Two Bits: The Cultural Significance of Free Software

May combine two claims.

Creative Commons and Connexions each struggle to come to terms with new ways of creating, sharing, and reusing content in the contemporary legal environment, with the Internet as infrastructure.

“Creative Commons and Connexions each struggle to come to terms with new ways of creating, sharing, and reusing content in the contemporary legal environment, with the Internet as infrastructure.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

Many people have written their own Free Software copyright licenses, but only some of them remain within the threshold of the practice as defined by the system.

“Many, many people have written their own “Free Software” copyright licenses, but only some of them remain within the threshold of the practice as defined by the system.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

Nearly all kinds of media are easier to produce, publish, circulate, modify, mash-up, remix, or reuse.

“Nearly all kinds of media are easier to produce, publish, circulate, modify, mash-up, remix, or reuse.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Free Software emerged around 1998 from a happily subterranean and obscure existence stretching back roughly twenty years.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

The tools of knowledge creation and circulation-software and networks-have also become more and more pervasively available.

“The number of such creations, circulations, and borrowings has exploded, and the tools of knowledge creation and circulation-software and networks-have also become more and more pervasively available.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Free Software emerged around 1998 from a happily subterranean and obscure existence stretching back roughly twenty years.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

There are other instances of recursive publics, including Creative Commons, the Connexions project, and the Open Access movement in science.

“There are other instances, including those that emerge from the practices of Free Software, such as Creative Commons, the Connexions project, and the Open Access movement in science.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

Around 2000, talk of commons began to percolate out of discussions about Free Software.

“It was around 000 that talk of “commons” began to percolate out of discussions about Free Software: commons in educational materials, commons in biodiversity materials, commons in music, text, and video, commons in medical data, commons in scientific results and data.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

Since about 1998, the practices and ideas of Free Software have extended into new realms of life and creativity, including music, film, science, engineering, education, politics, and global debates about civil society.

“Since about 1998, the practices and ideas of Free Software have extended into new realms of life and creativity: from software to music and film to science, engineering, and education; from national politics of intellectual property to global debates about civil society; from UNIX to Mac OS X and Windows; from medical records and databases to international disease monitoring and synthetic biology;”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: There are tens of millions of people creating Free Software and hundreds of millions more using it.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based).

As this has happened, the significance and practices associated with Free Software have also spread-and been modulated in the process.

“As this has happened, the significance and practices associated with Free Software have also spread-and been modulated in the process.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Free Software emerged around 1998 from a happily subterranean and obscure existence stretching back roughly twenty years.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based).

Over the last ten to fifteen years, as the Internet has spread exponentially and insinuated itself into the most intimate practices of all kinds of people, the issues of availability and modifiability and the reorientation of knowledge and power they signify have become commonplace.

“Over the last ten to fifteen years, as the Internet has spread exponentially and insinuated itself into the most intimate practices of all kinds of people, the issues of availability and modifiability and the reorientation of knowledge and power they signify have become commonplace.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Free Software emerged around 1998 from a happily subterranean and obscure existence stretching back roughly twenty years.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

The number of such creations, circulations, and borrowings has exploded.

“The number of such creations, circulations, and borrowings has exploded, and the tools of knowledge creation and circulation-software and networks-have also become more and more pervasively available.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Free Software emerged around 1998 from a happily subterranean and obscure existence stretching back roughly twenty years.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based). May combine two claims.

Each of the five practices has its own temporality of development and emergence, but they have recently come together into this full house called either Free Software or Open Source.

“Each of these practices has its own temporality of development and emergence, but they have recently come together into this full house called either Free Software or Open Source.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable).

Doing so leads the actors involved directly to the question of the existence and ontology of norms: norms of scholarly production, borrowing, reuse, citation, reputation, and ownership.

“Doing so leads the actors involved directly to the question of the existence and ontology of norms: norms of scholarly production, borrowing, reuse, citation, reputation, and ownership.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

Governance and control of the creation and dissemination of knowledge have changed considerably in the context of the Internet over the last thirty years.

“Governance and control of the creation and dissemination of knowledge have changed considerably in the context of the Internet over the last thirty years.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Free Software emerged around 1998 from a happily subterranean and obscure existence stretching back roughly twenty years.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

In the cases explored herein, that specific infrastructure includes the creation of the Internet itself, as well as its associated tools and structures, such as Usenet, e-mail, the World Wide Web (www), UNIX and UNIX-derived operating systems, protocols, standards, and standards processes.

“In the cases explored herein, that specific infrastructure includes the creation of the Internet itself, as well as its associated tools and structures, such as Usenet, e-mail, the World Wide Web (www), UNIX and UNIX-derived operating systems, protocols, standards, and standards processes.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Free Software emerged around 1998 from a happily subterranean and obscure existence stretching back roughly twenty years.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

The history and cultural significance of Free Software has been intricately mixed up with that of the Internet over the last thirty years.

“The history and cultural significance of Free Software has been intricately mixed up with that of the Internet over the last thirty years.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Free Software emerged around 1998 from a happily subterranean and obscure existence stretching back roughly twenty years.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

Geeks are vocal, loud, persistent, and loquacious.

“geeks are vocal, loud, persistent, and loquacious.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

The political lives of the Mikro crowd have mixed up operating systems and social systems in ways that are more than metaphorical.

“The political lives of these folks have indeed mixed up operating systems and social systems in ways that are more than metaphorical.”

May combine two claims.

Not all people the author discusses call themselves geeks, and not all are engineers or programmers; the group includes businessmen, lawyers, activists, bloggers, gastroenterologists, anthropologists, lesbians, schizophrenics, scientists, poets, people suffering from malaria, sea captains, drug dealers, and lemur keepers.

“Some of the people I discuss would not call themselves geeks, and some would.Not all are engineers or programmers: I have met businessmen, lawyers, activists, bloggers, gastroenterologists, anthropologists, lesbians, schizophrenics, scientists, poets, people suffering from malaria, sea captains, drug dealers, and people who keep lemurs, many of whom refer to themselves as geeks, some of the time.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Some of the stories are stories of technical figuring out, but most are stories of figuring out a problem that appears to have emerged.

“Some are stories of technical figuring out, but most are stories of figuring out a problem that appears to have emerged.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

Despite Hayden's frustration, geeks are still bound together as an elite and can be easily distinguished from AOL users.

“Despite Hayden's frustration, geeks are still bound together as an elite and can be easily distinguished from”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

The actors in the stories are figuring something out, something unfamiliar, troubling, imprecise, and occasionally shocking to everyone involved at different times and to differing extents.

“Empirically speaking, the actors in my stories are figuring something out, something unfamiliar, troubling, imprecise, and occasionally shocking to everyone involved at different times and to differing extents.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

There are two kinds of figuring-out stories: contemporary ones in which the author has been an active participant, and historical ones conducted through archival research and rereading of texts, discussions, and analyses-at-the-time.

“There are two kinds of figuring-out stories: the contemporary ones in which I have been an active participant (those of Connexions and Creative Commons), and the historical ones conducted through “archival” research and rereading of certain kinds of texts, discussions, and analyses-at-the-time (those of UNIX, EMACS, Linux, Apache, and Open Systems).”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing).

Eric Raymond's work is an example of a combination of excellent description and distracting analysis.

“Eric Raymond’s work is an example of such a combination.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

Raymond's analyses, which many geeks subscribe to, are distracting; they are fanciful, occasionally enjoyable and enlightening, but they are not about the cultural significance of Free Software.

“And yet his analyses, which many geeks subscribe to, are distracting.They are fanciful, occasionally enjoyable and enlighteningbut they are not about the cultural significance of Free Software.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

Sean and Adrian's goals in creating a start-up rested on their understanding of the Internet as a standardized infrastructure with certain extremely powerful properties, including flexibility.

“Their goals in creating a start-up rested on their understanding of the Internet as an infrastructure: as a standardized infrastructure with certain extremely powerful properties, not the least of which was its flexibility.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

There are lawyers, politicians, sociologists, and economists who may not refer to themselves as geeks but who care about the Internet just as other geeks do.

“There are also lawyers, politicians, sociologists, and economists who may not refer to themselves as geeks, but who care about the Internet just as other geeks do.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Sean and Adrian talked about open systems, open standards, and the need for the Internet to remain open and standardized.

“Sean and Adrian talked endlessly about open systems, open standards, and the need for the Internet to remain open and standardized.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Silk-list was not the only list of its kind; other lists ostensibly had different reasons for existence, but many had the same subscribers and overlapping communities of geeks.

“Silk-list was not the only list of its kind.Others such as the Tasty Bits newsletter, the FoRK (Friends of Rohit Khare) mailing list (both based in Boston), and the Nettime and Syndicate mailing lists (both based in the Netherlands) ostensibly had different reasons for existence, but many had the same subscribers and overlapping communities of geeks.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Silk-list is public in many senses: one need not be invited to join, and the material that passes through the list is publicly archived and can be found easily on the Internet.

“Silk-list is public in many senses of the word.Practically speaking, one need not be invited to join, and the material that passes through the list is publicly archived and can be found easily on the Internet.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

Silk-list is not The public-it is far from being the only forum in which the public sphere is knitted together; many such lists exist.

“But Silk-list is not”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Among the geeks Udhay introduced, there were only two commonalities: the geeks were, for the most part, male, and they all loved heavy-metal music.

