C&E News debate being debated on Slashdot: join in
Senior Associate Rosa Wang points out that Nanodot readers may wish to join the fray over at Slashdot, where the Smalley/Drexler debate in C&E News is being discussed in the inimicable Slashdot style.
December 3rd, 2003 at 5:03 PM
Debateable value
The problem with Slashdot is that it lost its original majority technical population many years ago, despite still describing itself as offering News for Nerds. As a result, its typical article response profile is now rather like that of a mass market special-interest tabloid, still frequently insightful and informed about relevant background issues, but only very rarely displaying any real technical competence. And the signal to noise ratio is pretty low.
They've responded to the Smalley-Drexler point-counterpoint as would be expected, ie. primarily with more handwaving which doesn't really help. Gaining a majority in a populist vote says more about the collective psyche than about the truth or otherwise of the subject matter. Slashdot is now largely about street cred for nerds.
It can still be fun though.