The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation As a Basis for Social Policy

Thomas Sowell

	The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation As a Basis for Social Policy
	Published: 01 June, 1996
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	Author: Thomas Sowell

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The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation As a Basis for Social Policy

Nonprofit Distributes File Sharing Propaganda to 50,000 U.S. Students

A nonprofit legal organization whose mission is to foster an understanding of the U.S. court system, has distributed 50,000 leaflets to students that erroneously say peer-to-peer file sharing of copyrighted music is a crime, with a maximum two-year sentence and $25,000 fine. The National Center for State Courts tells Wired.com that the purpose of the literature, which is propaganda at its finest, is "to educate kids." <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=c4b4738787d5158f2e4227d522824a50"><img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=c4b4738787d5158f2e4227d522824a50"/></a> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=c4b4738787d5158f2e4227d522824a50" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~a/wired/culture?a=q4xw4a"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~a/wired/culture?i=q4xw4a" border="0"></img></a><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=ros2RK"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=ros2RK" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=CCWZyk"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=CCWZyk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=uoFHok"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=uoFHok" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=E74HPK"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=E74HPK" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/culture/~4/371376753" height="1" width="1"/>

Earthquake-Proof a Wine Cellar

A good Napa wine is priceless, but a Napa earthquake can potentially crush your wine collection like a grape. The nature of storing glass bottles suggests natural disaster undertones. It's an oenophiliac's nightmare. With a little DIY preparation, you can prevent a disaster by earthquake-proofing your wine cellar. <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=854d7058d1b769e57fe87adfd54cba6c" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=854d7058d1b769e57fe87adfd54cba6c" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~a/wired/culture?a=vIGhaN"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~a/wired/culture?i=vIGhaN" border="0"></img></a><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=cM5oVK"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=cM5oVK" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=Q8QtGk"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=Q8QtGk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=x7yMKk"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=x7yMKk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=Nc28hK"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=Nc28hK" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/culture/~4/371299676" height="1" width="1"/>

'Strange and Stranger' Salutes Spider-Man Artist Steve Ditko

A new coffee-table book gives the reclusive comics legend his due. <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=de78c7f3b7995d54a492e815f74dfffb" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=de78c7f3b7995d54a492e815f74dfffb" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~a/wired/culture?a=CHeQu4"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~a/wired/culture?i=CHeQu4" border="0"></img></a><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=nuGSXK"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=nuGSXK" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=Mydhwk"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=Mydhwk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=MSNCek"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=MSNCek" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=WDBdHK"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=WDBdHK" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/culture/~4/371274775" height="1" width="1"/>

Review: <cite>Fashioning Technology</cite> Explains Knitting, LEDs

The latest book from O'Reilly and <cite>Make Magazine</cite> explores the fertile intersection of crafting and hardware hacking: Think knitting, plus circuit boards and LEDs. <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=5affd9efe5f214b0d170c3a68b10f9d0" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=5affd9efe5f214b0d170c3a68b10f9d0" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~a/wired/culture?a=U5p0Rl"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~a/wired/culture?i=U5p0Rl" border="0"></img></a><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=zsdc7K"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=zsdc7K" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=Oxgauk"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=Oxgauk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=5vi0Hk"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=5vi0Hk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=R0LxiK"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=R0LxiK" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/culture/~4/370446835" height="1" width="1"/>

