Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Chomsky denied the genocide of Pol Pot and defended the Khmer Rouge to score points against CIA and Western Imperialism.

start here on page 19 of Chomsky's book he wrote in 1979.

https://libcom.org/history/chomsky-pol-pots-genocidal-regime...

Chomsky was dead wrong about his heirarchy of languages and he set back computing by 50 years. He has also been wrong about geopolitics, since he ends up supporting the very Western Imperialism that he rails against.



> he set back computing by 50 years

No opinion on Chomsky's politics. But that quote definitely needs some substantiation.

Personally, I don't see how anyone, has managed to set back computing by 50 years.


They haven't, it's a clear exaggeration, and lacks any substance at all.


Which is not to say he was right about human language acquisition. (He wasn't.)

But the three grammar classes were correct, and are still in use. They were later found to match work done 2500 years ago, in India.

Being wrong in science, particularly biology, is not a crime, nor, usually, even a shame.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: