Beware Men With Sticks

By Robin Hanson · May 31, 2011 9:00 am · Comments (15) · ·

menwithsticks
Credit: Tom Munnecke

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  • This was the last thing the photographer ever saw.

  • Bryan Caplan

    Yet another way your em will fall short of the real you.

  • Dan

    Wow when did your hair turn gray? Last time I saw you in person it was still brown.

  • Wonks Anonymous

    Is there a backstory here?

    Surprising as it sounds, U.S per capita health costs have not been rising faster than other nations. It just started growing from a higher level.
    http://www.samefacts.com/2011/05/health-care/in-the-long-run-we-are-all-sick/

  • Steve Burrows

    Good thing it doesn’t appear pointed.

  • burger flipper

    whether anyone saws your head off or not, this one pretty much guarantees you’ll live forever:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/munnecket/5767263714/in/set-72157626697908963

  • Dave

    He is obviously using a dowsing stick and has found the great filter.

  • Robert Koslover

    You need a bigger stick.

  • Aron

    This is actually a picture of him in freefall. He went too far out on a limb.

    • kebko

      +1. Ha!

  • Anonymous

    What was this for?

  • Clarity1992

    Lol n00b you’re holding it backwards.

  • mjgeddes

    Beware men who keep SAIs (Super Artificial Intelligences) in their trousers.

  • Billy Blake

    Look at that grin… Robin is The Joker! (incidentally the other Robin really did become The Joker in Frank Millers Dark Knight Returns, but that’s another post…)

  • I took the photo in question, and since I used a telephoto setting, I can assure you that I’m still alive.

    The backstory to this image is that I enjoy taking portraits of interesting people I meet. This started when I had long talks with both Steve Jobs and Bill Gates in 1977-78 time frame, and took some photos. http://www.flickr.com/photos/munnecket/143884778/in/set-72157623641134054/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/munnecket/5126901467/in/set-72157623641134054/ Bill and I argued about how to write his Basic interpreter: He wanted the programmer to define everything in advance, and I was arguing to delay these definitions until they were actually needed. (In computer science terms, this is called early vs. late binding). Bill was an early binder, while Steve was a late binder. I’ve since shot David Brin http://www.flickr.com/photos/munnecket/4441949754 and Vernor Vinge http://www.flickr.com/photos/munnecket/4441156185 and have come to realize that they are future-binders.

    I was at GMU last week tilting windmills (trying to reform healthcare with an innovative IT architecture), and so I snuck out for a lunch and portrait session with Robin. I asked him to do something creative, so we ended up by the trees with Robin grabbing sticks and handling them pretty much the same as my 1- and 3-year old grandsons do. I’ll let the reader interpret this as they wish.

    In retrospect, if Bill is an early binder, Steve a late binder, and David and Vernor future binders, then I think I have to classify Robin as an unbound.