On November 17 2007 12:43 nA.Inky wrote:
Micronesia: that is the idea, but who are the experts that decide what is true and what is not? Are they unbiased? Can they be trusted? Much of what is accepted as common knowledge is wrong, or at least questionable. Take fluoride in the drinking water, for example. Many countries won't put fluoride in their water, because they know it is poison, even at 1 ppb (or is it ppm? anyway..) But here in the US, we accept it as not only safe, but good. Is it? The experts (the ADA) say so... who is right? Who do you trust?
In embracing rational thinking, it is easy to think that we are somehow different than all the cultures and societies that came before. They were full of priesthoods and mythical, superstitious thinking, but we see clearly. We know truth. But how can you be sure? How is it that we can be any more sure of this ultimate foundation of knowledge than any other culture? After all, all we know is what we see, and what we see is filtered through culture and preconceptions. Our professors and scientists and experts are just part of a new priesthood, and modern science is just a new kind of ritual behavior. Does that mean modern authorities are wrong? No. It does mean that they aren't universally right. Things have to make sense on their own terms within your own mind.
Again, this is why I really don't bother much with citing sources, so in that regard, whether he is using wikipedia or some other encyclopedia, my feeling is that the piece would be better without citations, but that is a style difference, for me.
Essentially you are putting two things in the same category, even though that's much more ridiculous than trusting in the world's most respectable professionals. On the one hand there's the people whose job it is to make sure that encyclopedic articles are valid, and their references are equally if not more valid. On the other hand there's wikipedia where the only people checking to make sure the references are valid are... anyone in the entire world. That, in combination with some wikipedia volunteers, often results in nice articles, but the former source is still preferable.
EPT
