The company says it was a difficult decision, but is this “sickening” or just a piece of “life-goes-on” normality ?
Paddling Logs
Already the 3rd week of 2010 and I’ve still read only a smattering of the responses to the 2010 Edge Question “How has the internet changed the way you think ?”
This George Dyson response is a good one.
We used to be kayak builders, collecting all available fragments of information to assemble the framework that kept us afloat. Now, we have to learn to become dugout-canoe builders, discarding unneccessary information to reveal the shape of knowledge hidden within.
I was a hardened kayak builder, trained to collect every available stick. I resent having to learn the new skills. But those who don’t will be left paddling logs, not canoes.
Too true. More needs to be less.
And in fact that is a recurring theme. Dawkins concludes net gain, TBL for the Nobel Peace Prize even, after bemoaning the anonymized rubbish that pads out the web. For Dave Morin, context is more important than the content; Nassim Taleb, the degradation of knowledge … Kevin Kelly
My certainty about anything has decreased. Rather than importing authority, I am reduced to creating my own certainty ” not just about things I care about ” but about anything I touch, including areas about which I can’t possibly have any direct knowledge . That means that in general I assume more and more that what I know is wrong. We might consider this state perfect for science but it also means that I am more likely to have my mind changed for incorrect reasons. Nonetheless, the embrace of uncertainty is one way my thinking has changed.
More likely to have one’s mind changed for the wrong reasons. The mimetic risk – ideas that stick because they are “sticky” not because they are any good.
The State of Anfield
Reading did do really well, some great team defending such that Liverpool had few actual chances. But, something’s not right at Liverpool FC. One unfortunate injury time goal each way, but a cracker from Gunnarsson and Long in extra time. For Liverpool, another season with no trophy, and Rafa under further pressure.
Interesting that both Torres and Gerrard were substituted early “because they asked to be and therefore he had to do it” ? Where is the fight ?
“Thousands” Dead
Wow, this looks like a major trajedy in Haiti.
Strange
Only yesterday I read this same story in Hitchen’s God Is Not Great from 2006.
Question for Doug
Who’s right, Gødel or Hofstadter ?
Is this self-description complete and consistent ?
I vote for Hofstadter’s strange loops.
Google would be mad …
… if they literally do “pull out” of the worlds most important economy, but it sends a powerful message. Standby for the fall out.
RIP Mick Green
Official Mick Green Site.
Mick Green on Wikipedia.
PS And talking of Mick Green ….
here with Dave Gilmour, Paul McCartney and Ian Paice courtesy of YouTube
Emperor’s New Transparency
Post from John Udell on an interview with Larry Lessig about his New Republic essay Against Transparency. John says …
We don’t really want naked transparency, we want transparency clothed in context. The Net can be an engine for context assembly, a wonderful phrase I picked up years ago from Jack Ozzie and echoed in several essays. But it can also be a context destroyer.
Exactly. Too much access to too much information can destroy meaningful context.
BTW – liked this Software Carpentry post from John too.
And unconnected, but wanted to capture this link from Johnnie Moore on the complexity of organizations.
“Organisations are not things but patterns of interactions between people”.
Maybe we need to spend less time trying to find the levers of power and more time noticing the more subtle ways in which we interact with and influence those around us.
Understanding patterns of value.
Maybe she really is …
… dumber than she looks after all ? I live in hope of a double bluff.
It’s wonderful to be part of a place that so values fair and balanced news. [Sarah Palin on joining Fox]