Diary of a Young Wikipedian
Alan N. Shapiro
In novels like Sentimental Education and Bouvard and Pécuchet, and in his comic inventory of clichés and repeated ideas, Dictionnaire des Idées Reçues, the great 19th century French writer Gustave Flaubert made fun of 18th and 19th century attempts to catalogue, classify, list, and record all of scientific and historical knowledge. To what extent is Wikipedia an unaware continuation of the “Enlightenment” projects that Flaubert so brilliantly mocked?
Karin Oenema writes:
Unlike the other speakers, such as [Ramón] Reichert (Foucault-inspired), Shapiro said that he is less critical [of Wikipedia]: “The critique is all right, however, it should be a component of a larger view, and the larger view should be pragmatic and constructive.” According to Shapiro, [Jeannette] Hofmann’s ideology critique is insufficient. Blindness and ignorance are a weak thesis within ideology critique. Shapiro is inspired by the work of Gustave Flaubert: “He shows that knowledge is based in society and as such Wikipedia not only represents knowledge, but also stupidity. And what most people believe in society is based on accepted clichés.” We must separate the real knowledge from the clichés and the stupidities.
Shapiro says that Wikipedia is about the democratization of knowledge and the promise of popular education (an [Antonio] Gramsci-inspired view). We need balance between the consensus culture such as Wikipedia and respect for the work of the scholar who has dedicated a lot of research on particular issues. A model for balancing these two contributory streams needs to be developed. So, is Wikipedia cool? Shapiro thinks that baseball fans think that Wikipedia is cool. A lot of these articles on baseball are really good because they are based on information in a non-controversial area instead of a mixture of clichés and real knowledge in controversial areas, as in many articles. During his talk, Alan showed some examples in the Baudrillard article at Wikipedia. In this example one of the clichés is that Baudrillard would be a philosopher; but Baudrillard never considered himself to be a philosopher so you can’t describe him that way according to Shapiro. Another example is that Baudrillard also has been described as a sociologist, but he disliked sociology, was skeptical towards the concepts of politics, and did not consider himself to be a sociologist. The Wikipedia article mentions Baudrillard’s collaboration with CTHEORY (which [perhaps] really happened, and they published translations of many of his essays), but fails to mention his crucial and essential collaborations with the French journals Utopie and Traverses. During his long enumeration, Shapiro received a question from the audience if [he] ever pushed the submit button. He did, and he is now going to undertake the project of trying to submit step-by-step revisions of the Wikipedia articles on Baudrillard, Star Trek, and Flaubert’s novel Bouvard and Pécuchet.
[End of “Karin Oenema writes”]
In this contibution to the CPoV Reader, a volume which has grown out of the March 2010 Amsterdam conference, “Who Is in Control of Wikipedia? Critical Point of View,” I will document my recent efforts to submit revisions of a number of Wikipedia articles. I have tried to add more historical and cultural context to the articles, moving away from the ideology of “just the facts.” So that is what I think is the first step to take to radicalize Wikipedia. We have to deconstruct Wikipedia from within. That’s what we should do. A Trojan Horse strategy. We have to stand the coin of whether we are Wikipedians or critics of Wikipedia on its edge, neither heads nor tails. We are both and neither.
I do a search on “Jean Baudrillard” at google.com. The first result that comes up is the Wikipedia article on Baudrillard.
I begin by changing Baudrillard’s birthday, which was incorrect. It is 27 July 1929. This change was accepted by the Wikipedia gatekeepers of this particular domain. My Mom is about the same age as Baudrillard. She was born on May 29th, 1930. Happy 80th Birthday, Mom! (John F. Kennedy was also born on May 29th)
April 1:
Changing the first paragraph of the Baudrillard article would be too risky to start with. I’ll get to that later.
I’ll start with the section “Life”:
Baudrillard was born in Reims, north-eastern France, on July 27, 1929. He told interviewers that his grandparents were peasants and his parents were civil servants. He became the first of his family to attend university when he moved to Paris to attend Sorbonne University.[3]. There he studied German, which led to him to begin teaching the subject at a provincial lycée, where he remained from 1958 until his departure in 1966. While teaching, Baudrillard began to publish reviews of literature and translated the works of such authors as Peter Weiss, Bertolt Brecht and Wilhelm Mühlmann[4]
I changed this to:
Baudrillard was born in Reims, northeastern France, on July 27, 1929. He told interviewers that his grandparents were peasants and his parents were civil servants. During his high school studies at the Reims Lycée, he came into contact with pataphysics (via the philosophy professor Emmanuel Peillet). Pataphysics is crucial for understanding Baudrillard’s system of thought.[3] He became the first of his family to attend university when he moved to Paris to attend Sorbonne University.[4]. There he studied German language and literature, which led to him to begin teaching the subject at several different lycées, both Parisian and provincial, from 1960 until 1966.[5] While teaching, Baudrillard began to publish reviews of literature and translated the works of such authors as Peter Weiss, Bertolt Brecht, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and Wilhelm Mühlmann[6]
Pataphysics and Karl Marx!
