Connectionists: An open letter to Geoffrey Hinton: A call for civilized, moderated debate

[Tsvi Achler]

Unfortunately this field is too preoccupied with egos, hype, pomp and
circumstance.
All this politicking effectively inhibits novel approaches.
I think the whole field can do better by looking at and supporting the next
generation, those offering significantly different ideas.
Sincerely,
-Tsvi

On Sun, Feb 11, 2024 at 10:53 PM Gary Marcus <gary.marcus at nyu.edu> wrote:

> More seriously, it is sad that we can’t have an intelligent, moderated
> discussion.
> Gary
>
> On Feb 10, 2024, at 07:42, Gary Marcus <gary.marcus at nyu.edu> wrote:
>
> 
> Oh lookie, another potshot at the end of an apology for taking potshots.
>
> That’s too perfect!
>
> Gary
>
>
> On Feb 10, 2024, at 07:33, Geoffrey Hinton <geoffrey.hinton at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> 
> I am sorry that i took a potshot at you. I will do my best not to do it
> again. Your aim in life seems to be to get attention and I regret
> facilitating this.
>
> Geoff
>
>
> On Sat, Feb 10, 2024 at 8:14 AM Gary Marcus <gary.marcus at nyu.edu> wrote:
>
>> Dear Geoff,
>>
>> Please stop taking potshots. Face me.
>>
>> You say I am irrelevant, yet you attack (and misrepresent) me regularly
>> in your talks, including both this morning at The Vector Institute, and
>> your “just weights” riff in the Fall. On your web page, you have more
>> mentions of me than Yann LeCun. (What greater measure of relevance could
>> there be?)
>>
>> To make it easy for you, I will come to Toronto, on your home turf.
>> (Perhaps Vector Institute and Web Summit could co-host).
>>
>> We will get a neutral moderator, and a huge audience. And we can fight
>> together for the things we are actually both concerned about, around AI
>> safety, and make a huge statement by doing so.
>>
>> The world will learn from the debate—and also from our overlap.  It will
>> be win-win for the world.
>>
>> — Gary
>>
>>
>>
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