At 06:59 PM 10/14/01 -0400, James B. DiGriz wrote:

James B. DiGriz failed to thoroughly digest his dinner before writng:

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James B. DiGriz wrote:

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Optimizzin Al-gorithm wrote:

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You may be interested in what David Brin writes about cultures actually encouraging (some) eccentricity in _Transparent Society_. He also groks the metaphor of societal antibodies (and "T-cells" etc).

Will folks please try not to anthropomorphize, abstract concepts? Or, vice-versa, conceptualize living, breathing people?

There is such a thing as being too clever by half.

After all, one man's T-cell is another man's malignant carcinoma.

Damn. Souldn't have said that. I was just trying to illustrate the fallacy. It only just dawned on me how it might have sounded.

Let's just say I used to believe I was supposed to think like this, but

have learned or rediscovered otherwise since. So now I have to control the zeal of the converted.

No hostility intended. and I hope none taken.

jbdigriz.

P..S. I do enjoy Brin et al, but I have little time for recreational reading these days.

Ok -this time :-) I was pretty much paraphrasing Brin, who (agree or not) writes of list-relevant topics, though with more subtlety than implied by my brief reading recommendation.