> > http://www.telepolis.de/tp/english/inhalt/co/2839/1.html
> > Felix Stalder, "The End of Privacy as the Triumph of
> > Neoliberalism," 12 May 99
> SO in conclusion, I partly agree with the theme of this article,
> but only to a degree. One can protect ones privacy to a great
> degree and win the war on an individual basis if one is persistent.
> If one is not, and also not aware of the attempts to gain personal
> information, one could be greatly damaged and not even know it.
> This is why I agree with the EU's decision on this issue. It is a
> good big step.
I read Stalder as supporting the EU, so Im not sure where the limit
of your agreement is. In any case its worth pointing out that
collective organizing does not violate the concept of individual rights
to privacy or anything else -- and it may be the only effective
counterweight to the 'pensee unique' of laissez faire capitalism.
===============
> >
> > The Clever advantage is that it gets away from 'most accessed' to at
> > least an approximation of what *others in the field* think are most
> > worthwhile pointing to. In this sense, it's simply building on the
> > recognition that a site's 'favorites' are not just randomly
> > 'interesting' but quite likely to be relevant.
>
> This begs the question, "Relevant compared to what"? Or,
> "what is relevant"?
>
Youre getting into cog psych here! But its not difficult to
diagram, at least:
Start with a 'level of consciousness' we might call Eureka - one
finds what one is looking for. (The *impulse to Look, of course, is
on another level, but immaterial here, except perhaps to set a
direction -- lets call it 'lower,' so that the operations that we can
think about replacing mechanically are 'higher' wrt Eureka.)
If you have a picklist, then, the 'first' thing consc does is to see if
there is a Eureka-level hit. If not, what does it do? Throw up its
hands and go into random mode? No, it looks at the list again as
*categories within which Eureka might exist (think of cascading
menus) or as *correlates to Eureka, which may be analogues, or
similar terminology, or whatever 'famous names' the context offers
as recognizable ways to continue looking. The degree to which
this 'higher' level list fits ones expectations and experience is its
*relevance.
That is, the question is begged only if you take relevance as an
absolute property of What-youre-looking-for, whereas I find it much
more useful as a *relative property of How youre looking for it.
Now, randomness may be better than nothing, which is why even
the simplest search engine seems to produce good results
sometimes, just as opening a book at random may yield valuable
insights. But its not engineering ;-) -- and furthermore, it is not
*necessarily better than nothing, if 'doing nothing' means taking the
moment to think about ('redesign') what youre trying to do, and
'gather your thoughts': that gathering is nothing more than changing
cognitive levels, from 'Eureka has to be here someplace' to 'surely
Eureka has *something to do with the materials I have on hand, no
what is it?
"The significant problems we are facing can *not* be solved at the
same level of thinking we were at when we created them." -- Albert
Einstein
====
Beware of false SEARCH ENGINES, which come to you in sheep's
clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them
by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from
thistles? Even so, every good algorithm bringeth forth good hits; but
a corrupt one bringeth forth fruitless hits. Every tree that bringeth
not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore
by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that pointeth unto
me, URL, URL, shall enter into the bookmarks of heaven; but only
those which hath the script of Java which is in my homepage.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not networked
in thy name? and in thy name have cast out false leads? and in thy
name set many wonderful cookies? And then will I profess unto
them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity and
wasteth my precious time. -- Matthema 7:15-23