Alt Text: 'World of Warcraft' Masters In-Game Bribery

<cite>World of Warcraft</cite> has announced a new "Recruit-a-Friend" initiative, designed to rope in those few people who still talk to their spouses and significant others after 8 p.m. instead of beating pretend demons with sparkly weapons. The deal is this: If a current player can convince someone to sign on for a two-month tour of fantasy duty, they get a free zhevra mount. I should explain a couple of those words for the sweet innocents who have managed to avoid the tawdry, painted <cite>World of Warcraft.</cite> <div id="lorepodcast"><img src="http://www.wired.com/images/commentary/lorepodcasttall.jpg" /> <h1>Alt Text Podcast</h1> Download audio files and subscribe to the <a href="http://rss.sonibyte.com/rssfeed/wired/20.xml">Alt Text podcast</a>. </div> First: zhevra. A zhevra is a zebra with a horn. Like a unicorn, but a zebra. That's kind of a theme with <cite>Warcraft:</cite> Take a normal animal, paste on an extra body part or two, and give it a fantasy name. A zebra with a horn is a zhevra, a crocodile with six legs is a crocolisk, a two-headed buzzard is a bonestripper. There's some fantasy precedent for this, but I'm going to be disappointed if the upcoming <cite>Warcraft</cite> expansion has me fighting three-eyed yaks (yakaboos) and nine-armed octopi (nonopi, or possibly octoplarghs). As for the mount part, characters in <cite>Warcraft</cite> can learn to ride an animal, but not until level 30. Starting characters might be able to conjure fireballs or summon a demon, but put them in front of a horse and it's like integral calculus to a sleepy stoat. "Horse, huh. How does this work? You ... I go on top of it? Like above it? And it moves? I'm not ... screw it, I'll walk." Once characters reach level 30, though, they're not limited to horses. Depending on your character's race and reputation, you might end up riding a wolf, a ram, a dorky-looking bird, a dorky-looking mechanical bird, an elephant (sorry, elekk) or something even stranger. Get enough <cite>Warcraft</cite> characters together on their mounts and it's like <cite>I Ran the Circus</cite> without the Three-Snarper-Harp. So, to sum up: If you get one of your friends to shell out for two months of <cite>Warcraft,</cite> your character will get to ride a completely cosmetic zebra with a horn instead of whatever it's riding now. It's a sign of <cite>Warcraft</cite>'s unrelenting brain-grip that this is incredibly compelling. <cite>World of Warcraft</cite>'s developers have mastered the unholy art of in-game bribery. They have discovered that players will do any number of stupid, tedious things in order to earn perks that have no effect on the game. Just this week I've been fighting in battlegrounds -- special areas where armies clash and 12-year-olds question each other's sexuality -- over and over just for a chance to win a tiny little flying dragon. This dragon doesn't fight on my behalf or give me powers or anything. He just follows me around. In real life I try to avoid being tailed by parasitic flying creatures, but in the game I seek it out, even though I hate battlegrounds. And really, what does my little dragon tell the other people in the game? The same thing it tells you -- I spent too much time playing <cite>Warcraft.</cite> This isn't so bad, mostly because the other players spend too much time playing <cite>Warcraft</cite> as well. The zhevra mount, however, tells people: "Not only do I spend too much time playing <cite>Warcraft,</cite> I hassle those with enough wisdom to avoid it." It's sort of like helping out a drug baron, except at least drug mules generally get some cash out of the deal. This is as if someone said: "Hey, if you board a plane with this condom full of cocaine stashed someplace unmentionable, I'll give you a stylish cravat." I can only hope that this will serve as a cautionary tale to those who, unlike me, have managed to resist the massively multiplayer siren song that <cite>Warcraft</cite> continues to sing. But if it doesn't, and you decide to sign up for the game anyway, let me know. Those zhevra mounts are pretty boss. - - - Born helpless, nude and unable to provide for himself, Lore Sjöberg eventually overcame these handicaps to be thankful that at least they didn't call it a zebracorn. <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=40399b74ec0ce22e8b42c4363ec62b85" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=40399b74ec0ce22e8b42c4363ec62b85" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~a/wired/culture?a=InDaFc"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~a/wired/culture?i=InDaFc" border="0"></img></a><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=iC4e0K"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=iC4e0K" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=lRfFIk"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=lRfFIk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=5YxdXk"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=5YxdXk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=uNNx5K"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=uNNx5K" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/culture/~4/369508083" height="1" width="1"/>

