Rosalind W. Picard

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Personal Page for Rosalind W. Picard

DISCLAIMER/WARNING: This is a personal page, where ``anything goes.''

To learn more about my professional life, you probably want my Home Page or the Affective Computing Group pages.

Here is a Tribute to My Parents on their 50th Wedding Anniversary - what a wonderful occasion!

I'll answer your personal questions here as time permits. What do you want to know? - Rosalind W. Picard ("rwpicard" followed by same address as my assistant's in the sidebar)

I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details. - Albert Einstein

Could I get a copy of your talk ``Toward Machines That Can Deny Their Maker?"

This was an invited guest lecture for the controversial MIT Course "God and Computers." In the talk I described how affective computing technology can lead to machines with various emotion-like mechanisms, and while I have a lot of publications on that topic, I did not write up that part of the talk (sorry). I did write out the part of the dialogue between two machines that deny their maker.

How about something specific about why you like the book of Philippians? [Note: This is a question from the previous version of my web page when I followed our group's template of listing birthplace (Boston) sample interests (Diving with sharks, camel riding, swinging from airplane wings, kitchen chemistry), a favorite book (Philippians) and "Most wishes to have dinner with" (The year 3000's new Media Lab students). The book always got the most questions.]

Please note when it comes to the Bible I am a user, not a developer, so my reply here is personal. In contrast, a Bible scholar might discuss one of the most important doctrinal passages, e.g., the self-emptying of Christ, Phil. 2:5-8.)

I would like my daughter ... to be as curious about things as you are...Please tell me ... what major factors contributed to your attaining ...

This question comes from "hopeful father" in Washington. It raises an issue I've long puzzled over and think is important: "curious" is a great quality for kids, but "curious old man" implies that the person is ... well ... odd. On the other hand, we're all born naturally curious, and it's great fun to try to keep it up for a lifetime. I think more people need encouragement to be curious!

What's the hardest test your faith has been subjected to? (If this is too personal for you to answer, I can think of others.)

This is not too personal. Here's what comes to mind first, including comments about my former atheism and how scientists sometimes make assumptions that are unscientific.

Are you single? If so, I ...

No, I'm married to Len Picard. Happily since 1988.

Will you talk about "intellectual evidence for Christianity?"

I was asked to give a 15 minute informal talk to MIT students on this, as part of an evening presentation by four MIT faculty, "Professors Who Believe." The approximate text is here .

Christianity is for the educated as well as for the uneducated. While it can be understood by the simplest child, it also offers profound mystery to engage the deepest intellectual thinker. Both the present and the past are full of Christians who were thoughtful about their faith and made tremendous contributions to society. Here are some famous scientists and artists who were Christians.

Here is the approximate text of a talk about Sir Isaac Newton and his Christian faith, I gave as part of The Faith of Great Scientists lecture series held at MIT .

Here is the approximate text of a talk on ``Human and Machine Dignity'' given April 30, 1998, at the Conference on Identity, Formation, and Dignity held at MIT, Cambridge MA.

Do not the Christians teach that knowledge is the death of us?

Of course not: here is a short answer from the authoritative source of Christian teaching.

By the way, if people would actually read the Bible (both Jewish and Christian parts), it would prevent a lot of misconceptions. (Similarly for the Qur'an, etc.)