“Among the geeks to whom Udhay introduced me, there were only two commonalities: the geeks were, for the most part, male, and they all loved heavy-metal music.19”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Silk-list is not a conventionally topical space: at no point do all of its members meet face-to-face, and they are not all online at the same time.

“Silk-list is not a conventionally topical space: at no point do all of its members meet face-to-face (though there are regular meet-ups in cities around the world), and they are not all online at the same time (though the volume and tempo of messages often reflect who is online”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

In polymath routines, technology is an intervention into a complicated, historically unique field of people, customs, organizations, other technologies, and laws; in transhumanist routines, technology is seen as an inevitable force-a product of human action, but not of human design-that is impossible to control or resist through legal or customary means.

“In polymath routines, technology is an intervention into a complicated, historically unique field of people, customs, organizations, other technologies, and laws; in transhumanist routines, technology is seen as an inevitable force-a product of human action, but not of human design-that is impossible to control or resist through legal or customary means.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

More generally, large corporations like IBM, Oracle, or Microsoft are made to stand in for Catholicism, while bureaucratic congresses and parliaments with their lobbyists take on the role of absolutist monarchs and their cronies.

“More generally, large corporations like IBM, Oracle, or Microsoft are made to stand in for Catholicism, while bureaucratic congresses and parliaments with their lobbyists take on the role of absolutist monarchs and their cronies.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

At a second level, the allegory makes precise use of Protestant Reformation details.

“At a second level, however, the allegory makes precise use of Protestant Reformation details.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Adrian Gropper is a polymath though he is not a programmer.

“Sean's partner in Amicas, Adrian Gropper, also fits the bill of polymath, though he is not a programmer.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

Geeks love allegories about the Protestant Reformation; they relish stories of Luther and Calvin, of popery and iconoclasm, of reformation over revolution.

“Geeks love allegories about the Protestant Reformation; they relish stories of Luther and Calvin, of popery and iconoclasm, of reforma-tion over revolution.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

The attitudes that geeks take in responding to questions of modernity fall along a spectrum from polymaths to transhumanists.

“The attitudes that geeks take in responding to these questions fall along a spectrum that I have identified as ranging from”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

Geeks' attitudes toward time, progress, and change are not uniform.

“Geeks think and talk a lot about time, progress, and change, but their conclusions and attitudes are by no means uniform.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Eugen is well versed in chemistry, nanotechnology, AI research, computational-and network-complexity research, artificial organs, cryobiology, materials engineering, and science fiction.

“He is well versed in chemistry, nanotechnology, artificial-intelligence (AI) research, computational-and network-complexity research, artificial organs, cryobiology, materials engineering, and science fiction.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

They have little patience for Luddites, new-agers, religious intolerance, or any other non-Enlightenment-derived attitude.

“They have little patience for Luddites, for new-agers, for religious intolerance, or for any other non-Enlightenment-derived attitude.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Sean and Adrian assume their interlocutors believe in good science and the benefits of progress.

“Sean and Adrian are avowedly scientific and technical people; like Feyerabend, they assume that their interlocutors believe in good science and the benefits of progress.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Sean and Adrian remain resolutely modern polymaths: they do not despise the present.

“Nonetheless, they remain resolutely modern polymaths: they do not despise the present.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

Sean's and Adrian's company would eventually become the kind of thing they started Amicas in order to reform.

“How ironic, and troubling, then, to realize that Sean's and Adrian's company would eventually become the kind of thing they started Amicas in order to reform.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

Eugen Leitl is an authentic transhumanist and has been vice-chair of the World Transhumanist Association.

“My favorite transhumanist is Eugen Leitl (who is, in fact, an authentic transhumanist and has been vice-chair of the World Transhumanist Association).”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

Netscape is far more famous among geeks for giving away the source code to Netscape Communicator in 1998.

“But Netscape is far more famous among geeks for giving away something else, in 1998: the source code to Netscape Communicator (née Navigator).”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

UNIX and the programming language C demonstrated several key ideas in operating-systems theory and practice, and led to the widespread porting of UNIX to virtually every kind of hardware available in the 1970s, all around the world.

“In technical terms UNIX and the programming language C in which it was written demonstrated several key ideas in operating-systems theory and practice, and they led to the widespread “porting” of UNIX to virtually every kind of hardware available in the 1970s, all around the world.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

Before 1998, there was no movement.

“Before 1998, there was no movement.”

May combine two claims.

Free Software and Open Source shared everything material, but differed vocally and at great length with respect to ideology.

“Free Software and Open Source shared everything “material,” but differed vocally and at great length with respect to ideology.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

The failure was more immediate: Mozilla failed to reap the massive benefits for Netscape that the 1995 give-away of Netscape Navigator had.

“The failure, however, was more immediate: Mozilla failed to reap the massive benefits for Netscape that the 1995 give-away of Netscape Navigator had.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

Yet nothing much changed in terms of the way things actually got done.

“Yet nothing much changed in terms of the way things actually got done.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

Sharing source code, conceiving openness, writing licenses, coordinating projects-all these continued as before with no significant differences between those flashing the heroic mantle of freedom and those donning the pragmatic tunic of methodology.

“Sharing source code, conceiving openness, writing licenses, coordinating projects-all these continued as before with no significant differences between those flashing the heroic mantle of freedom and those donning the pragmatic tunic of methodology.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

Free Software forked in 1998 when the term Open Source suddenly appeared.

“Free Software forked in 1998 when the term Open Source suddenly appeared”

May combine two claims.

The decision to share source code did not lead either to a financial windfall or to a suddenly superior product.

“The decision, at that particular point in Netscape's life, and in the midst of the dotcom boom, was certainly momentous, but it did not lead either to a financial windfall or to a suddenly superior product.4”

• cites [4] 4. "Martin Luther, Meet Linus Torvalds," Salon, 12 November 1998, http://archive.salon.com/21st/feature/1998/11/12feature.html (accessed 5 February 2005).Not checked yet

  Not checked in the free run.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

The event that precipitated the attempted semantic coup d'état was the release of the source code for Netscape's Communicator Web browser.

“The event that precipitated this attempted semantic coup d'état was the release of the source code for Netscape's Communicator Web browser.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

Giving away the Navigator application endeared Netscape to customers and confused investors; giving away the Communicator source code in 1998 endeared Netscape to geeks and confused investors; it was ignored by customers.

“Giving away the Navigator application endeared Netscape to customers and confused investors.Giving away the Communicator source code in 1998 endeared Netscape to geeks and confused investors; it was ignored by customers.”

May combine two claims.

A critical point in the emergence of Free Software occurred in 1998-99: new names, new narratives, new wealth, and new stakes.

“A critical point in the emergence of Free Software occurred in 1998-99: new names, new narratives, but also new wealth and new stakes.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

It is a requirement of all Free Software licenses that source code be open to view, not welded shut.

“it is a requirement of all Free Software licenses that source code be open to view, not “welded shut.””

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

VA Linux had the largest single IPO of the stock-market bubble, seeing a 700 percent share-price increase in one day.

“VA Linux, for instance, which sold personal-computer systems preinstalled with Open Source operating systems, had the largest single initial public offering (IPO) of the stock-market bubble, seeing a 700 percent share-price increase in one day.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

In 1998-99, geeks came to recognize that they were all doing the same thing and almost immediately began to argue about why.

“It was in 1998-99 that geeks came to recognize that they were all doing the same thing and, almost immediately, to argue about why.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

Its success was long in coming: by 2004, the Firefox Web browser, based on Mozilla, had started to creep up the charts of most popular browsers, and it has become one of the most visible and widely used Free Software applications.

“Its success was long in coming: by 2004, the Firefox Web browser, based on Mozilla, had started to creep up the charts of most popular browsers, and it has become one of the most visible and widely used Free Software applications.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

After 1998, debates about definition exploded; denunciations, manifestos, and journalistic hagiography proliferated.

“After 1998, debates about definition exploded; denunciations and manifestos and journalistic hagiography proliferated.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

All this sound and fury doesn't much change what people do, even if it is a requirement of apprenticeship.

“Strangely, this is far from the case: all this sound and fury doesn't much change what people do, even if it is a requirement of apprenticeship.”

May combine two claims.

In the end, the release of the Mozilla source code was both a success and a failure.

“In the end, the release of the Mozilla source code was both a success and a failure.”

May combine two claims.

The NPL contained a clause that allowed Netscape special permission to relicense any particular contribution to the source code as a proprietary product to appease its third-party contracts; it gave Netscape special rights no other licensee would have.

“The NPL thus contained a clause that allowed Netscape special permission to relicense any particular contribution to the source code as a proprietary product in order to appease its third-party contracts; it essentially gave Netscape special rights that no other licensee would have.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Zawinski could never make the case that sharing source code was an intelligent business plan, only that it was an efficient software-engineering plan.

“However, although he told them stories and showed them successes, he could never make the case that this was an intelligent business plan, only that it was an efficient software-engineering plan.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

It was cited by Frank Hecker and Eric Hahn at Netscape as one of the sources for their thinking about the decision to free Mozilla; Raymond and Bruce Perens had both been asked to consult with Netscape on Free Software strategy.

“It was cited by Frank Hecker and Eric Hahn at Netscape as one of the sources for their thinking about the decision to free Mozilla; Raymond and Bruce Perens had both been asked to consult with Netscape on Free Software strategy.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

In the heat of the dotcom boom, Free Software became a movement.

