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After 244 Years, the End For the Dead Tree Encyclopedia Britannica

Rick Zeman writes "According to the New York Times, it's the end of the road for the printed Encyclopedia Brittanica, saying, '...in recent years, print reference books have been almost completely wiped out by the Internet and its vast spread of resources, particularly Wikipedia, which in 11 years has helped replace the authority of experts with the wisdom of the crowds.' The last print edition will be the 32-volume 2010 edition."

4 of 373 comments (clear)

  1. Bad Joke by Kaenneth · · Score: 5, Funny

    How did the hipster burn his mouth?

    He ate pizza before it was cool.

  2. 12,000 years from now... by ZorinLynx · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Scientists have been wondering why historical records mysteriously ended sometime around the year 2012. It's as if humanity decided to just stop writing things down, and left everything to oral tradition. It's sad that we will never know what happened between then and the eventua downfall of one of the greatest ancient civilizations that ever lived."

  3. Re:Citable by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 5, Funny

    The bottom line is that Wikipedia isn't written by experts, or for the large part by people who have expertise in *any* field, and for topics outside CS and parts of the sciences, it's pretty poor because non-expert "crowds" don't have much judgment. In short-- there's no wisdom in crowds, only amplified ignorance.

    That's simply not true. Wikipedia's articles on manga and anime characters are second to none.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
  4. George Orwell would approve by 517714 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Lacking written records certainly facilitates revisionist history. I just read online that Encyclopedia Britannica stopped putting out printed editions over 25 years ago. So how is this news? ;-)

    --
    The US government have made it clear that we have no inalienable rights; any we do not defend vigorously will be taken.