A Commentary on the Passing Scene by
Robert Paul Wolff
rwolff@afroam.umass.edu
Monday, February 26, 2018
WORLD FAMOUS IN POLAND, TO QUOTE MEL BROOKS IN TO BE OR NOT TO BE.
If all goes well, tomorrow I should pass a significant
milestone:three million page views of
this blog, only a million or so by me.The Internet is a strange place indeed.
Prof. Wolff, your videos will make you world famous in more corners of the world than Poland. And it will make your lectures immortal too. That is a nice thing, considering how tne Internet does not always have hits like your lectures.
This reminds me of a question Bertrand Russell once posed. If one were honored with a statue in Trafalgar Square, would one prefer the tallest where only the pigeons get to enjoy or short enough where people walking by will recognize your face, and perhaps even remember your work. In that sense, would you write another book that is well-regarded in academia but sits in an ivory tower inaccessible to most or make a video where 3 million people (and more) will read and recognize you?
Since many of us look at the site at least once a day and often several times a day, there is no evidence at all that 3 million different people have read it.
Thus, while probably 3 million different people have not read Hume or rather a page of Hume (since the phrase "read Hume" generally indicates a certain mastery of his texts), Hume's books undoubtedly have been opened at least 3 million times. Think of how many times one single Hume specialist must have opened a text of Hume during their academic career.
You mentioned the grad student game of comparing one's age to the age of great thinkers when they wrote seminal books.
ReplyDeleteDo you think Hume, to take one example, has been read by 3 million people? (Google may not be counting your own page views.)
When I think of what Hume accomplished in his 20s and what I "accomplished" in my20s (or since) I am truly, truly humbled.
ReplyDeleteProf. Wolff, your videos will make you world famous in more corners of the world than Poland. And it will make your lectures immortal too. That is a nice thing, considering how tne Internet does not always have hits like your lectures.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of a question Bertrand Russell once posed. If one were honored with a statue in Trafalgar Square, would one prefer the tallest where only the pigeons get to enjoy or short enough where people walking by will recognize your face, and perhaps even remember your work. In that sense, would you write another book that is well-regarded in academia but sits in an ivory tower inaccessible to most or make a video where 3 million people (and more) will read and recognize you?
Since many of us look at the site at least once a day and often several times a day, there is no evidence at all that 3 million different people have read it.
ReplyDeleteThus, while probably 3 million different people have not read Hume or rather a page of Hume (since the phrase "read Hume" generally indicates a certain mastery of his texts), Hume's books undoubtedly have been opened at least 3 million times. Think of how many times one single Hume specialist must have opened a text of Hume during their academic career.