From: Dave Long (dl@silcom.com)
Date: Thu Feb 01 2001 - 11:02:46 PST
> The timing and politicised delivery marginalizes the message. How the message
> is delivered is nearly as important as the message itself.
I believe part of what that message says is that
we need to evaluate arguments by holding them up
against logic and the world before checking them
against our personal beliefs.
Delivery may be very important to you, now, but
as a written and stored message, there will be
a time when readers can evaluate the message on
its own internal argument, independently of the
hazards of context.
Much of why I enjoy classical authors is because
even though they died without having experienced
candy cigarettes or home milk delivery in metal
cans right from the dairy [0], a large amount of
what they had to say is still relevant. We've
had a great deal of change in material culture,
but not really much of one in social culture.
[RifA]:
> FoRK is a trail in hyperspace. Weblogs are trails in hyperspace. Heck,
> usenet posts and mailing list emails are trails in hyperspace since most
> of those contain URLs now too.
Heck, literary culture is trails in hyperspace,
if one is willing to accept noun phrases as links
and sequences of argument as trails. URLs just
make things easier. [1] A substantial benefit of
rational inquiry is that it provides form to our
trailblazing, so trails go somewhere instead of
meandering about around the ratholes. [2] [3]
-Dave
> How the hell can anyone be expected to
> make an 'informed' decisions with shit for sources?
There are at least two ways:
1/ If the sources are decoherently shitty
(Mr. Stewart's left, right, and center),
some signal ought to be extractable.
2/ Go back closer to primary sources. In
the case of media (why do they call it
a medium? orpnhfr vg'f arvgure ener abe
jryy qbar) which carry content mostly
to avoid glaring whitespace or static
between ad spots, "source" is a highly
optimistic term.
In short, trust more in putting one's rational
effort in, instead of attempting to take it out.
The free life is not supposed to be a glorified
television channel.
:: :: :: :: ::
[0] That last one might be stretching a bit. I'm
willing to guess whatever dairy delivery they
had, metal was probably too expensive for all
but the ostentatious.
[RifA] - Adam Rifkin, 11 Jan 2001
"[TimBL on the Web's Future, Apr 1999] So, what comes next?"
<http://www.xent.com/dec00/0615.html>
[1] Come to think of it, literacy merely makes it
easier as well -- no doubt there are trails in
oral traditions too, but they tend to wash out
and 404, so we're not as aware of them.
[2] Check out Bacon's _Great Instauration_ for an
appeal to rationality, an early extropianism,
and an influence on the starting scientists.
[3] or at least space-fill around the ratholes,
even if they never make much progress away :-)
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