Word: downrightness
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From the creator of gritty real-life dramas like Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law, the idea seemed downright goofy. Steven Bochco's proposal was to do a TV series set in the White House, in which the affairs of government are seen through the eyes of mice, bugs and other critters roaming around the place. A cartoon, of all things. Network executives, Bochco recalls, greeted his suggestion with all the warmth that Sylvester used to display toward Tweety Pie. "They said, 'What, are you crazy? Take...
First came cordless phones, which made it possible to take all those irritating calls while mowing the lawn or relaxing in the hammock. Before long, cellular phones eliminated the commuter's peace and quiet on the highway. Now, if Motorola has its way, being unreachable is going to be downright impossible...
...deceived by the Coop's three stories of book offerings, and don't be lured in by promises of an ever-diminishing membership rebate. The Coop's selection is utterly unremarkable. Shopping there for anything but textbooks--when there are so many fine bookstores in the Square--is downright criminal...
...ensuing months, he has also found himself under attack. Reason: Penrose's central conclusion is that computers will never think because the laws of nature do not allow it. That angers many artificial-intelligence researchers. M.I.T.'s Marvin Minsky, one of the field's pioneers, is downright hostile. Says he: "Penrose is O.K. when he talks about mathematics, but most of his evidence argues against his conclusions. As far as I can tell, he is just plain wrong." Stanford psychologist and AI researcher David Rumelhart is somewhat milder: "He defines intelligence too narrowly by saying it depends on consciousness...
...fallout has spread across the U.S. Michael Foreman, president of a small Atlanta development firm, has vainly hunted for a year for financing to build suburban homes. Says he: "The banks are not only stingy with their loan money; they are downright unreasonable. I have got no cooperation whatsoever...