The IT Skeptic - Comments for "Analyst crap factoids as memes: nobody thinks any more"

a fairly unattractive ethnocentric assumption

skeptic — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 01:38:00 +0000

OK OK, so I'm confusing "the last man who knew everything" with "the last time all human knowledge was recorded in one place". One can argue that the internet (or perhaps Google?) is the first repository of all knowledge since the Library of Alexandria.

BTW, there is a fairly unattractive ethnocentric assumption behind such statements. I doubt that the Librarian or Leonardo or Thomas Young knew an awful lot about kabuki theatre or Sun Tzu (maybe?) or the rise and fall of the Khmer empire or Inca quipu or Maori techniques of navigation.

Perhaps the internet is the very first time that we approach one repository of all knowledge. For a long time I've been planning an article on this topic....

Thomas Young

Visitor — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 01:13:02 +0000

I was originally going to let it go but since the second post came up:

The phrase "The last man to know everything" was used to describe Thomas Young. He's credited for deciphering the Rosetta stone and the Egyptian hieroglyphs, among many fairly remarkable yet anonymous accomplishments.

He also proved Newton wrong with his wave theory of light.

Andrew Robinson published a nice biography last year on Young called, "The Last Man Who Knew Everything."

Will Edwards skewered me!

skeptic — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:20:00 +0000

Hah! Will Edwards skewered me!

"Someone said the last person to know everything was the Librarian of Alexandria". - Source: The IT Skeptic
I actually heard exactly the same factoid some time ago, but it was concerning Leonardo Da Vinci! It just goes to show that just because it sounds good doesn't make it so!...
So, in this new age of blogging, we need to think carefully about apparent facts and how they are propagated. Just because something is in print, does not make it so - especially in these days of the web!

The dark side of the force

Red Pineapple — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 05:56:31 +0000

I have been collecting and writing about bad practices at http://thinkingproblemmanagement.blogspot.com/2008/01/counter-measures-t...
I decided to add the crap factoid as a bad practice in the post and have suggested a counter-measure. Much is written and mused about as good/best/perfect/excellent/great practice and not enough about the dark side of the force, bad/lazy practices.