04-09-2020, 05:29 PM
There sure are a lot of researchers who come and go who are not at all missed. But which ones who've come and apparently gone do you wish had stuck around?
Jorge Stolfi is apparently no longer involved with VMs research, but his ghost is still very much present here. I was not involved in the VMs scene when he was active, but from what I can gather from current discussion, Stolfi's work is the equivalent of what's known as a "sleeper hit" in the movie industry: lukewarmly received upon its first release, but gradually more appreciated with time. I also compare Stolfi's "presence in his absence" to the character of John Galt in Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged. In both cases, the man's absence is controversial and regarded bitterly, because it is case-in-point of a systemic problem which drove him away, and could very well drive other great people away too. Again, I don't have a dog in this fight, I'm only echoing what I have picked up over a couple of years of reading this forum and feeling the vibes here. For what it's worth, I really enjoyed Jorge Stolfi's webpage, and I come back to sections of it, looking for inspiration. But I have the advantage of hindsight; I would like to say that I would have been one of Stolfi's supporters against his critics when he first published his work, but I don't know because I wasn't there. It would be really awesome if Prof Stolfi were to resurface, comment on some of the more recent developments in VMs studies, and pick up where he left off with his work on the text.
What other VMs researchers do you sorely miss, and wish would come back and continue working on the manuscript and offering their thoughts?
Jorge Stolfi is apparently no longer involved with VMs research, but his ghost is still very much present here. I was not involved in the VMs scene when he was active, but from what I can gather from current discussion, Stolfi's work is the equivalent of what's known as a "sleeper hit" in the movie industry: lukewarmly received upon its first release, but gradually more appreciated with time. I also compare Stolfi's "presence in his absence" to the character of John Galt in Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged. In both cases, the man's absence is controversial and regarded bitterly, because it is case-in-point of a systemic problem which drove him away, and could very well drive other great people away too. Again, I don't have a dog in this fight, I'm only echoing what I have picked up over a couple of years of reading this forum and feeling the vibes here. For what it's worth, I really enjoyed Jorge Stolfi's webpage, and I come back to sections of it, looking for inspiration. But I have the advantage of hindsight; I would like to say that I would have been one of Stolfi's supporters against his critics when he first published his work, but I don't know because I wasn't there. It would be really awesome if Prof Stolfi were to resurface, comment on some of the more recent developments in VMs studies, and pick up where he left off with his work on the text.
What other VMs researchers do you sorely miss, and wish would come back and continue working on the manuscript and offering their thoughts?
