www/philosophy words-to-avoid.html

[Richard M. Stallman]

CVSROOT:        /webcvs/www
Module name:    www
Changes by:     Richard M. Stallman <rms>       10/01/31 21:47:27

Modified files:
        philosophy     : words-to-avoid.html 

Log message:
        (Ecosystem) Major rewrite to sharpen the argument.

CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.117&r2=1.118

Patches:
Index: words-to-avoid.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /webcvs/www/www/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html,v
retrieving revision 1.117
retrieving revision 1.118
diff -u -b -r1.117 -r1.118
--- words-to-avoid.html 25 Jan 2010 15:08:11 -0000      1.117
+++ words-to-avoid.html 31 Jan 2010 21:47:24 -0000      1.118
@@ -276,20 +276,24 @@
 <p>
 It is a mistake to describe the free software community, or any human
 community, as an &ldquo;ecosystem,&rdquo; because that word implies
-the absence of (1) intention and (2) ethics.  In an ecosystem, species
-evolve according to their fitness: if a species is weak and goes
-extinct, that's neither right nor wrong, merely an ecological
-phenomenon.  The term &ldquo;ecosystem&rdquo; implicitly suggests a
-attitude of nonjudgmental observation: don't ask how what <em>should</em>
-happen, just study what does happen.</p>
+the absence of ethical judgment.</p>
+
+<p>
+The term &ldquo;ecosystem&rdquo; implicitly suggests a attitude of
+nonjudgmental observation: don't ask how what <em>should</em> happen,
+just study and explain what <em>does</em> happen.  In an ecosystem,
+some organisms consume other organisms.  We do not ask whether it is
+fair for an owl to eat a mouse or for a mouse to eat a plant, we only
+observe that they do so.  Species' populations grow or shrink
+according to the conditions; this is neither right nor wrong, merely
+an ecological phenomenon.</p>
 
 <p>
 By contrast, beings that adopt an ethical stance towards their
-surroundings, and have ideas of ethical responsibility, can decide to
-preserve things that, on their own, would tend to vanish&mdash;such as
-civil society, democracy, human rights, peace, public health, clean
-air and water, endangered species, traditional arts&hellip;and
-computer users' freedom.
+surroundings can decide to preserve things that, on their own, might
+vanish&mdash;such as civil society, democracy, human rights, peace,
+public health, clean air and water, endangered species, traditional
+arts&hellip;and computer users' freedom.
 </p>
 
 
@@ -686,7 +690,7 @@
 <p>
 Updated:
 <!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2010/01/25 15:08:11 $
+$Date: 2010/01/31 21:47:24 $
 <!-- timestamp end -->
 </p>
 </div>