My refusal to make the Pledge of Allegiance

Video URL

You must be registered to use this feature. Sign in or register.

Falling victim to a racial attack

RELATED STORIES

My refusal to make the Pledge of Allegiance

W Daniel Hillis Scientist

	Views	Duration
61. A terrible chemistry teacher	117	02:18
62. My refusal to make the Pledge of Allegiance	107	01:03
63. Falling victim to a racial attack	111	03:31
64. Standing up for my attacker in court	98	03:05
65. How I became a hero in the black neighbourhood	99	04:18
66. Arrested and wrongfully jailed	93	03:35
67. I felt that school wasted my time	123	02:33
68. The worst teacher I ever had	122	01:33
69. Getting into arguments with the teacher	98	02:11
70. Mrs Wilner, our remarkable librarian	110	04:03

Comments (0) Please sign in or register to add comments

So for instance, one thing is that because of the protest against the Vietnam War I refused to say the pledge to the flag. And the principal would call me in and tell me he would expel me, I was like, fine, expel me. I have the right to... You know, it doesn't mean anything if you're forced to say it. And he said, 'You know, sometimes the FBI comes by and asks me about people, and if they ever ask me about you I'll tell them that you wouldn't say the...' I was like, 'Fine, you do that.'

And in fact, years later when I was on some commission appointed by the president to do something they were doing a security check on me and they said, 'Is there anybody who will say anything bad about you?' And I said, 'Yes, actually, you can go back and talk to my high school principal and he'll tell you how unpatriotic I am.'

W Daniel Hillis (b. 1956) is an American inventor, scientist, author and engineer. While doing his doctoral work at MIT under artificial intelligence pioneer, Marvin Minsky, he invented the concept of parallel computers, that is now the basis for most supercomputers. He also co-founded the famous parallel computing company, Thinking Machines, in 1983 which marked a new era in computing. In 1996, Hillis left MIT for California, where he spent time leading Disney’s Imagineers. He developed new technologies and business strategies for Disney's theme parks, television, motion pictures, Internet and consumer product businesses. More recently, Hillis co-founded an engineering and design company, Applied Minds, and several start-ups, among them Applied Proteomics in San Diego, MetaWeb Technologies (acquired by Google) in San Francisco, and his current passion, Applied Invention in Cambridge, MA, which 'partners with clients to create innovative products and services'. He holds over 100 US patents, covering parallel computers, disk arrays, forgery prevention methods, and various electronic and mechanical devices (including a 10,000-year mechanical clock), and has recently moved into working on problems in medicine. In recognition of his work Hillis has won many awards, including the Dan David Prize.

Title: My refusal to make the Pledge of Allegiance

Listeners: Christopher Sykes George Dyson

Christopher Sykes is an independent documentary producer who has made a number of films about science and scientists for BBC TV, Channel Four, and PBS.

Tags: clash, Pledge of Allegiance, flag, high school, FBI, principal, patriotism

Duration: 1 minute, 3 seconds

Date story recorded: October 2016

Date story went live: 08 August 2017