I think you'd have to say "does not" rather than "did not." Don Knuth is Luthera... | Hacker News

Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit

		tjr on July 23, 2008 \| parent \| context \| favorite \| on: Ask YC: Are you religous? I think you'd have to say "does not" rather than "did not." Don Knuth is Lutheran, and has done some of the most excellent academic work of anyone alive today. Guy Steele holds Christian beliefs of some sort, and his work has been extremely influential in the programming world. Just two examples off the top of my head, but I think enough to keep the verb in the present tense. We would be remiss to claim that religious beliefs imply academic stupidity. We would also be remiss to claim that lack of religious beliefs imply academic stupidity.

mattmaroon on July 23, 2008 [–]

Depends on the field. To my knowledge, no religious beliefs conflict with any work being done in computer science. (Maybe some AI or something.)

On the other hand, certain very commonly held beliefs would totally hinder work in biology or possibly physics.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact