Re: Henry Spencer - Any Word?

On Mar 12, 7:30 am, Wallace Wright <wwri...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Tue, Mar 11, 2008 at 07:49:14AM -0700, Eric Chomko wrote:
I haven't been taken in by 'Guth' any more than you have.  If you think he
is content free, that indicates that you aren't paying attention -- which
is a different matter.

Not even content free but more at malcontent in every sense of the
word!

Brad is a disinformationist and you're a dupe.

If it makes you happy to believe that I am a dupe then who am I to argue
the point?

It does not make me happy that you are a dupe.

This is not to say that I plan on spending any time worrying about where
Brad and friends come from.  There are too many better contenders for my
attentions.  It's a shame really:  they aren't quite annoying enough to
provoke a decisive response from the general Usenet population, yet they
are successfully disruptive if such is their aim.

It is an easy matter to separate the good with the bad on USENET. Most
of the time USENET is pure entertainment and every once in awhile you
learn something.

Usenet is very entertaining to be sure, but I could not even begin to
imagine what you mean by "pure entertainment".  In some ways it is like a
glacial train-wreck in comparison to what might be if it were not for the
the Tragedy of the Commons.  I have seen a number of designated
rec.reational newsgroups and even most of them are moribund in the usual
sort of petty squabbling over old ground while trolls endlessly orbit the
periphery.  Most technical and political newsgroups, which perhaps should
be places where serious discussion may occur, are too often occupied by
people who for one reason or another are unwilling to suffer organization
and the free exchange of ideas unless it is on their terms exclusively, as
well as all sorts of people posessing different degrees of competence on
the nominal subject matter.

Without a "world government" strong enough and flexible enough to bring to
bear force upon those who seek to damage the commons, for whatever reason
and with whatever means, it seems as though there is little that can be
done except to tune out the defectors as much as the technology permits.  I
anticipate that the political sophistication of elected officials, and
hence the efficacy of their governing, will rise greatly when the current
generation ages and matures into positions of power and influence, but that
is easily thirty or forty years away.  Nevertheless, perhaps it is possible
to speculate on what future politicians and lawmakers will make of Usenet
in particular and the Internet in general.

As long as the First Amendment is present you shouldn't worry.

Now there's a statement.  Son, I absolutely rely on the strength of the
Constitution.  It is a good document protecting our freedoms and will
undoubtably outlive both you and I.  Nevertheless in this age of modern
technology it is showing its age, hence my opinion above.

Do you have anything constructive to add?


You mean like proposeing a manned flight to Venus to find Guth's
aliens?
.

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