Freedom of Science

At its present form the book is a vehicle used by the publishing industry to get richer by exploiting the content producers. Physicists are one of the most exploited content providers.¹

The book itself as a product is not dead. The way radio did not die when TV came along. But its form and function have changed.

The business model of publishers is simple. Publishers base their marketing on the author not on the content of the book. Content is relevant only to fit the book in one of the existing categories so that it can be displayed with similar books in the store.

Publishers deify the author because branding adds value to the written word. The authority and the infinite shelf life of the Bible comes from the well established perception that its author is the supreme author of the Universe. Otherwise the Bible would be seen as it really is, a collection of bad literature and traditional cosmogonic myths and exploitative purple prose aimed at the low end of the market.²

Bible is the book written for the illiterate.³ How come it is still in print? Never underestimate the power of the product which is the first in a market and therefore creates the market.

The book started as a vehicle to share information with as many people as possible. The authors of the first book did not intend to make money by selling their book. Their goal was to reach their audience. The book was a source of authority. The written word was the source of authority, the book itself, the papyrus it was written on, did not have value.

The book is no longer an efficient way to share information. Internet is better and faster. But readers still believe that printed word has more authority. This is because of the historic tradition associating printed word with Truth.

Eventually the book itself became a valuable investment and a valuable possession such as land, a cow or a wife. This is how ignorant nobles of Europe perceived the book. Possessing a book implied that the owner was wise. Wisdom bought and sold. Not much changed today. Our consumer society worships new. Charismatic shamans⁴ peddle new and improved cosmogonic scenarios as ultimate truth for the soul of the consumer. Therefore, the same marketing methods used to peddle shampoos are used to peddle physics.

1. Peer review was invented by big publishers to control and exploit scientific content producers and hijack their intellectual product for free. [↩]
2. The Bible contains some powerful writing due to the fact that it is a written version of old traditions distilled to perfection. In that sense its lasting power is akin to the lasting power of Euclid’s Elements. [↩]
3. Of course, illiterate is not a pejorative term. It is the Doctors of Philosophy who defined literalism as a requirement of intelligence. [↩]
4. The Shaman is an old institution. A Shaman is someone who entertains while dispensing cosmogonic speculations by prominently displaying authority symbols which appear intimidatingly authoritative to his audience. This fits the job description of Hawking and Greene quite well. [↩]

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