Papert, who was a professor of mathematics, education, and media technology at MIT, has devoted much of his career to learning: self-learning (he taught himself Russian) and learning about learning. He was one of the early pioneers of artificial intelligence, and he invented the computer language Logo to teach children about computers. Now he must learn something even more challenging - how to be Seymour Papert again.
posted by Horace Rumpole on Jul 15, 2008 - 18 comments

Manifesto: The Age of Plunder is over.

John Seymour, author of the manifesto, is the doyen of the British smallholder movement (US: read "homesteading" or "back-to-the-land"). John and his ex-wife Sally were "homesteaders" in England at a time when "self-sufficient" living was incomprehensible crankery to the mainstream. His books (e.g.) are witty, entertaining, and instructive. He has not dimmed with age; at 84 he was arrested and tried for partially destroying a field of GMO sugar beets in an act of civil disobedience.

(If the Age of Plunder isn't over, it can't go on much longer.)
posted by bricoleur on Feb 24, 2005 - 23 comments