Three new references are:
3 – ^ Francois L’Yvonnet, ed., Cahiers de l’Herne special volume on Baudrillard, Editions de l’Herne, 2004, p.317
5 – ^ Francois L’Yvonnet, ed., Cahiers de l’Herne special volume on Baudrillard, Editions de l’Herne, 2004, p.317
6 – ^ Francois L’Yvonnet, ed., Cahiers de l’Herne special volume on Baudrillard, Editions de l’Herne, 2004, p.322
April 2:
No controversy about my first significant changes!
Now to the second paragraph of “Life”:
Toward the end of his time as a German teacher, Baudrillard began to transfer to sociology, eventually completing his doctoral thesis Le Système des objets (The System of Objects) under the tutelage of Henri Lefebvre. Subsequently, he began teaching the subject at the Université de Paris-X Nanterre, at the time a politically radical institution which would become heavily involved in the events of May 1968.[7] At Nanterre he took up a position as Maître Assistant (Assistant Professor), then Maître de Conférences (Associate Professor), eventually becoming a professor after completing his accreditation, L’Autre par lui-même (The Other, by himself).
New version written by me:
During his time as a teacher of German language and literature, Baudrillard began to transfer to sociology, eventually completing his doctoral thesis Le Système des objets (The System of Objects) under the dissertation committee of Henri Lefebvre, Roland Barthes, and Pierre Bourdieu. Subsequently, he began teaching sociology at the Université de Paris-X Nanterre, a university campus just outside of Paris which would become heavily involved in the events of May 1968.[7] At Nanterre he took up a position as Maître Assistant (Assistant Professor), then Maître de Conférences (Associate Professor), eventually becoming a professor after completing his accreditation, L’Autre par lui-même (The Other by Himself).
In 1970, Baudrillard made his first of many trips to the USA (Aspen). His observations about America are crucial for understanding his thought. In 1973, Baudrillard made his first of several trips to Japan (Kyoto). His observations about Japan are essential for understanding his thinking.
Barthes and Bourdieu! America Studies and Japan Studies!
I don’t think that Nanterre was a politically radical institution before the student uprising.
Now I will start to make revisions to the main Wikipedia article on Star Trek.
Before my talk at the CPOV conference, the first paragraph of the main Star Trek article looked like this:
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment series. The original Star Trek is an American television series, created by Gene Roddenberry, which debuted in 1966 and ran for three seasons, following the interstellar adventures of Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the Federation Starship Enterprise. These adventures were continued in an animated television series and six feature films. Four more television series were produced, based in the same universe but following other characters: Star Trek: The Next Generation, following the crew of a new Starship Enterprise set several decades after the original series; Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager set contemporaneously with The Next Generation; and Star Trek: Enterprise, set in the early days of human interstellar travel. Four additional feature films were produced, following the crew of The Next Generation, and most recently a 2009 movie reboot of the series featuring a young crew of the original Enterprise set in an alternate time line.
Now, mysteriously, one phrase was changed to:
Star Trek: The Next Generation, following the crew of a new Starship Enterprise set almost a century after the original series;
It seems that someone heard what I said at the conference about The Next Generation taking place a hundred years after The Original Series, and not several decades after it!
