4 ms·

Benjamin Franklin Would Have Loved Bluesky

5 points by areoform 3y ago

eternalban 3y ago
There is already a federated platform not controlled by SV. Dear Ben, I am writing to you asking your advice regarding Bluesky's EULA and its 'interesting' IP clauses, and also the fact that establishment press is now pushing "federated" and mentioning Mastodon (doesn't have a EULA) and Bluesky next to each other, like happy campers and fellow travellers. So my question sir is would you join Bluesky and agree to the EULA? -- the reply finally came through the pony express -- Dear Sir, In the Affair of so much Importance to you, wherein you ask my Advice, I cannot for want of sufficient Premises, advise you what to determine, but if you please I will tell you how. When these difficult Cases occur, they are difficult chiefly because while we have them under Consideration all the Reasons pro and con are not present to the Mind at the same time; but sometimes one Set present themselves, and at other times another, the first being out of Sight. Hence the various Purposes or Inclinations that alternately prevail, and the Uncertainty that perplexes us. To get over this, my Way is, to divide half a Sheet of Paper by a Line into two Columns, writing over the one Pro, and over the other Con. Then during three or four Days Consideration I put down under the different Heads short Hints of the different Motives that at different Times occur to me for or against the Measure. When I have thus got them all together in one View, I endeavour to estimate their respective Weights; and where I find two, one on each side, that seem equal, I strike them both out: If I find a Reason pro equal to some two Reasons con, I strike out the three. If I judge some two Reasons con equal to some three Reasons pro, I strike out the five; and thus proceeding I find at length where the Ballance lies; and if after a Day or two of farther Consideration nothing new that is of Importance occurs on either side, I come to a Determination accordingly. And tho’ the Weight of Reasons cannot be taken with the Precision of Algebraic Quantities, yet when each is thus considered separately and comparatively, and the whole lies before me, I think I can judge better, and am less likely to make a rash Step; and in fact I have found great Advantage from this kind of Equation, in what may be called Moral or Prudential Algebra. Wishing sincerely that you may determine for the best, I am ever, my dear Friend, Yours most affectionately B Franklin
version_five 3y ago
Being federated solves a problem almost nobody cares about. I am curious what will happen with bluesky: remember when twitter first came out, it was mostly considered pointless, a microblogging site where you could post what you had for breakfast. But mainstream news pretended it mattered long enough that it did. I'm not convinced the legacy media has the audience or power they did when Twitter was starting up, but with a converted effort of puff pieces like this, with the main goal being to get people onto something that isn't twitter, I will be curious to see what kind on a base they could build on bluesky.
ftxbro 3y ago
I'm sorry I mostly like Ben Franklin and not Elon Musk, but Elon Musk owning twitter and pushing his own tweets on it and having his pseudonyms on it to troll people, all for overtly or borderline political purposes is much in the style of Ben Franklin.
MilnerRoute 3y ago
16 years ago someone grappled with the question: "Would Ben Franklin be a blogger?" https://www.10zenmonkeys.com/2007/12/11/what-if-ben-were-one-of-us/ https://www.10zenmonkeys.com/2007/12/11/what-if-ben-were-one... Someone had asked Walter Isaacson, a former managing editor at Time magazine and CEO of CNN -- who had also written a biography of Ben Franklin -- and it sparked an interesting discussion.

5 points by areoform 3y ago

There is already a federated platform not controlled by SV. Dear Ben, I am writing to you asking your advice regarding Bluesky's EULA and its 'interesting' IP clauses, and also the fact that establishment press is now pushing "federated" and mentioning Mastodon (doesn't have a EULA) and Bluesky next to each other, like happy campers and fellow travellers. So my question sir is would you join Bluesky and agree to the EULA? -- the reply finally came through the pony express -- Dear Sir, In the Affair of so much Importance to you, wherein you ask my Advice, I cannot for want of sufficient Premises, advise you what to determine, but if you please I will tell you how. When these difficult Cases occur, they are difficult chiefly because while we have them under Consideration all the Reasons pro and con are not present to the Mind at the same time; but sometimes one Set present themselves, and at other times another, the first being out of Sight. Hence the various Purposes or Inclinations that alternately prevail, and the Uncertainty that perplexes us. To get over this, my Way is, to divide half a Sheet of Paper by a Line into two Columns, writing over the one Pro, and over the other Con. Then during three or four Days Consideration I put down under the different Heads short Hints of the different Motives that at different Times occur to me for or against the Measure. When I have thus got them all together in one View, I endeavour to estimate their respective Weights; and where I find two, one on each side, that seem equal, I strike them both out: If I find a Reason pro equal to some two Reasons con, I strike out the three. If I judge some two Reasons con equal to some three Reasons pro, I strike out the five; and thus proceeding I find at length where the Ballance lies; and if after a Day or two of farther Consideration nothing new that is of Importance occurs on either side, I come to a Determination accordingly. And tho’ the Weight of Reasons cannot be taken with the Precision of Algebraic Quantities, yet when each is thus considered separately and comparatively, and the whole lies before me, I think I can judge better, and am less likely to make a rash Step; and in fact I have found great Advantage from this kind of Equation, in what may be called Moral or Prudential Algebra. Wishing sincerely that you may determine for the best, I am ever, my dear Friend, Yours most affectionately B Franklin

version_five 3y ago

Being federated solves a problem almost nobody cares about. I am curious what will happen with bluesky: remember when twitter first came out, it was mostly considered pointless, a microblogging site where you could post what you had for breakfast. But mainstream news pretended it mattered long enough that it did. I'm not convinced the legacy media has the audience or power they did when Twitter was starting up, but with a converted effort of puff pieces like this, with the main goal being to get people onto something that isn't twitter, I will be curious to see what kind on a base they could build on bluesky.

ftxbro 3y ago

I'm sorry I mostly like Ben Franklin and not Elon Musk, but Elon Musk owning twitter and pushing his own tweets on it and having his pseudonyms on it to troll people, all for overtly or borderline political purposes is much in the style of Ben Franklin.

MilnerRoute 3y ago

16 years ago someone grappled with the question: "Would Ben Franklin be a blogger?" https://www.10zenmonkeys.com/2007/12/11/what-if-ben-were-one-of-us/ https://www.10zenmonkeys.com/2007/12/11/what-if-ben-were-one... Someone had asked Walter Isaacson, a former managing editor at Time magazine and CEO of CNN -- who had also written a biography of Ben Franklin -- and it sparked an interesting discussion.