“Then, all of a sudden, in the heat of the dotcom boom, Free Software was a movement.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

Higher-level languages began to appear in the late 1950s: FORTRAN, COBOL, Algol, and compilers.

“So-called higher-level languages began to appear in the late 1950s: FORTRAN, COBOL, Algol, and the “compilers” which allowed for programs written in them to be transformed into the illegible mechanical and valvular representations of the machine.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

The terms source language and target language emerged to designate the activity of translating higher to lower level languages.

“It was in this era that the terms source language and target language emerged to designate the activity of translating higher to lower level languages.”

• cites [5] 5. See http://www.stallman.org/saint.html (accessed 5 February 2005) and http://www.dina.kvl.dk/~abraham/religion/ (accessed 5 February 2005). On EMACS, see chapter 6. 10 Message-ID: 6ms27l$6e1@bgtnsc01.worldnet.att.net. In one very humorous case the comparison is literalized "Microsoft acquires Catholic Church" (Message-ID: gaijin-870804300-dragonwing@sec.lia.net).Not checked yet

  Not checked in the free run.

May combine two claims.

As UNIX proliferated, it was stabilized by academics seeking to keep it whole and self-compatible through contributions of source code; by lawyers at AT&T seeking to define boundaries that mapped onto laws, licenses, versions, and regulations; and by professors seeking to define it as an exemplar of core concepts of operating-system theory.

“As UNIX proliferated, it was stabilized in multiple ways: by academics seeking to keep it whole and self-compatible through contributions of source code; by lawyers at AT&T seeking to define boundaries that mapped onto laws, licenses, versions, and regulations; and by professors seeking to define it as an exemplar of the core concepts of operating-system theory.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

Hardware systems that manufacturers created from the 1950s onward were so specific and idiosyncratic that it was inconceivable that one might write a program for one machine and then simply run it on another.

“The hardware systems that manufacturers created from the 1950s onward were so specific and idiosyncratic that it was inconceivable that one might write a program for one machine and then simply run it on another.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

Writing and reading source code and programming languages was a long, slow development that became relatively widespread only by the mid-1970s.

“Writing and reading source code and programming languages was a long, slow development that became relatively widespread only by the mid-1970s.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

In the early days of computing machinery, there was no such thing as source code.

“In the early days of computing machinery, there was no such thing as source code.”

May combine two claims.

Proliferation of UNIX occurred through novel forms of academic sharing as well as through licensing schemes constrained by the peculiar status of AT&T, a regulated monopoly forbidden to enter the computer and software industry before 1984.

“Proliferation occurred through novel forms of academic sharing as well as through licensing schemes constrained by the peculiar status of AT&T, a regulated monopoly forbidden to enter the computer and software industry before 1984.”

May combine two claims.

Computer scientists shared mathematical descriptions of algorithms and ideas for automation with enthusiasm, while corporations jealously guarded theirs, but this sharing or secrecy did not extend to sharing the program itself.

“Likewise, computer scientists shared mathematical descriptions of algorithms and ideas for automation with as much enthusiasm as corporations jealously guarded theirs, but this sharing, or secrecy, did not extend to the sharing of the program itself.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Forking of UNIX produced new versions, some based directly on the source code, some not, some licensed directly from AT&T, some sublicensed or completely independent.

“UNIX is admired for its integrity as a conceptual thing and despised (or marveled at) for its truly tangled genealogical tree of ports and forks: new versions of UNIX, some based directly on the source code, some not, some licensed directly from AT&T, some sublicensed or completely independent.”

May combine two claims.

UNIX became the paradigm of an operating system and was ported from machines to minds as computer-science students studied the quasi-legally shared UNIX source code.

“In pedagogical terms UNIX became the very paradigm of an “operating system” and was thereby ported not only in the technical sense from one machine to another, but from machines to minds, as computerscience students learning the meaning of “operating system” studied the details of the quasi-legally shared UNIX source code.”

• cites [2] 2. The Connexions textbook as a factory. Illustration by Jenn Drummond, Ross Reedstrom, Max Starkenberg, and others, 1999-2004. Used with permission. to Catholicism and the PC user interface to Protestantism ("La bustina di Minerva," Espresso, 30 September 1994, back page).Not checked yet

  Not checked in the free run.

Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

The story of chapters 8 and 9 is one of reuse, of modifiability and the problems that emerge in the attempt to build it into the everyday practices of pedagogical writing and cultural production of myriad forms.

“This story is, in particular, one of reuse, of modifiability and the problems that emerge in the attempt to build it into the everyday practices of pedagogical writing and cultural production of myriad forms.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

The core practice of Free Software is the practice of reuse and modification of software source code.

“In fact, the core practice of Free Software is the practice of reuse and modification of software source code.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Free Software emerged around 1998 from a happily subterranean and obscure existence stretching back roughly twenty years.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable).

Modifiability is an imperative for building infrastructures that can last longer.

“Modifiability is an imperative for building infrastructures that can last longer.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Free Software emerged around 1998 from a happily subterranean and obscure existence stretching back roughly twenty years.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable). May combine two claims.

The five practices do not define Free Software once and for all; they define it with respect to its constitution in the contemporary.

“The reality of constant modulation means that these five practices do not define Free Software once and for all; they define it with respect to its constitution in the contemporary.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

The Internet looks the way it does because of Free Software.

“But the Internet looks the way it does because of Free Software.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Free Software emerged around 1998 from a happily subterranean and obscure existence stretching back roughly twenty years.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

It is possible for Free Software as we know it to cease to be public, or to become just one more settled form of power.

“It is possible for Free Software as we know it to cease to be public, or to become just one more settled form of power, but my focus is on the recent past and near future of something that is (for the time being) public in a radical and novel way.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Conventional publics have been described as 'self-grounding,' as constituted only through discourse in the conventional sense of speech, writing, and assembly.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

Recursive publics respond to governance by directly engaging in, maintaining, and often modifying the infrastructure they seek, as a public, to inhabit and extend-and not only by offering opinions or protesting decisions, as conventional publics do (in most theories of the public sphere).

“Recursive publics respond to governance by directly engaging in, maintaining, and often modifying the infrastructure they seek, as a introduction public, to inhabit and extend-and not only by offering opinions or protesting decisions, as conventional publics do (in most theories of the public sphere).”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Conventional publics have been described as 'self-grounding,' as constituted only through discourse in the conventional sense of speech, writing, and assembly.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based).

The significance of Free Software extends far beyond the arcane and detailed technical practices of software programmers and geeks.

“The significance of Free Software extends far beyond the arcane and detailed technical practices of software programmers and”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: There are tens of millions of people creating Free Software and hundreds of millions more using it.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based).

By looking carefully at Free Software and its modulations, one can come to a better understanding of the changes affecting pornography, Wikipedia, stock quotes, and many other wonderful and terrifying things.

“By looking carefully at Free Software and its modulations, I suggest, one can come to a better understanding of the changes affecting pornography, Wikipedia, stock quotes, and many other wonderful and terrifying things.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Free Software emerged around 1998 from a happily subterranean and obscure existence stretching back roughly twenty years.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based). May combine two claims.

Both the Internet and Free Software are historically specific, that is, not just any old new media or information technology.

“Both the Internet and Free Software are historically specific, that is, not just any old new media or information technology.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Free Software emerged around 1998 from a happily subterranean and obscure existence stretching back roughly twenty years.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based).

The excitement that participants and observers sense comes from the modulation of each of these practices and the subsequent discovery of where the thresholds are.

“the excitement that participants and observers sense comes from the modulation (experimentation) of each of these practices and the subsequent discovery of where the thresholds are.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

Geeks do not start with ideologies, but instead come to them through their involvement in the practices of creating Free Software and its derivatives.

“I hope to show how geeks do not start with ideologies, but instead come to them through their involvement in the introduction practices of creating Free Software and its derivatives.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Free Software emerged around 1998 from a happily subterranean and obscure existence stretching back roughly twenty years.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based).

Free Software is a machine for charting the reemergence of a problematic of power and knowledge as it is filtered through the technical realities of the Internet and the political and economic configuration of the contemporary.

“Free Software is a machine for charting the (re)emergence of a problematic of power and knowledge as it is filtered through the technical realities of the Internet and the political and economic configuration of the contemporary.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

In any public there inevitably arises a moment when the question of how things are said, who controls the means of communication, or whether each and everyone is being properly heard becomes an issue.

“In any public there inevitably arises a moment when the question of how things are said, who controls the means of communication, or whether each and everyone is being properly heard becomes an issue.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Conventional publics have been described as 'self-grounding,' as constituted only through discourse in the conventional sense of speech, writing, and assembly.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

Modulations happen whenever someone learns how some component of Free Software works and asks whether they can try these practices out in some other domain.

“Modulations happen whenever someone learns how some component of Free Software works and asks, “Can I try these practices out in some other domain?””

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable).

Free Software is no longer only about software-it exemplifies a more general reorientation of power and knowledge.

“Free Software is no longer only about software-it exemplifies a more general reorientation of power and knowledge.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: There are tens of millions of people creating Free Software and hundreds of millions more using it.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

Free Software and the Internet are related like figure and ground or like system and environment; neither are stable or unchanging in and of themselves, and there are a number of practical, technical, and historical places where the two are essentially indistinguishable.

