Okay let's go-

To the editor - I grew up in the newspaper trade and know how to keep it simple. But these are SALON readers!. Anyway, your belief in dumbing-down is part of the problem. You'll not find a single $5 word that I used, whose meaning could not be guessed from context (that's what good writers do!) Moreover, Salon readers have instant dictionaries available. Words are poetry and your reflex to quash the scope of vivid English simply shows how low an opinion you have of those you edit-for.

To the fan - THANKS! Startide Rising had a script commissioned by Paramount. Same with Kiln People, but in both cases it costed too high. Now, with vivid/cheap animation... well.

Come on by http://www.davidbrin.com for more info about fun fiction etc. (And to see what I thought of what Costner did to The Postman.)

To the rest, thanks for being polite! I did tweak all sides a bit. Glad to be sharing a lively civilization.

Final notes and addenda:

1- Catch me on "The Universe" Tuesday night on the History Channel.

2- If interested, I am running a series of "unconventional suggestions for the new administration" at:

http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/

And/or you can see the series on OpenSalon at:

http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=67948

And see my latest novella about a near future world disrupted by rising seas, on Universe Magazine (online) at:

http://baens-universe.com/articles/Shoresteading__Part_One

(hit me up for an e-coupon.)

Busy week!

May YOUR week be joyous and may the new year bring good things for all of you and for our civilization.

David Brin

http://www.davidbrin.com

Conservationist - Plato was an enemy of democracy, called for secrecy in government, said that rulers could and should lie like hell and seek no critical feedback and use murder to keep the citizens in check. He performed dizzying acts of "logical" deceit that fall completely apart under critical analysis. He despised science. Plato was generally one of the most malevolent and horrifically wrongheaded curses ever to befall humanity.

But I will say this. Conservationist was among only a few letter writers who bothered to contribute a comment that was even remotely related to the topic of the article. The fluffy nature of so many postings, when the article raised serious questions, ironically added weight to the arguments of the web-pessimists like Carr & Pesce. You never would have seen most of these letters in an older newspaper or magazine, vetted by professional gatekeeper editors.

How will people respond to the paragraph above? With cogent arguments or howls of

"elitism!" Without even weighing how anti-elitist the original article was... alas.

Thanks for trying chikalada.

Thanks riegro -- see two wikis about successful predictions fromEARTH:

http://www.necsi.org/community/wiki/index.php/ICCS06/David_Brin

and http://earthbydavidbrin.pbwiki.com/

Bill becker, sounds like YOU would like Earth.

Yehlaina unwittingly typified the problem. She wrote excellent sentences dissing my article as unoriginal while ironically, making it clear that she was uninterested in grappling with any of the issues raised. Every single complaint she made was about phreases she plucked up, and not one about the fact that she and I cannot argue in this present medium. It is impossible. Watch. Both of us will give up and walk away, each of us smugly sure of ourselves, returning to our online Nuremberg rallies.

alas.

Of course, the comment wave has moved on, so the chance of this interaction leading to any accumulating or iterative wisdom never even arises here. Yes, I am paid to imagine. I imagine a web that offers tools of reciprocal interaction that are vastly more cogent than these we today use. If you are satisfied with what exists, then ponder - perhaps you are the unimaginative and easily satisfied one.

Allie! What a refreshing comment. Cogent and informed and interested in the topic without a short-tempered fuse, contributing an anecdote and an insight to the discussion. That is, if this had been anything remotely like the "discussion" that even takes place in my teenager's civics class...

You illustrate how grownups might engage in discourse without gatekeepers. Which really is my aim.

Please do consider coming by http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/ some time.

Thrive all, and happy holidays, and here's hoping for a civilization by and of cogent adults, though FOR our descendants.