Showing papers in "Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society in 2010"
TL;DR: Comparative work that examines the gratifications obtained from Facebook with those from instant messaging showed that Facebook is about having fun and knowing about the social activities occurring in one’s social network, whereas instant messaging is geared more toward relationship maintenance and development.
Abstract: Users have adopted a wide range of digital technologies into their communication repertoire. It remains unclear why they adopt multiple forms of communication instead of substituting one medium for another. It also raises the question: What type of need does each of these media fulfill? In the present article, the authors conduct comparative work that examines the gratifications obtained from Facebook with those from instant messaging. This comparison between media allows one to draw conclusions about how different social media fulfill user needs. Data were collected from undergraduate students through a multimethod study based on 77 surveys and 21 interviews. A factor analysis of gratifications obtained from Facebook revealed six key dimensions: pastime, affection, fashion, share problems, sociability, and social information. Comparative analysis showed that Facebook is about having fun and knowing about the social activities occurring in one’s social network, whereas instant messaging is geared more tow...
1,057 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that self-presentation can be split into performances and artifacts, which take place in asynchronous "exhibitions." They introduce the exhibitional approach and the curator and suggest ways in which this approach can extend present work concerning online presentation of self.
Abstract: Presentation of self (via Goffman) is becoming increasingly popular as a means for explaining differences in meaning and activity of online participation. This article argues that self-presentation can be split into performances, which take place in synchronous “situations,” and artifacts, which take place in asynchronous “exhibitions.” Goffman’s dramaturgical approach (including the notions of front and back stage) focuses on situations. Social media, on the other hand, frequently employs exhibitions, such as lists of status updates and sets of photos, alongside situational activities, such as chatting. A key difference in exhibitions is the virtual “curator” that manages and redistributes this digital content. This article introduces the exhibitional approach and the curator and suggests ways in which this approach can extend present work concerning online presentation of self. It introduces a theory of “lowest common denominator” culture employing the exhibitional approach.
971 citations
TL;DR: The authors found that replies between like-minded individuals strengthen group identity, whereas replies between differentminded individuals reinforce in-group and out-group affiliation, and concluded that people are exposed to broader viewpoints than they were before but are limited in their ability to engage in meaningful discussion.
Abstract: The principle of homophily says that people associate with other groups of people who are mostly like themselves. Many online communities are structured around groups of socially similar individuals. On Twitter, however, people are exposed to multiple, diverse points of view through the public timeline. The authors captured 30,000 tweets about the shooting of George Tiller, a late-term abortion doctor, and the subsequent conversations among pro-life and pro-choice advocates. They found that replies between like-minded individuals strengthen group identity, whereas replies between different-minded individuals reinforce in-group and out-group affiliation. Their results show that people are exposed to broader viewpoints than they were before but are limited in their ability to engage in meaningful discussion. They conclude with implications for different kinds of social participation on Twitter more generally.
550 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that beyond the ebb and flow of everyday events and seemingly idiosyncratic usage, trends exist underlying long-term trajectories, persistent social practices, and discernable cultural patterns.