Here’s my new version of the first paragraph of the article:
Star Trek is an American science fiction television and film series that has transcended its context of entertainment. It has shaped and formatively influenced culture, ideas, technologies, sciences, and even race relations. The original Star Trek was created by Gene Roddenberry. It debuted in 1966 and ran for three seasons. Like the Bible and Shakespeare, Star Trek is increasingly understood as being a great text of Western Civilization, and it is now studied in this way by literary criticism and literary theory.[1] The original pilot film of Star Trek, “The Cage,” was made in 1964, starring Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike of the Federation Starship Enterprise. It elaborates many of the major literary and technological themes that are hallmarks of the entire Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry was very influenced in his creation of Star Trek by the 1956 science fiction film Forbidden Planet. After saying no to Star Trek in 1965 because it was too cerebral and not suited to serial production, NBC Television Network executives asked that a second pilot film be made.[2] Hunter then turned down the leading role, and it was given to William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk. Following the release of other series in the franchise, the Kirk-headed series was retroactively referred to as “Star Trek: The Original Series“. These adventures were continued by the short-lived Star Trek: The Animated Series and six feature films. Four more television series were eventually produced, based in the same universe but following other characters: Star Trek: The Next Generation, following the crew of a new Starship Enterprise set almost a century after the original series; Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, set contemporaneously with The Next Generation; and Star Trek: Enterprise, set before the original series, in the early days of human interstellar travel. Four additional feature films were produced, following the crew of The Next Generation, and most recently a 2009 movie reboot of the franchise featuring a young crew of the original Enterprise set in an alternate time line.
Star Trek transcends entertainment! It formatively shapes our culture and science! Cell phones, personal computers, and portable computer memory were largely inspired by Star Trek. Star Trek is a great text of Western civilization. One cannot underestimate the importance of the original pilot film The Cage. Nor can one underestimate the importance of The Animated Series, and of animation generally.
A few hours later, all these changes were reverted, and I received the following message at my user page:
Star Trek changes
Your well-intentioned changes to the lead in of the Star Trek article were undone by me as a violation of WP’s neutral point of view policy. (See WP:NPOV and WP:Undue Weight). However, I would encourage you to write something about the academic field of “Star Trek studies” in a slightly more neutral way in the chapter entitled “Cultural impact” of the same article. It is notable that Trek is studied in colleges, as reflecting Western culture.–WickerGuy (talk) 14:39, 2 April 2010 (UTC)
Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:AlanNShapiro”
I reply to WickerGuy:
I think that some of my changes are about facts, and not about the academic field of “Star Trek studies.” I will try to put in some of these factual changes again, one sentence at a time, and see what you think. I hope that that is OK with you.
And I added one sentence back to the first paragraph of the article:
The original pilot film of Star Trek, “The Cage,” was made in 1964, starring Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike.
This change was accepted.
April 3:
Baudrillard article:
The last paragraph of “Life” reads as follows:
In 1986 he moved to IRIS (Institut de Recherche et d’Information Socio-Économique) at the Université de Paris-IX Dauphine, where he spent the latter part of his teaching career. During this time he had begun to move away from sociology as a discipline (particularly in its “classical” form), and, after ceasing to teach full time, he rarely identified himself with any particular discipline, although he remained linked to the academic world. During the 1980s and 1990s his books had gained a wide audience, and in his last years he became, to an extent, an intellectual celebrity,[9] being published often in the French- and English-speaking popular press. He nonetheless continued supporting the Institut de Recherche sur l’Innovation Sociale at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and was Satrap at the Collège de Pataphysique. He also collaborated at the Canadian philosophical review Ctheory, where he was abundantly cited.
I made changes to the third and fourth paragraphs of “Life”:
In 1970, Baudrillard made his first of many trips to the USA (Aspen). His observations about America are crucial for understanding his thought. In 1973, Baudrillard made his first of several trips to Japan (Kyoto). His observations about Japan are essential for understanding his thinking. He was given his first camera in 1981 in Japan, which led to his becoming a photographer.[8]
In 1986 he moved to IRIS (Institut de Recherche et d’Information Socio-Économique) at the Université de Paris-IX Dauphine, where he spent the latter part of his teaching career. During this time he had begun to move away from sociology as a discipline (particularly in its “classical” form), and, after ceasing to teach full time, he rarely identified himself with any particular discipline, although he remained linked to the academic world. During the 1980s and 1990s his books had gained a wide audience, and in his last years he became, to an extent, an intellectual celebrity,[9] being published often in the French- and English-speaking popular press. He nonetheless continued supporting the Institut de Recherche sur l’Innovation Sociale at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and was Satrap at the Collège de Pataphysique. He also collaborated at the Canadian theory, culture and technology review Ctheory, where he was abundantly cited. In 1999-2000, his photographs were exhibited at the Maison européenne de la photographie in Paris.[10] In 2004, Baudrillard attended the major conference on his work, “Baudrillard and the Arts,” at the Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe in Karlsruhe, Germany.[11]
All of my Baudrillard changes have been accepted!
