America’s most powerful men explain why they’re scared of email

Graham told a confused Bloomberg News: "I’ve tried not to have a system where I can just say the first dumb thing that comes to my mind. I’ve always been concerned. I can get texts, and I call you back, if I want."

McCain meanwhile said this: "I’m afraid that if I was emailing, given my solid, always calm temperament that I might email something that I might regret. You could send out an email that you would regret later on and would be maybe taken out of context."

via We have no self-control: America's most powerful men explain why they're scared of email • The Register.

This makes perfect sense to me – people are people, not reasoning machines. People make mistakes and they don’t want their mistakes to be replayable through never deletable digital media. The article slams them for this, but basically the writers are saying there should be no expectation of people in power actually being humans. Because people can be called out for any infestimally stupid thing they ever do over email, far after the fact and without any context attached these people have been pushed out of using modern communications because the risks far outweigh the usefulness.

Robin Edgar

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