Abstract: In “Star Trek,” Scotty suggests that Transwarp beaming is “like trying to hit a bullet with a smaller bullet, whilst wearing a blindfold, riding a horse” (Abrams, 2009). The study of social media faces similar challenges because new tools are developed at a rapid pace and existing tools are constantly being updated with new features, policies, and applications. Users tend to migrate, in often unpredictable ways, to new tools as well as to adopt multiple tools simultaneously, without showing consistent media preferences and habits (Quan-Haase, 2008). As a result, for scholars it sometimes feels as if the social media landscape changes too quickly to fully grasp and leaves scholars permanently lagging behind. We argue in this article that beyond the ebb and flow of everyday events and seemingly idiosyncratic usage, trends exist underlying long-term trajectories, persistent social practices, and discernable cultural patterns. Overarching findings have emerged within and across disciplines because the study of social media has from its early beginnings necessitated a multidisciplinary approach. From power laws to impression management, from privacy concerns to online social capital, there is a great onrush of scholarship on social media, its properties, and its consequences. Regardless of discipline, all scholars face the challenge of constant change occurring in this arena. This challenge exists on a number of different levels. On a practical level, research and publication timelines continue to be slow relative to the rapid transformation occurring in social media. This rapid change is particularly prominent with the study of social network sites, where both the popularity of certain sites and their privacy policies continue to be in continual flux (boyd, 2006, 2007; Gross & Acquisti, 2005; Tufekci, 2008; Young & Quan-Haase, 2009). On an applied level, challenges exist in teaching social media theory and methods because best practices and understandings quickly become obsolete. On a theoretical level, generalizable claims need to be constantly updated to reflect the new realities in policy, features, and usage. This and papers in the following issue of the Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society on “Persistence and Change in Social Media” compiles a series of papers to identify elements of social media practice that are persistent across platforms, users, and cultures. The goal of the papers is not only to present articles addressing current topics and the current state of knowledge, but also to present research pointing toward the long-term trajectory of social media development and usage. In this article, we propose the term social media practice as a means to overcome the transient nature of the phenomena encountered on social media and identify practices that are stable and universal. We argue that through a focus on the practices involved in the domestication and mainstreaming of social media, it is possible to develop more robust theories and present widely applicable findings. Because social media are a moving target, it is impossible to provide concrete answers to many research questions and to resolve conclusively existing debates about the longterm trajectory of social media. For example, there will never be a single and ideal way to self-present on social network sites (Tufekci, 2008) or a perfect hyperlink to place on one’s website. Despite the intangibility of the subject, recurring insights emerge. We list four examples of findings that have shown some stability:
171 citations
TL;DR: The blurring or blending of interpersonal communication and mass communication via the web as what once was very private communication—messages to the deceased—becomes very public is examined.
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to explore how and why younger Internet users of social networking platforms such as MySpace and Facebook maintain connections with those who have died or been killed...
160 citations
TL;DR: This article investigated how people's postings and tweets facilitated the communication of grief after pop music icon Michael Jackson died, finding that social media served as grieving spaces for people to accept Jackson's death rather than denying it or expressing anger over his passing.
Abstract: Death and bereavement are human experiences that new media helps facilitate alongside creating new social grief practices that occur online. This study investigated how people’s postings and tweets facilitated the communication of grief after pop music icon Michael Jackson died. Drawing on past grief research, religion, and new media studies, a thematic analysis of 1,046 messages was conducted on three mediated sites (Twitter, TMZ.com, and Facebook). Results suggested that social media served as grieving spaces for people to accept Jackson’s death rather than denying it or expressing anger over his passing. The findings also illustrate how interactive exchanges online helped recycle news and “resurrected” the life of Jackson. Additionally, as fans of deceased celebrities create and disseminate web-based memorials, new social media practices such as “Michael Mondays” synchronize tweets within everyday life rhythms and foster practices to hasten the grieving process.
122 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined the linguistic construction of textual messages in the use of blogs and Twitter in the Nigerian 2007 electoral cycle comprising the April 2007 general elections and rerun elections in April, May, and August 2009.
Abstract: This article examines the linguistic construction of textual messages in the use of blogs and Twitter in the Nigerian 2007 electoral cycle comprising the April 2007 general elections and rerun elections in April, May, and August 2009. A qualitative approach of discourse analysis is used to present a variety of discursive acts that blogging and microblogging afford social media users during the electoral cycle. The data are culled from 245 blog posts and 923 tweets. The thesis of the study is that citizens’ access to social media electronically empowers the electorates to be actively involved in democratic governance. Electronic empowerment is a direct result of access to social media (and mobile telephony) by more citizens who constitute the electorates. This encourages more public discussions about politics and makes the democratic process more dynamic than in the pre—social media era. An analysis of the data shows that there is a dialectical relationship between social media discourse and the process of...
85 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a full network analysis was conducted on third-grade high school students (15 year olds, 137 students) in Belgium, and the results pointed out that face-to-face communication was still the most prominent way for information to flow through the network. Interactions through communication media (e-mail, instant messaging, text messaging, mobile phone, and landline phone), however, supplemented this flow of information in a substantive way.
