From Esther Dyson’s new Release 4.0. She was talking with David Weinberger.

DW: Explicitness is an act of violence. You think it’s archeological: You take something and dust it off, but in fact explicitness reduces things; it destroys…That’s why groups stay away from constitution writing.

ED: But they don’t stay away from constitution-writing. It’s more like moths to a flame. They can’t stop it. But they can’t handle the explicitness. It’s like pre-nuptial agreements.

I’ve been seeing lots and lots of problems with the constitution and bylaws of the Brandeis Student Union. People don’t really want to hear them though…”this is how we do it.”