On 7/19/07, Charlotte Webb
<charlottethewebb(a)gmail.com> wrote:
None of this surprises me at all, though it would
be nice if I could
actually do something about it. Anyway I'm curious what the "first
coming of hell" would have been, looking at the subject line.
Printed encyclopedias, which suffered limited distribution compared
to what a free encyclopedia can do, and have ultimately been a scam
to charge for what is common knowledge through various sources.
The less free we become, the more hellish it will get.
That last statement has dimensions that go well beyond what we are
trying to do.
You're judging the printed encyclopedias too harshly, and applying
to-day's standards to a great step forward of the 18th century.
What has changed is the means of production. The economic model that
supported the 18th century encyclopedists and provided a healthy living
for their heirs is no longer tenable.
Ec