Jan 26 2008
Emotional arguments
The same arguments — they seem to go round forever and ever. Jaron Lanier claims that open source software is inherently less innovative than closed-source software.
It’s sad to think that people have to make claims like these (without ever bothering to back them up) for ideological reasons. It’s like the people that claim Fairtrade coffee tastes horrible but Nestlé tastes great. Maybe we should do a taste test, since Nestlé even have a (single) Fairtrade-certified blend. Would that taste half-good? (On second thoughts, no. That would mean buying a whole bunch of their products, which ain’t gonna happen.)
I can understand that people have an emotional attachment to a particular way of doing things. Trying to rationalise those emotions doesn’t ever work though. That way leads to ever more convoluted reasoning and then you turn round and find that your firmly-held beliefs require you to not believe in some very self-evident truths. This is how people end up denying germ theory, through the gateway drug (!) of homeopathy.
Yeah. Don’t try to rationalise fuzzy feelings. It doesn’t work. It makes you look dumb.
One Response to “Emotional arguments”
Indeed, and it is a pointless exercise from both ends. I am involved in alternative types of publishing, ebooks and the like. But I don’t feel the need to go on about the evils of the mainstream all the time like they eat babies for breakfast….