Wikipedia and Britannica and worldviews
I was reading the striking conversation between Jimmy Wales and Dale Hoiberg, from Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Britannica respectively, and I suddenly had the strangest thought.
These two publications represent completely different creations stories.
Britannica is the Garden of Eden, a perfectly designed place that can only get worse as people tamper with it. It is the “order to chaos” model and so it is surrounded with protection to keep it in it’s pristine form.
(I was also surprised to read Mr. Hoiberg’s comment that the Britannica endeavours to represent all of human knowledge. That seems absurd to me.)
Wikipedia is the Ojibway creation story worldview, the one in which the animals help Giizhigokwe make a new world out of some soil and a turtle’s back. In this model we move from chaos to order by inviting as many people as possible to come and contribute, knowing that things can only get better in general.
I hadn’t thought of these two efforts as inhabiting the archetypes of world creation stories before. I probably need to get out more!
[tags]wikipedia, encyclopedia britannica, creation stories, jimmy wales, dale hoiberg[/tags]
Bingo! Chris
Building – I wonder if our obession with control is linked to the Book (Judeao/Christian/Muslim) and that our great return is to an earlier creation story (That is now supported by science as well as by custom)
Rob
Yes I thihnk so Rob…I blogged about this very question a couple of years ago:
http://chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot/?p=330
CANADA”™S MILITARY DESERTS 18 YEAR OLD BOY
IS THIS WHAT MINISTER O”˜CONNOR AND PRIME MINISTER HARPER MEAN WHEN THEY SAY THEY SUPPORT THE TROOPS??
DO THE DND KNOW THE NATURE OF THE VIRUS / INFECTIOUS DISEASE THAT MY SON CONTRACTED AT CANADIAN FORCES BASE SHILO IN MANITOBA, CANADA, BUT HAVE NOT DIVULGED IT TO THE FAMILY DOCTOR AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST FOR FEAR OF LIABILITY??
AFTER THE DND BASICALLY ABANDONED MY SON ON HIS RETURN FROM CFB SHILO, CAPTAIN BOWHEY HAS NOW ADDED INSULT TO INJURY SAYING THERE ARE NO WEEKEND BMQ”™s OR SQ”™s IN MY SON”™S HOME AREA, ALTHOUGH IT HAS BEEN DIVULGED TO ME BY RECRUITING THAT THERE ARE SUCH COURSES, WITH THE MEDIC, THE ARTILLERY AND THE INFANTRY AND MY SON IS INTERESTED IN THE MEDIC UNIT.
WITH CAPTAIN BOWHEY”™S RECENT COMMENTS IN A LETTER DATE 14 SEPTEMBER, IT”™S NOW TIME TO “GO PUBLIC”, AND PUT SOME LIGHT ON MINISTER O”˜CONNOR AND PRIME MINISTER HARPER COMMENTS THAT THEY SUPPORT THE TROOPS, IF THIS IS HOW A YOUNG MAN IS TREATED ON “HOME SOIL”!!
CONSENT FORMS HAVE BEEN SENT TO MINISTER O”˜CONNOR, PRIME MINISTER HARPER, AND CAPTAIN BOWHEY FOR ANYONE TO BECOME INVOLVED IN AN EFFORT TO IDENTIFY THE VIRUS / INFECTIOUS DISEASE THAT MY SON CONTRACTED AT CFB SHILO!!
THIS CAN NOW INCLUDE NEWS MEDIA OR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS!!
IN OTHER WORDS, ANYONE WHO CAN HELP IDENTIFY THE VIRUS / INFECTIOUS DISEASE THAT MY SON CONTRACTED AT CFB SHILO!!
TO ME, HARPER-O”˜CONNOR ARE A MISERABLE PAIR, DON”˜T EVEN ASSIST AN 18 YEAR OLD KID!!!
NOR DO THEY REPLY TO HIS DOCTOR NOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST!!!
THESE IDIOTS EXPECT CANADIAN KIDS TO GO TO AFGHANISATN AND GET THEMSELVES KILLED OVER THESE PAIR OF MORONS — WHY DON”™T THEY SEND THEIR FRIENDS AND RELATIVES TO AFGHANISTAN!!!
LET”™S SEE WHAT MINISTER O”˜CONNOR AND PRIME MINISTER HARPER DO FOR THE BOY, WHO IS ONLY AGE 18, BUT WILLING TO SERVE HIS COUNTRY!!!
PERSONALLY, AFTER THE TREATMENT HE RECEIVED FROM THE DND, HARPER AND O”™CONNOR, I THINK MY SON HAD BETTER RECONSIDER HIS PRIORITIES IN LIFE!!!!
IF YOU CAN IDENTIFY THE UNDIAGNOSED VIRUS / INFECTIOUS DISEASE PLEASE E-MAIL THE RESULTS!!!
BScComplete@shaw.ca
THis is an interesting comment…I can actually see how it fits into this post, so I’ll leave it here for others to think about.