Abstract: This study explores some possibilities of social network analysis for studying adolescents’ communication patterns. A full network analysis was conducted on third-grade high school students (15 year olds, 137 students) in Belgium. The results pointed out that face-to-face communication was still the most prominent way for information to flow through the network. Interactions through communication media (e-mail, instant messaging, text messaging, mobile phone, and landline phone), however, supplemented this flow of information in a substantive way. Communication media use patterns were characterized by multiplexity and could be placed on a unidimensional scale indicating a media hierarchy. Close friends (strong ties) used all communication media at their disposal to connect with each other; students who were just friends (weak ties) preferred face-to-face communication and social network sites. In the discussion, some other possibilities of social network analysis for studying adolescents’ communication media are discussed.
80 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify guidelines for privacy policies that children and teens can accurately interpret with relative ease, based on the results of the literature review and focus groups, a set of potential guidelines were identified.
Abstract: The goal of this project is to identify guidelines for privacy policies that children and teens can accurately interpret with relative ease. A three-pronged strategy was used to achieve this goal. First, an analysis of the relevant literature on reading was undertaken to identify the document features that affect comprehension. Second, focus groups were conducted to examine their experience and practices in the interpretation of privacy policies found on sites that have been identified as favorite kids’ sites. Based on the results of the literature review and focus groups, a set of potential guidelines were identified. Finally, the efficacy of these guidelines was tested in the final phase of the research project. The result of this work is a set of 14 guidelines for the drafting of privacy policies that make a difference, by improving the comprehensibility of privacy policies encountered by Canadian children and teens as they surf the Net.
38 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the guiding question in this new approach is how research is to be carried out, instead of focusing on the question whether or not to authorize, approve, or adopt a certain technology or on who is to blame for potential mistakes.
Abstract: Traditionally, the management of technology has focused on the stages before or after development of technology. In this approach the technology itself is conceived as the result of a deterministic enterprise; a result that is to be either rejected or embraced. However, recent insights from Science and Technology Studies (STS) have shown that there is ample room to modulate technology during development. This requires technology managers and engineering ethicists to become more involved in the technological research rather than assessing it from an outsider perspective. Instead of focusing on the question whether or not to authorize, approve, or adopt a certain technology or on the question of who is to blame for potential mistakes, the guiding question in this new approach is how research is to be carried out.
30 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyze the efforts to create a European defense industry market, marketization of Swedish defense industry policy, and the increased interaction between Swedish and European defence industry policy processes, and show domestic challenges that the processes of Europeanization and marketization have brought about.
Abstract: European integration has increased to encompass security-related policies. One such policy is defense industry policy, which traditionally has been a national concern rooted in defense and security policy. Efforts have been made since the 1990s to create a European defense industry market. However, there have been different ideas of how this goal should be achieved or which model for state—industry relations the market should rest on. Using Sweden to illustrate the development, this article argues that for the Europeanization of defense industry policy, marketization has played a vital role. Building on official documents and interviews, the article analyzes the efforts to create a European defense industry market, marketization of Swedish defense industry policy, and the increased interaction between Swedish and European defense industry policy processes. The analysis also shows domestic challenges that the processes of Europeanization and marketization have brought about.
TL;DR: Among demons and wizards: the nuclear energy discourse in Sweden and the rechantment of the world as discussed by the authors, where the re-chantment is discussed in the context of nuclear energy.
Abstract: Among demons and wizards: the nuclear energy discourse in Sweden and the re-chantment of the world
TL;DR: This article shows the emergence, over time, of two distinct interactional formats underlying these social media, one associated with instant messaging devices, on the model of “ICQ” software and those based on the latter, possibly indicating deeper sociological implications.
Abstract: Through a detailed account of the history of online chat devices, this article shows the emergence, over time, of two distinct interactional formats underlying these social media. They may be captured by two generic metaphors of synchrony: conference (a gathering in a virtual place where unfocused interactions and group sociability occur) and copresence (where practices are centered on the sustainment of contact between individuals who know each other). Internet Relay Chat (IRC) appears as the archetype of the conference format. This notion of chat involves the existence of a relatively persistent shared space—conjured up by various specific metaphors: room, channel, and so on—inside which users get together and through which they are able to find other users, with whom they may weave electronic social ties that may possibly lead to offline relationships. The other format is associated with instant messaging (IM) devices, on the model of “ICQ” software. Although there seems to be a decline in interest for...
