If these become ubiquitous, we can only hope the advertising people responsible for magink's clown-in-a-garbage-compactor website will not be allowed anywhere near them.
If I go to buy a steak, I shouldn't need to know how to birth a cow, I should just have enough money to pay for the steak, and maybe an understanding of how to use eating utensils.
This is precisely the point of view that he was criticizing. People aren't "stupid" because they're not geeks, people are "stupid" because our society is increasingly discouraging curiousity, exploration, and a gestalt understanding of the world in which we exist.
You're not an "arrogant geek" just because you want to know more about life than what you're told & sold and think that other people should too. I'd say that's the opposite of arrogance; it's holding other people to a higher standard as thinking individuals.
It's common for first worlders to assume that they know better than the democratic governments elected by the people they are trying to help, or even the people themselves. Surprise, intelligence isn't limited to the rich. Poor people are often perfectly capable of evaluating the pros and cons of their own choices.
While I agree with your assessment of his tone, you are mistaken in implying that "poor people" are the ones making the decisions regarding international trade. "Poor people" are not deciding to import the toxic electronic waste of first-world, but they are the ones who will be living and working with it. "The rich" who actually make these decisions will be far, far away.
The poster's analogy should have been something more along the lines of "If you saw an adult feeding nails (or other sharp things) to a child, should you do something about it?" While the comparison may use paternalistic terms, I don't believe that invalidates the analogy.
Slashdot Mirror
could easily argue that 2001 is not an adaptation of Childhood's End
Indeed, because it definitely wasn't. You're thinking of The Sentinel.
(Also, Childhood's End is a novel, not a short story.)
If these become ubiquitous, we can only hope the advertising people responsible for magink's clown-in-a-garbage-compactor website will not be allowed anywhere near them.
If I go to buy a steak, I shouldn't need to know how to birth a cow, I should just have enough money to pay for the steak, and maybe an understanding of how to use eating utensils.
This is precisely the point of view that he was criticizing. People aren't "stupid" because they're not geeks, people are "stupid" because our society is increasingly discouraging curiousity, exploration, and a gestalt understanding of the world in which we exist.
You're not an "arrogant geek" just because you want to know more about life than what you're told & sold and think that other people should too. I'd say that's the opposite of arrogance; it's holding other people to a higher standard as thinking individuals.
In the Ol' Dirty Bastard drug-using sense of the word, yeah, I guess he was. Good call.
Funny, because "pretty clean" isn't really something I'd ever describe PKD as having been.
While I agree with your assessment of his tone, you are mistaken in implying that "poor people" are the ones making the decisions regarding international trade. "Poor people" are not deciding to import the toxic electronic waste of first-world, but they are the ones who will be living and working with it. "The rich" who actually make these decisions will be far, far away.
The poster's analogy should have been something more along the lines of "If you saw an adult feeding nails (or other sharp things) to a child, should you do something about it?" While the comparison may use paternalistic terms, I don't believe that invalidates the analogy.