Well, the librarians were by no means the only ones. From the
mid-twentieth century on, the major advances in computing were
missed. misread, mis-evaluated, mis-accommodated, and mis-exploited.
I do not claim to be much better blessed with foresight than most;
nor yet with 20/20 hindsight, so don't read this as coming with a
superior sneer, nor yet an inferior one, but most applications to
major IT and comms advances are analogous to using the internal
combustion engine to brandish the buggy whip.
The social dynamics of innovation are fascinating in their wasteful
teleological inadequacy, and in their paradoxical Darwinian
effectiveness, which rapidly is dissipated in the triviality of
their application.
Frankly, I am more and more unsure of what is happening. Humanity
had better be heading for a order-of-magnitude leap, or the first
social insect that achieves conscious intellect and effectual
teleology will make mincemeat of us. Read Wells' "Empire of the
Ants". In his creativity and thoughtfulness he still is the
definitive leader in the history of science fiction.
For all the good that did anyone...
But he still makes good reading, which is more than you can say for
most!
On 2011/01/05 00:47 AM, Bowerbird@aol.com wrote:
librarians were their own worst
enemies...
it's so easy to cast the blame elsewhere, but
the truth is they shot themselves in the foot,
then the leg, then the torso, then the heart...
-bowerbird
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