Re: Having a life

Doug Jones (random@qnet.com)
Sun, 27 Jun 1999 02:20:13 -0700

Eliezer wrote:

> I don't demand that others live as I do. The wise choice for a
> Specialist isn't necessarily the wise choice for anyone else, even a
> different kind of Specialist. But if people start going all
> "oh-I'm-wiser" on me and spouting back the wisdom of the sages as seen
> on TV, then yes, I'm going to be annoyed.

Eliezer, I apologize for my condescending tone. It was rude and inconsiderate, and I was generalizing too much. I wish I'd stuck with jesting, or better yet, not made my first wiseass post.

You are a specialist, I'm a gadfly generalist, and I should make more effort to remember that we are quite different. I'd be a fool to think I know better than you what's best for you- sorry for the lapse.

While that Heinlein quote is cute, it's obviously wrong from an economic and societal point of view- else the vast array of specialized economic niches would not exist. We must all be specialists to some degree, since no single gaussian human (I like your terminology) can know every human trade and skill.

I repent me of my foolishness :)

--
Doug Jones, Rocket Plumber and synthesist