Review of Plastic Words: The Tyranny of A Modular Language
Poerksen, Uwe. Plastic Words: The Tyranny of a Modular Language. University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 1995. Abstraction, particularly in the computer age, is one of the most important skills anyone can develop. Separating the principle from the thing, seeing alternative uses for the thing based on the underlying…
Systemization and Search: The Problem of the Diminished Narrative
This paper was originally presented at the ISCA in 2018. It has been somewhat shortened, checked over for grammatical errors, and published with the permission of the original authors, Dr. Doug Bookman and Dr. Russ White. Modern Western culture is obsessed with progress. The desire to find faster, more efficient…
Quick Review: Computer Power and Human Reason
Weizenbaum, Joseph. Computer Power and Human Reason. W. H. Freeman and Company, 1976. Joseph Weizenbaum, the inventor and developer of ELIZA, tells us his purpose in writing this book is: There are then, two questions that must ultimately be confronted. First, are the conceptual bases that underlie linguistic understanding entirely…
Losing Your Salvation?
You’ve placed your faith in Christ, and now you are trying to live your life as a Christian, but you just committed a horrible sin. “Did I just lose my salvation? Am I condemned to eternal damnation because I doubted God?” A first reading of Paul’s letter to the Colossians…