Playa Posh: Luxury Living at Burning Man

If you plan to not only survive but thrive in the harsh environment of Burning Man, you'd be well-advised to rise above your REI tent. Luxury living on the playa requires relaxing in the heat of the day and staying warm on cold nights. You've got to be able to transport the structure in and out of Black Rock City, Nevada -- the temporary city that rises out of the desert each year during the mammoth art festival -- and assemble it in unpredictable conditions. It must be able to survive brutal dust storms that can arrive without warning and last for hours. Last year, I discovered some clever options for living large on the playa without leaving a big footprint. Though all three solutions were rather low-tech, none would be accessible to Burners without the internet or open source. <h3>Hexayurt</h3> Originally designed as refugee housing, a Hexayurt can be built for $200 from fire-safe insulation boards and industrial tape. The <a href="http://hexayurt.com/">Hexayurt Project</a> follows a free and open source model; plans can be downloaded at the project's website. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cIcuhF2urFo&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cIcuhF2urFo&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> I visited two of these innovative shelters last year at Burning Man. One belonged to Lindsey Darby, a 21-year-old college student and co-designer on the Hexayurt Project. The other belonged to Kevin Price, a 47-year-old computer technician from Mesa, Arizona, who said he discovered Hexayurts two weeks before Burning Man. "I was thinking of all the ways the tent would be awful. I went right to it: no prototype." He bought all the parts, cut them in his driveway and assembled them on the playa. Inside, both Darby's and Price's Hexayurts were spacious, quiet and cooler than expected in the hot afternoon sun. According to Darby, her fold-up Hexayurt took only 30 minutes to assemble on the playa, and its impressive <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-value_(insulation)">R-value</a> allowed her to sleep later than her neighbors. "I've always stayed in a Hexayurt on the playa, never in a tent, so I've always been able to stay in bed until 10 or 11 [a.m.]," she said. "But I did notice that I was always the last one up!" Vinay Gupta, the Hexayurt's inventor, said: "It's like having an entire extra day at Burning Man. You can go to bed at 3 or 4 in the morning, get up at noon, and you're still human at the end of the week."  <h3>Indian Desert Tent</h3> After a decade of camping in tents and borrowed camper trailers, San Francisco burner John "Jocko" Magadini decided to treat himself to a little bit of luxury in Black Rock City. Though the camper -- with its stove, running water and cushy seating -- was comfortable, Magadini said it left him feeling "not as one with the playa." "I felt a bit removed and also maybe a little bit common because so many people do that," he said. Following an extensive online search for tents of all sorts, he stumbled across an <a href=http://www.indiantents.com/general-service-tents.html#desert>Indian Desert Tent</a>. It cost just under $1,000 for the tent, and another $500 for shipping, which took six weeks. "They told me it would take a little over an hour [to set up], and one person could do it," said Magadini. "It took two people and three hours. But once I got it up, I couldn't believe it. It was so absolutely bomber." Made of heavy-duty cotton canvas and lined with printed sheeting, the yurt-shaped tent repels water and wind and has plenty of room inside for guest seating, Magadini's queen-size inflatable bed and a full rack of costumes. Plus, it stood up to Burning Man's rugged environment. "After a week and a half and many dust storms, there was close to no dust inside," he said. <h3>Playatech Furniture</h3> Arthur "Sunshine Dreamer" Zwern, a 48-year-old entrepreneur and inventor from San Jose, California, got tired of seeing so many sofas going into the landfill after Burning Man, yet his wife, "Glimmer," said she wanted extra seating on the playa. So he designed a line of DIY "period furniture" made from 4-foot-by-8-foot sheets of plywood. Plans for cutting the plywood to build a <a href="http://www.playatech.com/index.php?deptName=04Radical%20Seating&prodDesc=09Precarichair">Precarichair</a>, a <a href="http://www.playatech.com/index.php?deptName=03Bare%20Necessities&prodDesc=03Ploset">Ploset</a>, a <a href="http://www.playatech.com/index.php?deptName=03Bare%20Necessities&prodDesc=06Plantry">Plantry</a>, <a href="http://www.playatech.com/index.php?deptName=05Rapid%20Entertainment&prodDesc=05Plykea%20Shelves">Plykea Shelves</a> and many more Black Rock essentials are available at <a href="http://www.playatech.com">Playatech</a> for a small donation, which benefits <a href="http://blackrockarts.org/">Black Rock Arts Foundation</a>. Once cut, Playatech furniture requires no tools or hardware for assembly and can be stacked flat for transport before and after use. "If you have to rebuild everything again each year, it gets a little tedious," said Zwern. "We burn a little bit of our furniture each year, as it wears out," he admitted. Describing both the Hexayurt and Playatech, he said: "We wanted to develop the technology to build a city in a week, with no infrastructure, and with two to three natural disasters a week." He insists his furniture is sturdy enough to dance on and to have sex on -- perhaps the next most important qualities in Black Rock City. <h3>Bonus: Five Items a Burner Can't Live Without</h3> <li>1) Glow: Being seen at night is the best way to avoid getting crushed by an art car or T-boned by another biker. Bring enough glow sticks for you and your bike to wear several pieces each evening. Better yet, get battery-powered EL wire and reuse it every night.</li> <li>2) Bicycle: You can't drive on the playa, and there's never an art car when you need one. So gussy up your bike and bring it along. The more elaborately it's decorated, the less likely it is to get lost. </li> <li>3) Dust mask and goggles: Fierce dust storms are the norm at Burning Man. These <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5806216&section_id=5479845">Steampunk goggles</a> from the Neverwas Haul crew look cool, but standard-issue eye protection from Home Depot will do the job. Carry goggles and a scarf or dust mask, and be ready to put them on at a moment's notice.</li> <li>4) Earplugs: The party never stops at Burning Man, but sometimes you'll wish it would. Earplugs actually make it possible to sleep, for a few hours at least.</li> <li>5) Water: No water is provided at Burning Man. Bring all you'll need to drink, bathe, cook and wash dishes: an estimated 1.5 gallons of water per person per day.</li></ol> <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=93f20fda623415931cdd0675ff12d418"><img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=93f20fda623415931cdd0675ff12d418"/></a> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=93f20fda623415931cdd0675ff12d418" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~a/wired/culture?a=Q3XF7q"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~a/wired/culture?i=Q3XF7q" border="0"></img></a><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=G0xWbK"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=G0xWbK" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=MPXmlk"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=MPXmlk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=OZkmXk"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=OZkmXk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=Pyg9CK"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=Pyg9CK" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/culture/~4/369491818" height="1" width="1"/>

