[WikiEN-l] "So fix it." "The next day someone will fix it back."

[Fastfission]

On 4/1/07, Ron Ritzman <ritzman at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 4/1/07, Delirium <delirium at hackish.org> wrote:
>
> > Sorry to say, but in this case it's Hofstadter, not us, who is wrong.
> > His book _Goedel, Escher, Bach_ in particular *has* inspired many
> > students to begin careers in computing and artificial intelligence,
> > whether to not he likes that fact.
>
> I started to wonder about that after my first post in this thread. Is
> it possible that the AI inspiration thing is a phenomenon that
> Hofstadter was unaware of.
>
> > The claim should be better
> > referenced, but that's not too hard to do since there are dozens of
> > prominent researchers who have cited his book as an influence.
>
> But until good citable references are produced, it remains something
> that "everybody just knows" and should stay out of the Article.

And he seems to imply there are other errors too.

In any case, I don't see this as a problem in reference to specific
errors. Whether he's right or they're right or whatever _doesn't
really matter here_.

What's important is this _attitude_ and it is one that is _persistent_
and it is _not entirely unfounded_. And it is why a lot of very smart
people dismiss Wikipedia and would never think of participating even
in a very small way. And in a sense, they're not at all incorrect, in
my view.

FF