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stxopher · 11-28-2006, 04:33 PM

Talking with some friends last night about the new e-ink book readers (and taking a lot of ribbing for being a gadget hound because I actually went against my normal advice and picked up a first gen item). Of course it got around to P-books, e-books and the pros/cons of each.

One thing that did come up (and was touched on here just a few messages ago) was that ebooks use digital data that can be reloaded on demand so why keep them around at all when done? You can always just get the latest when you need it.

Reason NOT to just get the latest version? Because it IS the latest version. The latest version with any and all the changes made for correctness, convenience, expedience, revisions, or embarrassment. Because just because something is available NOW does not mean that it will stay available years down the road.

The landscape of what is popularly acceptable changes. Sometimes slowly, sometimes rapidly but always it changes. It's part of the way society is. If it doesn't change, it stagnates and eventually dies. The problem is that society is made of people (which also shows the truth to the adage that "A person is smart. People are dumb.") which can make some pretty silly judgment calls. (Such as, oh, editing old cartoons because it could make todays kids violent psychopaths determined to run off cliffs and chew dynamite.)

Some things could become unavailable due to a "correction" of history or policy. Even now people are still trying to rewrite the American Civil War and Watergate because it doesn't agree with their world view. Not content with presenting their side they seek to make it the official one and say all others are wrong (all the while forgetting that history is not one view but myriad views) and should be discarded, forgotten or "unavailable". One of the things holding actions like this in check is a solid basis of what was said, seen and thought before. (Pbooks are excellent in this regard and have security and authority that ebooks with their transient and malleable nature do not have.)

Shoot, when you think about it, digital packrats could be the modern day equivalent of medieval Irish monks sitting around in their little beehive huts. Except with better lighting. And cable. (You know they would have had it if they could have. Medieval monks would have been big fans of home shopping and the Discovery channels.)

11-28-2006, 04:33 PM	#26
stxopher Nameless Being	Talking with some friends last night about the new e-ink book readers (and taking a lot of ribbing for being a gadget hound because I actually went against my normal advice and picked up a first gen item). Of course it got around to P-books, e-books and the pros/cons of each. One thing that did come up (and was touched on here just a few messages ago) was that ebooks use digital data that can be reloaded on demand so why keep them around at all when done? You can always just get the latest when you need it. Reason NOT to just get the latest version? Because it IS the latest version. The latest version with any and all the changes made for correctness, convenience, expedience, revisions, or embarrassment. Because just because something is available NOW does not mean that it will stay available years down the road. The landscape of what is popularly acceptable changes. Sometimes slowly, sometimes rapidly but always it changes. It's part of the way society is. If it doesn't change, it stagnates and eventually dies. The problem is that society is made of people (which also shows the truth to the adage that "A person is smart. People are dumb.") which can make some pretty silly judgment calls. (Such as, oh, editing old cartoons because it could make todays kids violent psychopaths determined to run off cliffs and chew dynamite.) Some things could become unavailable due to a "correction" of history or policy. Even now people are still trying to rewrite the American Civil War and Watergate because it doesn't agree with their world view. Not content with presenting their side they seek to make it the official one and say all others are wrong (all the while forgetting that history is not one view but myriad views) and should be discarded, forgotten or "unavailable". One of the things holding actions like this in check is a solid basis of what was said, seen and thought before. (Pbooks are excellent in this regard and have security and authority that ebooks with their transient and malleable nature do not have.) Shoot, when you think about it, digital packrats could be the modern day equivalent of medieval Irish monks sitting around in their little beehive huts. Except with better lighting. And cable. (You know they would have had it if they could have. Medieval monks would have been big fans of home shopping and the Discovery channels.)