Re: Bug#180798: ITP: multisync -- A program to syncronize PIM data

[tb@becket.net (Thomas Bushnell, BSG)]

bts@alum.mit.edu writes:

> Branden Robinson <branden@debian.org> writes:
> 
> > On Tue, Mar 04, 2003 at 10:21:17PM -0800, Thomas Bushnell, BSG wrote:
> >> Works there too.  Students who cannot bother to listen carefully to
> >> lectures should *not* be designing bridges.
> >
> > You are *such* an idealist.  I suggest not driving or walking upon any
> > bridges, then.  ;-/
> 
> I'm reasonably sure that in Thomas' view, those who cannot be bothered
> to carefully observe bridges and examine the engineering diagrams
> beforehand should not be walking on them, and deserve whatever happens
> if they willy-nilly walk out on an alleged "bridge" only to later
> discover it is in fact not a bridge, but a squirrel.  Failure to check
> the attendance and attention patterns of all those involved in
> designing and implementing the bridge is merely a particular form of
> the lack of attention which unfortunately pervades our society.

Hehe.  Not quite.  But my point is that the "never write a false
statement on a blackboard" mantra is a concession to a disgusting sort
of laziness.  I think we should *punish* that kind of laziness (in
academic contexts). 

The fact that idiot students sometimes grow up into idiot doctors or
idiot engineers, and can wreak great harm, is an excellent argument
for making the academic system weed *out* those people.

By contrast, "never write a false statement on a blackboard" makes it
*harder* to weed them out, and permits the lazy idiots to pass classes
they would otherwise fail, and as a result, to go on to become lazy
idiotic doctors and engineers, and then kill people.

Thomas