Comments on: Long live Wikipedia http://eddietejeda.com/2006/06/28/long-live-wikipedia/ civic-minded developer and researcher Wed, 14 Sep 2011 06:54:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: TetraDaC http://eddietejeda.com/2006/06/28/long-live-wikipedia/#comment-57 TetraDaC Fri, 30 Jun 2006 01:33:33 +0000 http://www.nailchipper.com/weblog/2006/06/28/long-live-wikipedia/#comment-57 I'm not sure I understand Dylan's quantum theory reference. The purpose of a Wikipedia (or any encyclopedia) is less so to represent infinite knowledge (as it certainly can't achieve this!) and more so to provide people with quick answers if possible and deeper ones if necessary. Human knowledge will hopefully always be growing. An encyclopedia like Wikipedia gives a good indicator of the consensus on what is true about a subject from a top level perspective. If all you want is a basic idea of the topic at hand, then you can just read the article. But for a deeper understanding, follow the "see also" links and read the bibliography. A good Wikipedia article will have a bibliography. Thus, you can think of Wikipedia as the gateway to knowledge but you'll have to go further to find the deeper stuff. I’m not sure I understand Dylan’s quantum theory reference. The purpose of a Wikipedia (or any encyclopedia) is less so to represent infinite knowledge (as it certainly can’t achieve this!) and more so to provide people with quick answers if possible and deeper ones if necessary. Human knowledge will hopefully always be growing. An encyclopedia like Wikipedia gives a good indicator of the consensus on what is true about a subject from a top level perspective. If all you want is a basic idea of the topic at hand, then you can just read the article. But for a deeper understanding, follow the “see also” links and read the bibliography. A good Wikipedia article will have a bibliography. Thus, you can think of Wikipedia as the gateway to knowledge but you’ll have to go further to find the deeper stuff.

]]> By: Dylan http://eddietejeda.com/2006/06/28/long-live-wikipedia/#comment-56 Dylan Wed, 28 Jun 2006 06:26:17 +0000 http://www.nailchipper.com/weblog/2006/06/28/long-live-wikipedia/#comment-56 I agree in the sense that Wikipedia is never going away. And in that respect, long live the GPL. But you cannot say that it is the ultimate repository of human knowledge, as that model of thought requires that the knowledge and information be on the page before it is typed! What I am saying is that you have one hell of an article here. However, the method of reasoning is somewhat reminiscent of quantum theory. A base of infinite knowledge cannot be presented in any medium, as the requirements would be physically impossible because the information would need to be presented before it was thought up. The knowledge would in essense become the precursor to the thought itself, which is currently contemporarily inconceivable. I agree in the sense that Wikipedia is never going away. And in that respect, long live the GPL.

But you cannot say that it is the ultimate repository of human knowledge, as that model of thought requires that the knowledge and information be on the page before it is typed!

What I am saying is that you have one hell of an article here. However, the method of reasoning is somewhat reminiscent of quantum theory.

A base of infinite knowledge cannot be presented in any medium, as the requirements would be physically impossible because the information would need to be presented before it was thought up. The knowledge would in essense become the precursor to the thought itself, which is currently contemporarily inconceivable.

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