So, more thoughts on what I wrote about last night on Paul Otlet’s Mundaneum: It seems to me what he is saying is that we need to have an intelligent, world-wide, civil, open-minded, and focused discussion, especially focused, without the diversions and digressions and discussions of mundane events which so often derail discussions of this kind, on precisely how we can solve the great problems of the world, how can we house all the homeless, feed all the hungry, educate the children, enable the elderly, end income inequality, clean the air, clean the water, reverse global warming and establish a society in which all people may prosper.
It would be a hell of a job moderating the son of a bitch, though, because so few of the comments made, no matter what the subject, fit the criteria. There’s a lot of hooray for our side, might as well have just clicked the like button, type comments, and that isn’t really what’s going to be helpful in deciding which of the possible future energy sources we’re looking at will be the most viable. There are a lot of box quotes from somebody famous, or just some funny witticism that’s going around the internet, but framed in a little box because that makes it look more important. There is the great wall of cats. There are the trolls (but there are so very few really great ones). There are the weak spellers. There are the name callers.
And then there are the logical fallacies. Hoo-boy. Strawman arguments, ad hominem attacks, all of the moving the goal post arguments like no true Scotsman and Texas Sharpshooter, false equivalence, guilt by association, false premises, and, I’m sure, many many more.
So, it wouldn’t be easy, but it could be done.
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