Lance Nathan

Be sure to read the follow-up (https://web.stanford.edu/~learnest/cyclops/bash1.htm) about the challenges the author faced in trying to help move forward a reasonably safe standard for bicycle helmets.

Found a couple links [0][1] that appear to be follow-ups to that section about fantasies. [0]: https://web.stanford.edu/~learnest/earth/fantasy.html [1]: https://web.stanford.edu/~learnest/earth/fantasies.html

I'm reminded of this great story: "How I got an FBI record at age 11 from dabbling in cryptography then got into more trouble" https://web.stanford.edu/~learnest/les/crypto.htm

Came here to post the same link. Such an interesting, insanely brilliant, character. http://web.stanford.edu/~learnest/

Great read also lead me to his mongrel[0] post which is equally a great read. I've heard different things about getting a clearance, such as depending on the company and job position it could speed up the process altogether. I've heard different things about it from (past and present) co-workers and family. His stories are quite a decent read, will have to bookmark his site. [0]: http://web.stanford.edu/~learnest/les/mongrel.htm

I find computer scientist, Les Earnest to be an interesting, thoughtful and entertaining writer. After he moved to Virginia in the early sixties, he started self-identifying as “Mongrel” rather than allow himself to be classified by any one meaningless and not-very scientific concept of “race”. > in 1966 I discovered that something very good had happened: the race question had disappeared from the security clearance form. In fact, this question disappeared from nearly all government forms then. I liked to think I helped that change along. > I have argued that all historical and present racial and ethnic classification systems for individuals are nonsensical and so are the laws, court decisions, computer applications, and bureaucratic superstructures that have been built on top of them. For more context, I’d recommend checking out the author’s bio at https://web.stanford.edu/~learnest/ – which includes a relevant photograph of the man himself.

> You're talking a huge campaign of enough voters across enough districts to override what a few lobbyists do. It's asymmetrical. It might work but it usually doesn't. It's also extraordinarily difficult. That's how voting works. Will it happen this election cycle? Maybe not. On the plus side, we've got plenty of discussion on the books saying what might happen to the internet if we allow net neutrality to lapse. In 10 years from now, when the general public goes looking for what happened to the good old internet, there will be a depth of articles and commentary, as well as people who've been following the issue over that period. It's not worthless to voice your knowledge, even when it appears people will go against you. Consider the FBI record story from yesterday, > Two years later I regained my seat on the board as the riders finally figured out that the strong helmet rule was a good thing. It then started spreading around the world and has since become standard in racing organizations almost everywhere, saving hundreds of lives and preventing thousands of serious head injuries. I’m proud of that. [1] Due to his early effort, people knew where to turn when their theories did not pan out. There was a plan B ready to go, and everyone jumped on board. Not ideal in the formal mathematical-proof sense, but, that's how humans and evolution works. We try stuff, see what works and what doesn't, and adjust if necessary. > I'm for people trying it esp in rural areas.…

Les Earnest on the subject: https://web.stanford.edu/~learnest/les/mongrel.htm

Yep, still alive. He plans on being shot in the back while fleeing from a jealous husband in 2043, according to his Stanford bio[1] 1 - https://web.stanford.edu/~learnest/

Related story: https://web.stanford.edu/~learnest/earth/mongrel.html

Did anyone else look into his Stanford biography page? Pretty insane stuff. https://web.stanford.edu/~learnest/ http://web.stanford.edu/~learnest/bucket/ In a section headed by an anime girl, he claims to have, "figured out when and how a bunch of other fantasies got into our DNA and will shortly post an article on this web site that will explain how that happened, why it is causing modern humans to make billions of bad decisions each day, and how we and our descendants are likely to be wiped out soon unless we begin dealing with this problem in a rational way." Then there's a weird picture of his face, which is how he thinks he'll look in 2043, when "he plans to croak at age 112". On his bucket list page, "My choice as a troublemaker will be to get shot in the back while running away from an jealous husband in May 2043". Very weird stuff.

This story contains a link to another of his stories (also published in Communications of the ACM, February 1989). Old as it is, it seems quite relevant in our current race-obsessed culture: https://web.stanford.edu/~learnest/les/mongrel.htm

Obligatory story beginning in 1963, where computer scientist Les Earnest explains why he always entered "mongrel" when questioned about his race: http://web.stanford.edu/~learnest/les/mongrel.htm

Ralph Gorin wrote the first practical spell checker in 1970. https://web.stanford.edu/~learnest/les/spelling.htm

Nice piece about the SAGE site on Mt. Umunhum over Silicon Valley: http://www.mobileranger.com/blog/sentinel-of-silicon-valley-the-radar-… and a strong dissenting opinion ("the biggest taxpayer fraud in world history") about SAGE from a guy who was there: https://web.stanford.edu/~learnest/sv/umunhum.html

He also got an FBI record at the age of 11[0]. HN discussion is here[1]. [0] http://web.stanford.edu/~learnest/les/crypto.htm [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14229412

We're all mongrels: http://web.stanford.edu/~learnest/les/mongrel.htm More to the point: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/11/opinion/the-myth-of-a-white-minorit…

I want to read a book by the guy. Amongst other achievements, Les Earnest was an actor, basketball manager and inventor of the search engine. http://web.stanford.edu/~learnest/les/vita.htm

Les is quite something. He helped setup SAIL, the AI lab in Stanford with John McCarthy, wrote the first search engine in 1961, and made the first self-driving car. http://web.stanford.edu/~learnest/les/ https://web.stanford.edu/~learnest/les/sailing.pdf Oh, and he made the first social network: FINGER

> We've been working on this for over 15 years. Over 25 years, actually - CMU's ALVINN (1989) was one of the first full-sized vehicle implementations: http://repository.cmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2874&context… It was preceded by an E-MAXX based RC car system called DAVE (DARPA Autonomous Vehicle). CMU also worked on an investigated other systems, going back to 1984 or so: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/project/alv/www/ They had an interesting system called the Terragator, from at least 1983; I can't find a paper about this system, though I know they exist - there is a video, though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beGRM9ZmWlI One might consider the Stanford Cart as an earlier example (I believed it used computer vision techniques - and was really slow at computing the "next move"): https://web.stanford.edu/~learnest/cart.htm (side note: As part of SAIL, the Cart was instrumental in paving the way for Thrun's Stanley - which won the DARPA Grand Challenge, and ultimately led to Google's efforts in self-driving cars) ALVINN was unique in that it used a (simple compared to today's CNNs and deep learning) neural network (and a WARP systolic array): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WARP_(systolic_array) ...coupled to a camera to digitize and model/learn the road features for driving, while "watching" the human driver (early form of "behavioral cloning" - but it wasn't termed as such in the various papers you can find about ALVINN). Interestingly, during…