"We are moving toward the language used by computer programs and air traffic controllers. Language as a method of instruction, not a portal into critical thinking."
- James Billington, Librarian of Congress
06-15-2008, The Washington Post, pg M4
"Technological developments that impinge on language inevitably cause changes in language, all kinds of changes."
- Amelia C. Murdoch, President, National Museum of Language
06-15-2008, The Washington Post, pg M4
?? --> Paris Hilton --> Perez Hilton --> ??
Renowned fisheries scientist Daniel Pauly has a term for this habit of mind that allows us to adapt to the impoverishment of our landscapes. He calls it "shifting baseline syndrome." Over time, we lose track of the natural state of the world. So when we hear fishermen today describe years when fish crowded the harbors, their stories have no place within our own experiences--the excesses of one generation are repeated by the next until we find ourselves at a moment such as this, when our oceans carry less than a tenth the numbers of fish they once heald, yet few of us have any sense that something is wrong.
When I asked Safina why that is, he nodded at the water. "The reason is right there," he said. "You can't see beneath the surface. You can see a clear-cut in the forest, but you can't see an ocean without fish."
Good magazine, Issue 012, page 102-103
