[PLUG-TALK] Internet's Long Memory

Russell Senior seniorr at aracnet.com
Tue Feb 10 01:32:51 UTC 2009


>>>>> "glen" == glen e p ropella <gepr at ropella.net> writes:

Russell> Consider the perpetual injustice that transpires when some
Russell> loudmouth famous person gets the credit (because books say he
Russell> said it) instead of the introvert that whispered in his ear
Russell> and was the true genius, but never got any credit at all.
Russell> Maybe just repeating what you've found holds up to reality,
Russell> and skipping credit-giving is a better way to go.  If someone
Russell> cares who gets credit, maybe they should look it up
Russell> themselves?

glen> But "looking it up" assumes that our history books (or at least
glen> some history book somewhere) has the accurate story.  And that's
glen> just not the case.  How much of, say, Einstein's work was
glen> inspired by those around him?  And how much credit do we usually
glen> give to that constellation of people versus how much credit is
glen> accurately described in our history books?

glen> We just don't know the answer to such questions.  And your
glen> answer will differ depending on whose version you "look it up"
glen> in.  So "maybe they should look it up themselves" is not an
glen> adequate solution.  A better solution is for the speaker to make
glen> reasonable attempts to include her sources as she repeats.
glen> After all, who better to know her sources than the speaker
glen> herself?

Ah, and maybe I heard this somewhere ;-), but then the looker-upper
would have the responsibility of establishing the credibility of their
sources, which might be a good locality for that to reside.

Fundamentally, I am just way less interested in the source of the good
idea than in the good idea itself.  Maybe I should start all
conversations with a disclaimer of any personal credit, in case I say
something smart.  Once you find a source of good ideas, naturally
you'll be interested in going back to them.  But whether they are the
original source is less important than that they continue to flow.


-- 
Russell Senior         ``I have nine fingers; you have ten.''
seniorr at aracnet.com



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