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New parser with newspaper + pandoc

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[*.md]
trim_trailing_whitespace = false

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---
[Source](https://dangerousminds.net/comments/watch_the_very_first_film_version_of_alice_in_wonderland_from_1903 "Permalink to ")
![1alic1903wonder.jpg](/content/uploads/images/made/content/uploads/images/01alic1903wonder_465_360_int.jpg)
 
Cecil Hepworth is one of the unsung heroes of early cinema. The son of a
magic-lantern showman and novelist, Hepworth was one of the first
producers/directors to realize the potential of making full-length
“feature films” (his version of David Copperfield in 1913 ran for 67
minutes) and the selling power of star actors (and animals—most notably
his pet dog in Rescued by Rover in 1905).
Hepworth began by making short one-minute films. Influenced by the
Lumière Brothers and the early master of cinema Georges Méliès,
Hepworth tried his own hand at advancing their ideas. With [How It Feels
to be Run Over](https://youtu.be/m6F1VAPzvkU) he took the Lumiere’s
[Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat](https://youtu.be/1dgLEDdFddk) (1895)
and applied it to a motor car—where the vehicle heads straight for the
camera apparently mowing down both cameraman and audience. The same
year, he made [Explosion of a Motor Car](https://youtu.be/MNllVz6mKZ4)
in which a car with four passengers explodes. The road (in comic
fashion) is then littered with their body parts. This was shocking and
surreal viewing for early cinema goers. It was also, as Michael Brooke
of [BFI Screenonline](http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/444699/)
points out, “one of the first films to play with the laws of physics for
comic effect.” Hepworth pinched Méliès technique of editing in
camera—stopping the film between sequences to create one complete and
seemingly real
event.
![](/content/uploads/images/made/content/uploads/images/alice1sdfsdfsdfsdf00000000_465_328_int.jpg)
 
In 1903, Hepworth decided to go large and make (as faithfully as
possible) an adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in
Wonderland. Originally running twelve minutes in length, Hepworth’s
Alice in Wonderland was the longest film yet produced in Britain.
Hepworth co-directed the film with Percy Stow. He wanted to keep the
style of the film in keeping with Sir John Tenniel’s original
illustrations. Costumes were designed and elaborate sets were built at
Hepworth’s film studio—including a rather impressive rabbit burrow.
Family members, friends and their children were used in the cast.
Unfortunately, the full version of Hepworth’s mini classic has been
lost. The print that exists is damaged but is still a beautiful, trippy
and incredible piece of work—which as far this little ole blogger’s
concerned, still stands high above that Tim Burton
atrocity.
![](/content/uploads/images/made/content/uploads/images/aliceWFP2-CLAR01_465_359_int.jpg)
 
The BFI created a remastered version of this film in 2010, which can be
seen [here](https://youtu.be/zeIXfdogJbA). I’m sticking with a scratchy,
silent B\&W version—for which you can supply your own soundtrack.

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---
created_at: '2016-05-15T16:34:55.000Z'
title: Standard Oil Company Must Dissolve in 6 Months (1911)
url: http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1911/05/16/104825255.html
author: davidbarker
points: 101
story_text:
comment_text:
num_comments: 91
story_id:
story_title:
story_url:
parent_id:
created_at_i: 1463330095
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objectID: '11701542'
---
[Source](https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1911/05/16/104825255.html "Permalink to TimesMachine: STANDARD OIL COMPANY MUST DISSOLVE IN 6 MONTHS; ONLY UNREASONABLE RESTRAINT OF TRADE FORBIDDEN; And of Such Unreasonable Restraint the Supreme Court Finds the Standard Guilty. - NYTimes.com")
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objectID: '8494778'
---
[Source](https://newrepublic.com/article/119933/interview-wounded-world-war-i-soldier-bulgaria "Permalink to ")
“Say it,” I begged him.
He smiled.
“What kind of clothes did you have?”
“Our Dardanelles suit.”
So it was true; it had been almost impossible to believe.
“We was up in the mountains with the same stuff we wore down in
Gallipoli in summer,” he went on, in his unimpassioned way: “The
trenches only came up to your knees, and no protection at all; and then
there was no food.”
“No food?”
“Well, a biscuit, a bit of jam and some tea, maybe.”
“How many times a day?”
“Twice a day some, three times a day some, mostly once; when they could
get it to us. Just enough to keep the life in you.”
“What did you do all that time?”
“We had to be looking out always; you had to be on your knees, too, for
that. No sleep—o’ course you dozed a bit now and then, but mostly you
had to be watchin’.”
Impossible to go forwards or backwards, impossible to believed;
stupefied with the bitter icy waiting. I was told later the German
officers had maintained that nine days’ delay. The Bulgarians would
never have held the comitadjis  back so long.
“And how did the boys feel?”
“Oh—“ he stopped, puzzled. Fortunately he was no psychologist or he
would have told me how the boys felt, and I should not have learned that
there are times when you do not feel.
“The last two days—“ he began, and stopped again, puzzled. “Well,
we—didn’t feel good,” he finished lamely.
“What do you mean?—You sort of woke up, and felt—?”
“We felt something coming,” he said, tersely; and just for an instant I
felt what those men, a yard apart in the knee-high trenches that were no
protection at all, had felt.
“We knew they were getting ready for something,” he said, with another
stop, in that elliptical fashion of his.
“Artillery?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said, “artillery.”
“What about your own?”
“Oh, the English guns were no good at all,” he said, decidedly. “The
French was all right. The Bulgarians worked theirs fine.”
At the foreign office they had told me the English and French artillery
worked much better than the Bulgarian, but Jimmie had been out there
nine days and nights, in Balkan mountain wind and tropical clothing, and
at the end the Bulgars had come “with the knife.” I do not imagine you
can remember much difference between shrapnel and bayonets sometimes.
Moreover, it is true that the effect of only the enemy’s shrapnel was
apparent to Jimmie; but it is equally true that the Bulgarians are so
inordinately proud of their prowess with the “knife” that they gladly
belittle any other excellence of the army merely to enhance the glory of
their bayonets. “Ein dummer Pat\!” Herbst of the Intelligence Office
said impatiently, when I repeated to him what Jimmie had said of the
Bulgarian artillery.
“Yes,” Jimmie said again, in his even tone, “ours was all mismanaged—bad
handlin’—I think it was the Colonel’s fault.”
“Then the Bulgarians came?” I prompted. “Did you check them at all?”
“We was fagged—no life in us left. And then they were three to one, and
we each of us a yard apart.” He bent down and stroked over his wound
again.
That was all. January first, took the King’s shilling, and later took
four months of the Dardenelles; after that he marched “fine o’ heart”
with a tropically clothed division the majority of whose members had
never seen service into an early Macedonian winter to meet the
Bulgarians, was rippled with a bayonet through the left thigh and now
lay comfortable and quite content in the Red Cross Hospital in Sofia
where he received every care the Bulgarians themselves received.
“The only trouble is—they don’t understand you,” he said, not by way of
complaint, but to explain.
One year this bit of flesh and blood and bone had played the game with
steel, and he was one of those who had come through, even survived the
errors of his officers. I looked at the mild amiable man, with his large
girl’s eyes and face with no indication of energy or personal assertion.
This Irishman, who in the normal course of events might never have gone
from Dublin to London, here in Sofia. For all the purposeless pain of
the situation it was shriekingly comic.
“Who fights the point?” I asked, rather pointlessly.
