Re: Jean-Yves Mollier on tomorrow's library
- From: "Larry Sanger" <sanger@[redacted]>
- Subject: Re: Jean-Yves Mollier on tomorrow's library
- Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2007 13:48:13 -0400
Correct premises, wrong conclusion:
> From: J Flenner [mailto:varney@[redacted]
> France - Telerama
>
> Jean-Yves Mollier on tomorrow's library
>
> The French historian Jean-Yves Mollier, interviewed by Gilles Heure,
> criticises the Google intiative to create an on-line library. The
> purpose of the search engine is "to make money and pay its
> share-holders. With this in mind, it will not be recommending
> books that
> are hardly ever ordered. This is why public power ... should
> introduce
> other search engines.
No, this is why the market should introduce other search engines. "Public
power" (i.e., governments) should not be at the helm of extremely
influential knowledge resources, any more than giant for-profit corporations
should. In both cases, we rightly fear the bias introduced by, on the one
hand, the highest bidder, and on the other hand, political operatives. The
proper conclusion is that there should be responsible, open, expert-guided
non-profits and educational institutions to manage such resources.
--Larry
-----
Lawrence M. Sanger, Ph.D. | http://www.larrysanger.org/
Editor-in-Chief, Citizendium | http://www.citizendium.org/
sanger@[redacted]