Yann LeCun is the director of AI research at Facebook and an expert on many aspects of deep learning. As such he receives many invitations to speak at institutions around the world. He recently received one from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and here is his response.
Naturally, there was pushback against his stand from various people on various grounds and he has responded to them point by point. LeCun recognizes that no government or institution is free from bigotry and to be totally pure would mean that he never accepted any invitation. One has to draw a line somewhere. But Saudi Arabia is a no-brainer. It is just an awful government.
The one argument that has at least some merit is the one that says that if he went there, he would be helping the moderates in that country. Again, a decision has to be made as to the merits of trying to achieve change by working within the system or to boycott. It depends on many factors, one of which is the perception of intransigence of the government. Saudi Arabia, like Israel now and South Africa during the apartheid era, have governments that have no intention of giving rights to the marginalized groups within them and so boycotting them (as was done to South Africa in the past and is now advocated by the BDS movement with regard to Israel) is a perfectly justifiable decision.
One of the critics made the inevitable ‘no true Scotsman’ argument and added the incredible claim that Islam “is the most tolerant religion”. One hears this from religious apologists of all stripes (Hindus, Jews, Buddhists, Christians, etc.) who are quick to disown the horrendous violent acts committed in the name of their religion and insist that only some kernel of their religious doctrine that advocates peace and tolerance is the true essence of their religion.
I don’t buy it.
When large numbers of the followers of a religion, and even governments, reveal themselves to be intolerant and even murderous of those who profess other beliefs and assert that they are acting in the name of their religion and thus are the true believers and deserve praise for upholding its highest values, then the religions have to own up to the fact that there is something rotten in their religion that is driving this behavior.
So well done, LeCun!
(Thanks to Jeff at Have Coffee Will Write for alerting me to this and sending me the link.)
There is the word “Image” but there is no image…? What was his response?
Did he say “Free Raif Badawi”? (Who is still in prison for the ‘crime’ of setting up a website and saying god is not real)
Or, at the very least, own up to the fact that their religion does not provide any defense mechanisms against such behavior. I’d even accept that much.
The link that says “responded to them point by point” has a screenshot of the original statement, and screenshots of the responses/counterresponses. I would guess that the original is not publicly accessible?
Anyway, the text of the first screenshot reads as follows:
The page linked to does have a photo of a billboard stating:
LIBERTÉ POUR
RAIF BADAWI
#FreeRaif
Sorry, I just found the link to the original post, which is indeed publicly accessible:
https://www.facebook.com/yann.lecun/posts/10154447935222143
Sorry for the glitch. The post has been updated to show LeCun’s reply.
One of the critics made the inevitable ‘no true Scotsman’ argument and added the incredible claim that Islam “is the most tolerant religion”.
If that was a response to LeCun’s tweet, then it’s pretty stupid. LeCun didn’t mention Islam in that post, at least not directly. His post was about the Saudi regime.
Islam could be all about giving children free ice cream and adopting homeless kittens, but it’s pretty much a fact that Saudi Arabia is governed by some pretty atrocious laws and LeCun is right to call them out for it.
@ Marcus Ranum Nol 2
Yes. The Raif Badawi connection was what led me to the story in the first place.
Cheers,
Jeff Hess
Have Coffee Will Write