<CPOV> The world according to Jimmy Wales?

Joseph Reagle joseph.2008 at reagle.org
Mon May 24 21:55:38 CEST 2010


On Monday, May 24, 2010, Maja van der Velden wrote:
> Joseph, it's a very interesting topic - i am looking forward to  
> reading your book! Have you come across this idea that Wikipedia will  
> save the world?

Not so boldly as what your article states. (Do you to have a URL to the article?) I end up noting a trend that while the universal encyclopedic vision continues over the course of the century, claims of world peace tend to lessen -- while the probability of a world encyclopedia being created increases because of digital networks.

> Would be nice if someone remembers where else he said this. And what  
> doe he mean by "I think Wikipedia has already saved the world"?

I don't know. And, I don't have a record of any such statement -- and wish I did so I could've included it! :-) Perhaps he is speaking to the founding statement: "Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's what we're doing." So there has always been a universal and global aspiration at Wikipedia, but I'm not sure what it means to have saved the world, and am surprised that he thinks it has already happened.




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