He smiled at the stupidity of the question.
“Oh, the Bulgarians,” he said, with the nearest approach to emphasis I
had heard from him, bending down over the discomfort of his wound again.

6
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---
[Source](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/04/03/new-york-times-in-1924-hitler-tamed-by-prison/ "Permalink to ")
From the New York Times archives (I checked myself), Dec. 21, 1924:
Who knows — it may have seemed like a completely sensible prediction at
the time. (“Mein Kampf” was published the following year.)

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objectID: '9872387'
---
[Source](https://www.sciencenews.org/archive/suns-new-trans-neptunian-planet "Permalink to The Sun's New Trans-Neptunian Planet | Science News")
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Feature
# The Sun's New Trans-Neptunian Planet
Magazine issue: 
Magazine issue: [Vol. 17 #467, March 22, 1930][111]
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@ -102,16 +102,7 @@ Above all, there will be happiness and joy of life, instead of frayed nerves, we
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@ -19,7 +19,448 @@ _tags:
objectID: '11648160'
---
[Source](https://www.winstonchurchill.org/publications/finest-hour/23-finest-hour-136/2251-my-new-york-misadventure/ "Permalink to ")
FINEST HOUR 136, AUTUMN 2007
BY WINSTON S. CHURCHILL
First published in two parts in The Daily Mail, 4/5 January 1932, and
later in volume form in The Collected Essays of Sir Winston Churchill,
vol. IV, Churchill at Large (London: Library of Imperial History, 1975).
Copyright © Winston S. Churchill, reprinted in Finest Hour by kind
permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd., and the Churchill Literary Estate.
\==================
INTRODUCTION
In New York in December 1931, on a lecture tour seeking to recoup his
1929 losses in the stock market crash, Churchill was searching for his
friend Bernard Baruch’s apartment. Looking the wrong way halfway across
Fifth Avenue, he was struck by a car and almost killed. In hospital, he
began dictating, while his bodyguard Sgt. Thompson took measures to
maintain his privacy— “which included flinging all the clothes out of
incoming laundry baskets to prevent reporters from disturbing the
sickroom by hiding in the baskets to gain admittance,” according to
Robert Lewis Taylor in Winston Churchill: An Informal Study of Greatness
(New York: Doubleday, 1952). No working writer can be unimpressed with
Churchill’s ability to turn mishap into opportunity. Taylor adds:
Churchill was in agreement with his doctors that he should be guarded
from upsets. His concern, while identical to theirs, was prompted by a
different reason. Propped up in bed, he was busily at work on a rush
article tentatively titled, “My New York Misadventure.” He finished it
without distraction, sold it for $2500, then got up and took a
convalescent trip to the Bahamas on the proceeds. Some weeks later, back
home at Chartwell, he resumed the massive writing projects to which he
was now dedicated.
Today, two things strike us about this article. The first is amusing: it
could have happened yesterday, not seventy-five years ago; yet much
would be avoided— Churchill would have had a cell phone\! The second is
more profound. It is the lesson Churchill offers us in facing death:
“There is no room for remorse or fears. If at any moment in this long
series of sensations a grey veil deepening into blackness had descended
upon the sanctum I should have felt or feared nothing additional. Nature
is merciful and does not try her children, man or beast, beyond their
compass….For the rest—live dangerously; take things as they come; dread
naught, all will be well. ” —RML
\====================
Some years ago there was a play at the Grand Guignol called “At the
Telephone,” which attracted much attention. A husband, called away to
Paris, leaves his wife in their suburban home. Every precaution is taken
against burglars. There is the maid who will stay in the kitchen; there
is the door which is locked; there is the revolver in the drawer of the
writing table; and lastly, of course, there is, if needed, the appeal
for help by the telephone.
One by one the usefulness of all these measures disappears. The servant
is called away; she leaves the front door unlocked so that she can
return. She takes with her the key of the drawer in which the revolver
is kept. Darkness comes on, and in the final act the agonized husband
hears over the telephone his wife’s appeal for help while she is the
victim of a murderous outrage. An impressive effect is given of doom
marching forward step by step and of every human preventive slipping
silently out of the path.
Something of this impression rests with me when I recall my experiences
of the night of 13 December 1931. I had finished dinner and was inclined
to go to bed; but an old friend of mine rang up and suggested that I
should go round to his house. He was Mr. Bernard Baruch, who was the
head of the War Industries Board during the two years I was Minister of
Munitions. We made friends over a long period of official cables on
grave business, and have preserved these relations through the now
lengthening years of peace. He said he had one or two mutual friends
whom I was most anxious to meet, and as the hour was a little after half
past nine, I was readily enlisted in the project.
I descended by lift the thirty-nine storeys which separated my room from
the street level. When I arrived at the bottom it occurred to me that I
did not know the exact number in Fifth Avenue of my friend’s house. I
knew it was somewhere near 1100. I knew the aspect of the house; I had
been there by daylight on several occasions. It was a house of only five
or six storeys standing with one or two others of similar construction
amid large apartment buildings of more than double the height. I thought
it probable I would pick it out from the windows of my waiting taxicab,
so after a vain search in the telephone book—only Mr. Baruch’s
business address was there—I started.
Fifth Avenue is an immensely long thoroughfare, and the traffic upon it,
as elsewhere in New York, is regulated by red and green lights. When the
red light shows, every vehicle must stop at the nearest crossroad. When
after an interval of two minutes the lights turn green, they all go as
hard as possible until the light changes into red. Thus we progressed by
a series of jerks.
When I got near the eleven hundreds I peered out of the cab window and
scanned the houses as we sped past, but could not see any like the one I
was seeking They all seemed to be tall buildings of fourteen or fifteen
storeys. On the left lay the dark expanse of Central Park.
At length we reached the twelve hundreds and it was certain I had
overshot my mark. I told the cabman to turn round and go back slowly so
that I could scan every building in turn. Hitherto we had been moving up
the right or centre of the thoroughfare and could at any moment have
stopped opposite any house. Now we had turned round. We were on the
Park, or far side from the houses, with a stream of traffic between us
and the pavement.
At length I saw a house smaller than the rest and told the cabman to
turn in there to make inquiries. It occurred to me that as we must be
within a hundred houses of Mr. Baruch’s address, and that as he was so
prominent a citizen, any of the porters of the big apartment houses
would know which his house was. A London butler nearly always knows who
lives in the three or four houses on the right or left.
The porter of the apartment house at which I inquired recognized me at
once and said he had served in the South African War. He had no idea
where Mr. Baruch lived, but eagerly produced the telephone book, which
could, as I have stated, give no clue in my present quest.
In order to stop opposite this house we had to wait until the light
changed, then turn round on to the opposite course, draw up at the
pavement \[sidewalk in USA\], and thereafter make a second turn, again
being very likely stopped by a change in the light. When this had
happened three times and we were unlucky in missing the permissive green
light, I began to be a little impatient.
It was now nearly half-past ten. My friends knew I had started an hour
before. Ordinarily the journey should not have taken ten minutes. They
might think some accident had happened to me or that I had changed my
mind and was not coming at all. They would be waiting about for a tardy
guest. I began to be worried about the situation at the house I was
seeking. I thought I might have, after all, to go back to my hotel and
go to bed.