April 4:
There are many Wikipedia articles about Star Trek. I made changes to the first paragraph of the article “Star Trek: The Original Series.” It now reads like this:
Star Trek is a science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry that aired on NBC from September 8, 1966, to March 14, 1969. The final episode, “Turnabout Intruder,” was not shown until summer reruns of 1970.”[1] Though the original series was titled Star Trek, it has acquired the retronym Star Trek: The Original Series (ST:TOS or TOS) to distinguish it from the spinoffs that followed, and from the Star Trek universe or franchise that they make up. Set in the 23rd century,[2] the original Star Trek follows the adventures of the starship Enterprise and its crew, led by Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), his First and Science Officer Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and his Chief Medical Officer Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley). William Shatner’s voice-over introduction during each episode’s opening credits stated the starship’s purpose:
| “ | Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.
They had this incorrect fact: |
Star Trek is a science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry that aired on NBC from September 8, 1966, to June 3, 1969.
And they had Spock only as “First Officer,” and left out McCoy’s Dr. title.
April 6
I changed the first sentence of the article on “Star Trek: The Original Series”:
Star Trek is a science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry that aired on NBC from September 8, 1966, to June 3, 1969.[1]
After originally saying that Nicholasm79 was right about the ending date of “Star Trek: The Original Series”, I have changed my mind. In the M*A*S*H article, the ending of M*A*S*H is considered to be February 28, 1983. Summer reruns are irrelevant. In the Dallas article, the ending of Dallas is considered to be May 20, 1993. Again, summer reruns are irrelevant. Therefore, Star Trek ended on March 14, 1969, with the showing of “All Our Yesterdays,” before summer reruns began. The fact that an additional episode, “Turnabout Intruder,” was aired at the end of summer reruns is a minor incidental fact. This fact deserves to be mentioned as part of the show’s history, but it does not change the ending date of the show.
April 7
“Star Trek: The Original Series“ – they reverted it back to the false ending date of the show.
Did Star Trek: The Original Series end on March 14, 1969 or on June 3, 1969? The question is undecidable. The cult of facts is wrong. Facts are open to interpretation. There are often two sides to every question.
Comments of mine on the cpov listserv:
<<Jon,
that’s a very good question, Jon, thanks for asking. The example of Peirce is excellent.
I believe that a Peircian semiotic could be implemented on the Internet (or a successor to the Internet), and that this a very worthwhile goal. A sort of Peircian emphasis on content, meaning, or deep referent as counterpoint to what is currently happening on the Internet, which is the nightmare realization of the fundamental media-theory-insight of McLuhan-Baudrillard that “the medium is the message” gone haywire, on drugs, so to speak. Content means nothing right now. Everything is links, links, links, where can I get my website or blog linked or ping-backed to as many other websites as possible. And this happening in the context of the rampant reign of Homo Economicus. More links to my website equals more visitors equals higher google ranking equals the dream of the pot of gold.
Any chat of any kind today immediately deteriorates into: are you on Facebook?, are you registered at the Huffington Post?, do you have Skype?, MSN?, Yahoo Messenger?, etc. Meet me at odesk or elance and let’s get exploited together. That’s a nice app you’ve got, but does it run on iPad? Nice book there, but it is on Kindle? The media that overwhelms the message was TV for McLuhan-Baudrillard. Today that fetishized media is Facebook, skype, MSN, etc.
And add to that list the fetish of “just the facts, ma’am” of the Wikipedia gatekeepers.
The second half of my answer to your question will be in the context of explaining something about my project which is my contribution to the conference reader. Focusing on Star Trek I am establishing myself as a good Wikipedia citizen making contributions which, on one level, are indeed adding to the mountain of fetishized facts. However, I am doing this with awareness in such a way that I simultaneously deconstruct from within the fetish of facts by subtly pointing out contextualizations, ambiguities, uncertainties, undecidabilities. Today, for example, on this very day, I was very involved with the Star Trek question: was the character Flint Shakespeare? (Flint is a character in The Original Series episode “Requiem for Methuselah” who is immortal and was many of the great creators of human history, like DaVinci and Brahms). The “fetish of facts” nitpickers will debate until the cows come home whether Flint was Shakespeare or not. Half will defend one thesis, half the other. Of course that’s a ridiculous binary. The episode, which is in fact a brilliant literary story, presents evidence on both sides of the question and the question is undecidable.
Alan
www.alan-shapiro.com
May 28:
I return to the project.
Since it proved so difficult to make changes to the Star Trek article, I have decided to take a different approach.
I go to the article on “Star Trek: Klingon.”
I add:
Klingons appeared in two Animated Series episodes: “More Tribbles, More Troubles” and “The Time Trap.”
