Seminar Announcement

John Perry

Foothill Deanza College

"The Oxymoron of Computer 'Science'"

Date: Friday, December 6, 2002
Time: 2:30 pm.
Place: Building B551W, Room 1400 (The Del Valle Room)
P Clearance / Unclassified
Contact: John May ((925) 423-8102) or Leslie Bills ((925) 423-8927)

Sponsored by: ISCR and CASC.

The author gives a historical account of the field of Computer Science since the 1970s. The purpose of this historical review is to show how the field is, in fact, not a science at all but rather the practicing of pop psychology by charismatic Ph.D.'s, the imposition of empirically unproven paradigms and procedures on programmers, and a sociological phenomenon replete with elements of "hipness" and associated in-group and outcast behaviors. The author illus- trates how the celebritization of personalities, the religification of computers, and the lack of respect for true science have led to regressive software, regressive programming languages, regressive paradigmatic systems, and the death of common sense in a field allegedly allied with the "hard" sciences.

Email: perry@voyager.deanza.fhda.edu

Institution web page: http://www.deanza.edu/