We had now arrived, as I supposed, at about the nine hundreds, and here
were certainly houses much smaller than the others. So instead of going
through this long ritual of cab-turning on to the other side of the
street, with all the delays of the lights, and then returning again on
to its general course, I told the cabman to stop where he was on the
Central Park side of the avenue; I would walk across the road myself and
inquire at the most likely house.
In England we frequently cross roads along which fast traffic is moving
in both directions. I did not think the task I set myself now either
difficult or rash. But at this moment habit played me a deadly trick. I
no sooner got out of the cab somewhere about the middle of the road and
told the driver to wait than I instinctively turned my eyes to the left.
About 200 yards away were the yellow headlights of an approaching car. I
thought I had just time to cross the road before it arrived; and I
started to do so in the prepossession—wholly unwarranted— that my only
dangers were from the left. The yellow-lighted car drew near and I
increased my pace towards the pavement, perhaps twenty feet away.
Suddenly upon my right I was aware of something utterly unexpected and
boding mortal peril. I turned my head sharply. Right upon me, scarcely
its own length away, was what seemed a long dark car rushing forward at
full speed.
There was one moment—I cannot measure it in time—of a world aglare, of a
man aghast. I certainly thought quickly enough to achieve the idea, “I
am going to be run down and probably killed.” Then came the blow.
I felt it on my forehead and across the thighs. But besides the blow
there was an impact, a shock, a concussion indescribably violent. Many
years ago at “Plugstreet” in Flanders, a 4.2 shell burst in a corner of
the little room in which we were gathered for luncheon, reducing all to
dust and devastation. This shock was of the same order as the shell
explosion. In my case it blotted out everything except thought.
Mario Constasino\*, owner of a medium-sized automobile, was running
between 30 and 35 miles an hour on roads which were wet and greasy. He
was on his proper side of the road and perfectly entitled to make the
best speed he could, when suddenly a dark figure appeared immediately in
front of him. He applied all his brakes, and at the same moment, before
they could act, he struck a heavy body. The car shuddered, and, after
skidding somewhat under the brakes, came to rest in probably a few
lengths. Three or four feet from the right-hand wheel lay a black,
shapeless mass.
Mario had driven for eight or nine years and had never had an accident.
He seems to have been overpoweringly agitated and distressed. He heard a
loud cry, “A man has been killed\!” The traffic banked up on either
side. People came running from all directions. Constables appeared. One
group clustered around Mario, another around the prostrate figure.
A friend of mine of mathematical predilections\*\* has been kind enough
to calculate the stresses involved in the collision. The car weighed
some 2400 pounds. With my evening coat on I could not have weighed much
less than 200 pounds. Taking the rate of the car at 35 miles an hour—I
think a moderate estimate—I had actually to absorb in my body 6000
foot-pounds. It was the equivalent of falling thirty feet on to a
pavement. The energy absorbed, though not, of course, the application of
destructive force, was the equivalent of stopping ten pounds of buckshot
dropped 600 feet, or two charges of buckshot at point-blank range.
I do not understand why I was not broken like an egg-shell or squashed
like a gooseberry. I have seen that the poor policeman who was killed on
the Oxford road was hit by a vehicle travelling at very much the same
speed and was completely shattered. I certainly must be very tough or
very lucky, or both.
Meanwhile, I had not lost consciousness for an instant. Somewhere in the
black bundle towards which the passers-by are running there is a small
chamber or sanctum wherein all is orderly and undisturbed. There sits
enthroned a mind intact and unshaken. Before it is a keyboard of letters
or buttons directing the body. Above, a whole series of loudspeakers
report the sensations and experiences of the empire controlled from this
tiny headquarters. This mind is in possession of the following
conclusion:
“I have been run over by a motorcar in America. All those worries about
being late are now swept away. They do not matter any more. Here is a
real catastrophe. Perhaps it is the end.”
The reader will observe from this authentic record that I experienced no
emotion of regret or fear. I simply registered facts without, except for
a general sense of disaster, the power to moralize upon them. But now
all the loudspeakers began to blare together their information from the
body. My mind was overpowered by the hideous noise they made from which
no intelligible conclusion could be drawn. Wave upon wave of convulsive,
painful sensations seemed to flood into this small room,
preventing thought, paralysing action, but impossible to comprehend. I
had, for instance, no knowledge of whether I was lying on my back or
side or face.
How long this period lasted I cannot tell. I am told that from the time
I was struck down to when I was lifted into a taxicab was perhaps five
minutes, but although I was in no way stunned, my physical sensations
were so violent that I could not achieve any continuous mental process.
I just had to endure them.
Presently, however, from my headquarters I see a swirl of figures
assembling around me. I have an impression of traffic arrested and of
dramatically gathered crowds. Friendly hands are laid upon me.
I suppose I ought now to have had some very pious and inspiring
reflections. However, all that occurred to me was, “I shall not be able
to give my lecture tomorrow night in Brooklyn. Whatever will my poor
agent do about it?” Then more definite impressions. A constable is
bending over me. My head and shoulders are being raised towards him. He
has a book, quite a big book, in his hand.
“What is your name?”
“Winston Churchill.”
I protest I am no snob, but on this occasion I thought it lawful and
prudent to add, “The Right Honourable Winston Churchill from England.”
I heard distinctly respectful “Oh, ohs” from the crowd.
“What is your age?” asked the officer, adhering to his routine.
“Fifty-seven,” I replied, and at the same moment this odd thought
obtruded itself upon my mind. “How very odd to be knocked down in the
street by a motorcar. I shall have a very poor chance of getting over
it.”
The constable proceeded to demand particulars of the accident My mind
and speech apparatus worked apparently without hitch, and I could
volubly have told him all that is set down here; but instead, to save
trouble, I said: “I am entirely to blame; it is all my own fault.” Later
it seemed that another constable came with the question, “Do you make
any charge against any person?” To which I replied, “I exonerate
everyone.”
At this the interrogation ceased abruptly, and Mario in the background
(though I did not know this until afterwards) was released from
captivity.
During all this time I was in what I suppose would be called great pain;
though the sensations really presented themselves to me mainly as an
overpowering of the mind. Gradually I began to be more aware of all that
was going on around me.
It appears that an ambulance was passing, and the crowd stopped it and
demanded that it should take me to the nearest hospital. The ambulance,
which had a serious case on board, refused. Thereupon a taximan
exclaimed in a voice which I would perfectly well hear, “Take him in my
cab. There’s the Lenox Hill Hospital on 76th Street.”
Accordingly I was lifted by perhaps eight or ten persons to the floor of
the taxicab. I now discovered that my overcoat had been half torn off me
and trussed my arms back. I thought both shoulders were dislocated. My
right shoulder dislocates chronically, and I asked repeatedly that care
should be taken in lifting me by it. Eventually the constable and two
others got into the cab and we all started, jammed up together.
Up till now nothing could have been more calm and clear than my interior
thought, apart from the blaring of pain and discomfort which came
through the loud-speakers. All was in order in my inner sanctum, but I
had not ventured to touch the keyboard of action and had been content to
remain an entirely inert mass.
I now saw, as I lay on the floor of the cab, both my hands, very white
and covered with blood, lying across my breast. So I decided to give
them an order to move their fingers and at the same time I pulled the
levers which affect the toes. Neither hands nor feet took the slightest
notice. They might as well have belonged to someone else for all the
attention they paid to my will.
I now became, for the first time, seriously alarmed. I feared that in
this bundle of dull pain which people were carting about, and which was
my body, there might be some grave, serious injury to the spine. The
impression “crippled for life” registered itself in the sanctum. Yet
even then there was so much going on that one could not focus it very
clearly or grieve about it much.
