letters
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Age/  /August 26, 2004

"It's hard for voice over Internet Protocol or e-commerce to compete with finding the age of the universe," he said.

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"[In terms of sheer lack of relevance i]t's hard for voice over Internet Protocol or e-commerce to compete with finding the age of the universe[.]"

—posted by Jim at August 28, 2004 12:03 PM

Oh, I see now. I had thought there was some new exhibition event in the Olympics where these two would face one another on the turf.

—posted by Ezra at August 28, 2004 7:37 PM

Well, that's the question, isn't it, Jim: Which is more relevant, and to what. The age of the universe, in itself, may be a fairly obscure metric, whereas Voice over IP is more of a useful tool; but then finding the relationship between mass and gravitational acceleration—or rather, the non-relationship—may have seemed less than significant at some point, though today it has yielded countless innovations, both practical and philosophical.

What sort of relevance are you looking for? Relevance to NASDAQ? To the poverty line? To queer theory? Contemporary sculpture?

We don't know what value cosmological research might have. Does that mean we should cease to ask the questions?

—posted by Sara Fim at August 28, 2004 7:53 PM
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