These changes stick. They “cling on.”
I go to the article on “Star Trek: Klingon Language.”
I add:
Klingon is sometimes referred to as Klingonese (most notably in the ”[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]” episode “[[The Trouble With Tribbles]]”, where it was actually pronounced by a Klingon character as {{IPA|/klɪŋɡoni/}}, and in “Star Trek I: The Motion Picture”), but, among the Klingon-speaking community, this is often understood to refer to another Klingon language called Klingonaase that was introduced in [[John M. Ford]]’s 1988 ”Star Trek” novel [[The Final Reflection]], and appears in other ”Star Trek” novels by Ford. A shorthand version of Klingonaase is called “battle language.”
It would be used intermittently in later movies featuring the original cast: in ”[[Star Trek V: The Final Frontier]]” and in ”[[Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country]]” (1991), where [[translation]] difficulties would serve as a [[plot device]].
The Klingon language has a following and numerous reference works. A description of the actual Klingon language can be found in Okrand’s book <cite>”[[The Klingon Dictionary]]”</cite> (published by Pocket Books, [[Simon & Schuster]], 1985, second edition with new addendum 1992, ISBN 0-671-74559-X). Other notable works include <cite>”The Klingon Way”</cite> (with Klingon sayings and proverbs), <cite>”Klingon for the Galactic Traveler”</cite> and the audio productions <cite>”Conversational Klingon”</cite> and <cite>”Power Klingon”</cite>, which feature Lt. Commander Worf. There is a three-volume interactive multimedia language-learning CD-ROM set called <cite>”Star Trek Klingon: The Ultimate Interactive Adventure”</cite>. It features [[Marc Okrand]] and Klingon Chancellor Gowron, and includes a Language Lab for vocabulary drill and an Immersion Studies interactive adventure. The latter is a film directed by [[Jonathan Frakes]], converted to MPEG video, and enhanced with about a dozen interactive situations.
In the [[Star Trek]] mythology, the idea that the great creators of history were aliens (which eventually crystallized into the idea of Shakespeare being a Klingon) has its origin in [[The Original Series]] episode [[Requiem for Methuselah]]. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down to the planet Holberg 917G in search of an antidote for deadly Rigellian fever. Living on the planet is an enigmatic humanoid male with superhuman powers named Flint. In illuminated bookcases in Flint’s drawing room, McCoy is astounded to see a Shakespeare First Folio, a Gutenberg Bible, and the “Creation” lithographs by Taranullus of Centaurus VII. Readings from Spock’s tricorder indicate that Flint is six thousand years old, and that the artefacts are re-creations made with the flair of the original masters. When pressed for an explanation, he divulges that he is Brahms, da Vinci, Solomon, Alexander, Methuselah, and many others. Born in Mesopotamia in 3034 B.C., he has been some of the great minds and creators of human history. This is a powerful idea, and it is the introduction of such brilliant ideas into our consciousness that makes [[Star Trek]] great. The extraterrestrial influence on Flint is clear (similar to Gary Seven in [[Assignment: Earth]]), since [[Star Trek]] is basically about alien life in the galaxy. He has ventured into deep space, owns the Taranullus lithographs, and was the painter Stern from Marcus II.
The Klingon Language (tlhIngan Hol), the Emperor’s Klingon (ta’ tlhIngan Hol), and the “current standard way of speaking” (ta’ Hol) all derive from the original language spoken by Kahless the Unforgettable, who united the people of Qo’noS more than 1500 years ago.<ref>Marc Okrand, ”Klingon for the Galactic Traveler”. Simon & Schuster, 1997.</ref>
An important additional dimension of Klingon grammar is the reality of the language’s ungrammaticality. A notable property of the language is its shortening or compression of communicative declarations. This abbreviating feature encompasses the techniques of Clipped Klingon (tlhIngan Hol poD or, more simply, Hol poD) and Ritualized Speech. Clipped Klingon is especially useful in situations where speed is a decisive factor. Grammar is irrelevant, and sentence parts deemed to be superfluous are dropped. Intentional ungrammaticality is widespread, and it takes many forms. It is exemplified by the practice of pabHa’, which Marc Okrand translates as “to misfollow the rules” or “to follow the rules wrongly.” <ref>Marc Okrand, ”Klingon for the Galactic Traveler”. Simon & Schuster, 1997.</ref>
All these change clinged on!
I go to the article on “Star Trek: Klingon Language Institute.”