What a nice thing it would be to get to the hospital and have this
overcoat cut off, to have my shoulders put back into their sockets, and,
above all to lie down straight upon a bed. My companions kept cheering
me up. “We are very near now: only another block or two,” and so on. So
we rumbled on.
And then a most blessed thing happened. I began to experience violent
pins and needles in both my upper arms. They hurt intensely; but I did
not mind, because at the same time I found my fingers beginning to move
in accordance with my will. Almost immediately afterwards the toes
responded to my orders. Then swiftly, by waves of pins and needles
almost agonizing in their intensity, warmth, life and obedience began to
flow back into the whole of my trunk.
By the time we pulled up at the hospital I had the assurance that,
although I might have an arm or leg or two broken and was certainly
bruised and shaken, the whole main structure of my body was sound. Blood
continued to flow freely from my forehead and my nose; but I did not
worry about that at all, because in my sanctum we had decided: “There
can be no brain injury, as we have never lost consciousness even for a
second.”
At last we arrive at the hospital. A wheeled chair is brought. I am
carried into it. I am wheeled up steps into a hall and a lift. By now I
feel battered but perfectly competent. They said afterwards I was
confused; but I did not feel so.
“Are you prepared to pay for a private room and doctor?” asked a clerk.
“Yes, bring all the best you have ….Take me to a private room….Where is
your telephone?….Give me the Waldorf Astoria….I will tell my wife myself
that whatever has happened. I am going to get quite well.”
But after an interval they said, “She is already on the way here.”
Not for one moment had I felt up to the present any sensation of
faintness, but now I said, “Give me sal volatile, or something like
that.” A reviver was brought. A house surgeon staunched my wound.
“Let me,” I asked, “get these clothes off and lie down. I can stand for
a moment if you hold me up.”
Soon I am on a bed. Presently come keen, comprehending eyes and deft,
firm fingers.
“We shall have to dress that scalp wound at once. It is cut to the
bone.”
“Will it hurt?”
“Yes.”
“I do not wish to be hurt any more. Give me chloroform or something.”
“The anaesthetist is already on the way.”
More lifting and wheeling. The operating room. White glaring lights. The
mask of a nitrous-oxide inhaler. Whenever I have taken gas or chloroform
I always follow this rule. I imagine myself sitting on a chair with my
back to a lovely swimming bath into which I am to be tilted, and throw
myself backwards; or, again, as if one were throwing one’s self back
after a tiring day into a vast armchair. This helps the process of
anaesthesia wonderfully. A few deep breaths, and one has no longer the
power to speak to the world.
With me the nitrous-oxide trance usually takes this form: the sanctum is
occupied by alien powers. I see the absolute truth and explanation of
things, but something is left out which upsets the whole, so by a larger
sleep of the mind I have to see a greater truth and a more complete
explanation which comprises the erring element. Nevertheless, there is
still something left out. So we have to take a still wider sweep. This
almost breaks mortal comprehension. It is beyond anything the human mind
was ever meant to master.
The process continues inexorably. Depth beyond depth of unendurable
truth opens. I have, therefore, always regarded the nitrous-oxide trance
as a mere substitution of mental for physical pain.
Pain it certainly is; but suddenly these poignant experiences end and
without a perceptible interval consciousness returns. Reassuring words
are spoken. I see a beloved face. My wife is smiling. In the background
there rises the grave, venerable countenance of Mr Bernard Baruch. So I
ask:
“Tell me, Baruch, what is the number of your house?”
“1055.”
“How near was I to it when I was smashed up?”
“Not within ten blocks.” (Half a mile.)
Such in short were my experiences on the night of 13 December; and the
message I bring back from these dark places is one of encouragement. I
certainly suffered every pang, mental and physical, that a street
accident or, I suppose, a shell wound can produce. None is unendurable.
There is neither the time nor the strength for self-pity. There is no
room for remorse or fears. If at any moment in this long series of
sensations a grey veil deepening into blackness had descended upon the
sanctum I should have felt or feared nothing additional. Nature is
merciful and does not try her children, man or beast, beyond their
compass. It is only where the cruelty of man intervenes that hellish
torments appear. For the rest— live dangerously; take things as they
come; dread naught, all will be well.
I ought not to forget to add that I have since looked into my despatch
box and I have found that my far-seeing private secretary in England,
Mrs. Pearman, had furnished me with a travelling address book of people
I might want to communicate with in the United States, and in this I
read; “Baruch, 1055 Fifth Avenue,” with the private telephone number
duly set out.
All of which goes to show that even the best human precautions afford no
definite guarantee of safety.
\===================
\*On 28 January, Conscasino was among 2000 at the Brooklyn Academy of
Music to hear Churchill’s first lecture after his recovery. WSC also
presented him with an inscribed copy of My Early Life.
\*\*WSC cabled Professor Frederick Lindemann for a description of what
had happened to him. Lindemann replied on 30 December:
“Collision equivalent falling thirty feet onto pavement, equal six
thousand foot-pounds of energy. Equivalent stopping ten pound brick
dropped six hundred feet, or two charges buckshot pointblank range.
Shock probably proportional rate energy transferred. Rate inversely
proportional thickness cushion surrounding skeleton and give of frame.
If assume average one inch, your body transferred during impact at rate
eight thousand horsepower. Congratulations on preparing suitable
cushion, and skill in taking bump.”
### Related Story
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[Source](https://www.wanttoknow.info/warisaracket.shtml "Permalink to ")
# ****
War is a Racket
By General Smedley D. Butler
**That war is a racket has been told us by many, but rarely by one of
this stature. Though he died in 1940, the highly decorated [General
Butler](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler) (two esteemed
Medals of Honor) deserves to be heralded for his timeless message, which
rings true today more than ever. His riveting 1935 book War is a Racket
merits inclusion as required reading for every high school student, and
for every member of our armed forces today. Below is a ten-page summary
of the best of this powerful exposé. For a concise, two-page version,
[click here](https://www.WantToKnow.info/war/war-corruption).**
**Foreword**
**Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933 by General Smedley Butler,
USMC**
War is just a racket. There are only two things we should fight for. One
is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for
any other reason is simply a racket.
It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison.
Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty-three years and four months
in active military service as a member of this country's most agile
military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks
from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent
most of my time being a high class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall
Street and for the Bankers.
I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of
it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a
thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained
in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is
typical with everyone in the military service.
**I helped make Mexico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped
make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys. I
helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the
benefits of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international
banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the
Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I
helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.**
During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a
swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al
Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in
three districts. I operated on three continents.
**CHAPTER ONE: War Is A Racket **
**War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily
the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is international in
scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars
and the losses in lives.**
A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it
seems to the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows
what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at
the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge
fortunes.
In the World War \[I\] a mere handful garnered the profits of the
conflict. **At least 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were made
in the United States during the World War.** That many admitted their
huge blood gains in their income tax returns. How many other war
millionaires falsified their tax returns no one knows. \[Please note
these are 1935 U.S. dollars. To adjust for inflation, multiply all
figures [X 15 or
more](ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/cpi/cpiai.txt)\]
How many of these war millionaires shouldered a rifle? How many of them
dug a trench? How many of them knew what it meant to go hungry in a
rat-infested dug-out? How many of them spent sleepless, frightened
nights, ducking shells and shrapnel and machine gun bullets? How many of
them were wounded or killed in battle?
