[...][review] Center for Information-Development Management « Too Big to Know[...]…

Too Big to Know will be on my list of top books for the year. Thanks for writing it, even if it’s a bit thin on hyperlinks :-)

Jarvis’ review was splendid.

When speaking, I often state, “I store my knowledge in my network.”

I’ll add that info to the home page. Thanks for the reminder!

However, just for the futility of it – this is really quite a misreading of the Internet technodeterminist opposition, where I count myself. It’s conflated physical and political effects. For example (note positions deliberately exaggerated for effect):

1) Automobile evangelist – “Automobiles subvert hierarchy, our world is being democratically disrupted at the touch of an engine. The mobility and personal linkage these new autos create will usher in a new era of freedom, against that old authoritarian legacy horse-bound society.”

2) Automobile anti-determinist – “Governments and police can use automobiles too. The army can even buy heavy vehicles for suppressing rebellions”.

3) _The Cripples_ author – “Using automobiles turns everyone into cripples, since they no longer walk as much as they once did. Kids today, those spoiled brats who are “driven” everywhere, may eventually be unable to walk entirely”.

The argument of #3 (whether true or false) is not the sort of “determinism” at issue between #1 and #2.