From: Hagbard Celine (hagbard@ix.netcom.com)
Date: Wed Sep 10 1997 - 18:46:16 MDT
I wrote:
> Holly, you must have missed my earlier post (actually, this morning),
> on Godwin's Law of Nazi Apologies.
I was talking about a post to the transhuman list. Sorry for the mix-up.
Here's the original post.
Regards,
Hagbard
attached mail follows:
Room 101 wrote:
> Does anybody remember a memetic experiment a few years back, wherein it was
> predicted (and proven) that one could expect within certain time parameters
> that once an Elvis sighting was introduced in an online thread of
> conversation, that eventually the topic of Nazis would come up? Seriously,
> I remember this - but was it a real experiment or something described in
> sci-fi?
I remeber a Wired magazine article by Mike Godwin from the Electronic
Frontier Foundation who describes his efforts in memetics, watching
ideologies replicate from Internet-based communities into society
at-large. He formulated "Godwin's Law of Nazi Apologies" which states
"As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison
involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one." He cites also Cliff Stoll,
author of "The Cuckoo's Egg" as "..the law that states that once a
discussion treaches a comparison to Nazis or Hitler, it's usefulness is
over." This may or may not be what you're thinking of.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 14:44:52 MST