Re: q*****

Ken Clements (Ken@InnovationOnDmnd.com)
Fri, 10 Dec 1999 11:24:19 -0800

One of the great failures of reasoning to which people are generally susceptible goes along the lines of "I don't know how to do X without Y, therefore Y is essential to have X." This argument can hold ground for centuries until someone comes along and figures out how to do X without Y, and then it collapses in a pile of rhetorical rubbish. Vitalism went this way, together with mountains of mumbo jumbo from every culture in history. The need for a certain easily spread, but none the less useless, superstition that starts with a 'q' is not far from the flusher.

-Ken