“Free Software and the Internet are related like figure and ground or like system and environment; neither are stable or unchanging in and of themselves, and there are a number of practical, technical, and historical places where the two are essentially indistinguishable.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Free Software emerged around 1998 from a happily subterranean and obscure existence stretching back roughly twenty years.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

The Internet is not itself a recursive public, but it is something vitally important to that public, something about which such publics care deeply and act to preserve.

“The Internet is not itself a recursive public, but it is something vitally important to that public, something about which such publics care deeply and act to preserve.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Conventional publics have been described as 'self-grounding,' as constituted only through discourse in the conventional sense of speech, writing, and assembly.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

Such publics are not inherently modifiable, but are made so-and maintained-through the practices of participants.

“Such publics are not inherently modifiable, but are made so-and maintained-through the practices of participants.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Conventional publics have been described as 'self-grounding,' as constituted only through discourse in the conventional sense of speech, writing, and assembly.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

Free Software is one instance of the concept of a recursive public.

“Free Software is one instance of this concept, both as it has emerged in the recent past and as it undergoes transformation and differentiation in the near future.”

May combine two claims.

Free Software is a response to this reorientation that has resulted in a novel form of democratic political action, a means by which publics can be created and maintained in forms not at all familiar to us from the past.

“Free Software is a response to this reorientation that has resulted in a novel form of democratic political action, a means by which publics can be created and maintained in forms not at all familiar to us from the past.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Free Software emerged around 1998 from a happily subterranean and obscure existence stretching back roughly twenty years.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

Certain underlying practices relate diverse Internet phenomena to one another and help explain why they have occurred at this time and in this technical, legal, and social context.

“Yet certain underlying practices relate these diverse phenomena to one another and help explain why they have occurred at this time and in this technical, legal, and social context.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Free Software emerged around 1998 from a happily subterranean and obscure existence stretching back roughly twenty years.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

Fieldwork, especially in cultural and social anthropology in the last thirty years, has come to be understood less and less as one particular tool in a methodological toolbox, and more and more as a distinctive mode of epistemological encounter.

“Fieldwork, especially in cultural and social anthropology in the last thirty years, has come to be understood less and less as one particular tool in a methodological toolbox, and more and more as distinctive mode of epistemological encounter.”

• cites [1] 1. It pays to be open: Sun's version of profitable and successful open systems. Sun Microsystems advertisement, New York Times, 2 August 1988.Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based).

Free Software is a system of thresholds, not of classification.

“Conceived this way, Free Software is a system of thresholds, not of classification;”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

Free Software is a set of practices defined around the point 1998-99.

“It is a set of practices defined “around the point” 1998-99, an intensive coordinate space that allows one to explore Free Software’s components prospectively and retrospectively: into the near future and the recent past.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

The Internet is a unique platform-an environment or an infrastructure-for Free Software.

“The Internet is a unique platforman environment or an infrastructure-for Free Software.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Free Software emerged around 1998 from a happily subterranean and obscure existence stretching back roughly twenty years.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

Free Software is a public of a particular kind: a recursive public.

“Free Software is a public of a particular kind: a recursive public.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Conventional publics have been described as 'self-grounding,' as constituted only through discourse in the conventional sense of speech, writing, and assembly.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable). May combine two claims.

All of these concerns amount to a reorientation of knowledge and power that is incomplete and emergent, and whose implications reach directly into the heart of the legitimacy, certainty, reliability and especially the finality and temporality of the knowledge and infrastructures we collectively create.

“All of these concerns amount to a reorientation of knowledge and power that is incomplete and emergent, and whose implications reach directly into the heart of the legitimacy, certainty, reliability and especially the finality and temporality of the knowledge and infrastructures we collectively create.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Free Software emerged around 1998 from a happily subterranean and obscure existence stretching back roughly twenty years.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based).

Free Software exemplifies a considerable reorientation of knowledge and power in contemporary society.

“Free Software exemplifies a considerable reorientation of knowledge and power in contemporary society-a reorientation of power with respect to the creation, dissemination, and authorization of knowledge in the era of the Internet.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: There are tens of millions of people creating Free Software and hundreds of millions more using it.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based).

These practices provide a material and meaningful starting point for an array of recursive publics who play with, modulate, and transform them as they debate and build new ways to share, create, license, and control their respective productions.

“These practices provide a material and meaningful starting point for an array of recursive publics who play with, modulate, and transform them as they debate and build new ways to share, create, license, and control their respective productions.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Free Software emerged around 1998 from a happily subterranean and obscure existence stretching back roughly twenty years.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based).

Recursive publics seek to create what might be understood, enigmatically, as a constantly 'self-leveling' level playing field.

“Recursive publics seek to create what might be understood, enigmatically, as a constantly”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Conventional publics have been described as 'self-grounding,' as constituted only through discourse in the conventional sense of speech, writing, and assembly.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based).

Recursive publics come to exist where it is clear that such invention and control need to be widely shared, openly examined, and carefully monitored.

“Recursive publics come to exist where it is clear that such invention and control need to be widely shared, openly examined, and carefully monitored.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

Recursive publics differ from interest groups, corporations, unions, professions, churches, and other forms of organization because of their focus on the radical technological modifiability of their own terms of existence.

“Recursive publics, and publics generally, differ from interest groups, corporations, unions, professions, churches, and other forms of organization because of their focus on the radical technological modifiability of their own terms of existence.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Conventional publics have been described as 'self-grounding,' as constituted only through discourse in the conventional sense of speech, writing, and assembly.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable).

It is a reorientation at once more specific and more general than the grand diagnostic claims of an 'information' or 'network' society, or the rise of knowledge work or knowledge-based economies.

“It is a reorientation at once more specific and more general than the grand diagnostic claims of an”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Free Software emerged around 1998 from a happily subterranean and obscure existence stretching back roughly twenty years.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

Free Software exemplifies this reorientation; it is not simply a technical pursuit but also the creation of a 'public,' a collective that asserts itself as a check on other constituted forms of power-like states, the church, and corporations-but which remains independent of these domains of power.

“Free Software exemplifies this reorientation; it is not simply a technical pursuit but also the creation of a”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Free Software emerged around 1998 from a happily subterranean and obscure existence stretching back roughly twenty years.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based).

Free Software is a set of practices for the distributed collaborative creation of software source code that is then made openly and freely available through a clever, unconventional use of copyright law.

“Free Software is a set of practices for the distributed collaborative creation of software source code that is then made openly and freely available through a clever, unconventional use of copyright law.”

Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

The term commons was meant to suggest something more than simply a collection; it was meant to signal the public interest, collective management, and legal status of the collection.

“The very term commons-at once a new name and a theoretical object of investigation-was meant to suggest something more than simply a collection, whether of introduction digital objects or anything else; it was meant to signal the public interest, collective management, and legal status of the collection.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based).

A legitimate public sphere is one that gives outsiders a way in: they may or may not be heard, but they do not have to appeal to any authority (inside or outside the organization) in order to have a voice.

“A legitimate public sphere is one that gives outsiders a way in: they may or may not be heard, but they do not have to appeal to any authority (inside or outside the organization) in order to have a voice.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Conventional publics have been described as 'self-grounding,' as constituted only through discourse in the conventional sense of speech, writing, and assembly.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based). May combine two claims.

For the last thirty years, the Internet has been the subject of a contest in which Free Software has been both a central combatant and an important architect.

“For the last thirty years, the Internet has been the subject of a contest in which Free Software has been both a central combatant and an important architect.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Governments, corporations, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and other institutions have plenty of reasons—profit, security, control—to seek to fragment the Internet.
• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Free Software emerged around 1998 from a happily subterranean and obscure existence stretching back roughly twenty years.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing).

Because the Internet crosses lines of community, the shared idea of order is better understood as part of a public or public sphere, a vast republic of letters and media and ideas at planetary scope and scale.

“But because the Internet-like colonialism, satellite broadcasting, and air travel, among other things-crosses all these lines with abandon that the shared idea of order is better understood as part of a public, or public sphere, a vast republic of letters and media and ideas circulating in and through our thoughts and papers and letters and conversations, at a planetary scope and scale.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Since the explosive growth of the Internet, geek has become a more common designation, suggesting a role larger than programmer or hacker but not as large as all Internet users.

“However, since the explosive growth of the Internet, geek has become more common a designation, and my use of the term thus suggests a role that is larger than programmer/hacker, but not as large as”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

The concept of a social imaginary avoids the conundrums created by the concept of ideology and its distinction from material practice.

“The concept of a social imaginary also avoids the conundrums created by the concept of”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing).

The background that makes sense of any given act is wide and deep; it draws on our whole world, our sense of our whole predicament in time and space, among others and in history.

“The background that makes sense of any given act is wide and deep.It doesn't include everything in our world, but the relevant sense-giving features can't be circumscribed. . . .[It] draws on our whole world, that is, our sense of our whole predicament in time and space, among others and in history.”

• cites TaylorNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Social imaginaries develop historically and result in both new institutions and new subjectivities; the concepts of public, market, and civil society are located in the imaginative faculties of actors who recognize the shared, common existence of these ideas, even if they differ on details, and the practices of those actors reflect a commitment to working out these shared concepts.

“Social imaginaries develop historically and result in both new institutions and new subjectivities; the concepts of public, market, and civil society (among others) are located in the imaginative faculties of actors who recognize the shared, common existence of these ideas, even if they differ on the details, and the practices of those actors reflect a commitment to working out these shared conc”

• cites TaylorNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable).

