Dennis Prager was musing about history in his most recent interview. He shared a popular joke of Russian dissidents under the old Soviet Union: “We know the future, but the past is always changing.”
I've often thought about this, Gordon. On the one hand, the decentralization of information (in particular when it comes to storage) seems like it would be a strength... but then, if people are lulled into a false sense of security regarding its permanence and inviolability, and they fail to guard it, does it not then become more susceptible to Orwellian rewrites, such as we're seeing with Wiki?
The new problem with the Digital Age: The past just ain't what it used to be!
Perhaps blockchains help mitigate this problem? What say our crypto experts?
I don't know what other solutions there may be, but personally, I have a large library of physical books. Not as easily or quickly searchable, but definitely beyond the reach of editors whose task is to correct the past.
Agreed. An old Oxford English dictionary is also handy. Besides, browsing shelves sagging under the heft of dusty books is infinitely more inspirational than swiping across an iPad...
I'm always glad to have you put these things into words. Being especially busy in everyday life, I have not even thought of your reasoning here. Thanks for the refreshing new information and how well you articulate this to us. I'm glad the assassin was unsuccessful and was stopped before carrying out his plan. We never do know what reaction comes from the action, until it does. I enjoyed this article very much. Thanks!
Krugmans predictions were remarkably accurate if you just bet the other side.
Westmoreland spent most of Vietnam trying to fight Korea. He failed to grasp that it wasn't about the dirt. It was about the people. His replacement had a much better grasp of the situation and the path to success but was undercut by the calendar and a level of impatience noted by General Giap.
I still haven't figured out GWB. He clearly didn't want the job and proved to be less than the position required. He won election by not being the other guy on the menu.
The thing I think you have to remember about the newsies is that they all want a check. Eating is a habit and from grade school on we all tend to eat with the smart ones...the ones who agree with us. Each group of them and their network KNOWS who turns on their brand of news filtering and, given that eating thing, they toe the line.
Joel, this essay reminds me of the quote from Milan Kundera:
“Man proceeds in the fog. But when he looks back to judge people of the past, he sees no fog on their path. From his present, which was their faraway future, their path looks perfectly clear to him…Looking back, he sees the path…sees their mistakes, but not the fog.”
Well stated. Now, in basic-man (of which I unabashedly am) language, a fancy way of saying, Hindsight is 20/20…lol
I thought the Guardian quote about Archduke Franz Ferdinand was a joke and then realized it wasn’t. It doesn’t matter how wrong people may be, we all like to make an ‘informed’ prediction once in a while. Some just are more wrong, as in wildly off the mark, than others. And it is nice to take the victory lap when you get it right, am I wrong? :)
The opening salvo of the article reminded me of the somewhat dim-bulbed pseudo-economist Paul Krugman (who gives witch doctors a bad name) discussing the potential impact of the internet, as he said, "In a few years, we'll find that the internet had as much impact as the fax machine."
In the list of early 20th century murdered vagabonds (or whom some people would call "world leaders"), we could also possibly include Theodore Roosevelt, who was almost murdered during his presidency, but had the foresight to stick his long speech papers in his breast pocket, which provided a thick enough padding to stop a potential assassin's bullet. But it could make sense not to include it, since he didn't die from it.
‘But he is only being carried along by the movement of the boat itself.’ That sums it up perfectly. Well done.
Dennis Prager was musing about history in his most recent interview. He shared a popular joke of Russian dissidents under the old Soviet Union: “We know the future, but the past is always changing.”
Sounds like Wikipedia!
I've often thought about this, Gordon. On the one hand, the decentralization of information (in particular when it comes to storage) seems like it would be a strength... but then, if people are lulled into a false sense of security regarding its permanence and inviolability, and they fail to guard it, does it not then become more susceptible to Orwellian rewrites, such as we're seeing with Wiki?
The new problem with the Digital Age: The past just ain't what it used to be!
Perhaps blockchains help mitigate this problem? What say our crypto experts?
I don't know what other solutions there may be, but personally, I have a large library of physical books. Not as easily or quickly searchable, but definitely beyond the reach of editors whose task is to correct the past.
Agreed. An old Oxford English dictionary is also handy. Besides, browsing shelves sagging under the heft of dusty books is infinitely more inspirational than swiping across an iPad...
In 1845 Edgar Allen Poe wrote, "Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see." That is how to mitigate this problem.
I'm always glad to have you put these things into words. Being especially busy in everyday life, I have not even thought of your reasoning here. Thanks for the refreshing new information and how well you articulate this to us. I'm glad the assassin was unsuccessful and was stopped before carrying out his plan. We never do know what reaction comes from the action, until it does. I enjoyed this article very much. Thanks!
Krugmans predictions were remarkably accurate if you just bet the other side.
Westmoreland spent most of Vietnam trying to fight Korea. He failed to grasp that it wasn't about the dirt. It was about the people. His replacement had a much better grasp of the situation and the path to success but was undercut by the calendar and a level of impatience noted by General Giap.
I still haven't figured out GWB. He clearly didn't want the job and proved to be less than the position required. He won election by not being the other guy on the menu.
The thing I think you have to remember about the newsies is that they all want a check. Eating is a habit and from grade school on we all tend to eat with the smart ones...the ones who agree with us. Each group of them and their network KNOWS who turns on their brand of news filtering and, given that eating thing, they toe the line.
Indeed, Krugman does have an unenviable track record as a contrarian indicator.
Joel, this essay reminds me of the quote from Milan Kundera:
“Man proceeds in the fog. But when he looks back to judge people of the past, he sees no fog on their path. From his present, which was their faraway future, their path looks perfectly clear to him…Looking back, he sees the path…sees their mistakes, but not the fog.”
Well stated. Now, in basic-man (of which I unabashedly am) language, a fancy way of saying, Hindsight is 20/20…lol
Thats the second time in the past few days someone has mentioned Kundera to me. Must take note!
Great quote. And if I recall Ludwig Von Mises called Fisher on his exuberant market high and timed the collapse ironically to the month.
I think I recall that, too
I thought the Guardian quote about Archduke Franz Ferdinand was a joke and then realized it wasn’t. It doesn’t matter how wrong people may be, we all like to make an ‘informed’ prediction once in a while. Some just are more wrong, as in wildly off the mark, than others. And it is nice to take the victory lap when you get it right, am I wrong? :)
The opening salvo of the article reminded me of the somewhat dim-bulbed pseudo-economist Paul Krugman (who gives witch doctors a bad name) discussing the potential impact of the internet, as he said, "In a few years, we'll find that the internet had as much impact as the fax machine."
In the list of early 20th century murdered vagabonds (or whom some people would call "world leaders"), we could also possibly include Theodore Roosevelt, who was almost murdered during his presidency, but had the foresight to stick his long speech papers in his breast pocket, which provided a thick enough padding to stop a potential assassin's bullet. But it could make sense not to include it, since he didn't die from it.
G'day Joel,
I enjoy reading you articles, and have done since Bonner times.
When you finish a sentence with a colon: I would have thought that it would be followed with a quote.
I believe that you are living in a better that us with only clowns to govern us.
cheers
Chris Lake
The ride, presently, is indeed interesting and confounding.