An open letter to Edward Tufte | Hacker News Reader

An open letter to Edward Tufte

whit537.org

19 pointschmullig10 comments

Interesting but the main point seems to be that tufte shouldn't be making so much money off of his work anymore. Ok, but why not? What am I missing?

He did the research, wrote the books, and on the first one took a big financial risk self publishing. Seems to me that he's provided a lot of value and has rightly reaped the benefits. No?

His overt message is: science is better than pitching, public interest is better than private interest. Is his art career consistent with that?

The main meme I want to spread is that Tufte should invest his money in a non-profit Foundation for Beautiful Evidence.

And I've tacked this onto the top of the page: http://www.whit537.org/et/

"I have followed your work for a decade." "I have followed your work for a decade." "I have followed your work for a decade."

But...

Here are some suggestions for what to do with your money.

The suggestions are Tufte's own. He spent six hours telling me to do science instead of pitching, and to work in the public interest instead of a commercial interest.

I mean, wouldn't it be awesome if he took his money and invested it in a non-profit Foundation for Beautiful Evidence?

That was completely unclear from the text. It might be clear if I were Edward Tufte, and in that sense it works as an open letter. But for a broader audience (I've read two of his books, if that matters) the supposed contradictions or hypocrisy aren't apparent. His 'sins' are presented, but the covenant being violated can only be guessed at. Even if it comes down to your own personal dashed expectations, elaborating on exactly what those were would make it easier to connect the dots in the way you intend.

As it is, it comes across as though there is something inherently wrong with him having what you think is a lot of money. Why should it matter? If you believe that a "Foundation for Beautiful Evidence" should exist, there must be reasons. But just going by the text that's there, it sounds like the main reason is that you think Tufte can afford to endow one. That may be a useful practical detail, if true, but it's not really a reason for him to do it. Remember: you're also asking him to do something with his time and attention, which he has no more of than you do. Why would he? Why would anybody? It might be understandable to someone who attended the course, but it could be elucidated to someone who hadn't by being direct about what you think such an enterprise could accomplish.

Yeah, I can see that. Thanks.

tl;dr--Tufte, you're brilliant. You worked hard to build a powerful brand, and now you're very intentionally using that brand to make a crap-ton of money on the contemporary art market. Well played, sir.

But didn't you say that people working in the public interest are inherently more credible than salesmen? Weren't you saying that science is inherently better than advertising?

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