Thread by @harrisonstephen

A while back, Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales chatted with Lex Fridman on his podcast. This weekend, I finally had a chance to listen to their 3+ hour conversation and here are my notes 🧵1/

.@lexfridman repeatedly expressed gratitude for Wikipedia, admiring how much its contributors love and respect knowledge. “Don’t disturb the natural habitat of the geek!” 2/

.@jimmy_wales pushed back on Wikipedia’s alleged left wing bias by pointing to the articles themselves, noting how even the pages on highly controversial topics generally represent opposing viewpoints while aiming for neutrality 3/

For Jimmy, the big clash that sometimes occurs on Wikipedia is not “right vs. left” but what he referred to as the “kind & thoughtful” versus “the jerks” 4/

Early Wikipedia faced a lot of philosophical questions. Should they upload recipes? No, a recipe isn’t neutral. Should they upload the full text of Hamlet? No, because an encyclopedia is a sum (summary) 5/

In raising donations for Wikipedia, Jimmy said he thought the “fairness argument” was the most effective pitch (i.e. “I use Wikipedia quite a lot and therefore should reciprocate in some way”) 6/

Jimmy talked about how Wikipedia hasn’t given into government censorship requests. Wikipedia is quite hardcore about its position, he said. If Turkey blocks Wikipedia (as it has) then so be it, but Wikipedia holds to its principles. 7/

Can’t emphasize enough how often @lexfridman said on his podcast that he loves and appreciates Wikipedia. “It gives me faith in humanity!” /end

If you liked this, you might like my writing and occasional reporting on Wikipedia.

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