Thursday, December 30, 2010

Two requests for humanity

1. When presented with new information -- including that found in this blog -- scrutinize it from as many angles as you possibly can; check the information for "glitches" and flaws, regardless of the track record or authoritative status of, or your relation to, the information provider. If the provider is a close friend, person of eminent status, or someone with a history of successful ideas, this does not guarantee his sanctity or infallibility, and so his future proposals should be treated with the same degree of initial scrutiny and analysis as those of anyone else on Earth. Even when an idea or set of ideas sounds reasonable, do not ever stop checking it for errors or faults; always attack your own perspective, no matter how counterintuitive this might feel.

2. When in a state of relative ignorance with respect to a field of knowledge, be humble, and admit your ignorance; do not obstruct progress by professing an understanding of something where you possess no such understanding, or where the data is insufficient to warrant action -- or even discussion. "I'll let the two of you decide what we should do, because I don't know anything about the topic" is always the superior option where you are relatively or comparatively ignorant, regardless of what damage it does to your ego; the alternatives breed wild goose chases, clutter, "the blind leading the blind," and even social enmity.

If possible, find a way to improve the current operating system running on your computer; after all, how likely is it that it'll prove to be the last version to ever exist? Likewise, let architects build your bridges; do not interfere with their work with criticisms.

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