214:117) 05-FEB-2001 19:59 Michael D. C. Bowen (mbowen)
"It seems to me that we should be a bit more cynical about the use of tools, because it doesn't appear evident that the most highminded of us get to use them. otherwise robert kennedy would be joined in the discussion.
first on heidegger. i agree 100%, and i am beginning to believe that there is no escape from this, especially in contemporary society. while it is curious to review what the big bang of dot com spending has done to liberate a large number of people from conventional industry and modes of production, the jury is still out on what will take root. imagine if you will the original genius of bluefly(?)'s collaborative filtering as a tool for building community, which is, as far as i know now only used at amazon.com for selling all of the wonderful materials available there. in other words, the application of the tool as envisioned by its originators has become commodified and becomes the proverbial 'hammer'. it is then refined for the single task that makes it a commercial success and ceases being the kind of tool which is potentially liberating.
to use another metaphor, everything that was napster will become, in the hands of the recording industry, a very narrow thing two years hence. and people will fail to appreciate what was so important about napster. the gnutellas of the world eventually fall into the hands of inventors and cranks and literally hacks. "