William Gibson: no more Vietnams
Posted on 14.10.04 at 16:58 CET
As noted in many places, William Gibson is blogging again. I’m adding to the collective linking hysteria for one simple reason: his latest post really merits reading.
2 comments
Oli, I agree with a lot of what you say albeit with a touch of frustration removed but putting all American people into the same basket is also a display of ignorance (I am Belgian, btw).
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I am sorry but I strongly disagree with this post. Despite being unclear as to what Mr. Gibson exactly meant, one thing seems certain: American people display an amazing degree of crass ignorance. Really?
During the 2000 election a good portion of the electorate didn’t bother. It’s probable that they couldn’t tell the difference between Palmolive-Colgate-Gore and Procter & Gamble-Bush. And instead they went fishing. Can’t really blame them, can we? Then the majority of those who did bother to vote actually voted for ... Al Gore! Surprising for ignorant people, whom we are told cannot tell what’s in their best interest.
But then Mr. Gibson was smitten by some guy who could put asymmetric and amorphous in the same sentence. And who told him that we’re now safe because research is guided by a book written in ... 1963! Oh whoa, thank you, I feel indeed much safer. And even if it had been written last week, what would be the difference? None. A paradigm for Thomas Kuhn is merely a model that gives birth to certain particular and coherent traditions of scientific research. They have always existed and have always guided research in the natural sciences. Kuhn never spoke of the social “sciences”. There, indeed, it is more appropriate to talk about schools of thoughts, or competing paradigms if you stretch the definition of paradigms a little. Anyway, Mr. Gibson had in front of him what universities produce best: a parrot. They can repeat difficult words without the slightest understanding of what those words actually mean. Only the gullibles and naives are impressed. And that’s precisely the aim of “techno-speech”, to give a sense of superiority to those who produce it, and to silence opposition by making the other side feel ignorant and guilty, even, or especially, when there’s nothing to be understood.
“asymmetric … amorphous … kuhnian paradigms ... if the mist in your eyes is not gone now, please consult your physician, you’ve got an eye problem ;-)