On Thu, 2007-05-10 at 08:51 +1000, Ben Finney wrote:
This is the important point. It's very easy to rationalise a purchase of hardware containing treacherous computing technology with the fallacious logic of "It's possible to conceive of a non-harmful use; therefore, it's not certain that this is harmful; therefore, I can dismiss any argument telling me I shouldn't buy this."
That faulty logic has been distressingly common in this thread.
As opposed to the logic that if the hardware comes with free software drivers and is entirely under your control, then it's pretty difficult to understand an argument which purports it to be harmful?
The faulty logic I've been seeing has been more related to people not having much clue about "treacherous" hardware, the different types, what they do and how they work. It is actually relatively easy to distinguish between "harmful" and "not harmful" hardware, and willingness to use and appreciate one doesn't imply anything about the other.
Cheers,
Alex.