Out of war nations acquire additional territory, if they are victorious.
They just take it. This newly acquired territory promptly is exploited
by the few – the selfsame few who wrung dollars out of blood in the war.
The general public shoulders the bill. And what is this bill?
This bill renders a horrible accounting. Newly placed gravestones.
Mangled bodies. Shattered minds. Broken hearts and homes. Economic
instability. Depression and all its attendant miseries. Back-breaking
taxation for generations and generations.
**For a great many years, as a soldier, I had a suspicion that war was a
racket; not until I retired to civil life did I fully realize it. Now
that I see the international war clouds gathering, as they are today, I
must face it and speak out.**
**Again they are choosing sides. France and Russia met and agreed to
stand side by side. Italy and Austria hurried to make a similar
agreement. Poland and Germany cast sheep's eyes at each other. All of
them are looking ahead to war. Not the people – not those who fight and
pay and die – only those who foment wars and remain safely at home to
profit.**
There are 40,000,000 men under arms in the world today, and our
statesmen and diplomats have the temerity to say that war is not in the
making. Hell's bells\! Are these 40,000,000 men being trained to be
dancers?
Not in Italy, to be sure. Premier Mussolini knows what they are being
trained for. He, at least, is frank enough to speak out. The publication
of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said:  "And above
all, Fascism… believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of
perpetual peace…War alone brings up to its highest tension all human
energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the people who have the
courage to meet it."
Undoubtedly Mussolini means exactly what he says. His well-trained army,
his great fleet of planes, and even his navy are ready for war. His
recent stand at the side of Hungary in the latter's dispute with
Yugoslavia showed that. And the hurried mobilization of his troops on
the Austrian border after the assassination of Dollfuss showed it too.
There are others in Europe too whose sabre rattling presages war, sooner
or later. Herr Hitler, with his rearming Germany and his constant
demands for more and more arms, is an equal if not greater menace to
peace.
Yes, all over, nations are camping in their arms. The mad dogs of Europe
are on the loose. The trend is to poison us against the Japanese. What
does the "open door" policy to China mean to us? Our trade with China is
about $90,000,000 a year. Or the Philippine Islands? We have spent about
$600,000,000 in the Philippines in thirty-five years and we (our bankers
and industrialists and speculators) have private investments there of
less than $200,000,000.
Then, to save that China trade of about $90,000,000, or to protect these
private investments of less than $200,000,000 in the Philippines, we
would be all stirred up to hate Japan and go to war – a war that might
well cost us tens of billions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of lives
of Americans, and many more hundreds of thousands of physically maimed
and mentally unbalanced men.
Of course, for this loss, there would be a compensating profit –
fortunes would be made. Millions and billions of dollars would be piled
up. By a few. Munitions makers. Bankers. Ship builders. Manufacturers.
Meat packers. Speculators. They would fare well. Yes, they are getting
ready for another war. Why shouldn't they? It pays high dividends.
But what does it profit the men who are killed? What does it profit
their mothers and sisters, their wives and their sweethearts? What does
it profit their children? What does it profit anyone except the very few
to whom war means huge profits? Yes, and what does it profit the nation?
**Take our own case. Until 1898 we didn't own a bit of territory outside
the mainland of North America. At that time our national debt was a
little more than $1,000,000,000. Then we became "internationally
minded." We forgot, or shunted aside, George Washington's warning about
"entangling alliances." We went to war. We acquired outside territory.
At the end of the World War period, as a direct result of our fiddling
in international affairs, our national debt had jumped to over
$25,000,000,000.**
It would have been far cheaper (not to say safer) for the average
American who pays the bills to stay out of foreign entanglements. For a
very few this racket, like bootlegging and other underworld rackets,
brings fancy profits, but the cost of operations is always transferred
to the people – who do not profit. 
**CHAPTER TWO: Who Makes The Profits? **
The World War cost the United States some $52,000,000,000. Figure it
out. That means $400 \[over $6,000 in today's dollars\] to every
American man, woman, and child. And we haven't paid the debt yet. We are
paying it, our children will pay it, and our children's children
probably still will be paying the cost of that war.
**The normal profits of a business concern in the United States are 6,
8, 10, and sometimes 12%. But war-time profits – ah\! that is another
matter – 20, 60, 100, 300, and even 1,800% – the sky is the limit. All
that traffic will bear. Uncle Sam has the money. Let's get it. Of
course, it isn't put that crudely in war time. It is dressed into
speeches about patriotism, love of country, and "we must all put our
shoulders to the wheel," but the profits jump and leap and skyrocket –
and are safely pocketed. Let's just take a few examples.**
**Take our friends the du Ponts, the powder people – didn't one of them
testify before a Senate committee recently that their powder won the
war? Or saved the world for democracy? How did they do in the war? Well,
the average earnings of the du Ponts for the period 1910 to 1914 were
$6,000,000 a year. It wasn't much, but the du Ponts managed to get along
on it. Now let's look at their average yearly profit during the war
years, 1914 to 1918. Fifty-eight million dollars a year profit we find\!
Nearly ten times that of normal times, and the profits of normal times
were pretty good. An increase in profits of more than 950 per cent.**
Take one of our little steel companies that patriotically shunted aside
the making of rails and girders and bridges to manufacture war
materials. Well, their 1910 - 1914 yearly earnings averaged $6,000,000.
Then came the war. And, like loyal citizens, Bethlehem Steel promptly
turned to munitions making. Did their profits jump – or did they let
Uncle Sam in for a bargain? Well, their 1914 - 1918 average was
$49,000,000 a year\!
Or, let's take United States Steel. The normal earnings during the
five-year period prior to the war were $105,000,000 a year. Not bad.
Then along came the war and up went the profits. The average yearly
profit for the period 1914 - 1918 was $240,000,000. Not bad. There you
have some of the steel and powder earnings. Let's look at something
else.
A little copper, perhaps. That always does well in war times. Anaconda,
for instance. Average yearly earnings during the pre-war years 1910 -
1914 of $10,000,000. During the war years 1914 - 1918 profits leaped to
$34,000,000 per year. Or Utah Copper. Average of $5,000,000 per year
during the 1910 - 1914 period. Jumped to an average of $21,000,000
yearly profits for the war period.
Let's group these five, with three smaller companies. The total yearly
average profits of the pre-war period 1910 - 1914 were $137,480,000.
Then along came the war. The average yearly profits for this group
skyrocketed to $408,300,000. A little increase in profits of
approximately 200 per cent. Does war pay? It paid them.
But they aren't the only ones. There are still others. Let's take
leather. For the three-year period before the war the total profits of
Central Leather Company were $3,500,000. That was approximately
$1,167,000 a year. Well, in 1916 Central Leather returned a profit of
$15,000,000, a small increase of 1,100 per cent. That's all. The General
Chemical Company averaged a profit for the three years before the war of
a little over $800,000 a year. Came the war, and the profits jumped to
$12,000,000 – a leap of 1,400 per cent.
International Nickel Company – and you can't have a war without nickel –
showed an increase in profits from a mere average of $4,000,000 a year
to $73,000,000 yearly. Not bad? An increase of more than 1,700 per
cent. American Sugar Refining Company averaged $2,000,000 a year for
the three years before the war. In 1916 a profit of $6,000,000 was
recorded.
