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Limne's avatar

Ted's a good enough writer to appreciate the caution necessary when using a metaphor. At about the point where you start introducing technical information, certainly something as technical as a scientific monograph, it's safe to assume your audience is going to accept on good faith that you know what you're talking about and that caveats are necessary if you intend to suggest otherwise. Usually Ted is very good about plainly stating something like, "Don't take my word for it, I'm a cultural theorist and humanist, not a Silicon Valley gearhead."

Ted speaks very well to the cultural side of things, and I pretty much agree with his overall assessment in that domain. But if his intention is to be an honest broker, he can't be raising inaccurate fears about technical issues like generation loss in data and then dodging into areas of real expertise as if he were evenly suited to both areas--that pose of universal expertise is the very harbinger of the sort of misinformation he decries. Ted's too good of a journalist to be reporting on these issues merely to weave an unstated metaphor.

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