If obfuscation were an Olympic sport Shirky would pwn it:
What the Web does is that it does what all amateur increases do, which is it decreases the average quality of what’s available.
He continues:
It is exactly, precisely, the complaint made about the printing press.
Exactly, precisely the same—just six hundred years earlier.
See also: “Laugh now, pay later,” “‘a template for 2012’.”
David Post on Caroline Kennedy:
December 16, 2008
Jerry MacArthur Hultin
President, Polytechnic Institute of New York
Dear Pres. Hultin:
I am writing to inform you that I have decided to offer myself for consideration for the Chaired Professorship in Physics and Chemistry at your distinguished institution. As you are no doubt aware, my father, Benjamin Post (1911–1994), held this position for many years (when the institution was known as “Brooklyn Polytechnic,” or more familiarly, “Brooklyn Poly”) and was an important part of the x-ray crystallography unit that helped establish Poly’s pre-eminence in that field. Though I have chosen a different career path up to this point, I believe that, for many reasons I would be happy to discuss with you in person, the time is now ripe for me to ascend to the position that has been waiting for me, and I for it, all these years. I look forward to working with you and your colleagues as we embark down this new road together.
Sincerely yours,
David G. Post
For other helpful perspectives on American dynasties, click here.
A curious detail in the NYT’s survey of the Madoff malware (“Madoff Scheme Kept Rippling Outward, Across Borders,” 19 Dec ’08):
The only thing that struck the Swiss banker as odd was the bull memorabilia strewn about his office. “It seemed strange for a guy to have all these bulls, little sculptures, paintings of bulls,” he recalled. “I’ve seen offices with bears. This was bulls.”
So is it explicit knowledge (for example, among Swiss bankers) that bears surround themselves with fetishes but bulls don’t? Another anthro dissertation waiting to be written. (See also: “Reduce, reuse, recycle.”)