Listen to Senate Document No. 259. The Sixty-Fifth Congress, reporting
on corporate earnings and government revenues. Considering the profits
of 122 meat packers, 153 cotton manufacturers, 299 garment makers, 49
steel plants, and 340 coal producers during the war. Profits under 25
per cent were exceptional. For instance the coal companies made between
100 per cent and 7,856 per cent on their capital stock during the war.
The Chicago packers doubled and tripled their earnings.
**And let us not forget the bankers who financed the great war. If
anyone had the cream of the profits it was the bankers. Being
partnerships rather than incorporated organizations, they do not have to
report to stockholders. And their profits were as secret as they were
immense. How the bankers made their millions and their billions I do not
know, because [those little
secrets](https://www.WantToKnow.info/financialbankingcoverup) never
become public – even before a Senate investigatory body.**
Here's how other patriotic industrialists and speculators chiseled their
way into war profits.
Take the shoe people. They like war. It brings business with abnormal
profits. They made huge profits on sales abroad to our allies. Perhaps,
like the munitions manufacturers and armament makers, they also sold to
the enemy. For a dollar is a dollar whether it comes from Germany or
from France. But they did well by Uncle Sam too. **They sold Uncle Sam
35,000,000 pairs of hobnailed service shoes. There were 4,000,000
soldiers. Eight pairs, and more, to a soldier. My regiment during the
war had only one pair to a soldier. Some of these shoes probably are
still in existence. They were good shoes. But when the war was over
Uncle Sam has a matter of 25,000,000 pairs left over. Bought – and paid
for. Profits recorded and pocketed.**
There was still lots of leather left. So the leather people sold your
Uncle Sam hundreds of thousands of McClellan saddles for the cavalry.
But there wasn't any American cavalry overseas\! Somebody had to get rid
of this leather, however. Somebody had to make a profit in it – so we
had a lot of McClellan saddles. And we probably have those yet.
Also somebody had a lot of mosquito netting. They sold your Uncle Sam
20,000,000 mosquito nets for the use of the soldiers overseas. I suppose
the boys were expected to put it over them as they tried to sleep in
muddy trenches – one hand scratching cooties on their backs and the
other making passes at scurrying rats. Well, not one of these mosquito
nets ever got to France\!
Anyhow, these thoughtful manufacturers wanted to make sure that no
soldier would be without his mosquito net, so 40,000,000 additional
yards of mosquito netting were sold to Uncle Sam. There were pretty good
profits in mosquito netting in those days, even if there were no
mosquitoes in France. I suppose, if the war had lasted just a little
longer, the enterprising mosquito netting manufacturers would have sold
your Uncle Sam a couple of consignments of mosquitoes to plant in France
so that more mosquito netting would be in order.
**Airplane and engine manufacturers felt they, too, should get their
just profits out of this war. Why not? Everybody else was getting
theirs. So $1,000,000,000 – count them if you live long enough – was
spent by Uncle Sam in building airplane engines that never left the
ground\! Not one plane, or motor, out of the billion dollars worth
ordered, ever got into a battle in France. Just the same the
manufacturers made their little profit of 30, 100, or perhaps 300%.**
Undershirts for soldiers cost 14¢ \[cents\] to make and uncle Sam paid
30¢ to 40¢ each for them – a nice little profit for the undershirt
manufacturer. And the stocking manufacturer and the uniform
manufacturers and the cap manufacturers and the steel helmet
manufacturers – all got theirs. When the war was over some 4,000,000
sets of equipment – knapsacks and the things that go to fill them –
crammed warehouses on this side. Now they are being scrapped because the
regulations have changed the contents. But the manufacturers collected
their wartime profits on them – and they will do it all over again the
next time.
There were lots of brilliant ideas for profit making during the war.
**One very versatile patriot sold Uncle Sam twelve dozen 48-inch
wrenches. Oh, they were very nice wrenches. The only trouble was that
there was only one nut ever made that was large enough for these
wrenches. That is the one that holds the turbines at Niagara Falls.**
Well, after Uncle Sam had bought them and the manufacturer had pocketed
the profit, the wrenches were put on freight cars and shunted all around
the United States in an effort to find a use for them. When the
Armistice was signed it was indeed a sad blow to the wrench
manufacturer. He was just about to make some nuts to fit the wrenches.
Then he planned to sell these, too, to your Uncle Sam.
The shipbuilders felt they should come in on some of it, too. They built
a lot of ships that made a lot of profit. More than $3,000,000,000
worth. Some of the ships were all right. But $635,000,000 worth of them
were made of wood and wouldn't float\! The seams opened up – and they
sank. We paid for them, though. And somebody pocketed the profits.
It has been estimated by statisticians and economists and researchers
that the war cost your Uncle Sam $52,000,000,000. Of this sum,
$39,000,000,000 was expended in the actual war itself. This expenditure
yielded $16,000,000,000 in profits. That is how the 21,000 billionaires
and millionaires got that way. This $16,000,000,000 profits is not to be
sneezed at. It is quite a tidy sum. And it went to a very few.
The Senate committee probe of the munitions industry and its wartime
profits, despite its sensational disclosures, hardly has scratched the
surface. Even so, it has had some effect. The State Department has been
studying "for some time" methods of keeping out of war. The War
Department suddenly decides it has a wonderful plan to spring. The
Administration names a committee – with the War and Navy Departments
ably represented under the chairmanship of a Wall Street speculator – to
limit profits in war time. To what extent isn't suggested. Hmmm.
Possibly the profits of 300 and 600 and 1,600 per cent of those who
turned blood into gold in the World War would be limited to some smaller
figure.
Apparently, however, the plan does not call for any limitation of losses
– that is, the losses of those who fight the war. As far as I have been
able to ascertain there is nothing in the scheme to limit a soldier to
the loss of but one eye, or one arm, or to limit his wounds to one or
two or three. Or to limit the loss of life.
There is nothing in this scheme, apparently, that says not more than 12
per cent of a regiment shall be wounded in battle, or that not more than
7 per cent in a division shall be killed. Of course, the committee
cannot be bothered with such trifling matters. 
**CHAPTER THREE: Who Pays The Bills? **
**Who provides the profits – these nice little profits of 20, 100, 300,
1,500 and 1,800 per cent? We all pay them – in taxation. We paid the
bankers their profits when we bought Liberty Bonds at $100.00 and sold
them back at $84 or $86 to the bankers. These bankers collected $100
plus.** It was a simple manipulation. The bankers control the security
marts. It was easy for them to depress the price of these bonds. Then
all of us – the people – got frightened and sold the bonds at $84 or
$86. The bankers bought them. Then these same bankers stimulated a boom
and government bonds went to par – and above. Then the bankers collected
their profits.
**But the soldier pays the biggest part of the bill.**
If you don't believe this, visit the American cemeteries on the
battlefields abroad. Or visit any of the veteran's hospitals in the
United States. On a tour of the country, in the midst of which I am at
the time of this writing, **I have visited eighteen government hospitals
for veterans. In them are a total of about 50,000 destroyed men – men
who were the pick of the nation eighteen years ago.** The very able
chief surgeon at the government hospital; at Milwaukee, where there are
3,800 of the living dead, told me that mortality among veterans is three
times as great as among those who stayed at home.
Boys with a normal viewpoint were taken out of the fields and offices
and factories and classrooms and put into the ranks. There they were
remolded; they were made over; they were made to "about face" to regard
murder as the order of the day. They were put shoulder to shoulder and,
through mass psychology, they were entirely changed. We used them for a
couple of years and trained them to think nothing at all of killing or
of being killed.