The creation of software, networks, and legal documents troubles the distinction between ideas and material practice because they are at once ideas and things with material effects, both expressive and performative.

“Because the creation of software, networks, and legal documents are precisely the kinds of activities that trouble this distinctionthey are at once ideas and things that have material effects in the world, both expressive and performative-it is extremely difficult to identify the properly material materiality (source code?computer chips?semiconductor manufacturing plants?).”

Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

In all of the stories, the figuring out is presented in the making and not as something that can be conveniently narrated as obvious and uncontested with the benefit of hindsight.

“Some of these stories involve callow and earnest actors, some involve scheming and strategy, but in all of them the figuring out is presented “in the making” and not as something that can be conveniently narrated as obvious and uncontested with the benefit of hindsight.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

Ideology in its technical usage has been overwhelmed by its pejorative meaning: the ideological is never one's own position but always the stance of someone else.

“Ideology in its technical usage has been slowly and surely overwhelmed by its pejorative meaning:”

Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

This work is multisited in the simple sense of having multiple sites at which these objects were investigated: Boston, Bangalore, Berlin, Houston.

“Hence, this work is multisited in the simple sense of having multiple sites at which these objects were investigated: Boston, Bangalore, Berlin, Houston.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

The social imaginary is not simply the norms that structure our actions; it is also a sense of what makes norms achievable or realizable.

“The social imaginary is not simply the norms that structure our actions; it is also a sense of what makes norms achievable or”

• cites TaylorNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

Free Software and the Internet are objects that do not have a single geographic site at which they can be studied.

“Free Software and the Internet are objects that do not have a single geographic site at which they can be studied.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Clifford Geertz noted the difficulty of employing a non-evaluative concept of ideology, as did Karl Mannheim before him.

“Clifford Geertz noted it in”

• cites GeertzNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

• cites MannheimNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

Taylor's social imaginary is intended to resist the spectre of idealism, the distinction between ideas and practices, between ideologies and the material world as rival causal agents.

“Taylor's social imaginary is intended to do something specific: to resist the”

• cites TaylorNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Taylor does not insist that this is the only such definition of modernity, but the modern idea of moral order is one that dominates and structures a very wide array of institutions and individuals around the world.

“He by no means insists that this is the only such definition of modernity (the door is wide open to understanding alternative modernities), but that the modern idea of moral order is one that dominates and structures a very wide array of institutions and individuals around the world.”

• cites TaylorNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable).

A recursive public is distinguished from the classic formulae of the public sphere because it requires an imagination that includes writing, publishing, speaking, and arguing as well as the making of new kinds of software infrastructures for the circulation, archiving, movement, and modifiability of enunciations.

“This is the first of the reasons why a recursive public is to be distinguished from the classic formulae of the public sphere, that is, that it requires a kind of imagination that includes the writing and publishing and speaking and arguing we are familiar with, as well as the making of new kinds of software infrastructures for the circulation, archiving, movement, and modifiability of our enunci”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

The practices of critique are just as, if not more, likely to be turned on critical scholars themselves, to show how the processes of analysis, hidden assumptions, latent functions of the university, or other unrecognized features of the material, non-ideological real world cause the analyst to fall into an ideological trap.

“However, the practices of critique are just as (if not more) likely to be turned on critical scholars themselves, to show how the processes of analysis, hidden assumptions, latent functions of the university, or other unrecognized features the material, non-ideological real world cause the analyst to fall into an ideological trap.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

For Ricoeur, the very substance of life begins in the interpretation of reality, and therefore ideologies, as well as utopias and perhaps conspiracies, could be treated as systems that integrate those interpretations into the meaningful wholes of political life.

“For Ricoeur, the very substance of life begins in the interpretation of reality, and therefore ideologies (as well as utopias-and perhaps conspiracies) could well be treated as systems that integrate those interpretations into the meaningful wholes of political life.”

• cites RicoeurNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Taylor's public sphere transcends topical spaces and knits a plurality of spaces into one larger space of non-assembly; it is a meta-topical common space.

“Contrary to the experience of bodies coming together into a common space (Taylor calls them”

• cites TaylorNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing).

Social imaginaries are an extension of background in the philosophical sense: a wider grasp of our whole predicament.

“Social imaginaries are an extension of”

• cites TaylorNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Classified as probably not a substantial claim. May combine two claims.

Taylor suggests that because human practices are the kind of thing that makes sense, certain ideas are internal to them; one cannot distinguish the two in order to ask which causes which.

“Taylor suggests,”

• cites TaylorNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

Paul Ricoeur proposes ideological and utopian thought as two components of social and cultural imagination.

“The concept of ideology takes a turn toward”

• cites RicoeurNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing).

If one attempts a nonpejorative explanation of any particular ideology, there is seemingly nothing that might rescue the explanation from itself becoming ideological.

“If one were to attempt an explanation of any particular ideology in nonpejorative terms, there is seemingly nothing that might rescue the explanation from itself becoming ideological.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

Taylor stresses that social imaginaries are imaginations-not necessarily theories-of modern moral and social order.

“Taylor stresses that they are imaginations-not necessarily theories-of modern moral and social order:”

• cites TaylorNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

Ricoeur divides approaches to the concept of ideology into three basic types-the distorting, the integrating, and the legitimating-according to how actors deal with reality through symbolic imagination.

“Ricoeur's overview divides approaches to the concept of ideology into three basic types-the distorting, the integrating, and the legitimating-according to how actors deal with reality through (symbolic) imagination.”

• cites RicoeurNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

Charles Taylor suggests that the public sphere that emerged in the eighteenth century was created through practices of communication and association reflecting a moral order in which the public stands outside power and guides or checks its operation through shared discourse and enlightened discussion.

“Charles Taylor, building on the work of Jürgen Habermas and Michael Warner, suggests that the public sphere (both idea and thing) that emerged in the eighteenth century was created through practices of communication and association that reflected a moral order in which the public stands outside power and guides or checks its operation through shared discourse and enlightened discussion.”

• cites TaylorNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Ricoeur defends the Geertzian flavor: ideologies integrate the symbolic structure of the world into a meaningful whole, and only because the structure of social life is already symbolic can it be distorted.

“Ricoeur defends the second, Geertzian flavor: ideologies integrate the symbolic structure of the world into a meaningful whole, and”

• cites RicoeurNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

Taylor's concept of social imaginary in Modern Social Imaginaries attempts to capture the specific integrative imaginations of modern moral and social order.

“In Modern Social Imaginaries the concept of social imaginary is distinctive in that it attempts to capture the specific integrative imaginations of modern moral and social order.”

• cites TaylorNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

The elite, relatively homogeneous subcultural group of early 1990s geeks has been overrun.

“The elite subcultural, relatively homogenous group it once was has been overrun:”

• cites Robert HaydenNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

For Taylor, there is such a thing as a modern idea of order, which includes ideas of what it means to be an individual, ideas of how individual passions and desires are related to collective association, and ideas about living in time together, including a radically secular conception of time.

“For Taylor, there is such a thing as a”

• cites TaylorNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable).

Representations of geeks should not necessarily be taken as evidence that geeks provide adequate analytic or critical explanations of their own actions.

“However, such representations should not necessarily be taken as evidence that geeks provide adequate analytic or critical explanations of their own actions.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Sean's and Adrian's commitment to transforming healthcare seems motivated by a notion of moral order in which the means of allocation of healthcare might become more just, but it is also shot through with technical ideas about the role of standards, the Internet, and the problems with current technical solutions.

“Sean's and Adrian's commitment to transforming healthcare seems to be, for instance, motivated by a notion of moral order in which the means of allocation of healthcare might become more just, but it is also shot through with technical ideas about the role of standards, the Internet, and the problems with current technical solutions; so while they may seem to be simply advocating for better health”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based).

If intuition can lead from geek to geek, from start-up to nightclub, and across countries, languages, and professional orientations, it can only be due to a shared set of ideas of how things fit together in the world.

“If intuition can lead one from geek to geek, from start-up to nightclub, and across countries, languages, and professional orientations, it can only be due to a shared set of ideas of how things fit together in the world.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing).

If the public sphere exists as more than just a theory, it has no other basis than a shared imagination of order, which provides a guide for judgments and a map for changing or achieving that order.

“In fact, if the public sphere exists as more than just a theory, then it has no other basis than just such a shared imagination of order, an imagination which provides a guide against which to make judgments and a map for changing or achieving that order.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing).

Users of the Internet, even those who use it eighteen out of twenty-four hours a day to ship goods and play games, are not necessarily geeks by this characterization.

“By contrast”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Hayden captures the distinction between those legitimately allowed to call themselves geeks or hackers and those who are not, a distinction often formulated recursively: one is a hacker when another hacker calls one a hacker.

“While certainly elitist, Hayden captures the distinction between those who are legitimately allowed to call themselves geeks (or hackers) and those who aren't, a distinction that is often formulated recursively, of course:”

• cites Robert HaydenNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S1 (asserted), S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

The notion of

“The notion of”

May combine two claims.

Bone's message, the Napster shutdown, and responses illustrate two key aspects of the recursive public: geeks argue about infrastructures as well as rights and ideas, and the layers of a recursive public are evidenced in the connection of Napster to decentralized routing protocols.

