Thank you very much for the invitation. I am sorry to have to decline it. As an avowed atheist, I could be considered a terrorist, according to a 2014 public declaration by the Saudi Interior Ministry. I’m sure that there are plenty of closet atheists in Saudi Arabia, and they are probably doing just fine. But as a vocal advocate of atheism and rationalism, and as a humanist and a proponent of human rights (including the rights of women), I cannot accept an invitation from a country that sees me as the enemy.Yann LeCun, Facebook’s director of Artificial Intelligence Research, after receiving an invitation to lecture in Saudi Arabia. Facebook, 5-20-17
https://ffrf.org/images/uploads/fttoday/2017/FT_24_June-July_2017_web.pdf
No comments:
Post a Comment