probably gave the impetus for the development of language as the means of coordinating cooperative action.
It probably worked as a beneficial spiral with increases in intelligence leading to better language skills and vice versa.
This doesn’t of course explain why humans, of all the primates, had this huge leap forward in language skills and intelligence. Maybe we’re just ahead of the curve, with Dolphins, Octopusses and chimps, (& mebbe journalists?) just lagging behind by several millenia?