Cracking wise

Hearing Voices

By Greg Adams, Auckland | Wednesday, 09 November 2011
Back in my student days I studied some philosophy. I enjoyed the subject. But I must admit, I never quite came to grips with it and most of what was taught went past my head.

When I got asked the old conundrum about the tree falling in a forest — you know, if there was no one there to hear it would it make a sound — all I could think was that the impact would indeed produce a sound wave. However, the fact that no receiver (in this case, an ear) was there, then it would not be ‘heard’ but the potential for sound was still very real. It all seemed a little bit daft. Or maybe I was not thinking in quite the right philosophical way. But at least I gave it a try.

Anyhow, I’ve rarely thought more about this branch of academia until I received an interesting question from a friend the other day. He asked: “If someone I know forwards me spam, is it still spam?”

Hmm. That’s a good question.

A major consideration for something being labelled as spam is that it is ‘unsolicited’. But, if such a message is subsequently sent to you by someone who you regularly communicate with, does the same definition apply? After all, they probably send you all sorts of e-stuff that you’ve never asked for.

I think my old philosophy tutor would have had a field day with this one.

While you ponder the answer, it does seem that we don’t engage in much ‘philosophical’ debate in the world of ICT. Plenty of arguments and flaming, but not a lot of philosophical discussion. Perhaps we should.

I thought I’d start the ball rolling with some minor alterations on existing themes — in other words, had some of these famous thinkers had technology on their minds, just think what we could have ended up with.

For starters, there’s the obvious “I think therefore I am” (Descartes). How about: “I text therefore I am.”

“Seeking is not always the way to find” (Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare) could become “Googling is not always the way to find”.

Or for: “A man with one watch knows what time it is; a man with two watches is never quite sure,” (Lee Segall), substitute “A man with Caller ID knows who’s calling; a man without is never quite sure”.

“No matter where you go or what you do, you live your entire life within the confines of your head,” (Terry Josephson) surely could be applied as: “No matter where you go or what you do, you live your entire life within the confines of Facebook.” Has more than a hint of truth, doesn’t it?

“Eggs cannot be unscrambled” (American Proverb) could easily be “Emails cannot be unsent.”

Wise words for those of us who have hit “send” and immediately wished we hadn’t.

“Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it” (Andre Gide) could probably apply to most advertising claims (whether ICT or not). But I’ll leave you with this to consider: When Lewis Carroll wrote “It takes all the running you can do just to keep in the same place”, had he had email in mind, would have written: “It takes all the replying to emails you can do just to keep in the same place.”

Never a truer word.