Jul 092009
 

I wrote this years ago, and just stumbled on it:

You can be a big star, or a successful achiever in any field, but still feel that no one really understands you, that no one pays attention to what you really are or what you really want to express, perhaps because you are afraid to express it. In that case you get very little attention, or so it must feel. Your life is meaningless, since no meaning is conferred on it by others — in ways that feel real to you.

Could this be Jackson’s pain?

Jul 092009
 

The war between Google and Microsoft is really heating up with Google’s promise of a new operating system and Microsoft’s new bing or ping or whatever it is. Out of sheer lazniness in trying Ping, I searched an article I wrote a decade ago in Wired. In both google and bing I found a Polish article referring to my work. Each search engine allowed a translation. bing’s was “As Michael Goldhaber: the importance of our lives is expressed, which spend us other. Without devoting attention life would be worthless,” whereas Google’s was “As Michael Goldhaber writes: The meaning of our life is a criticism that we spend more. Without attention to the force would be negligible .” Quite a competition, wouldn’t you say?

As nearly as I can tell, what I actually said was “Meaning is conferred by others through paying attention. Without attention life is not meaningful.”