I add:
The ”’Klingon Language Institute”’ (KLI) is an independent organization located in Flourtown, [[Pennsylvania]], [[USA]]. Its goal is to promote the [[Klingon language]] and culture.
About 2500 members in over 50 countries all over the world have joined the KLI.{{Fact|date=January 2008}} For 13 years, it published a quarterly journal ”HolQeD” (Klingon for ”linguistics”), before discontinuing the paper mailings and changing to an electronic version with an irregular schedule. It also published the fiction and poetry magazine ”jatmey”.
Changes accepted!
I go to the article on “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.”
I add:
In the film, Spock questions Gorkon’s use of the phrase to refer to the future. After Gorkon raises his crystal goblet filled with deep blue Romulan ale and says: “I give you a toast: The Undiscovered Country, the future,” Spock replies: “Hamlet, Act three, scene one. I do not understand. The quote clearly refers to the fear of death.”
David Fuchs the Wikipedia watchdog removed this without any explanation. Totally impolite.
I go to the article on “The Klingon Dictionary.”
I add:
It has been an international bestseller, selling more than a half-million copies.
Accepted.
I go to the article on the “Universal Translator.”
I add:
The [[Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual]] says that the Universal Translator is an “extremely sophisticated computer program” which functions by “analyzing the patterns” of an unknown foreign language, starting from a speech sample of two or more speakers in conversation. The more extensive the conversational sample, the more accurate and reliable is the “translation matrix,” enabling instantaneous conversion of verbal utterances or written text between the alien language and American English / Federation Standard. <ref>Rick Sternbach and Michael Okuda, ”Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual (introduction by Gene Roddenberry)”, p. 101. Simon & Schuster, 1991. </ref>
In the episode “[[Arena (TOS episode)|Arena]]” the Metrons supply Captain Kirk and the Gorn commander with a Translator-Communicator, allowing conversation between them to be possible.
Changes accepted!
I am tempted to added the following interpretive paragraph:
The Universal Translator is designed from a Kantian transcendental perspective. The Western scientist has reached the analytical summit of passionless objectivity, a “transparent” vantage point from which he gazes out as detached observer at all other languages. He sees what they “translate” or reduce to, the forms of equivalence of his own language. The “own language” of the scientific observer, as an allegedly rhetoric-free zone, remains unexamined.
But I decide against it! Maybe I should add it… but why rock the boat?
I go to the article on “Star Trek: Organians.”
I add:
The Organians are not humanoids. They are incorporeal energy creatures with no precise physical location in the universe. They assumed humanoid form in order to “interact” with the Federation representatives and the Klingons. They render all weapons belonging to the hostile parties inoperable, and then vanish.
Mention is made of the “Organian Peace Treaty” in The Original Series episodes “The Trouble With Tribbles” and “Day of the Dove.”
Changes accepted!
I go to the article on “Seven of Nine.”
I add:
After the addition of the former Borg drone to the starship’s crew at the start of the fourth season of Voyager, the shows’s weekly viewer ratings soared by more than 60%.[3] Seven’s arrival on the scene was accompanied by a massive publicity campaign in TV magazines and newspaper supplements.
Seven’s erect phallic posture, techno-scientific competence, stringently business-like speaking style, and indifference towards male erotic overtures in her direction make her an ambivalent boundary-crosser with both masculine and feminine semiotic and manneristic attributes. She is an examplar of the cyborg theory of Donna Haraway and the gender-as-performance ideas of Judith Butler.
These changes were accepted. Getting this last paragraph in is a major triumph! Maybe when some watchdog reads this article, then they’ll go back and delete that! But isn’t there a statute of limitations?
I go to the article on “Borg.”
I add:
===Scholarly interpretation===
Inspired by Klaus Theweleit’s psychoanalytic study of the proto-Nazi Freikorps, scholars like Scott Bukatman, Mark Dery, and Rosi Braidotti have identified the Borg as representing a significant anxiety of males with respect to their loss of power and increasing obsolescence in “postmodern culture.” Men feel threatened by feminine liquidity and flows, and seek an armored body to fortify themselves against disintegration and contamination. They become hyper-masculine warriors corporeally enhanced with fetishistic high-tech prostheses.<ref>Klaus Theweleit, Male Fantasies, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 1987; Scott Bukatman, Terminal Identity: The Virtual Subject in Post-Modern Science Fiction, Durham, Duke University Press, 1993; Mark Dery, “Slashing the Borg: Resisting is Fertile,” Nettime, 1996; Rosi Braidotti, “Is Metal to Flesh like Masculine to Feminine?” Metal and Flesh, 2001.</ref>
Changes accepted.
