In 1781 Franklin was not an elected official but already appointed ambassador to France. It is a lot easier to write satire if you don’t depend on the masses for their votes and have to stay on their good side.
Also, a look at classic literature will show that the degree to which scatological humor is accepted, varies with time. Chaucer, whose work was massively respected in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, made jokes about farting and ass-licking that seem appalling to readers today. And I think a lot of HN readers already know about Mozart’s work Leck mich im Arsch.
Throughout his adult life, Ben Franklin was dead-serious about the important things, but evidently he didn't take himself too seriously. This particular essay, he composed in response to a call for scientific papers from the Royal Academy of Brussels while he was the US Ambassador to France. Quoting from the essay's introduction:
> I have perused your late mathematical Prize Question, proposed in lieu of one in Natural Philosophy, for the ensuing year...Permit me then humbly to propose one of that sort for your consideration, and through you, if you approve it, for the serious Enquiry of learned Physicians, Chemists, &c. of this enlightened Age. It is universally well known, that in digesting our common food, there is created or produced in the bowels of human creatures, a great quantity of wind. That the permitting this air to escape and mix with the atmosphere, is usually offensive to the company, from the fetid smell that accompanies it. That all well-bred people therefore, to avoid giving such offence, forcibly restrain the efforts of nature to discharge that wind.
I'm reminded of Musk's antics. I wonder what Ben Franklin, were he alive today, would post on Twitter -- I mean, X.
There are some superficial similarities between the two figures, but I don't think we should take the similarities too seriously. Benjamin Franklin helped found the United States, became ambassador to France, and made original scientific discoveries and inventions. Elon's main contribution has been having enough money to hire smart people to drive the development of pre-existing technologies. It's hard to imagine him becoming ambassador to anything or having his own original scientific insights.
Not all of of the memes Musk posts are harmless. Some of them are promoting dangerous QAnon and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Ben Franklin wasn't a saint either; he owned slaves. But at least he became an abolitionist later in life. It remains to be seen where Musk goes politically.
Franklin's irreverence is valuable and interesting in light of his overwhelming civic and scientific contributions. This is not true of Musk: I don't think even the most fervent fan of his can deny that Musk is (1) a businessman, not a scientist, and (2) not a particularly valuable contributor to the civic substrate of the country he lives in.
> Franklin believed that the various academic societies in Europe were increasingly pretentious and concerned with the impractical.
Oh wow I wonder what he would think of it now. People spend their whole lives studying the tiniest most minuscule thing that is published in some obscure journal and forgotten like the ark at the end of Raiders. Maybe I’m just too bitter about academia in this point in my career but it seems like we’ve run out of things to study and/or have too many people doing it. The creepy professor/grad student pyramid scheme couldn’t go on forever.
> Maybe I’m just too bitter about academia in this point in my career but it seems like we’ve run out of things to study and/or have too many people doing it.
We have certainly not run out of things to study, but I think we've hit the limit on what can effectively be communicated through traditional science journals [1], and we need to address the reproducibility crisis through open source science and reconsider the incentive structures around academia [2]. We need to oppose initiatives from people like Bill Gates who wish to privatize science through his various non-profits, as knowledge works better as as commons (we were unable to deal with the pandemic partly because Bill Gates prevented Oxford from open sourcing their work on COVID [3]). We need software that can compose scientific models [4], and organizations that can facilitate greater coordination among scientists. Science will become all the more important in an increasingly uncertain world, but are we up to the task?
> "Franklin responded with an essay suggesting that research and practical reasoning be undertaken into methods of improving the odor of human flatulence"
Japan has been leading the way in this sector, for at least ten years. Typical ad blurb:
> 'New dietary supplement from Japan will make your farts smell “like a flower garden”'
There's a common joke (at least it was in my high school) that Thoreau's "lives of quiet desperation" were mainly about digestive distress from the bean-based diet at Walden.
Uncontrollable farting undoubtedly contributes to global warming and the fact that we just had the warmest July ever suggests people don't take the impact of relaxed social mores seriously.
So by all means, keep farting liberally, but we must invest in fart-capture technologies, or FCT (shameless plug - we are pioneering this with AI). Inaction will have consequences such as mass migration to more liveable areas.
Depends on who's farting, if you don't like someone or it's a stranger (you're not kinda attracted to) everything about them is an assault to the senses.
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[ 189 ms ] story [ 1077 ms ] threadAlso, the more I find out about Benjamin Franklin, the more I realize that Charlie Munger is his modern-day clone.
Also, a look at classic literature will show that the degree to which scatological humor is accepted, varies with time. Chaucer, whose work was massively respected in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, made jokes about farting and ass-licking that seem appalling to readers today. And I think a lot of HN readers already know about Mozart’s work Leck mich im Arsch.
> I have perused your late mathematical Prize Question, proposed in lieu of one in Natural Philosophy, for the ensuing year...Permit me then humbly to propose one of that sort for your consideration, and through you, if you approve it, for the serious Enquiry of learned Physicians, Chemists, &c. of this enlightened Age. It is universally well known, that in digesting our common food, there is created or produced in the bowels of human creatures, a great quantity of wind. That the permitting this air to escape and mix with the atmosphere, is usually offensive to the company, from the fetid smell that accompanies it. That all well-bred people therefore, to avoid giving such offence, forcibly restrain the efforts of nature to discharge that wind.
I'm reminded of Musk's antics. I wonder what Ben Franklin, were he alive today, would post on Twitter -- I mean, X.
Not all of of the memes Musk posts are harmless. Some of them are promoting dangerous QAnon and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Ben Franklin wasn't a saint either; he owned slaves. But at least he became an abolitionist later in life. It remains to be seen where Musk goes politically.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silence_Dogood
he'd 100% have an anonymous alt account for shitposting
Oh wow I wonder what he would think of it now. People spend their whole lives studying the tiniest most minuscule thing that is published in some obscure journal and forgotten like the ark at the end of Raiders. Maybe I’m just too bitter about academia in this point in my career but it seems like we’ve run out of things to study and/or have too many people doing it. The creepy professor/grad student pyramid scheme couldn’t go on forever.
We have certainly not run out of things to study, but I think we've hit the limit on what can effectively be communicated through traditional science journals [1], and we need to address the reproducibility crisis through open source science and reconsider the incentive structures around academia [2]. We need to oppose initiatives from people like Bill Gates who wish to privatize science through his various non-profits, as knowledge works better as as commons (we were unable to deal with the pandemic partly because Bill Gates prevented Oxford from open sourcing their work on COVID [3]). We need software that can compose scientific models [4], and organizations that can facilitate greater coordination among scientists. Science will become all the more important in an increasingly uncertain world, but are we up to the task?
[1] https://www.science.org/content/article/frustrated-science-s...
[1] https://numfocus.org/open-source-science-initiative-ossci
[2] https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-the-world-loses-under-bi...
[3] https://www.algebraicjulia.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advice_to_a_Friend_on_Choosing...
Fascinating man.
In case you're interested: https://es.player.fm/series/the-autobiography-of-benjamin-fr...
Japan has been leading the way in this sector, for at least ten years. Typical ad blurb:
> 'New dietary supplement from Japan will make your farts smell “like a flower garden”'
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulistan_(book)
-- Mao Zedong (1959)
https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-work...
So by all means, keep farting liberally, but we must invest in fart-capture technologies, or FCT (shameless plug - we are pioneering this with AI). Inaction will have consequences such as mass migration to more liveable areas.
You do it carefully because the fart may be wet and you will soil you sleeping bag under condition where cleaning is impossible.