Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 38, No. 114.
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        Date: 2024-08-27 07:39:56+00:00
        From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty@mccarty.org.uk>
        Subject: surprise!

Howard Aldrich, Kenan Professor of Sociology at the University of North
Carolina, writes that "Encountering something unexpected diverts our
attention from the predictably commonplace and awakens our curiosity".
I'm wondering this morning what, as scholars, would surprise us in the
course of doing research with or on smart machines? What *unexpected*
thing? And I'm wondering whether the compelling drive to *prove* this or
that thesis, or *demonstrate* the brilliance of an argument, thwarts
that which surprise opens up for exploration?

There's so much tedium about in published work. Must one take
professional risks not to be tedious?

Mischievously,
WM
--
Willard McCarty,
Professor emeritus, King's College London;
Editor, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews;  Humanist
www.mccarty.org.uk


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