If it be feared that this discourse may unhappily advantage others in such unlawful courses; it is considerable that it does not only teach how to deceive, but consequently also how to discover delusions. And then besides, the chief experiments are of such nature, that they cannot be frequently practised, without just cause of suspicion, when as it is in the magistrates power to prevent them. However, it will not follow, that every thing must be suprest which may be abused. There is nothing hath more occasioned troubles and contention, than the art of writing, which is the reason why the inventor of it is fabled to have sown serpents teeth. And yet it was but a barbarous act of Thamus, the Egyptian king, therefore to forbid the learning of letters: we may as well cut out our tongues, because that member is a world of wickedness. If all these useful inventions that are liable to abuse, should therefore be concealed, there is not any art or science which might be lawfully profest.
– Bishop John Wilkins, Mercury, or the Secret and Swift Messenger: Shewing How a Man May with Privacy and Speed Communicate His Thoughts to a Friend at a Distance, published 1641, the first work on cryptography in the English language.
Truly, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Or, more succinctly, Everything which is not specifically permitted by a license is forbidden.
Now where have we seen that attitude before?
This
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=dRJCAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA90
works better than this
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=dRJCAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA90
&lpg=PA90&dq=there+is+not+any+art+or+science+which+might+
be+lawfully+profest&source=bl&ots=8R8pklCemA&sig=tVPTNi9
coS7kjdbODHgJ1vaVlBU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=zGpGVazCG8LVaqLSgIgG&
ved=0CC8Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=there%20is%20not%20any%20art
%20or%20science%20which%20might%20be%20lawfully%20profest
&f=false
—–
This has been a message from the Committee for the Decrufting of Ludicrous URLs.
That’s a great quote for any and all days.
archive.org:
https://archive.org/details/gu_mercuryorthes00wilk
PDF:
https://ia601202.us.archive.org/28/items/gu_mercuryorthes00wilk/gu_mercuryorthes00wilk.pdf
Concealed carry at its best. Protect yourself and others:
http://news.yahoo.com/police-man-shoots-kills-carjacker-outside-store-004403757.html
Thank you all for the comments. Particular thanks to Rich Rostrom and Alec Muffett for the suggestions as to less crufty URLs. However, unless someone tells me that leaving the big long URL as it is will give the server hamsters heart attacks or something, I would prefer to stick with it. The reason for this that I rather like the way the yellow search terms speckle all over the page and then cluster on the searched-for sentence. However I did take the opportunity to download Alec Muffett’s PDF link.
The author of this quote, Bishop John Wilkins, is one of those characters from history to whom it is easy for moderns to relate. Actually, he seems to have had the knack of making friends among his contemporaries too – in her book In the Land of Invented Languages Arika Okrent describes how his tireless work in making personal connections, smoothing scientific egos and talent-spotting made him an unsung hero of the scientific flowering of the Royal Society in the late 1600’s. Further evidence for his personal skills is that he managed to get the patronage of Charles II for his invented language (the one Borges wrote about) despite being married to Oliver Cromwell’s sister and having held high office under the Commonwealth. By the standards of the times he was exceptionally tolerant in religious matters, and argued for an end to penal laws.
He liked practical jokes, rigging up a statue so that it would appear to talk to people. He was also the author of The Discovery of a World in the Moone Or, A Discovrse Tending To Prove That ‘Tis Probable There May Be Another Habitable World in That Planet, currently free to download to Kindle on amazon.co.uk.
Natalie, a marvellous quote indeed, apt to so very many of the present Issues, including the keeping and bearing of arms and the very existence of property.
(“Property” which may be seized or expropriated by any person or body under color of law is to that extent not Property at all since to that extent there is no right of ownership. Yet, some argue that since my exclusive say over my property and its use constitutes a bar to your use of it, my ownership of it is not defensible. This argument is made particularly with regard to “intellectual property.”)
With regard to URL’s. Many people seem to think a page looks more “professional” when the URL is hidden. In fact it simply shows short-sightedness and a lack of consideration.
Be up-front and honest as to where your links are sending people, by presenting the actual URL on the page. In this way people don’t have to work around uncooperative browsers that don’t automatically show the links (Firefox does, in readable type, at the bottom of the screen), and if they are super-paranoid, a healthy condition in the present cyberculture, they can open a tab next door and type in the URL themselves.
I am with you, Natalie. Excellent.