TL;DR: Schneider's perspective on climate change communication is distinguished by its longevity, a keen anticipation of research findings, historical understanding, and grounding in first-person experience, and lessons for scientists, journalists, and citizens.
Abstract: Stephen Schneider’s perspective on climate change communication is distinguished by its longevity, a keen anticipation of research findings, historical understanding, and grounding in first-person experience. In this article, the author elaborates Schneider’s work in terms of its key claims, suggestive research directions, and lessons for scientists, journalists, and citizens. This article also evaluates his “double ethical bind” formulation to discuss potential limitations regarding precautionary policy. In conclusion, the author suggests that Schneider’s work has been important for advancing a robust precautionary perspective for climate change, but that it may be insufficient for carrying this perspective through to fuller expression.
TL;DR: New hardware such as mobile handheld devices and digital cameras; new online social venues such as social networking, microblogging, and online photo sharing sites; and new infrastructures such as...
Abstract: New hardware such as mobile handheld devices and digital cameras; new online social venues such as social networking, microblogging, and online photo sharing sites; and new infrastructures such as ...
TL;DR: The NBIC convergence is a recurring trope that is dominated by the paradigm of integration of the sciences as discussed by the authors, which assumes positivism in the name of technological progress, and it is largely influenced by the considerations of social and economic impact.
Abstract: The subject of this essay is NBIC convergence (nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive science convergence). NBIC convergence is a recurring trope that is dominated by the paradigm of integration of the sciences. It is largely influenced by the considerations of social and economic impact, and it assumes positivism in the name of technological progress. The culture of NBIC convergence, including NBIC discourses, is ensconced on the borders between modernity/ postmodernity, ambition/restraint, unity/fragmentation, and rational intellect/creativity. Both the rhetoric of ambition and visionary development, and its responding calls for some level of restraint and caution, make contrasting assumptions that, however unintentionally, further polarize the debate concerning NBIC technologies. Those engaged in producing the culture, including scientists, engineers, and ethicists of convergence, consider the ramifications of these technologies for subjectivity and identity in ways that do...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the policies that set into motion and continue to promote the cornerstone of civil-military integration: strategic outsourcing and argue that in today's threat environment, the extent of civilmilitary integration poses unique challenges for U.S. strategic policy.
Abstract: The post 9/11 environment has been characterized by domestic policy actors being incorporated into a globalizing defense industrial sector through the concept of civil-military integration. From administration to administration, the push for increased civil-military integration has spread beyond its original boundaries and has reached the frontlines of the American military. This begs the question, can the market-driven logic of the commercial sector be integrated into the objectives and values of the noncivilian, military sector? More precisely, is civil-military integration the appropriate solution to the post 9/11 strategic shift? The purpose of this study is not to address the detailed merits or limitations of the increased reliance on private contractors. Rather, this study’s primary focus is to examine the policies that set into motion and continue to promote the cornerstone of civil-military integration: strategic outsourcing. This study argues that in today’s threat environment, the extent of civil-military integration poses unique challenges for U.S. strategic policy. With contactors on the battlefield, basic doctrinal issues emerge. The most basic of these is the notion that in a war zone military members are asked to risk their lives for their country. But, while people are willing to risk their lives for their country, they may not be willing to risk their lives for their company.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors take as its chief point of departure Jacques Ellul's contention that imaginative treatments of malevolent technology in antitechnological science fiction, by way of inviting rejection,...
Abstract: This essay takes as its chief point of departure Jacques Ellul’s contention that imaginative treatments of malevolent technology in antitechnological science fiction, by way of inviting rejection, ...
TL;DR: The first of its kind, "Frankenstein" as mentioned in this paper paved the way for science fiction writing, and its depiction of a then impossible scientific feat has in our time become possible and is essentially rec...
Abstract: Often called the first of its kind, Frankenstein paved the way for science fiction writing. Its depiction of a then impossible scientific feat has in our time become possible and is essentially rec...
TL;DR: The control-paradigm has been criticised for perpetuating a view of the self as an individual with an inner core transparent to itself on solitary introspection and revealed to others through self-conscious acts of disclosure.