“Bone's message, the event of the Napster shutdown, and the various responses to it nicely illustrate the two key aspects of the recursive public: first, the way in which geeks argue not only about rights and ideas (e.g., is it legal to share music?) but also about the infrastructures that allow such arguing and sharing; second, the”

May combine two claims.

The activities of coding, writing software, or improving and diversifying software are not inevitable or automatic but require time and

“Rather, the activities of coding, writing software, or improving and diversifying the software that exists are not inevitable or automatic but have specific characteristics.They require time and”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing).

A public whose participants have no faith that it is autotelic and autonomous is little more than a charade meant to assuage opposition to authority, to transform political power and equality into the negotiation between unequal parties.

“A public whose participants have no faith that it is autotelic and autonomous is little more than a charade meant to assuage opposition to authority, to transform political power and equality into the negotiation between unequal parties.”

Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

Warner's distinction between different media-specific forms of assembly is crucial to answering whether a mailing list on the Internet is more or less likely to be a sovereign public than a book-reading public or the nightly-news-hearing one; one needs to approach it from the specificity of the form of discourse.

“Warner's distinction between different media-specific forms of assembly is crucial to answering this question.If one wants to know whether a mailing list on the Internet is more or less likely to be a sovereign public than a book-reading public or the nightly-news-hearing one, then one needs to approach it from the specificity of the form of discourse.”

• cites WarnerNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

For many geeks, the IETF and its RFC system exemplify key features of the moral and technical order they share.

“For many geeks, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and its Requests for Comments (RFC) system exemplify key features of the moral and technical order they share, the”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

Like many similar communities of digerati during and after the dot.com boom, Silk-list constituted itself more or less organically around people who got it, that is, people who claimed to understand the Internet, its transformative potential, and who had the technical skills to participate in its expansion.

“Like many similar communities of”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

The constraints on who speaks in a public sphere are much looser in the Internet era than in any previous one.

“The constraints on who speaks in a public sphere (such as the power of printers and publishers, the requirements of licensing, or issues of cost and accessibility) are much looser in the Internet era than in any previous one.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing).

It is a stretch to call this an assembly because it assembles only the avatars of the mailing-list readers, many of whom probably ignore or delete most of the messages.

“It is a stretch to call this an”

Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

The affinity of geeks for each other is processed through and by ideas of order that are both moral and technical-ideas that mix up operating systems and social systems.

“The affinity of geeks for each other is processed through and by ideas of order that are both moral and technical-ideas of order that do indeed mix up”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable).

To be part of a particular public is to choose to pay attention to those who choose to address those who choose to pay attention, and so on.

“To be part of a particular public is to choose to pay attention to those who choose to address those who choose to pay attention . . .and so on.”

• cites WarnerNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

Warner distinguishes between a concrete, embodied audience and an audience brought into being by discourse and its circulation; the latter is concrete in a media-specific manner, depending on structures of creation, circulation, use, performance, and reuse of particular kinds of discourse.

“Warner distinguishes, however, between a concrete, embodied audience, like that at a play, a demonstration, or a riot (a topical public in Taylor's terms), and an audience brought into being by discourse and its circulation, an audience that is not metatopical so much as it is a public that is concrete in a different way; it is concrete not in the face-to-face temporality of the speech act, but in”

• cites WarnerNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based). May combine two claims.

Over subsequent years and court cases, the RIAA and MPAA have been given considerably more police authority than many federal agencies, especially regarding policing networks; they have sought to prosecute filesharers, obtain ISP customer information, and secretly disable private computers suspected of illegal activity.

“Proving Bone's contention, over the course of the subsequent years and court cases, the RIAA and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) have been given considerably more police authority than even many federal agencies-especially with regard to policing networks themselves”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based). May combine two claims.

These systems include the technical means, the infrastructure, through which geeks meet, assemble, collaborate, and plan, as well as how they talk and think about those activities.

“These systems include the technical means (the infrastructure) through which geeks meet, assemble, collaborate, and plan, as well as how they talk and think about those activities.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

The infrastructure-the Internet-allows for a remarkably wide and diverse array of people to encounter and engage with each other.

“The infrastructure-the Internet-allows for a remarkably wide and diverse array of people to encounter and engage with each other.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

Censorship by corporations (or consortia representing them) is a novel development.

“The significance of this has to do with the fact that a”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: A public is expected to be its own sovereign entity, distinct from church, state, or corporation.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

As Warner and Habermas suggest, the existence of autonomous publics-and certainly the idea of public opinion-does not always conform to this idea of order.

“As Warner (and Habermas before him) suggests, the existence of such autonomous publics-and certainly the idea of”

• cites WarnerNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

• cites HabermasNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

The Internet is singular, and its singularity, though not technically determined, is what makes it valuable to geeks as an infrastructure for autonomous and autotelic publics.

“These two aspects of the recursive public also relate to a concern about the fragmentation or refeudalization of the public sphere: there is only one Internet.Its singularity is not technically determined or by any means necessary, but it is what makes the Internet so valuable to geeks.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing).

The leap to speaking about decentralized routing protocols represents the shared moral and technical order of geeks, derived from specific details of the Internet.

“The leap to speaking about the”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Warner's description makes no claim that any public or even The Public actually takes this form; it is a description of a social imaginary or a faith that allows individuals to make sense of their actions according to a modern idea of social order.

“Warner's description makes no claim that any public or even The Public actually takes this form in the present: it is a description of a social imaginary or a”

• cites WarnerNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing).

Even if not censorship per se, RIAA/MPAA practices are examples of issues that exercise geeks: the use of legal means by a few to suppress or transform technologies in wide use by the many.

“Even if these practices may not be defined as censorship per se, they are nonetheless fine examples of the issues that most exercise geeks: the use of legal means by a few (in this case, private corporations) to suppress or transform technologies in wide use by the many.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Geeks imagine a space where anyone can speak with similar reach and staying power, even if that does not imply authority, and they imagine it should remain open at all costs.

“Geeks imagine a space where anyone can speak with similar reach and staying power-even if that does not automatically imply authority-and they imagine that it should remain open at all costs.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based). May combine two claims.

The imagination of order shared by geeks is both moral and technical, concerning not only the technical structure of the Internet but also the legal and social structure that has emerged with it.

“Operating systems and social systems: the imagination of order shared by geeks is both moral and technical.It is not only about the technical structure of the Internet, however innovative that is, but also about the legal and social structure that has emerged with it”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

In terms of publics, Bone's message can constitute a public in the same sense as a New York Times op-ed, but its impact and meaning differ; the NYT piece has more authority, is less accessible, and is not available to just anyone.

“In terms of publics, Bone's message can constitute a public in the same sense that a New York Times op-ed can, but its impact and meaning will be different.His message is openly and freely available for as long as there are geeks and laws and machines that maintain it, but the New York Times piece will have more authority, will be less accessible, and, most important, will not be available to just”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

The IETF is a longstanding association of Internet engineers with open individual membership and little real control over the Internet's structure or growth, only over Internet standardization; its standards are de facto legitimate.

“The IETF is a longstanding association of Internet engineers who try to help disseminate some of the core standards of the Internet through the RFC process.Membership is open to individuals, and the association has very little real control over the structure or growth of the Internet-only over the key process of Internet standardization.Its standards rarely have the kind of political legitimacy”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

The idea of order shared by geeks is shared because they are geeks, because they get it, because the Internet's structure and software have taken a particular form through which geeks come to understand the moral order that gives the fabric of their political lives warp and weft.

“That is to say, the idea of order shared by geeks is shared because they are geeks, because they”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

Silk-list is not a government, corporate, or nongovernmental list, but is constituted only through the activity of geeks finding each other and speaking to each other on this list.

“Silk-list is not a government, corporate, or nongovernmental list, but is constituted only through the activity of geeks finding each other and speaking to each other on this list (which can happen in all manner of ways: through work, through school, through conferences, through fame, through random association, etc.).”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable). May combine two claims.

The specificity of the form of discourse includes whether the form is text or video and audio, whether the text is ASCII or Unicode, or the video PAL or NTSC, and also the means of creation, circulation, and reuse of that discourse.

“This specificity not only includes whether the form is text or video and audio, or whether the text is ASCII or Unicode, or the video PAL or NTSC, but it also includes the means of creation, circulation, and reuse of that discourse as well.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Silk-list is certainly a metatopical public; it knits together a variety of topical spaces.

“Silk-list is certainly, on the other hand, a”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

Silk-list is an excellent index of the relationship between the network of people in Bangalore and their connection to a worldwide community on the Internet-a story of the power of heterogeneously connected networks and media.

“Silk-list is an excellent index of the relationship between the network of people in Bangalore and their connection to a worldwide community on the Internet-a fascinating story of the power of heterogeneously connected networks and media.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

Warner states that the circularity is essential to the phenomenon: a public might be real and efficacious, but its reality lies in the reflexivity by which an addressable object is conjured into being in order to enable the very discourse that gives it existence.

“Or as Warner puts it,”

• cites WarnerNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S1 (asserted), S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

The folkloric notion that

“For Jeff Bone (and a great many geeks), the folkloric notion that”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Warner states that a public organizes itself independently of state institutions, law, formal frameworks of citizenship, or preexisting institutions such as the church; if it were not possible to think of the public as organized independently of the state or other frameworks, the public could not be sovereign with respect to the state.

