Eric Schmidt misquotes David Deutsch, omits Popper attribution

Diff

Because,‧to‧paraphrase‧Popper,‧wWe‧have‧a‧duty‧to‧be‧optimistic.‧Because‧the‧future‧is‧open,‧not‧predetermined‧and‧therefore‧cannot‧just‧be‧'accepted':‧we‧are‧all‧responsible‧for‧what‧it‧holds.‧Thus‧it‧is‧our‧duty‧to‧fight‧for‧a‧better‧world.

Because,‧to‧paraphrase‧Popper,‧w

W

e‧have‧a‧duty‧to‧be‧optimistic.‧Because‧the‧future‧is‧open,‧not‧predetermined‧and‧therefore‧cannot‧just‧be‧

'

accepted

'

:‧we‧are‧all‧responsible‧for‧what‧it‧holds.‧Thus‧it‧is‧our‧duty‧to‧fight‧for‧a‧better‧world.

Notes

First, Deutsch references a quote by Karl Popper. That reference is lost because Schmidt doesn’t quote properly. At the very least, Schmidt should have started the quote with ‘[W]e’ to give the reader some indication he’s omitting something. Second, it’s weird how Schmidt omits the scare quotes around “accepted”. Why? Did he not copy/paste Deutsch’s tweet? Third, Schmidt does not provide a source, making it harder even for a curious reader to notice these mistakes. However, someone did notice the similarity to the original Popper quote and defended Deutsch. Deutsch felt the need to reply that he did attribute the quote to Popper in his book The Beginning of Infinity. But I think Deutsch would have benefited from pointing to his original tweet. That would have exposed the misquote; maybe he didn’t want to embarrass Schmidt.