Abstract: Contemporary privacy debates regarding new technologies often define privacy in terms of control over personal information such that the privacy “problem” is a lack of control and the privacy “solution” is increased control. This article questions the control-paradigm by pointing to its parallels with earlier debates in the philosophy of technology regarding technology that was out-of-control. What first-generation philosophers of technology understood was that at the root of the questioning of technology lay a need to question the modern self itself. Legal debates regarding privacy renew the importance of this question, for the control-paradigm perpetuates a view of the self as an individual with an inner core transparent to itself on solitary introspection and revealed to others through self-conscious acts of disclosure. Increasingly, this model fails to account for the challenges raised by new technologies and calls for rethinking.
TL;DR: The authors argued that Feenberg's critical theory of technology does not accurately portray Ellul's ideas about technology, which were crafted over 40 books and hundreds of articles, and that a reading of Feenberg from an Ellulian perspective reveals Questioning Technology to be: (a) a trend that Ellul predicted in technological scholarship, (b) an unfavorable trend that does not answer the problems posed by Ellul, and (c) an actual furthering of the "technological ideology" described in detail over several decades of research.
Abstract: Andrew Feenberg, in his book Questioning Technology, offers his theory of “democratized rationalization” as a critical alternative to Jacques Ellul’s essentialist perspective. Feenberg argues that Ellul has confused the tendency toward efficiency in technological discourse with the essence of technology, thereby disallowing for a “positive program” of technological change. This article suggests that Feenberg’s “critical theory of technology” does not accurately portray Ellul’s ideas about technology, which were crafted over 40 books and hundreds of articles, and that a reading of Feenberg from an Ellulian perspective reveals Questioning Technology to be: (a) a trend that Ellul predicted in technological scholarship, (b) an unfavorable trend that does not answer the problems posed by Ellul, and (c) an actual furthering of the “technological ideology” that Ellul carefully described in detail over several decades of research. This article concludes that the current trends toward praising democratization shou...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that economic analysis needs to be explicitly included in an overall theory of law and technology, and the copyright policy environment of the 1990s is taken as an example of how the lack of substantive economic analysis resulted in poor policy-making.
Abstract: The author argues economic analysis needs to be explicitly included in an overall theory of law and technology. Differing approaches to the economics of information are considered, and the copyright policy environment of the 1990s is taken as an example of how the lack of substantive economic analysis resulted in poor policy-making.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that neoliberalism and its corresponding iterations of science and technology and research funding policies in this country have implications for the types of knowledge that can be generated within and communicated without contemporary institutions of higher education.
Abstract: Following in the footsteps of a variety of previous research that elaborates on the current state of affairs in academia, this article sets out the argument that neoliberalism and its corresponding iterations of science and technology and research funding policies in this country have implications for the types of knowledge that can be generated within and communicated without contemporary institutions of higher education. Using agricultural biotechnology as the lens through which to focus analysis, the article outlines a number of empirical examples that illustrate how the free flow of knowledge either critical of or not readily appropriated by capital is being impeded.
TL;DR: In Australia, following the world's first legal euthanasia deaths, Dr. Philip Nitschke initiated a search for do-it-yourself technological means of dying with dignity.
Abstract: Proponents and opponents of euthanasia have argued passionately about whether it should be legalized. In Australia in the mid-1990s, following the world’s first legal euthanasia deaths, Dr. Philip Nitschke initiated a different approach: a search for do-it-yourself technological means of dying with dignity. The Australian government has opposed this effort, especially through heavy censorship. The citizen efforts led by Nitschke have the potential to move the euthanasia issue from a debate about legalization to a struggle over technology.
TL;DR: A conceptual framework for studying the role of global health partnerships (GHPs) in determining policy practices on access to medication is presented in this article, where a social constructivist approach is suggested as a suitable method for empirical analysis.
Abstract: A conceptual framework for studying the role of global health partnerships (GHPs) in determining policy practices on access to medication is presented. Although GHPs are of a practical nature, they are implicitly theory informed. The narratives used by GHP partners in relating to access to medication have theoretical origins. Building on the theoretical literature on models and the notion of embodied knowledge found in science and technology studies, GHPs are conceptualized as models that mediate between theory and practice. The proposed framework can be used to investigate the role of theory in the creation of GHP models and how the models shape global and national policy practices. A social constructivist approach is suggested as a suitable method for empirical analysis.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the relationship between the Victor Adding Machine Company, the Army, the Navy Bureau of Ordinance (BuOrd), and the Army's main contractor for the production of Norden Bombsights.
