TypesOfWriters

ThoughtStorms Wiki

NeilStephenson (who I suppose I ought to read if I could actually be bothered to read ScienceFiction any more) has a good response on SlashDot about two kinds of writers :

those responsible to the market

those responsible to the patronage of institutions

http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/20/1518217

My question (and stop me if you think I have a one track mind) can we also see the patronage question as being a NetoCracy question. Is patronage a matter of appealing to the right authorities or of networking with the right people in the institutions?

From same interview, discussion OnMoney :

Actually, what's interesting about money is that it doesn't seem to change that much at all. It became fantastically sophisticated hundreds of years ago. Back before people knew about germs, evolution, the Table of Elements, and other stuff that we now take for granted, people were engaging in financial manipulations that seem quite modern in their sophistication. So if I had to take a wild guess—and believe me, it is a wild guess—I'd say that money and the way it works is going to be a constant, not a variable.

Compare :

My thoughts on ThreeKindsOfMusic