“Every man has his dignity. I’m willing to forget mine, but at my own discretion and not when someone else tells me to.”
—Denis Diderot, French editor, born October 5, 1713
Diderot, co-founder and chief editor of the Encylopédie, a key work of the Enlightenment, would have loved the Internet. The Encyclopédie began as a translation into French of one of the first English encyclopedias. It was intended to encompass every branch of human knowledge, and “change men’s common way of thinking.” In other words, Diderot’s goal was just what the Internet allows us to do: share all of human knowledge with everyone, for the common good. I’m not sure if Diderot foresaw the ferocious reaction that the Enlightenment project would rouse from the forces that profited, and continue to profit, from ignorance and superstition. But his remark that “Humanity will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest” suggests that he had a notion.
Today’s Events
| TUESDAY | October 9 | |
| 9:00AM-12:00PM | Northampton | MS Office 2013 – Chamber |
| 1:30-3:00PM | Northampton | In A Flash |
| 6:00-8:00PM | Northampton | Assessing Investors |
| 6:00-9:00PM | Greenfield | Business Plan Training |
| 6:00-8:00PM | Holyoke | Plug Into…The Creative Valley |
| 8:00PM | Amherst | UMass Enterpreneurship Initiative |
Reading
First They Came for the Film Cameras…
“Last year, Japanese camera makers reported a 42% drop in global camera shipments, with sales of entry level digital cameras particularly badly hit. The cause was of course the proliferation of smartphones, and people using their mobile device as their main camera.
”The current evidence is that this trend is if anything accelerating. In July the Wall Street Journal reported that Japanese camera shipments had decreased by another 42% in the first five months of 2013.”
The Digital Camera Market Continues to Drop Thanks to Smartphones
The Last Word
“What we must understand is that the industries, processes, and inventions created by modern science can be used either to subjugate or liberate. The choice is up to us.”
—Henry A. Wallace, American vice president, born October 7, 1888