“As Warner puts it,”

• cites WarnerNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

A conventionally published book is treated as authoritative due to its association with a reputable corporation, and its quality is measured primarily by sales.

“However, a traditionally published book is also enriched by its association with a reputable corporation: it is treated more or less immediately as authoritative, perhaps as meeting some standard of accuracy, precision, or even truth, and its quality is measured primarily by sales.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

The autotelic feature of a public is crucial to understanding its function as standing outside of power; it cannot be organized by the state, a corporation, or any other social totality if it is to have the legitimacy of an independently functioning public.

“This”

• cites WarnerNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

The existence of particular media is not sufficient for a public to come into existence; it requires also that the public take corresponding action, that is, that they read it.

“The first, as Warner is careful to note, is that the existence of particular media is not sufficient for a public to come into existence.Just because a book is printed does not mean that a public exists; it requires also that the public take corresponding action, that is, that they read it.”

• cites WarnerNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S1 (asserted), S2 (checkable). May combine two claims.

The quote

“A famous bit of Internet-governance folklore expresses succinctly the combination of moral and technical order that geeks share (attributed to IETF member David Clark):”

• cites [29] 29. Gerlach and Hine, People, Power, Change, and Freeman and Johnson, Waves of Protest. However, the Free Software and Open Source Movements do not have "causes" of the kind that conventional movements do, other than the perpetuation of Free and Open Source Software (see Coleman, "Political 39 Salus, A Quarter Century of UNIX, 161. 40 TCP/IP Digest 1.6 (11 November 1981) contains Joy's explanation of Berkeley's intentions (Message-ID: anews.aucbvax.5236).Not checked yet

  Not checked in the free run.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

The ease of distribution on the Internet belies the difficulty of being heard; multitudes of other Jeff Bones make it harder to get an audience.

“On the other hand, the ease of distribution belies the difficulty of actually being heard: the multitudes of other Jeff Bones make it much harder to get an audience.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based). May combine two claims. The quote only partly states this claim.

Only an on-demand, Internet-mediated publishing scheme with a copyleft license satisfies the criteria of being a recursive public, whereas a conventionally published book may satisfy the criteria of being a public but not a recursive public.

“However, it is only the latter”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Copyright law restricts what readers can do with a traditionally published book, including how they might read it or subsequently circulate it or make derivative use of it.

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Lessig's critique is at the heart of Bone's concern and recursive publics generally: the Internet is a contest that needs to be repeatedly replayed to maintain it as the legitimate infrastructure through which geeks associate.

“Lessig's critique is actually at the heart of Bone's concern, and the concern of recursive publics generally: the Internet is a contest and one that needs to be repeatedly and constantly replayed in order to maintain it as the legitimate infrastructure through which geeks associate with one another.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

Often such publics turn out to have been controlled all along by states, corporations, capitalism, and other forms of social totality that determine the nature of discourse in insidious ways.

“Often such publics turn out to have been controlled all along by states, corporations, capitalism, and other forms of social totality that determine the nature of discourse in insidious ways.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable). May combine two claims.

Recursive publics include not only the discourses of a public but also the ability to make, maintain, and manipulate the infrastructures of those discourses, and they are layered, including both discourses and infrastructures to a specific technical extent.

“This captures both of the reasons why recursive publics are distinctive: (1) they include not only the discourses of a public, but the ability to make, maintain, and manipulate the infrastructures of those discourses as well; and (2) they are”

Classified as probably not a substantial claim. May combine two claims.

Bone's leap from Napster to core protocols represents the second aspect of a recursive public: the importance of understanding the Internet as a set of layers, each enabling the next and each requiring an openness that prevents central control and leads to maximum creativity.

“Bone's leap from a discussion about Napster to one about the core protocols of the Internet is not unusual.It represents the second aspect of a recursive public: the importance of understanding the Internet as a set of”

May combine two claims.

Bone's message was not published in any conventional sense and was not widely cited, but for one day it was a heated discussion topic on three mailing lists, making

“Although what it means to call his message an”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

Silk-list is a topical space from the perspective of the machine: the list of names on the mailing list are all assembled together in a database, or in a file, on the server that manages the mailing list.

“It is a topical space, however, if one considers it from the perspective of the machine: the list of names on the mailing list are all assembled together in a database, or in a file, on the server that manages the mailing list.”

May combine two claims.

For many geeks, Napster represented the Internet in miniature and was a recapitulation of what the Internet already meant to geeks.

“For many geeks, Napster represented the Internet in miniature, an innovation that both demonstrated something on a scope and scale never seen before, and that also connected people around something they cared deeply about-their shared interest in music.”

• Also stated in: § From Napster to the Internet · hedged

  “To a large extent, Napster was therefore a recapitulation of what the Internet already meant to geeks.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

Technology does not solve anything by itself; it does not obviate the political problems of healthcare rationing.

“What is more important is that technology does not solve anything by itself; it does not obviate the political problems of healthcare rationing:”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Geeks can then see themselves as fighting to uphold Christianity (true capitalism) against the church (corporations) and to be reforming a way of life that is corrupted by church and monarchs, instead of overthrowing through revolution a system they believe to be flawed.

“Geeks can then see themselves as fighting to uphold Christianity (true capitalism) against the church (corporations) and to be reforming a way of life that is corrupted by church and monarchs, instead of overthrowing through revolution a system they believe to be flawed.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

Free Software illuminates how issues of enlightenment, progress, and freedom are proposed, contested, and implemented in and through software and networks.

“And while the example of Free Software illuminates how issues of enlightenment, progress, and freedom are proposed, contested, and implemented in and through software and networks, this chapter contains stories that are better understood as”

May combine two claims.

The essential component of setting Internet standards is a good, working implementation of the protocols; someone must write software that behaves as specified by the RFC.

“As David Clark's reference to”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

Polymaths must know a very large and wide range of things to intervene in an existing distribution of machines, people, practices, and places.

“Polymaths must know a very large and wide range of things in order to intervene in an existing distribution of machines, people, practices, and places.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

Technology has two different meanings according to Adrian's two goals: intervention by new technologies in specific healthcare situations, and political-rhetorical argument.

“Technology has two different meanings according to Adrian's two goals: in the first case technology refers to the intervention by means of new technologies (from software, to materials, to electronics, to pharmaceuticals) in specific healthcare situations wherein high costs or limited access to care can be affected.”

• Also stated in: § reformers, polymaths, transhumanists · plain

  “With regard to raising the level of discussion, however, technology refers to a kind of political-rhetorical argument: technology does not save the world (nor does it destroy it); it only saves lives-and it does this only when one makes particular decisions about its allocation.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

Such stories imply that two technologies are equally good and equally bad and that one's choice of sect is thus an entirely nonrational one based in the vicissitudes of background and belief.

“Such stories imply that two technologies are equally good and equally bad and that one's choice of sect is thus an entirely nonrational one based in the vicissitudes of background and belief.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

The polymath feels there is no single method by which technology works its magic; it is dependent on rules, patterned actions, and contingent contextual factors.

“The polymath feels there is no single method by which technology works its magic: it is highly dependent on rules, on patterned actions, and on the observation of contingent and contextual factors.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based). May combine two claims.

Geeks' affinity with one another is structured by shared moral and technical understandings of order; they are an independent public that can build, maintain, and modify itself, not restricted to speaking, writing, arguing, or protesting.

“My answer, by contrast, is that geeks' affinity with one another is structured by shared moral and technical understandings of order.They are a public, an independent public that has the ability to build, maintain, and modify itself, that is not restricted to the activities of speaking, writing, arguing, or protesting.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing).

A good programmer, software architect, or information architect does not simply specialize in code.

“There is no sense in which a good programmer, software architect, or information architect simply specializes in code.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

Technology does not save the world nor destroy it; it only saves lives, and only when particular decisions about its allocation are made.

“technology does not save the world (nor does it destroy it); it only saves lives-and it does this only when one makes particular decisions about its allocation.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

Napster was a familiar and widely discussed instance of the reorientation of power and knowledge wrought by the Internet and the practices of geeks.

“Napster was a familiar and widely discussed instance of the”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing).

Polymaths might better be described as Feyerabendians than as pragmatists.

“In this manner, polymaths might better be described as Feyerabendians than as pragmatists (and, indeed, Sean turned out to be an avid reader of Feyerabend).”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

Polymathy is essential for Adrian's twofold mission because it requires understanding engineers, doctors and nurses, and businessmen.

“Polymathy is essential, since Adrian's twofold mission requires understanding the language and lives of at least three distinct groups who work elbow-to-elbow in healthcare: engineers and software architects; doctors and nurses; and businessmen.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable). May combine two claims.

Usable pasts are stories that geeks tell, combining fact and fiction, not to remember the past but to make sense of the present and future.

“Usable pasts is a more charitable term for what might be called modern myths among geeks: stories that the tellers know to be a combination of fact and fiction.They are told not in order to remember the past, but in order to make sense of the present and of the future.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

Geeks also allow themselves to see their struggles as those of Luther-like adepts, confronted by powerful worldly institutions that are distinct but intertwined: the Catholic Church and absolutist monarchs.

“In addition to the obvious pleasure with which they deploy the sectarian aspects of the Protestant Reformation, geeks also allow themselves to see their struggles as those of Luther-like adepts, confronted by powerful worldly institutions that are distinct but intertwined: the Catholic Church and absolutist monarchs.”