Burners Gear Up for Playa Adventure

From beaded bras to glowing furry outfits, Burning Man attendees load up on outrageous (and sometimes practical) fashions and paraphernalia at Prepare for the Playa. <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=95e6707cf27fd85c34e97c1451969a27" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=95e6707cf27fd85c34e97c1451969a27" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~a/wired/culture?a=lyKuid"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~a/wired/culture?i=lyKuid" border="0"></img></a><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=njtuNK"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=njtuNK" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=fcJwUk"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=fcJwUk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=MYit9k"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=MYit9k" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=KnuobK"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=KnuobK" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/culture/~4/369355431" height="1" width="1"/>

The Critics Need a Reboot. The Internet Hasn't Led Us Into a New Dark Age.

When in doubt, blame the latest technology. Socrates thought the advent of writing would wreak havoc on the powers of the mind. Christian theologians denounced the printing press as the work of the devil. The invention of the telephone was supposed to make letter-writing extinct, and the arrival of the train — and later the car and plane — was going to be the death of community. Now comes a technological bogeyman for the 21st century, this one responsible for a supposed sharp uptick in American shallowness and credulity: the Internet and its digital spawn. Witness the wave of books and essays implicating the wired world in a sudden rise in uncritical thinking and attention deficits. In a recent <cite>Atlantic Monthly</cite> cover story, Nicholas Carr asks: "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" (A: No, but it makes a handy scapegoat for an inability to cope with information overload.) Lee Siegel's <cite>Against the Machine: Being Human in the Age of the Electronic Mob</cite> suggests that the Web makes us both moronic and narcissistic (not that a moron can be expected to know what a narcissist is). Maggie Jackson's <cite>Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age</cite> is a tiresome indictment of multitasking. And in <cite>The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30)</cite>, Mark Bauerlein delivers a grim assessment of the state of young minds, rattling off statistics about faltering education and using such figures to buttress his assertion that the Internet, videogames, and IMs all serve to numb and dumb. To be sure, there is plenty of evidence that ignorance and irrationalism are rampant. Pernicious fallacies have found a purchase among educated people who ought to know better: Vaccines cause autism, Saddam Hussein was behind the attacks of 9/11, power lines give you cancer, cell phones kill honeybees, and global warming is a scam orchestrated by tree-hugging liberals. Yes, it must be acknowledged that the Web provides remarkably easy access to such bogus ideas. On top of that, there's the human tendency to seek out information that supports preexisting assumptions, a behavior psychologists have dubbed homophily. The Web magnifies this echo-chamber effect. But the latest crop of curmudgeons fail to acknowledge that there is not much new in this parade of the preposterous. The US has a long and colorful history of being taken in by the erroneous and irrational: Salem witches, the "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast, phrenology, and eugenics are just a few choice examples. The truth is that Americans often approach information — online and off — with a particular mindset. "Antirational junk thought has gained social respectability in the United States during the past half century," notes Susan Jacoby in <cite>The Age of American Unreason</cite>. "It has proved resistant to the vast expansion of scientific knowledge that has taken place during the same period." Jacoby argues that long-standing American values like rugged individualism and the need to question authority have metastasized into reflexive anti-intellectualism and disdain for "eggheads," "elites," and pretty much anyone who might be described as credentialed. This cancerous irrationalism isn't pretty, but it isn't technology's fault, either. On the contrary: The explosion of knowledge represented by the Internet and abetted by all sorts of digital technologies makes us more productive and gives us the opportunity to become smarter, not dumber. Think of Wikipedia and its emergent spinoffs, like Wiktionary. Imperfect as they may be, the collective brainpower contained within these kinds of sites — and the hunger for learning and accurate information they represent — is something human history has never known before. (Even <cite>Encyclopedia Britannica</cite> will soon be accepting user contributions.) Or consider the Public Library of Science: By breaking the publishing industry's choke hold on the circulation of scientific information, this powerful online resource arms scientists and the masses alike with the same data, accelerating new discoveries and breakthroughs. Not exactly the kind of effect one would expect from a technology that's threatening to turn us into philistines. It's naive to think that the digital age will magically remedy stupidity. We need better schools as well as a renewed commitment to reason and scientific rigor so that people can distinguish knowledge from garbage. The Web is not an obstacle in this project. It's an unparalleled tool for generating, finding, and sharing sound information. What's moronic is to assume that it hurts us more than it helps. David Wolman (<a href="http://www.davidwolman.com">davidwolman.com</a>) wrote about new ways of viewing autism in Wired issue 16.03. <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=eaf93b046a460c660403a781a67fea12" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=eaf93b046a460c660403a781a67fea12" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~a/wired/culture?a=cjSJca"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~a/wired/culture?i=cjSJca" border="0"></img></a><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=zwiutK"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=zwiutK" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=fkE1Xk"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=fkE1Xk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=qZdJCk"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=qZdJCk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=IeVrvK"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=IeVrvK" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/culture/~4/368693324" height="1" width="1"/>

