Myhill's message

[Brian MacWhinney]

Like others on FunkNet, I did not parse Myhill's message as an "optimistic
anticipation of our colleague's death."  However, I can see that it could be
interpreted in this way.  Perhaps we should wait until the end of the weekend
and allow John to clarify his position.

As my colleague Herb Simon would say, at 71, Chomsky is still a young man.
Herb, who received the Nobel Prize in Economics back in his 40s, is now about
85 and is producing as much high quality intellectual output as ever.  He
comes in to work and teach everyday and seems to have no interest in ever
really retiring.  He is a great role model and a great thinker.

I think we should also recognize the fact that the Chomskyan program will
outlive the man.  If we believe that there are reasonable alternatives to
Chomsky's ideas, let's get on with the work of constructing them.

--Brian MacWhinney