alt Hacker NewsThe point is that there is no objective measure one can use and the definition at any given time is dependent on the cultural and societal context.
Something that might have been considered pornography 100 years ago might be considered tame today.
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detourdog • today at 1:28 PM
“I know it when I see it” has the flexibility to adapt with social norms.
TomGarden • today at 12:37 PM
What I mean is that throwing up your hands and saying 'I know it when I see it' is entirely pointless. There's a reason scientific papers have an (often long) section for definitions.
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It goes a bit further than that. If there isn't a somewhat objective definition then you can't ever be sure that two people are talking about the same thing. Sharing the same context isn't enough to reliably get a convergence of beliefs about whether something falls into a category. And it is a mistake to start legislating about it because the laws are going to be meaningless.