Abstract: On 10 February 1947, A.C. Buehler, the president of the Victor Adding Machine Company presented Norden Bombsight #4120 to the Smithsonian Institute. This sight was in service on board the Enola Gay when it dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Through this public presentation, Buehler forever linked his company to the Norden Bombsight, the Enola Gay, and to history. Buehler’s ultimate goal, however, was the sale of adding machines, and while significant, the presentation to the Smithsonian was essentially the final step in a long running advertising campaign designed to sell adding machines. During the War, Victor was the Army’s main contractor for the production of Norden Bombsights. This work is an investigation into the dysfunctional relationship that existed between Victor Adding Machine Company, the Army, the Navy Bureau of Ordinance (BuOrd). Wartime shortages demanded that pre-war arrangements between the Army and BuOrd be reconsidered and it was agreed that the Army be allowed to build its own units. Within a year of production Victor sights were scrutinized for their inaccuracies, and ultimately Victor’s contract was cancelled ending the Army’s short sojourn into bombsight production.
TL;DR: The use-first-and-investigate-later (UFAIL) approach as discussed by the authors has been used to investigate the potential effects of a new technology on the real world.
Abstract: This essay presents the use-first-and-investigate-later (UFAIL) approach to technological use through two case studies: the atomic bomb in World War II and chemical defoliants during the Vietnam War. The methodology of UFAIL is as follows: despite limited understanding of an array of potential effects (medical, environmental, etc.), technology users employ a commitment to ex post facto investigations of these effects. In generalizing these cases, the essay argues (a) that failure to check rapid technological uptake will result in continued disaster and (b) the abatement of the negative consequences of UFAIL is a more tempered approach to the infiltration of technologies into society by rigorous and preemptive investigation into the potential effects of a technology.
TL;DR: The authors proposed different ways of preserving memory and culture, from posthuman memory devices, to artwork, to architecture, to personal, local ways of remembering. But they did not consider the effect of state attempts to control public and private discourse.
Abstract: Creating memory during and after wartime trauma is vexed by state attempts to control public and private discourse. Science fiction author Iain Banks’ novel Look to Windward proposes different ways of preserving memory and culture, from posthuman memory devices, to artwork, to architecture, to personal, local ways of remembering.
TL;DR: In the summer of 2008, the Spanish legislature resolved to grant great apes (though not all simians) basic human rights as discussed by the authors, and the decision has potential reverberations throughout the scientific world and beyond in its implications for shaping determinations of what is human.
Abstract: In the summer of 2008, the Spanish legislature resolved to grant great apes (though not all simians) basic human rights. While the decision to grant such rights came about largely through the lobbying efforts of the Great Ape Project (GAP), the decision has potential reverberations throughout the scientific world and beyond in its implications for shaping determinations of “what is human.” Such implications do not appear to be lost on various groupings of scientists who have spoken about their opinions about the case and the project in general. These groupings of scientists, I argue, using the work of Mary Douglas and others, can be compared to “tribes” actively advancing and defending their classifications of the “human” in a bid for a retention or expansion of power.
TL;DR: The authors explored Traviss' provocative exploration of unbalanced nature and unbounded bodies in her Wess'har series with the guidance of two ecocritics who reject the concept of balanced nature, Dana Phillips and Ursula Heise.
Abstract: While nature is often claimed to be a space of harmonized balance or an antidote to the chaos of the modern world, we need a more grounded assessment of nature as endlessly changing and much less predictable than we like to assume. In this essay, I explore Karen Traviss’ provocative exploration of unbalanced nature and unbounded bodies in her wess’har series with the guidance of two ecocritics who reject the concept of balanced nature, Dana Phillips and Ursula Heise. Additionally, I turn to the environmental philosopher Val Plumwood for insights regarding Traviss’ spurious yet rather standard vision of an unlimited technological panacea. Traviss’ series portrays how the boundaries and limits that we perceive as solid are often much less so than we believe, yet she also reveals—inadvertently, it seems—how easily we blindly ignore other, more solid limits.