Gallery: Daguerre to Be Different!

<img src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/08/gallery_daguerreotype/johnson_untitled_t.jpg'></img>: Image: George H. Johnson, 1853/Courtesy Oakland Museum of CaliforniaThe daguerreotype process had a relatively short commercial life span of about two decades. A major reason was that innovators capitalized on "France's gift to the world" and started improving the process immediately. Better emulsions and better developing and fixing solutions improved image quality and reduced exposure times. Replacing the metal matrix for the emulsions with glass-plate negatives -- and eventually celluloid -- and printing the images on paper all helped shape more than a century of film photography. But the sudden <a href="http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/08/dayintech_0819">release of the previously secret process</a> created a worldwide mania for having one's image "done." This was especially true in the United States, as you can see in the following examples. <h3>California Fireman</h3> Daguerreotypes were objects of pride, so the subjects usually posed in their finest clothes, whether their Sunday best or uniforms. The image was fixed on a polished metal surface, which was usually covered with a thin plate of glass for protection and enclosed in a frame or case. This relatively large example occupies a full, standard-size daguerreotype plate, 9 by 7 inches. Although the names of the subject might be lost (because everyone knew it was Uncle Albert), the photographer's name often appeared in a corner of the plate or on the frame or case. <img src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/08/gallery_daguerreotype/baker_native_californian_t.jpg'></img>: Image: Isaac Wallace Baker, circa 1853/Courtesy Oakland Museum of CaliforniaMore typical was a sixth-plate daguerreotype, occupying one-sixth of a standard plate, or 3.25 x 3.25 inches. Exposure time could be several minutes, and it's hard to hold a smile for that long, so photographers usually instructed subjects to hold their mouths in a flat, noncommittal mien. If you think these folks look uncomfortable (or worse), you try sitting like that, unflinching, for two minutes. <img src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/08/gallery_daguerreotype/baker_portrait_chinese_man_t.jpg'></img>: Image: Isaac Wallace Baker, circa 1853/Courtesy Oakland Museum of CaliforniaThis sixth-plate image (3.25 by 3.25 inches) had a more elaborate case, and the subject appears proud of his queue. <img src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/08/gallery_daguerreotype/Shew_Seven_Men_t.jpg'></img>: Image: Attributed to William Shew, circa 1853/Courtesy Oakland MuseumWhether this was some sort of fraternal group, merchants' association or just gentleman songsters off on a spree, we know naught. It would be hard to make out the tiny faces in a sixth-plate, so this group portrait was exposed on a half-plate, 6 by 4.75 inches. <img src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/08/gallery_daguerreotype/jemison_t.jpg'></img>: Image: Unidentified photographer, between 1860 and 1862/Courtesy Library of CongressPvt. Jemison served in the 2nd Louisiana Regiment of the Confederate Army. While fighting in the Peninsula campaign under General J.B. Magruder, Jemison was killed in the battle of Poindexter's Farm (aka the Battle of Malvern Hill, Virginia in July 1862). The battle was a tactical victory for the Union, though Union Gen. George McClellan in typical fashion failed to make good use of it. For Pvt. Jemison, the battle was a disaster. <img src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/08/gallery_daguerreotype/unidentified_woman_t.jpg'></img>: Image: Unidentified photographer, between 1840 and 1860/Courtesy Library of CongressThis unidentified woman sat by a table, a longstanding artistic convention in portraits of women. The book at her elbow may be a Bible. <img src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/08/gallery_daguerreotype/littlegirl_t.jpg'></img>: Image: Unidentified photographer, 1847/Courtesy Library of CongressThe unidentified girl may be holding a daguerreotype case. That would put her in touch with the "magic" while she had to sit stock-still for