Then, suddenly, we discharged them and told them to make another "about
face"\! This time they had to do their own readjustment, sans
\[without\] mass psychology, sans officers' aid and advice and sans
nation-wide propaganda. We didn't need them any more. So we scattered
them about without any "three-minute" or "Liberty Loan" speeches or
parades. Many, too many, of these fine young boys are eventually
destroyed, mentally, because they could not make that final "about face"
alone.
In the government hospital in Marion, Indiana, 1,800 of these boys are
in pens\! Five hundred of them in a barracks with steel bars and wires
all around outside the buildings and on the porches. These already have
been mentally destroyed. These boys don't even look like human beings.
Oh, the looks on their faces\! Physically, they are in good shape;
mentally, they are gone.
There are thousands and thousands of these cases, and more and more are
coming in all the time. The tremendous excitement of the war, the sudden
cutting off of that excitement – the young boys couldn't stand it.
That's a part of the bill. So much for the dead – they have paid their
part of the war profits. So much for the mentally and physically wounded
– they are paying now their share of the war profits. But the others
paid, too – they paid with heartbreaks when they tore themselves away
from their firesides and their families to don the uniform of Uncle Sam
– on which a profit had been made. They paid another part in the
training camps where they were regimented and drilled while others took
their jobs and their places in the lives of their communities. The paid
for it in the trenches where they shot and were shot; where they were
hungry for days at a time; where they slept in the mud and the cold and
in the rain – with the moans and shrieks of the dying for a horrible
lullaby.
But don't forget – the soldier paid part of the dollars and cents bill
too. Up to and including the Spanish-American War, we had a prize
system, and soldiers and sailors fought for money. During the Civil War
they were paid bonuses, in many instances, before they went into
service. The government, or states, paid as high as $1,200 for an
enlistment. In the Spanish-American War they gave prize money. When we
captured any vessels, the soldiers all got their share – at least, they
were supposed to. Then it was found that we could reduce the cost of
wars by taking all the prize money and keeping it, but conscripting
\[drafting\] the soldier anyway. Then soldiers couldn't bargain for
their labor, Everyone else could bargain, but the soldier couldn't.
Napoleon once said, "All men are enamored of decorations... They
positively hunger for them." So by developing the Napoleonic system –
the medal business – the government learned it could get soldiers for
less money, because the boys liked to be decorated. Until the Civil War
there were no medals. Then the Congressional Medal of Honor was handed
out. It made enlistments easier. After the Civil War no new medals were
issued until the Spanish-American War.
**In the World War, we used propaganda to make the boys accept
conscription. They were made to feel ashamed if they didn't join the
army. So vicious was this war propaganda that even God was brought into
it.** With few exceptions our clergymen joined in the clamor to kill,
kill, kill. To kill the Germans. God is on our side. It is His will that
the Germans be killed. And in Germany, the good pastors called upon the
Germans to kill the allies ... to please the same God. That was a part
of the propaganda, built up to make people war conscious and murder
conscious.
**Beautiful ideals were painted for our boys who were sent out to die.
This was the "war to end all wars." This was the "war to make the world
safe for democracy." No one mentioned to them, as they marched away,
that their going and their dying would mean huge war profits. No one
told these American soldiers that they might be shot down by bullets
made by their own brothers here. No one told them that the ships on
which they were going to cross might be torpedoed by submarines built
with United States patents. They were just told it was to be a "glorious
adventure."**
Thus, having stuffed patriotism down their throats, it was decided to
make them help pay for the war, too. So, we gave them the large salary
of $30 a month. All they had to do for this munificent sum was to leave
their dear ones behind, give up their jobs, lie in swampy trenches, eat
canned willy (when they could get it) and kill and kill and kill ... and
be killed.
But wait\! Half of that wage (just a little more than a riveter in a
shipyard or a laborer in a munitions factory safe at home made in a day)
was promptly taken from him to support his dependents, so that they
would not become a charge upon his community. Then we made him pay what
amounted to accident insurance – something the employer pays for in an
enlightened state – and that cost him $6 a month. He had less than $9 a
month left.
Then, the most crowning insolence of all – he was virtually blackjacked
into paying for his own ammunition, clothing, and food by being made to
buy Liberty Bonds. Most soldiers got no money at all on pay days. We
made them buy Liberty Bonds at $100 and then we bought them back – when
they came back from the war and couldn't find work – at $84 and $86. And
the soldiers bought about $2,000,000,000 worth of these bonds\!
Yes, the soldier pays the greater part of the bill. His family pays too.
They pay it in the same heart-break that he does. As he suffers, they
suffer. At nights, as he lay in the trenches and watched shrapnel burst
about him, they lay home in their beds and tossed sleeplessly – his
father, his mother, his wife, his sisters, his brothers, his sons, and
his daughters.
When he returned home minus an eye, or minus a leg or with his mind
broken, they suffered too – as much as and even sometimes more than he.
Yes, and they, too, contributed their dollars to the profits of the
munitions makers and bankers and shipbuilders and the manufacturers and
the speculators made. They, too, bought Liberty Bonds and contributed to
the profit of the bankers after the Armistice in the hocus-pocus of
manipulated Liberty Bond prices.
And even now the families of the wounded men and of the mentally broken
and those who never were able to readjust themselves are still suffering
and still paying. 
**CHAPTER FOUR: How To Smash This Racket\! **
Well, it's a racket, all right. A few profit – and the many pay. But
there is a way to stop it. You can't end it by disarmament conferences.
You can't eliminate it by peace parleys at Geneva. Well-meaning but
impractical groups can't wipe it out by resolutions. **It can be smashed
effectively only by taking the profit out of war.**
The only way to smash this racket is to conscript capital and industry
and labor before the nations manhood can be conscripted. One month
before the Government can conscript the young men of the nation – it
must conscript capital and industry and labor. **Let the officers and
the directors and the high-powered executives of our armament factories
and our munitions makers and our shipbuilders and our airplane builders
and the manufacturers of all the other things that provide profit in war
time as well as the bankers and the speculators, be conscripted – to get
$30 a month, the same wage as the lads in the trenches get.**
Let the workers in these plants get the same wages – all the workers,
all presidents, all executives, all directors, all managers, all bankers
– yes, and all generals and all admirals and all officers and all
politicians and all government office holders – everyone in the nation
be restricted to a total monthly income not to exceed that paid to the
soldier in the trenches\!
Let all these kings and tycoons and masters of business and all those
workers in industry and all our senators and governors and majors pay
half of their monthly $30 wage to their families and pay war risk
insurance and buy Liberty Bonds. Why shouldn't they? They aren't running
any risk of being killed or of having their bodies mangled or their
minds shattered. They aren't sleeping in muddy trenches. They aren't
hungry. The soldiers are\! Give capital and industry and labor thirty
days to think it over and you will find, by that time, there will be no
war. That will smash the war racket – that and nothing else.
Maybe I am a little too optimistic. Capital still has some say. So
capital won't permit the taking of the profit out of war until the
people – those who do the suffering and still pay the price – make up
their minds that those they elect to office shall do their bidding, and
not that of the profiteers.
