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May 16, 2007
Arrington on epistemology
Arrington on epistemology: Michael Arrington of TechCrunch describes what happened when a rumor site got it wrong: "Apple's stock promptly tanked on massive selling, going from $107.89 to $103.42 in six minutes. This wiped just over $4 billion off of Apple's market capitalization. A lot of people lost a lot of money very quickly... Let the lawsuits and criminal investigations commence (although to be clear, I do not believe Engadget will have any liability here. Apple may, if the email did originate from its servers)." I don't like that last part -- it implies that any hoaxing some find profitable and others find credible is blamed upon the victim, as dishonest leaking staffers get a free pass -- but four billion dollars changing hands in six minutes because of an unsubstantiated rumor, that's wild. Some readers say "I trust some bloggers and don't trust others"... other readers say "How do you know what you say you know, and how can I test it, too?"
Posted by JohnDowdell at May 16, 2007 6:39 PM