several minutes. The object might also be her favorite storybook, a similar attempt at pacification. Or, following the conventions of painted portraits, it could be a child's prayer book or a reading primer. <a href="http://daguerre.org/resource/history/history.html">Mid-1840s daguerreotypes</a> cost anywhere from $2 to $5 ($55 to $140 in today's money), so you can see why families treasured them and held on to them. Those daguerreotype cases also helped preserve them. <img src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/08/gallery_daguerreotype/curtice_maybe_t.jpg'></img>: Image: Senter E. Price, between 1849 and 1859/Courtesy Library of CongressA paper note with this daguerreotype says: "Hosea Curtice." That's may be the guy in the picture, but maybe it's the name of the owner, or a name that the guy in the picture wanted to remember. Best bet: It's him, all right. <img src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/08/gallery_daguerreotype/lincoln_t.jpg'></img>: Image: Unidentified photographer, circa-1864/Courtesy Library of CongressPresident Lincoln sat for an albumen photograph, which was then duplicated as a daguerreotype. It's framed in a leather case with a push-button clasp.<img src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/08/gallery_daguerreotype/steamship_t.jpg'></img>: Image: Unidentified photographer, between 1852 and 1860/Courtesy Library of CongressA moving steamship or riverboat would have been hard to capture with the long exposures a daguerreotype needed. But a steamship at a landing, perhaps with crew, officers and passengers ready and willing to pose, now there's a subject! <img src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/08/gallery_daguerreotype/little_girl_doll_t.jpg'></img>: Image: Unidentified photographer, between 1842 and 1860/Courtesy Library of CongressWhat more can we say? <img src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/08/gallery_daguerreotype/oxen_t.jpg'></img>: Image: Unidentified photographer, circa 1848/Courtesy Library of CongressThese guys' job was to drove, or herd, the oxen. These oxen appear to be yoked for the purpose of hauling something. Tough job all around. <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=5eed555ef9ccb09e0ce82a1fdf44ad2d" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=5eed555ef9ccb09e0ce82a1fdf44ad2d" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~a/wired/culture?a=rKQkin"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~a/wired/culture?i=rKQkin" border="0"></img></a><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=AEB5nK"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=AEB5nK" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=BIKYgk"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=BIKYgk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=Eks1ck"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=Eks1ck" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=ACp6OK"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=ACp6OK" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/culture/~4/368693327" height="1" width="1"/>

10 Great Webcomics You Should Not Share With Your Kids

If you want funny, geeky and mature cutting-edge comics, the web is where to look. <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=d2d25b96a07369e67e3114a283fc1cf5" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=d2d25b96a07369e67e3114a283fc1cf5" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~a/wired/culture?a=sBZfiN"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~a/wired/culture?i=sBZfiN" border="0"></img></a><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=S2cTgK"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=S2cTgK" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=Yp9QUk"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=Yp9QUk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=jB9U7k"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=jB9U7k" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?a=ABkgZK"><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~f/wired/culture?i=ABkgZK" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/culture/~4/368316290" height="1" width="1"/>

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