Re: Chomsky on Microsoft, Monopolies and the Internet

Ron Resnick (resnick@interlog.com)
Wed, 13 May 1998 11:09:14 -0400


Joseph M. Reagle Jr. wrote:
>
> "The question is to what extent parasites like Microsoft should be parasites
> off the public system, or should be granted any rights at all." Always
> interesting to read, can't say I agree with his world view.
>

Yeah, I'd agree with that assessment. I find him inspirational
enough a thinker that, while we certainly didn't name our
second son Noam Resnick *for* Chomsky, Chomsky did indeed provide
the inspiration for associating the name 'Noam' with the kind of
attributes we were looking for in a name, at the time.
("Noam", in Hebrew, derives from 'Naeem', meaning 'pleasant',
which we also liked -
something modern, non-biblical, and with positive connotations.)

On the other hand, claptrap like:
> AT&T was a monopoly for a time, that's why it could create
>things like the transistor, for example.

is simply ridiculous. AT&T's monopoly allowed Bell Labs
(Shockley, Bardeen,etc.) to invent the transistor??

How can people be so smart and so stupid all at the same time?

Question applied reflexively too - I wasted hours today
on stuff like that moronic spam....

Ron