Life in the Network

I am always amused when someone chimes in and claims that the latest piece of technology or amazing concept will ultimately produce a negative effect on the world. My favorite claim that I heard lately was from an arrogant Economics student that claimed that the rise in the price of corn that has resulted from ethanol production is BAD, ever so BAD.

Instead of being happy for struggling farmers because they can make more money because of the increased demand for corn, they rattle off some doomsday statement that it will be a bad thing because it will raise the price of feed. What the doomsday Economics student didn't take time to notice was that the byproduct of the ethanol product can be used as feed. So negative. Also, what happened to their mantra that says that the market will adjust and reach equilibrium by itself?

Anyway, I think that some of Jaron Lanier's assertions about Wikipedia fall into that same vein. He claims that the Wikipedia concept is a form of "new online collectivism" (Lanier). If I understood this correctly, Lanier is claiming that Wikipedia is some new form of socialism?? I think that this is a bit far fetched. I imagine that when Lanier refers to "...the idea that the collective is all-wise", he is stating that people think the information on the Wikipedia website is the consensus of the world (Lanier). Even though information on the website may contradict the knowledge scholars and the official records, we must believer it because it is what the consensus wishes. I'm afraid I can't agree with Lanier.

I personally think that Wikipedia is very interesting because people can contribute to Wikipedia information that they deem important. Two different people can provide information on a topic like baseball. Both can provide correct, unique information that they feel to be important. This (I hope) will compliment the information that was already there. It's exciting to think that experts around the world can pool their knowledge in an effort to create a well detailed description. I know that the information that's posted on Wikipedia might not be 100% reliable, but I find that the information that's posted usually seems to be well written. As I've stated on this Blog before, Wikipedia can act as a useful starting point when doing research. You just have to make sure that the information that you find is correct. That's good old fact checking!

I enjoyed editing a post on Wikipedia. I looked up a subject that I had written a paper on, the WWII German battleship called the Bismarck. I read through the posting and found an area that needed a little more information. I added information about the English Swordfish airplanes that played a crucial role in stopping the gigantic battleship from wreaking havoc on the Atlantic. I felt that the posting did not pay enough homage to the Swordfish and their pilots. These planes were World War I era planes that were being used to try and sink one of the largest, most modern battleships of the time. They had half the top speed of the modern fighter planes of that time. I felt that this was a very important piece of information that had been omitted.

Here is the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_battleship_Bismarck#The_Chase

I just checked the posting and it looks like my addition has been removed. I'm not sure why, I think that it added some much needed information. It showed the irony that a powerful battleship had been disabled by an ancient biplane.

Here's the post after my addition, and before it was wrongly changed back. (I say this in good humor)

"At dusk that evening, and in atrocious weather conditions, Swordfish aircraft from the Ark Royal launched an attack. These World War I era biplanes had a top speed of only 200 knots which was half of what more modern fighter planes could achieve. The first wave mistakenly targeted the Sheffield that was by now shadowing the quarry. Although precious time was lost by this incident, it proved beneficial to the British in that the magnetic detonators on the torpedoes used against Sheffield were seen to be defective and for the following attack on Bismarck were replaced by those designed to explode on contact. In a final attack, almost in darkness at around 21.00, a "miracle" hit by a single torpedo (launched by pilot John Moffat's plane) jammed Bismarck's rudder and steering gear. This rendered her virtually unmanoeuvrable, able only to steam in a large circle in the general direction of King George V and Rodney, two frontline battleships that had been pursuing Bismarck from the west. The largest and most powerful warship yet commissioned had now been rendered a sitting-duck by a single aircraft. After extensive efforts to free the jammed rudders, the fleet command finally acknowledged their by-now impossible position in several messages to naval headquarters. Lütjens promised that the ship would fight until its last shell was spent" (Wikipedia).

Oh well, I can always try again ha ha...