May combine two claims.

The affinity constituted by a recursive public through the Internet creates geeks who understand what association through the Internet means, and this affinity structures their imagination of what the Internet is and enables.

“The affinity constituted by a recursive public, through the medium of the Internet, creates geeks who understand clearly what association through the Internet means.This affinity structures their imagination of what the Internet is and enables: creation, distribution, modification of knowledge, music, science, software.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

The implication for most geeks is that the standardization process is permanently and fundamentally open: changes can be proposed, implemented, and adopted without end, and the better a technology becomes, the more difficult it becomes to improve on it, and therefore the less reason there is to subvert or reinvent it.

“The implication for most geeks is that this process is permanently and fundamentally open: changes to it can be proposed, implemented, and adopted without end, and the better a technology becomes, the more difficult it becomes to improve on it, and therefore the less reason there is to subvert it or reinvent it.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Design is hard work, whereas technical stuff is not.

“Design is hard work, whereas the technical stuff-like choosing the right language or adhering to a standard or finding a ready-made piece of code to plug in somewhere-is not.”

May combine two claims.

Geeks did not defend Napster as much as they experienced its legal restriction as a wake-up call: the Internet enables Napster and many other things, but laws, corporations, lobbyists, money, and governments can destroy all of it.

“Therefore, geeks did not defend Napster as much as they experienced its legal restriction as a wake-up call: the Internet enables Napster and will enable many other things, but laws, corporations, lobbyists, money, and governments can destroy all of it.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based).

Affinity-membership in a recursive public-depends on adopting the moral and technical imaginations of this kind of order.

“Affinity-membership in a recursive public-depends on adopting the moral and technical imaginations of this kind of order.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

Often the appeal of Reformation-era rhetoric comes from a kind of indictment of the present: despite all this high tech, superfabulous computronic wonderfulness, we are no less feudal, no less violent, no less arbitrary and undemocratic; which is to say, geeks have progressed, have seen the light and the way, but the rest of society-and especially management and marketing-have not.

“Often the appeal of Reformation-era rhetoric comes from a kind of indictment of the present: despite all this high tech, superfabulous computronic wonderfulness, we are no less feudal, no less violent, no less arbitrary and undemocratic; which is to say, geeks have progressed, have seen the light and the way, but the rest of society-and especially management and marketing-have not.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

The contemporary relationship among states, corporations, small businesses, and geeks is not captured by familiar oppositions like commercial/noncommercial, for/against private property, or capitalist/socialist-it is a relationship of reform and conversion, not revolution or overthrow.

“The contemporary relationship among states, corporations, small businesses, and geeks is not captured by familiar oppositions like commercial/noncommercial, for/against private property, or capitalist/socialist-it is a relationship of reform and conversion, not revolution or overthrow.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing).

In this sense, Reformation allegories are stories of how things never change.

“In this sense, Reformation allegories are stories of how”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

It is easy to be an avowed dilettante in the age of mailing lists, newsgroups, and online scientific publishing.

“It is easy to be an avowed dilettante in the age of mailing lists, newsgroups, and online scientific publishing.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

Allegories of Protestant revolt allow geeks to make sense of the relationship between the state (the monarchy), large corporations (the Catholic Church), the small start-ups, individual programmers, and adepts among whom they spend most of their time (Protestant reformers), and the laity (known as lusers and sheeple).

“Allegories of Protestant revolt allow geeks to make sense of the relationship between the state (the monarchy), large corporations (the Catholic Church), the small start-ups, individual programmers, and adepts among whom they spend most of their time (Protestant reformers), and the laity (known as”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

The allegory often implies that one must save capitalism from the capitalists, a sentiment that implies at least some kind of human control over capitalism.

“Though I've rarely heard it articulated so bluntly, the allegory often implies that one must”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing).

The stories in chapter 2 are better understood as

“this chapter contains stories that are better understood as”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

Sometimes technology is allocated, sometimes it does the allocating.

“Sometimes technology is allocated, sometimes it does the allocating.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

The urgency in the Napster case is linked to a moral idea of order in which there is a shared imaginary of The Public, not only a vast multiplicity of competing publics.

“The urgency evidenced in the case of Napster (and repeated in numerous other instances, such as the debate over net neutrality) is linked to a moral idea of order in which there is a shared imagi-nary of The Public, and not only a vast multiplicity of competing publics.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

The polymath has a this-worldly approach to technology: neither mystery nor promise, only human ingenuity and error.

“The polymath has a very this-worldly approach to technology: there is neither mystery nor promise, only human ingenuity and error.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

Reformation through technical innovation is opposed to control through the consolidation of money and power.

“Reformation through technical innovation is opposed here to control through the consolidation of money and power.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

Internet geeks and software architects can think this way because technical issues are well defined and easy to address with search and download.

“It is possible for Internet geeks and software architects to think this way in part due to the fact that so many of the technical issues they face are both extremely well defined and very easy to address with a quick search and download.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

The author stresses that the Reformation analogy is not one he himself is making, but is one that is in wide circulation among the geeks he studies.

“I stress here that this is not an analogy that I myself am making (though I happily make use of it), but is one that is in wide circulation among the geeks I study.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

Technology is never simply a solution to a problem, but always part of a series of factors.

“Technology is never simply a solution to a problem, but always part of a series of factors.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based).

The Protestant Reformation makes for good allegory because it separates power from control.

“The Protestant Reformation makes for good allegory because it separates power from control; it draws on stories of catechism and ritual, alphabets, pamphlets and liturgies, indulgences and self-help in order to give geeks a way to make sense of the distinction between power and control, and how it relates to the technical and political economy they occupy.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

RFCs have developed from an informal system of memos into a formal standardization process over the life of the Internet as the IETF and ISOC became more bureaucratic.

“RFCs have developed from an informal system of memos into a formal standardization process over the life of the Internet, as the IETF and the Internet Society (ISOC) have become more bureaucratic entities.”

May combine two claims.

Napster was not a recursive public or a Free Software project, but a dot-com-inspired business plan in which proprietary software was given away for free hoping revenue would flow from the stock market, advertising, or enhanced versions.

“Napster was not, however, a recursive public or a Free Software project, but a dot-com-inspired business plan in which proprietary software was given away for free in the hopes that revenue would flow from the stock market, from advertising, or from enhanced versions of the software.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

Geeks turn to the past (especially religious allegory) to make sense of the present because there are no ready-to-narrate stories that make sense of the practices of geeks today.

“It might be surprising that geeks turn to the past (and especially to religious allegory) in order to make sense of the present, but the reason is quite simple: there are no”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

Issues of enlightenment, progress, and freedom are part of a social imaginary, especially imaginations of the relationship of knowledge and enlightenment to freedom and autonomy at stake in the notion of a public or public sphere.

“Issues of enlightenment, progress, and freedom are quite obviously still part of a”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing).

Polymathy is an occupational hazard for geeks.

“Polymathy is an occupational hazard for geeks.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

Polymathy results from curiosity among Internet users and from the necessity to evaluate and incorporate disparate fields of knowledge to build workable software.

“It results from a curiosity that seems to grip a remarkable number of people who spend their time on the Internet and from the basic necessity of being able to evaluate and incorporate sometimes quite disparate fields of knowledge in order to build workable software.”

Classified as probably not a substantial claim. May combine two claims.

The monikers polymath and transhumanist do not designate a kind of person; they are subroutines called from within a larger program of moral and technical imaginations of order.

“These monikers are drawn from real discussions with geeks, but they don't designate a kind of person.They are”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

The usable pasts of these reformation-minded modern monks and priests crop up regularly not only because they provide relief from technical chatter but because they explain a political, technical, legal situation that does not have ready-to-narrate stories.

“And yet the usable pasts of these reformation-minded modern monks and priests crop up regularly not only because they provide relief from technical chatter but because they explain a political, technical, legal situation that does not have ready-to-narrate stories.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable). May combine two claims.

The means is technology, but the ends are still where the action is.

“Or, put differently, the means is technology, but the ends are still where the action is at.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S1 (asserted), S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

Discussions about healthcare allocation are structured as if technology did not matter to the nature of the ends.

“But discussions about healthcare allocationwhich Adrian sees as a problem amenable to certain kinds of technical solutions-are instead structured as if technology did not matter to the nature of the ends.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

Polymaths must have a detailed sense of the present to imagine how the future might be different.

“They must have a detailed sense of the present, and the project of the present, in order to imagine how the future might be different.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

Specialization is seen as a technical prerequisite before real work, not as an end in itself.

“Specialization is seen not as an end in itself, but rather as a kind of technical prerequisite before other work-the real work-can be accomplished.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

The real work is design: inserting usable software into an unfamiliar amalgamation of people, organizations, machines, and practices.

“The real work is the design, the process of inserting usable software into a completely unfamiliar amalgamation of people, organizations, machines, and practices.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

Progress is limited intervention structured by goals that are not set by the technology itself.

“Progress is limited intervention structured by goals that are not set by the technology itself, even if entrepreneurial activity is specifically focused on finding new uses and new ideas for new technologies.”

Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

At the first level, allegories of religious war or holy war reveal a certain cynicism: they describe a technical war of details between two pieces of software that accomplish the same thing through different means, so devotion to one or the other is seen as a kind of arbitrary theological commitment, at once reliant on a pure rationality and requiring aesthetic or political judgment.

“At the first level are allegories of”