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Visualizing All ISBNs

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Re: Visualizing All ISBNs

#111

Post by Over2Chars »

carlosjobim wrote: post #107
jillesvangurp wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with such judgment is that they are subjective and subject to biases that change over time. Almost every scrap of information from ancient civilizations is considered priceless at this point because so few is left of it. Anything from obscene graffiti, shopping lists, personal messages, etc. All of it. Many autocratic regimes editorialize and censure all forms of publications. But even in the US, which is…

> you now have states like Florida forcing changes to literature works and banning books entirely for religious and ideological reasons. This is not honest. They're not banning any books, they are stopping school teachers from forcing certain books on children. The difference is immense.

An excellent point.

Though, I am not against highly directive schools (I think we need them), I am against mis-characterization.

Re: Visualizing All ISBNs

#113

Post by Finnucane »

nickelpro wrote: post #104
NoMoreNicksLeft wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I'm saying that the ISBN doesn't describe titles, it describes editions, and editions matter.

You said: > From a strict point of view, they've released new editions of these books. And this is clearly a semantically worthless distinction from the point of view of the archive. When different editions have different content, archiving those differences in that content may matter (arguably not for simple typographical corrections, printing errors, etc). When different ISBNs have identical content, it is totally…

A text may be derived from an edition with an isbn, but the isbn wouldn’t apply to that file, it is effectively a different edition.

Re: Visualizing All ISBNs

#115

Post by nout »

usr1106 wrote: post #110

What is Anna's archive and why is it blocked by law enforcement in several European countries (EU + UK)?

It's the largest collection of books in easy to download formats for e-readers (often epub).

Re: Visualizing All ISBNs

#116

Post by Over2Chars »

flir wrote: post #80
globnomulous wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All action is "subjective and subject to biases that change over time". This is poppycock. Backing up all books -- the very action discussed by the person you're answering -- is by definition neither subjective nor subject to biases. > This would then imply I could never take any action, because it's just subjective and biased. And even if the first quoted claim were true, this, too, clearly isn't. Nowhere does the…

> least constructive comment I've seen on HN in quite some time But we should still archive it. Some day it might be useful to someone ;)

LOl, at least someone has a sense of humour here :-)

Re: Visualizing All ISBNs

#117

Post by Over2Chars »

globnomulous wrote: post #42
Over2Chars wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All action is "subjective and subject to biases that change over time". This would then imply I could never take any action, because it's just subjective and biased. Maybe that's an exaggeration of your position, but you do seem to be suggesting inaction or the impossibility of judgement. I reject this position 100%. I would suggest that judgement is a critical part of our civilization, and it's judgement that says t…

> All action is "subjective and subject to biases that change over time". This is poppycock. Backing up all books -- the very action discussed by the person you're answering -- is by definition neither subjective nor subject to biases. > This would then imply I could never take any action, because it's just subjective and biased. And even if the first quoted claim were true, this, too, clearly isn't. Nowhere does the…

Hello Mr/Ms/Xe @globnomulous,

1) tldr: you're wrong. I am not suggesting that "backing up books" is subjective or subject to biases. You'll need to reread my response: I'm talking about the judgement of doing so. And deciding that it is worthwhile (or not, as I joked with my made up 41%) is a judgement that is subjective and biased (if you subscribe to that sort of world view).

2) tldr: you're wrong. I openly indicate in my reply that I am exaggerating and extending his position (a reductio ad absurdam for you Romans reading this). However, he is suggesting that my position is wrong, or should give me reason to hesitate, as it might be "biased" et al. So I think my take is quite on the money. If you think your actions are biased and subject to historical revision, are you going to march along confidently? Or will your fingers tremble at the next book burning while you wonder "will history condemn me for this?"

3)tldr: you're wrong again. You resort to ad hominem attacks after demonstrating a complete inability to understand my position. I'd say you demonstrate both your intelligence (or lack thereof) and worth as a being (or lack thereof). I suggest you consider the unbiased subjective absence of your existence as a priority.

4) tdlr: I expected nonsensical windbaggery, and you delivered! Thank you. You advanced exactly zero of the positions involved and reduced this thread to garbage. YOU are the cancer killing the internet. Have a nice day.

Re: Visualizing All ISBNs

#118

Post by Over2Chars »

bqmjjx0kac wrote: post #56
globnomulous wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All action is "subjective and subject to biases that change over time". This is poppycock. Backing up all books -- the very action discussed by the person you're answering -- is by definition neither subjective nor subject to biases. > This would then imply I could never take any action, because it's just subjective and biased. And even if the first quoted claim were true, this, too, clearly isn't. Nowhere does the…

I wouldn't be surprised if they're an LLM-powered bot.

This seems to be the new hotness is generic replies.

"No, I think you're an LLM-powered bot! So there!"

Re: Visualizing All ISBNs

#119

Post by Over2Chars »

tiagod wrote: post #51
Over2Chars wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well I guess your one valuable paragraph that matters only to you justifies backing up millions (billions?) of human and soon to be AI generated books, because someone, somewhere, at some time will find a line or two valuable. Maybe. I retract my position, let's back up everything!

I think that's the case. IIRC The British Library has copies of all published material in the UK, including flyers and such. What seems banal and useless to you, might be extremely important for future historians, and to be honest, books are pretty compressible and storage is cheap.

41% of all future historians will be AI LLMs. Hell, I'd be surprised if there are any historians in the future at all, honestly.

As the saying goes GIGO. In case you're not familiar with the term: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garbage_in%2C_garbage_out

Let's back up ALL the garbage. Someday it will be mined as gold, by hypothetical and probably never to exist future historians.

Re: Visualizing All ISBNs

#120

Post by Over2Chars »

xp84 wrote: post #84
Over2Chars wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well I guess your one valuable paragraph that matters only to you justifies backing up millions (billions?) of human and soon to be AI generated books, because someone, somewhere, at some time will find a line or two valuable. Maybe. I retract my position, let's back up everything!

Let’s say there are ten billion such marginally-useful books published by the time the next few decades. Many epub books are like a couple MB. So 30 petabytes total. That’s something you could fit in one room. One rich guy could buy enough hard drives to do that today. Why not?

The ability to do less than worthwhile things, at reasonable cost and effort, hardly implies the necessity or justification for it.

There are lots of worthless things we can do, quite practically. Let's not do them and say we did.

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