Unrelated to Star Trek, I go to the article on “Computer Worm.”
I add:
History
The actual term ‘worm’ was first used in John Brunner’s 1975 novel, The Shockwave Rider. In that novel, Nick Haflinger designs and sets off a data-gathering worm in an act of revenge against the powerful men who run a national electronic information web that induces mass conformity. “You have the biggest-ever worm loose in the net, and it automatically sabotages any attempt to monitor it… There’s never been a worm with that tough a head or that long a tail!”[10]
Shortly after 6 PM on November 2, 1988, Robert Tappan Morris, a Cornell University computer science graduate student, inspired by The Shockwave Rider and the architecture of its tapeworm program, unleashed the Great Worm. Morris’ criminal invention was a self-propagating parasitic Internet invader that interrupted U.S. government, military, university, and commercial online activities for weeks.
“Snori” re-writes the above paragraph into what he calls a more “encyclopedic” style:
On November 2, 1988, Robert Tappan Morris, a Cornell University computer science graduate student, unleashed what became known as the Morris worm, disrupting perhaps 10% of the computers then on the Internet[11][12] and prompting the formation of the CERT Coordination Center[13] and Phage mailing list. Morris himself became the first person tried and convicted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act[14].
My first paragraph was accepted.
I go to the article on Data (Star Trek).
I add:
Data attempted to reproduce in “The Offspring” by creating an android daughter, naming her Lal (meaning “beloved” in Hindi), from his own neural net matrix. She dies at the end of the episode of a neural malfunction or “general cascade failure,” due to an emotional overload in the face of having to be taken away from Data on the order of Starfleet. Data transfers her memories to himself.
In “The Outrageous Okona” Data tries to learn humor and become a stand-up comedian in the Holodeck. An avatar of 20th century Earth comedian Joe Piscopo warms up the virtual cocktail lounge audience for Data: “Tonight I have for you the funny man of the stars, the android of antics, that Lt. Commander of mirth. Please give him a nice welcome, ladies and gentlemen, none other than …”
In “All Good Things…“, the two-hour concluding episode of The Next Generation, Captain Picard jumps around among three different times: three temporal instances of the Enterprise-D, separated by 32 years in time, but positioned at the corners of the same triangular location in space. The “old man” Picard of 25 years into the future goes with La Forge to seek advice from Professor Data, a luminary physicist who holds the Lucasian Chair at Cambridge University.
I go to the article “Spock.”
I add:
“As my parents were of different species,” Spock explains, “my conception occurred only because of the intervention of Vulcan scientists. Much of my gestation was spent outside my mother’s womb, in a heated, specially designed environment.”[3]
And:
Cultural impact
By the late 1960s, NASA personnel en masse wholeheartedly embraced Mr. Spock as one of their own. Leonard Nimoy was invited to be guest of honor at the March 1967 National Space Club dinner, and to take an extensive tour of the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. The actor concluded from the warm and intense reception that he received that astronauts like John Glenn and aerospace industry engineers, secretaries, and shareholders alike all regarded Star Trek, and especially the character of Mr. Spock, as a “dramatization of the future of their space program.” [7]
These changes were accepted.
I add the following 9 paragraphs:
In “This Side of Paradise“, Spock is walking with botanist Leila Kalomi, one of the agricultural colonists on Omicron Ceti III. Spock and Kalomi knew each other six years ago on Earth and she was in love with him. When Leila tries to get Spock to open up about his feelings, he says: “emotions are alien to me, I’m a scientist.” To this she replies: “someone else might believe that, your shipmates, your Captain, but not me… There was always a place in here [she touches his chest near his heart] where no one could come. There was only the face you allow people to see, only one side you’d allow them to know.” What Kalomi perceives is that Spock may not wish to conclusively reject his human side. After the alien spores which temporarily reside in the flowers of dandelion-like pod plants on the planet exert their influence on him, Spock’s repressed human double appears. He confesses the desire, passion, and tender sentiments that he feels towards Leila. They make love.
