The QLog

Happy Birthday, Smiley

Twenty-five years ago today marks the origin of emoticons.

Since tone is subtle and not always easily transmitted through pure text, Carnegie Mellon University Professor Scott E. Fahlman posted the smiley as a solution to signify humor within messages. On September 19, 1982 at 11:44 AM, he suggested the following on an electronic bulletin board:

I propose that the following character sequence for joke markers:     

:-)

Read it sideways.  Actually, it is probably more economical to mark
things that are NOT jokes, given current trends. For this, use   

:-(

Since then, emoticons have become ubiquitous within emails, instant messages, and SMS phone text messages. I would argue that they are almost as important for electronic communication as the colon, exclamation point, period, and perhaps both the adjective and adverb, as they easily denote feelings or irony that might not be detected through textual context alone.

Happy 25th B-Day, Smiley.

Happy Birthday, J.S. Mill

"Ask yourself whether you are happy and you cease to be so."  - J.S. Mill

One of the greatest philosophers of the Nineteenth Century, John Stuart Mill was born on May 20, 1806 in London. Although J.S. Mill studied and wrote on a wide variety of topics, resulting in a number of contributions to several fields, he is probably best well-known for his main addition to the domain of ethics, a small volume entitled Utilitarianism. The essay originally appeared in Fraser's Magazine in 1861, but it was then published as a book in 1863. Mill followed earlier philosophers, especially Bentham and Hume, and posited that the highest principle is that “Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.” In other words, Mill argued that the happiness should be the motivation for human conduct, and actions that maximize happiness (e.g. for the most people, at the highest level, for the longest duration) are the best ones. Mill also explained his idea of utilitarianism this way: “To do as one would be done by, and to love one's neighbour as oneself, constitute the ideal perfection of utilitarian morality.”

One thing I’ve always thought as ironic is that the J.S. Mill is credited with coining the term dystopia in 1868, which made me smile the first time I heard this, since his main concern was with human happiness.

J.S. Mill was also a liberal who advocated strongly for human rights. As he states within On Liberty: "The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant." J.S. Mill was a very early and strong advocate for sexual equality and believed that the oppression of women, half of humanity, was a huge constraint on our progress.

John, Happy 200^th Birthday! Kudos!