Links and Stirrings

Arnold Kling juxtaposes a sourpuss interview with David Gelernter in The American Spectator with a quote from my Small Pieces site. Given the Jonathan Katz slashdotting of Small Pieces, I can see the way my book may polarize some discussions, with dyspeptic cynics squaring off against vapid optimists. The important point to remember is that this is not an empirical argument. It’s not even a religious dispute like Macs vs. PCs. It’s more like two different moods encountering one another:

Cynic: “I’m depressed and angry.”
Optimist: “No, I’m not!”

Eric Norlin is feeling the urge to be involved in “the content side of things” and wonders whether others are feeling the same stirrings. Judging from the explosion of “content” in weblogs, I gotta say: Yeah, it’s a trans-hemispheric springtime. Long may it last.

Mike O’Dell sends us to a site about a project he’s involved with. Hint: What might be the opposite of a Segway scooter?

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Telco Pro and Con

David Isenberg has published another issue of his SmartLetter.

Article 1: More states are barring public ownership of telecommunications. This is a bad thing.

Article 2. Dewayne Hendricks and David Reed (an all-star cast!) on packet relay radio as a way to get around the impending 802.11 spectrum mashing.

Article. Mini-Article 3: Steve Talbot on Evil.

This is important stuff even if — especially if — like me you find these issues more than a little confusing. My rule of thumb: Isenberg is right.

Not that George Gilder thinks so. Gilder, the swami of telecosms, goes after the article Isenberg and I wrote together with the subtlety of a velociraptor in a bunny farm. Unfortunately, he’s locked his ideas into his $600/year newsletter so you’ll just have to believe me when I tell you that he’s wrong. (Yo, George, how about publishing the article on your site for free so we can have a decent conversation about it?)

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What Sort of Nothingness Are You?

Here’s my contribution to the ineffably stupid genre of “What sort of …” quizzes: What Type of Nothingness Is the Universe and the Pathetic Bit of It You Call Your Life?

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Unprecedented Humor Attack

Simon Wistow over on the Cluetrain discussion list points us to BigBlueSmoke.com, a site that proclaims: “Sun Launches Web Site Debunking Big Blue Claims.” It attacks its competitor with a ferocity and sense of humor I can’t recall ever before seeing coming from a multi-billion dollar company. (Simon points out that a whois on the domain name does indeed point to Sun.)

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Is the Web Utopia or Switzerland?

In my highly implausible bloggery about the Web as utopia, I wrote:

The Web is a world that is profoundly social. Its geography itself is social, a map of connections and passions. It is thus a world that we’ve made for ourselves that is a reflection of our best nature and a place where can imperfectly perfect our imperfect natures.

Kurt Kurosawa puts his finger on the issue in an email to me:

Nah, it amplifies the powers not only of trolls but True Evil.

There’s a lot of truth to that. In fact, it’s undeniably true. But, ultimately (i.e., indefensibly) I don’t think it’s a neutral technology. It’s an amplifier because it’s connective, and connectedness isn’t neutral.

The real question is: How would we ever settle this issue?

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It’s Like a Metaphor

Kevin Marks’ blog reflects on the analogies the handcuffs-and-copyright crowd are using:

“If someone figured out how to unlock the gas in the gas station, people would be outraged,” Mr. Eisner added. “They wouldn’t say to the oil industry, `You need a different business model.’ ”

If someone worked out how to make gas from water using a chemical reaction, you would expect the oil industry to adopt it instead of passing a law against it so they can continue to spend millions drilling holes in the ground and storing highly explosive chemicals every 10 blocks in our cities.

But Mr. Chernin of the News Corporation suggested that matters might be different if the tables were turned. “Let’s say I decide to broadcast on my network the code for how to make Intel chips or Microsoft software,” he said. “I think they’d find a way to stop it.”

Yes, they’d sue you. They wouldn’t lobby for a law making TV illegal. After all, the code for the Linux Kernel is being broadcast on the radio…

I’ve quoted beyond Fair Use (yeah, so sue me, Kevin!) but it’s just too good…

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Small Pieces Loosely Mischaracterized

This just in from Powell’s Bookstore‘s listing of my book:

Click for full page screen capture