In “[[The Devil in the Dark (Star Trek: The Original Series)|The Devil in the Dark]]”, Spock demonstrate his capabilities of empathy towards alien others in his mind meld encounter with the silicon-based Horta life-form on the mining planet Janus VI. The workers of the mineral production station are menaced by a hideous creature they are not sure they have ever seen. The beast has allegedly killed more than fifty of them. Kirk and Spock are the first to get a clear look at the Horta as it moves with great speed through the underground labyrinth of caverns and tunnels. Spock deduces from various pieces of evidence that the enigmatic entity is intelligent, and that the caves are its natural habitat. Encountering the Horta deep in the tunnel system, Spock closes his eyes. concentrates his mental powers, and establishes a first telepathic contact. He touches the Horta with outstretched hands, fingers separated in pairs as in the Vulcan salute that Leonard Nimoy derived from Jewish Kohanim tradition. He enters the trance, and begins a genuine communion with a true alien other.
In “[[Amok Time (Star Trek: The Original Series)|Amok Time]]”, the Enterprise senior officers, on their way to Altair VI, must contend with an increasingly irritable and violent Spock. Spock confides to Kirk the reasons for his aberrant behavior. Once every seven years, the Vulcan individual experiences the primitive drive of Pon farr (along with Plak-tow or “blood fever”), impelling him to return home to mate. Disobeying a direct order from Admiral Komack, Kirk risks his career to bring Spock to the appointed consummation of his wedding vows at the temple of the Koon-ut Kal-if-fee. The “marriage or challenge” ritual of Spock and his betrothed T’Pring is presided over by the stately T’Pau. Spock was the first Vulcan citizen to enlist in Starfleet, and became famous for his achievements. During his long absence, T’Pring fell in love with another Vulcan male named Stonn. On the verge of matrimonial union, she unexpectedly spurns Spock. She chooses the option of Kal-if-fee or challenge. Not wanting to risk Stonn’s demise, T’Pring selects Kirk as her “champion.” Kirk is forced to engage in a one-on-one struggle to the death against his Plak-tow-entranced best friend.
In “The City on the Edge of Forever“, Roddenberry added an insensitive racial joke to Ellison’s script. Spock is disguised for anonymity as a Chinese-American, but Kirk must explain his ears to a befuddled NYC constable. “They’re actually easy to explain,” begins Kirk. “Perhaps the unfortunate accident I had as a child?” suggests Spock. “He caught his head in a mechanical rice picker,” retorts Kirk.
In “A Private Little War“, a native of the planet Neural gravely wounds Spock by firing a flintlock rifle. The Science Officer heals injured parts of his body through a Vulcan mind-body technique of self-induced hypnosis and intense mental concentration.
Due to the genetic sequencing he shares with other inhabitants of Vulcan, Mr. Spock can “withstand higher temperatures, go for longer periods of time without water, and tolerate a higher level of pain” than humans. [7] Spock is more resistant to radiation and needs less food to nourish himself than his non-Vulcan counterparts on board the Enterprise. Physical distress, for Spock, is merely a kind of information input, “which a trained mind ought to be able to handle,” as he declares from his biobed in sick bay in the episode “Operation — Annihilate!“.
In “Operation — Annihilate!“, a flying amoeba-like creature attacks Spock and enters his body. Its tentacles grow internally around his nervous system. Despite experiencing excruciating pain, Spock prepares himself mentally to return to duty. His human half “is an inconvenience, but it is manageable. The mind rules. There is no pain.”
Spock does not perspire. He exercises extreme restraint in his “movements, gestures, and facial expressions.” [7] He has much greater physical strength than his Terran colleagues. He has more acute hearing, resulting from evolutionary accomodation to sound wave attenuation in the thin atmosphere of Vulcan. As explained in “Operation — Annihilate!“, Spock has an extra inner eyelid to protect his vision against strong solar and electromagnetic rays.
Spock is perpetually preoccupied with calculating the odds in any given situation. Leonard Nimoy’s chances of “becoming” Spock at the moment of the actor’s birth were exactly one in 789,324,476.76. “[3]
The preceding 9 paragraphs were all deleted by the Wikipedia “watchdog of the established order” named EEMIV. According to EEMIV, all of my additions are “gratuitous plot summary.” Yet South Park’s reference to Spock’s goatee (that someone else added) is retained.
June 18:
I go to the Wikipedia article on Flaubert’s “Bouvard et Pécuchet.”
I add:
In Bouvard et Pécuchet, Gustave Flaubert made fun of 18th and 19th century attempts to catalogue, classify, list, and record all of scientific and historical knowledge. To what extent is Wikipedia an unaware continuation of the “Enlightenment” projects that Flaubert so brilliantly mocked? In October 1872, he wrote, the novel is “a kind of encyclopedia made into a farce… I am planning a thing in which I give vent to my anger…”
