<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><br><div><div>On 13/08/2010, at 11:39 AM, Matthew Moyle-Croft wrote:</div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div>And yet you STILL OFFER NO LONGER TERM ALTERNATIVE.</div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div>I could propose that on October 20th this year we should replace the</div><div>world's entire passenger transport infrastructure with flying monkeys.</div><div>Ships, planes, cars, busses, trains all gone. </div><div><br></div><div>These aviating simians can cradle us all gently by our armpits and</div><div>convey us safely and rapidly to wherever we want to go. "Tally ho,</div><div>my dear monkey," you might say, "take me to Macworld!" And lo, it</div><div>will happen.</div><div><br></div><div>What's this I hear? You reckon that's a stupid idea? I've offered up a </div><div>revolutionary way to remove a huge chunk of carbon pollution, make</div><div>transport more efficient, form new relationships with our primate</div><div>brethren, and provide valuable stimulus to the banana industry, and</div><div>you rubbish it? And yet you STILL OFFER NO LONGER TERM</div><div>ALTERNATIVE.</div><div><br></div><div><blockquote type="cite"><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div>No solutions for even 10 years time. No actual changes to the regulatory environment, nothing.</div></div></div></blockquote></div><div><br></div><div>"Do this because the alternative is nothing" looks like this:</div><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dilemma">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dilemma</a><div><br></div><div>Portraying the whole issue as one about affordability looks like this:</div><div>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacy_of_the_single_cause</div><div><br></div><div>The entire NBN looks like one of these:</div><div>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacy_of_necessity</div><div><br></div><div>And the reception that some of the alternatives have received look like</div><div>this:</div><div>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana_fallacy</div><div><br></div><div>I don't think people who criticize proposal X are automatically required</div><div>to offer alternative proposals. Yes, it's nice if they do, but it isn't </div><div>required. Dumb ideas deserve to be shouted down on their own merits,</div><div>it shouldn't require comparison with less-stupid alternatives to show </div><div>that a bad idea is, actually, bad.</div><div><br></div><div>The alternative to the NBN isn't "No solutions for even 10 years time. </div><div>No actual changes to the regulatory environment, nothing."</div><div>(any more than the alternative to ISP censorship is supporting child</div><div>molestation)</div><div><br></div><div>We've lived with the current regulatory environment for most of two</div><div>decades. There's no emergency here; it should be possible to spend</div><div>a bit of time scratching our nation's collective heads until we have</div><div>an idea better than the one that Conroy and Rudd dreamed up </div><div>last April during a plane flight from Sydney to Melbourne.</div><div><br></div><div>In fact, we know to a high degree of certainty that it IS possible to do that,</div><div>because to think otherwise would be to assume that Conroy and Rudd</div><div>are total broadband experts, and that the output of their deliberations</div><div>is implicitly perfect. :-)</div><div><br></div><div>If a/the problem is the regulatory environment, is there anything a government</div><div>could do to fix it, so that people like Tim would have regulatory certainty,</div><div>the Govt won't eat up his investments, AND Australia can get better</div><div>broadband?</div><div><br></div><div> - mark</div><div><div>
<div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; font-size: 12px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Andale Mono'" size="1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9px; "><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">--</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Andale Mono'"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9px; ">Mark Newton Email: newton@internode.com.au (W)</span></font></font></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Andale Mono'"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9px; ">Network Engineer Email: newton@atdot.dotat.org (H)</span></font></font></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Andale Mono'"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9px; ">Internode Pty Ltd Desk: +61-8-82282999</span></font></font></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Andale Mono'"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9px; ">"Network Man" - Anagram of "Mark Newton" Mobile: +61-416-202-223</span></font></font></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Andale Mono'"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9px; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></span></font></font></font></div></div></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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