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That's Sir Tim to You
andrew_j_w writes "British born creator of the web Tim Berners-Lee has finally received his Knighthood from the Queen. It's nice to a pioneer, who certainly not a household name, get such a high honour from the establishment. Hopefully more people will now recognise the great work he did!"
I'm sure someone in your line of ancestry did something bad.
Perhaps we should hold you accountable for that. It's about the same argument you are making here.
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
I don't think he would deny it, in fact I'm sure he wouldn't. I heard him speaking many years ago (must be 10) and he made it very clear then that hypertext certainly wasn't novel and neither was networking,
He said he believed that his main contribution (from my rusty memory) was implementing it in a mark-up language that was so simple that any layman could sling something together quickly (an attribute that has, perhaps been lost over the years) and also providing a simple way for a document on one machine to reference a document on a machine anywhere in the world - again simply.
Of course, Sir Isaac Newton was also knighted for clambering up on tall people.
I don't hold current German citizens responsible for what occured in WWII so I don't think it really matters what the British Empire used to do.
The facts remain, yes the British persecuted a lot of people but they were also the first to realise that you can't go around imposing your way of life on other nations. They kept a lot of local traditions alive when they ruled a country. They were also the first to abolish slavery and were the first to actively hunt down and hang people involved in the slave trade.
Also, taking a British honour in no way makes you part of class system, because he is already British he would already be part of it. Plus, there's a class system in every part of the world, in the US it's based on how much money you have.
Just my 2p.
What he meant, was that he was instrumental in the funding of ARPANET. So, in a sense, you can say that the internet probably wouldn't exist, or at least would have taken longer to come into existence, had it not been for Al Gore.
Yeah, right. If not Arpanet it would've been something else, and we'd still have the internet today. Gore just happened to be in the right place at the right time, nothing more.
And in any event, Gore's still an idiot for saying that in the first place. But then no one ever said the man lacked for ego.
Max
My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
Oh yeah, totally.
What are you talking about?
Sometimes you can get away with having a really annoying handle instead of a sig.
It's not often said, but the British Empire was one of the first to enshrine the rights of man on a global scale. Slavery and all its connotatations came late in the empire's history, and frankly stood against almost everything the empire originally stood for (but by this stage, the money-men had taken over :( There are no noble actions in the enslavement of continents, but let's be clear here - the UK sold slaves from Africa to the USA, nowhere else. To deride the 'empire' for it's failings is to deny the good whilst celebrating the bad about the political system of the time.
.. austere. Tell me the difference between what happened then and what happens now, As far as I can see, it boils down to 'the US allows countries their own government as long as it does not interfere with US foreign policy'. Not too different from 'The UK allows the locals to do their own thing, subject to overall control from the governer'
The empire was a good thing during a time when war was commonplace, it brought stability to areas of conflict, it imposed Pax Britannia in the same way that the USA imposes Pax Americana today - the UK ruled through trade and prosperity within its territories, as opposed to the other colonial powers which tended to be more
If you look at the evolution of the colonies that the UK had, compared to those that the other world powers at the time had, I think you'll see a more liberative and free society within the ex-UK colonies than the others. Even those countries that were our competitors at the time must concede that the model of democratic and fair government by the people of the people has its roots in the UK's parliamentary system. If you doubt me, look it up. See how nepotism and favouritism were rife in the politics of the day. Like it or loathe it, the rule of law was a rule imposed on *all* British subjects, since the Magna Carta enshrined the right of the common man to be treated with the same dignity as the Lord.
This is not to say that the British Empire was inherently good (or bad), you only have to look at 4th July to see most Americans attitude [grin], but consider what the situation would have been if the British sense of 'fair play', (and the system of law that it created), the English language, and the idea of Democracy as a fair form of government were never spread around the globe. This is the legacy of the Empire that you denigrate so tritely. Consider. Would you have done so well in different circumstances ? Consider that seriously for a moment.....
To get back more to the parent post: we (the Brits) honour those who serve more than is typically asked. We give them a title, a mark of distinction, a way of marking them as 'better' than average. If you don't like that, well, that's your privilege. Personally, I think ole Tim deserves every honour he gets. It's a distinction that goes back several hundred years, and I think he stands tall in the company of his peers. Well done Sir Tim.
Simon
Physicists get Hadrons!
You're right of course, Americans do it all the time. Sir Charles of basketball, Queen Latifa, Prince...