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THOUGHTSPACE

                                                           ~1993
I think that Jerry Mander underestimates
the importance of computers on the human
intellectual environment... they don't                     See:
just "help writers" crank out fluff...
automated literature searches are                          MILCOMP
becoming common, dwellers in places like
the usenet are confronted with at least a
crude form of intellectual debate, a
number of public domain texts are
becoming available via ftp so the texts          (Apr  3, 2004:
themselves can be analyzed by keyword             Heh: "available via ftp".
searches, and so on.                              I wonder when this was
                                                  written, eh...? A guess:
I have hopes that someday all of this             1993/4.)
activity will lead up to the Grand
Hypertext (that is to say, all
information in the world accessible in a
computerized, easily indexed form),
perhaps using PAX (Public Access Xanadu)
as designed by Ted Nelson himself.             HYPER

This Sierra Club book by Mander is an
example of a nasty problem I hope Xanadu
may be able to solve.  It was published
in 1991, but from skimming through this
excerpt it looks like a collection of
urban myths, half truths, and perhaps an
occasional good point.  It doesn't matter
that half or more of these notions have
been rigorously disproved, the memes are
still out there replicating and spreading
faster than the anti-memes can catch up
to them...  The hope is that in a more
hypertextual world, links would form
faster between arguments and refutations,
speeding up the resolution of public
technical debates like this.

Just to make it clear what I'm talking
about, here are my picks for "obvious"
myths, half truths, and good points:

Myths:

(1) Nuclear energy is                      NUKE
dangerous.

(2) Nuclear waste must be
guarded for 250,000 years.

(3) Nuclear energy is
expensive.

(4) "Workers and the general
population are being exposed
to the most deadly chemicals
that have ever been
synthesized."

(5) VDT radiation causes
"fatigue, eye strain,
migraines, cataracts".  And
miscarriages.

(6) Workers don't benefit
from technical advance under
capitalism.

(7) Computerization increases
unemployment.

Half-truths:
(1) Solar energy
is completely decentralized.
(what about semiconductor fab
lines?  Or pipe
manufacturing?)
(2) Solar
energy is clean
(manufacturing photocells is
no cleaner than any other
semiconductor process).

(3) Semiconductors are a dirty
technology (certainly it used
to be, to some extent.  I
think it's much cleaner now,
for example they use lower
quantities of solvents, and
safer ones where possible.)

(4) Centralization always
leads to autocracy.

(5) Military applications are
evil.

Good points:

(1) Technology isn't neutral.

(2) The consequences of
computerization are worth
thinking about.

(Now I bet you'd like me to support my claims with some good
references, right?  I wish I could give them to without
spending a year on it.  That's what Xanadu is all about.)

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