Heinlein, was:[NCLUG] Sigs, was:Re: NCLUG LinkedIn Group

[Chad Perrin]

On Fri, Oct 12, 2007 at 04:11:43PM -0600, dlc at frii.com wrote:
> > On Fri, Oct 12, 2007 at 01:52:47PM -0600, Brian Wood wrote:
> >> Chad Perrin wrote:
> 
>   I'm not so sure that he didn't mean it both ways as the "clever" twist
> usually associated with a good aphorism (NPR recently had a spot on
> famous aphorisms. :)  Your meaning would work quite well in the same
> society that had expurgated greed and sloth.  Sadly - humanity has not
> yet reached that level of maturity.  He certainly put his finger on one
> trend though, the loss of public civility, spot lighted of course by our
> politicians who have long since lost the ability to be civil and work
> together.

You may be right about Heinlein meaning it both ways -- but the context
suggests that the explanation I gave was the intended primary meaning.  I
wouldn't put it past Heinlein to intend exactly the humor in the
alternate meaning as an undercurrent, though.

As for the idea that "humanity has not yet reached that level of
maturity", I find that treating everyone like a toddler is the surest way
to ensure "humanity" never reaches any greater level of maturity.  In
fact, judging by the events of the last century or so, there's a lot of
evidence to suggest it's having a net negative effects.  The loss of
civility, while not solely attributable to such a cause, is certainly not
slowed any by the fact that government is increasingly unwilling to trust
people to make their own decisions (which is mirrored in the increasingly
micromanaged business world, to bring this back on-topic by referencing
the business practices of large software industry corporations as
contrasted with open source software projects).

> 
>   There are so many pithy utterings in the world, why is it that I can
> never come up with one when I really need to...?

I'm sure Murphy's Law factors into this somewhere -- to cite another
pithy utterance.

-- 
CCD CopyWrite Chad Perrin [ http://ccd.apotheon.org ]
John W. Russell: "People point. Sometimes that's just easier. They also use
words. Sometimes that's just easier. For the same reasons that pointing has
not made words obsolete, there will always be command lines."