Comments on: Semantics can wait: People are more important than meaning http://wanderingstan.com/2007-11-30/semantics_can_wait_people_are_more_important_than_meaning wanderings and wonderings of stan james Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:31:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: paul s. http://wanderingstan.com/2007-11-30/semantics_can_wait_people_are_more_important_than_meaning/comment-page-1#comment-179 paul s. Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-179 Great post Stan! So here's the question: aren't ALL relationships based on trust in some way? Does not the absence of trust prevent a relationship from even occurring? Even in the case of mortal enemies, there is a certain "trust" element there, in that I "trust" my enemy to always to contradict me, fight dirty, and talk trash. But if he suddenly befriends me, the "trust" is gone, and hence our "relationship" of enmity is terminated. Trust, then, is a function of consistency, much like we trust the hyperlinks of the old read-only web to consistently take us to the pages we click them to reach. Should link rot occur, this trust is shattered. The same it is with our social relationships: inconsistent behavior breeds "link rot", and the people in our social graph we thought we "knew" become an unknown property, and are thus unable to be entered in relationship with. Which is funny, because this is exactly what Facebook seems to be doing by allowing our friends to spam us. Great post Stan! So here’s the question: aren’t ALL relationships based on trust in some way? Does not the absence of trust prevent a relationship from even occurring? Even in the case of mortal enemies, there is a certain “trust” element there, in that I “trust” my enemy to always to contradict me, fight dirty, and talk trash. But if he suddenly befriends me, the “trust” is gone, and hence our “relationship” of enmity is terminated. Trust, then, is a function of consistency, much like we trust the hyperlinks of the old read-only web to consistently take us to the pages we click them to reach. Should link rot occur, this trust is shattered. The same it is with our social relationships: inconsistent behavior breeds “link rot”, and the people in our social graph we thought we “knew” become an unknown property, and are thus unable to be entered in relationship with. Which is funny, because this is exactly what Facebook seems to be doing by allowing our friends to spam us.

]]> By: Steffan Heuer http://wanderingstan.com/2007-11-30/semantics_can_wait_people_are_more_important_than_meaning/comment-page-1#comment-180 Steffan Heuer Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-180 I couldn't agree more, Stan! Coming from the non-techie side to this debate, I want to point you to my most recent post about exactly the same topic -- i.e. human-focused (truly meaning-ful) meaning creates attention (to refer back to what we discussed on several occasions). http://humaneskapital.typepad.com/neuland/2007/11/gimme-me-some-m.html Otherwise, we're just marveling at technological gimmicks/AI advances and money-making mechanisms devoid of true meaning. Plus we're leaving money on the table for marketers to pocket. Steffan I couldn’t agree more, Stan!
Coming from the non-techie side to this debate, I want to point you to my most recent post about exactly the same topic — i.e. human-focused (truly meaning-ful) meaning creates attention (to refer back to what we discussed on several occasions).

http://humaneskapital.typepad.com/neuland/2007/11/gimme-me-some-m.html

Otherwise, we’re just marveling at technological gimmicks/AI advances and money-making mechanisms devoid of true meaning. Plus we’re leaving money on the table for marketers to pocket.

Steffan

]]> By: Heather http://wanderingstan.com/2007-11-30/semantics_can_wait_people_are_more_important_than_meaning/comment-page-1#comment-185 Heather Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-185 Stan, you are both brilliant and hilarious! Where'd you find the pic of homeboy? ha! Nice touch. Stan, you are both brilliant and hilarious! Where’d you find the pic of homeboy? ha! Nice touch.

]]> By: Seul http://wanderingstan.com/2007-11-30/semantics_can_wait_people_are_more_important_than_meaning/comment-page-1#comment-187 Seul Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-187 Interesting point about the mortal enemy, paul s. Although I think one should keep the concepts "trust" and "reliability" separated. Interesting point about the mortal enemy, paul s. Although I think one should keep the concepts “trust” and “reliability” separated.

]]> By: Stephen Collins http://wanderingstan.com/2007-11-30/semantics_can_wait_people_are_more_important_than_meaning/comment-page-1#comment-194 Stephen Collins Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-194 Excellent post. You've hit on the core of social computing here. It's not that the applications are all great (indeed, some of them aren't), but that all of them (the successful ones, anyway) take pains to enhance and build the connections between people. Social networking has been taking place for thousands of years, it's only now that it has no borders. Excellent post. You’ve hit on the core of social computing here. It’s not that the applications are all great (indeed, some of them aren’t), but that all of them (the successful ones, anyway) take pains to enhance and build the connections between people.

Social networking has been taking place for thousands of years, it’s only now that it has no borders.

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