Michael S. Hart
Internet User ~100
Definitely Amateur
Inventor of eBooks
Project Gutenberg,
& World eBook Fair
Only Professionals Should Be Trusted
That’s the main message of “The Cult Of The Amateur.”
Of course, as soon as one even looks at the structure of this thought it becomes obviously a circular point in an argument whose logic is from the circular file.
The author wants us only to pay attention only to him and his cohorts. . .if he were in a different field a similar argument would be coming from him concerning, and recommending trusting, only members of that field to which his success belongs.
Since he is a failed Internet entrepreneur he has the emotionally childish obligation to denigrate Internet activities at large, and those that compete with this new and more successful field of his in particular.
While he discounts everything not written via certain professional standards of publishing, a fact checking department, a professional editing staff, etc., words appear in this book that obviously should have been a casualty to such professionalism. You can look for a few minutes yourself, or you can take the word of the pre-eminent Harvard, Stanford, and Supreme Court face of Larry Lessig, by clicking here.
Of course, if you have read my previous comments that have appeared concerning Mr. Lessig, Esq., you may be able to understand just how well Lessig’s comments do as a perfect fit in this case.
However, Lessig does a great job of parodying this to the point of showing how The Cult of the Amateur is a great parody of itself, poking holes in both the fact and process errors that could have been spotted to be corrected by the professionals at Doubleday.
If this were a blackjack game, Lessig doubles down at this point increase his winnings.
I won’t even begin to go into the list of corrections Lessig suggests, other than to point out it is a long list, complete with page references, pointing out the errors from an astoundingly simple difference between “appropriation” and “misappropriation” along with the expected mistakes in misquoting or misparaphrasing an assortment of Lessig’s legalism that obviously should been run by someone who actually understands terms of Lessig’s profession.
In addition Lessig takes their mathematics to task on multiple occasions concerning some 20 billion dollars in piracy claims for an industry total of [you got it right] less than $20 billion, not to mention percents misused and unlabeled as to how big a percentage will fall into which category.
Lessig winds up this section, and we are only a third of the way through by now, with a correction of those differences between denotative and connotative words, and quotes The Oxford English Dictionary, amateurs in all respects, yet professionals in all respects, when using the proper denotative context, and we are left, as it were, with a realization that “amateur” in this context is simple schoolyard name calling.
By the way, the remaining two thirds are already some comments by Lessig’s readers, perhaps he will add the comments I have made here.
It will be interested to see how Lessig’s invitations to others to help create a wiki listing of the errors comes out, but it’s really not needed as Lessig’s bat has already taken “Cult of the Amateur,” out of range of even the best fielders Doubleday can provide after the barn door has finally been closed, but the horses have already escaped.
What’s the famous quote about not even fastest of all horses can bring back words once spoken?
Of course, Doubleday, with the wisdom of publishing’s finest traditions, will decide that the profitability of creating a new buzz phrase and a potential of this becoming a million seller was well worth the dents in their professional reputation, and will say it was an entirely conscious decision to leave unedited comment after comment that should have been excised if not an editor’s nightmare of how to straighted in out.
What this is, in reality, is the start of a gang war, but started by those who are supposed to decry such a gang war mentality, and Doubleday is showing attitude in a gang war sense here, and it makes you wonder for a while whether the outcome of this gang war, should, somehow, this should actually become a big enough war to engage the population, will be as they expected.
The results, Doubleday and the publishing industry at large are hoping, will be that people stop reading on the Internet and go back to reading publisher’s rants and raves, without question, simply because publisher public relations people SAY to trust publishers.
Conclusion
So, we are now back to the same circular arguments as we saw at the start of this conversation. . . .
- You should trust the publishers because they are just that. . .the publishers.
- You should not trust anyone else.
- No one should trust anyone who is not a publisher.
- No one should be trusted by you.
- You should be trusted by no one.
This is the same argument as is made by noise machine proponents the world round for all history.
If. . .we muddy the waters enough. . .no one will see the truth. . .no matter how many people point out the emperor has no clothes.
PS. I wrote all this originally in LYNX, which cannot do the recaptcha, I resent being forced to GUI-Land. I also resent that after “preview” is used recapcha, in all its spendor and glory, is reused. While I do as much, or more, for eBooks as the average person, I resent being FORCED to. . .not to mention that if an ENTER key is hit after the recaptcah, another one is forced upon me, each and every time. . .it never has simply said, “Thank you, please proceed.”
Thank You!!!
Give the world eBooks in 2007!!!
July 4 to Aug 4 go to WorldebookFair.com 720,000 free eBooks, 110,000 commercial eBooks 8230,000 total eBook files available
Michael S. Hart
Founder
Project Gutenberg
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Blog at http://hart.pglaf.org