Another step necessary in this fight to smash the war racket is the
limited plebiscite to determine whether a war should be declared. A
plebiscite not of all the voters but merely of those who would be called
upon to do the fighting and dying. There wouldn't be very much sense in
having a 76-year-old president of a munitions factory or the flat-footed
head of an international banking firm or the cross-eyed manager of a
uniform manufacturing plant – all of whom see visions of tremendous
profits in the event of war – voting on whether the nation should go to
war or not. They never would be called upon to shoulder arms – to sleep
in a trench and to be shot. Only those who would be called upon to risk
their lives for their country should have the privilege of voting to
determine whether the nation should go to war.
It would be a simple matter each year for the men coming of military age
to register in their communities as they did in the draft during the
World War and be examined physically. Those who could pass and who would
therefore be called upon to bear arms in the event of war would be
eligible to vote in a limited plebiscite. They should be the ones to
have the power to decide – and not a Congress few of whose members are
within the age limit and fewer still of whom are in physical condition
to bear arms. Only those who must suffer should have the right to vote.
**A third step in this business of smashing the war racket is to make
certain that our military forces are truly forces for defense only.**
At each session of Congress the question of further naval appropriations
comes up. The swivel-chair admirals of Washington (and there are always
a lot of them) are very adroit lobbyists. And they are smart. They don't
shout that "We need a lot of battleships to war on this nation or that
nation." Oh no. First of all, they let it be known that America is
menaced by a great naval power. Almost any day, these admirals will tell
you, the great fleet of this supposed enemy will strike suddenly and
annihilate 125,000,000 people. Just like that. Then they begin to cry
for a larger navy. For what? To fight the enemy? Oh my, no. Oh, no. For
defense purposes only.
Then, incidentally, they announce maneuvers in the Pacific. For defense.
Uh, huh. The Pacific is a great big ocean. We have a tremendous
coastline on the Pacific. Will the maneuvers be off the coast, two or
three hundred miles? Oh, no. The maneuvers will be two thousand, yes,
perhaps even thirty-five hundred miles, off the coast. The Japanese, a
proud people, of course will be pleased beyond expression to see the
United States fleet so close to Nippon's shores. Even as pleased as
would be the residents of California were they to dimly discern through
the morning mist, the Japanese fleet playing at war games off Los
Angeles.
**The ships of our navy, it can be seen, should be specifically limited,
by law, to within 200 miles of our coastline. Had that been the law in
1898 the Maine would never have gone to Havana Harbor. She never would
have been blown up. There would have been no war with Spain with its
attendant loss of life.** Two hundred miles is ample, in the opinion of
experts, for defense purposes. Our nation cannot start an offensive war
if its ships can't go further than 200 miles from the coastline. Planes
might be permitted to go as far as 500 miles from the coast for purposes
of reconnaissance. And the army should never leave the territorial
limits of our nation.
**To summarize: Three steps must be taken to smash the war racket: 1.)
We must take the profit out of war; 2.) We must permit the youth of the
land who would bear arms to decide whether or not there should be war;
3.) We must limit our military forces to home defense purposes. **
**CHAPTER FIVE : To Hell With War\!**
I am not a fool as to believe that war is a thing of the past. I know
the people do not want war, but there is no use in saying we cannot be
pushed into another war. Looking back, **Woodrow Wilson was re-elected
president in 1916 on a platform that he had "kept us out of war" and on
the implied promise that he would "keep us out of war." Yet, five months
later he asked Congress to declare war on Germany.**
In that five-month interval the people had not been asked whether they
had changed their minds. The 4,000,000 young men who put on uniforms and
marched or sailed away were not asked whether they wanted to go forth to
suffer and die. Then what caused our government to change its mind so
suddenly?
Money.
An allied commission, it may be recalled, came over shortly before the
war declaration and called on the President. The President summoned a
group of advisers. The head of the commission spoke. Stripped of its
diplomatic language, this is what he told the President and his group: 
> **"There is no use kidding ourselves any longer. The cause of the
> allies is lost. We now owe you (American bankers, munitions makers,
> American manufacturers, speculators, American exporters) five or six
> billion dollars. If we lose (and without the help of the United States
> we must lose) we, England, France and Italy, cannot pay back this
> money ... and Germany won't. So....."**
**Had secrecy been outlawed as far as war negotiations were concerned,
and had the press been invited to be present at that conference, or had
radio been available to broadcast the proceedings, America never would
have entered the World War.** But this conference, like all war
discussions, was shrouded in utmost secrecy. When our boys were sent off
to war they were told it was a "war to make the world safe for
democracy" and a "war to end all wars."
Well, eighteen years after, the world has less of democracy than it had
then. Besides, what business is it of ours whether Russia or Germany or
England or France or Italy or Austria live under democracies or
monarchies? Whether they are Fascists or Communists? Our problem is to
preserve our own democracy. And very little, if anything, has been
accomplished to assure us that the World War was really the war to end
all wars.
Yes, we have had disarmament conferences and limitations of arms
conferences. They don't mean a thing. One has just failed; the results
of another have been nullified. We send our professional soldiers and
our sailors and our politicians and our diplomats to these conferences.
And what happens?
The professional soldiers and sailors don't want to disarm. No admiral
wants to be without a ship. No general wants to be without a command.
Both mean men without jobs. They are not for disarmament. They cannot be
for limitations of arms. **And at all these conferences, lurking in the
background but all-powerful, just the same, are the sinister agents of
those who profit by war. They see to it that these conferences do not
disarm or seriously limit armaments. **The chief aim of any power at any
of these conferences has not been to achieve disarmament to prevent war
but rather to get more armament for itself and less for any potential
foe.
There is only one way to disarm with any semblance of practicability.
That is for all nations to get together and scrap every ship, every gun,
every rifle, every tank, every war plane.
 So ... I say, TO HELL WITH WAR\!
**Note:** Imagine if we took General Butler's advice and in wartime
forced corporations to join our soldiers in making sacrifices for their
country. **We could pass laws which guarantee that corporate profits
decrease during war rather than increase.** Do you think that wars would
still drag on for years as in Vietnam and Iraq? Please help to make this
a reality by sending this information to your friends and colleagues and
contacting your government representatives.
**For powerful, reliable information on war manipulations, [click
here](https://www.WantToKnow.info/warinformation)
To order General Butler's book War is a Racket on Amazon.com, [click
here](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0922915865/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_1/102-8123938-9404104?tag=wanttinfo-20)
For an excellent article on the intrepid Butler, including a plot of
intrigue, [click
here](http://replay.web.archive.org/20090219220506/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1987/7/1987_7_14.shtml)
For key, engaging book on Butler's exposing of a plot to overthrow FDR,
[click here](https://www.WantToKnow.info/plottoseizethewhitehouse)
For a History Channel video on how Butler stopped a plot to overthrow
FDR, [click
here](http://www.google.com/search?q=the%20plot%20to%20overthrow%20fdr&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbo=u&tbs=vid:1&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wv)**

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[Source](https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/04/h-g-wells-it-seems-me-i-am-more-left-you-mr-stalin "Permalink to ")
 
In 1934, H G Wells arrived in Moscow to meet Soviet writers interested
in joining the international PEN Club, of which he was then president.
While there, Stalin granted him an interview. His deferential
conversation was criticised by J M Keynes and George Bernard Shaw, among
others, in the New Statesman. First published as a special NS supplement
on 27 October 1934.
 
**Wells** I am very much obliged to you, Mr Stalin, for agreeing to see
me. I was in the United States recently. I had a long conversation with
President Roosevelt and tried to ascertain what his leading ideas were.
Now I have come to ask you what you are doing to change the world . . .
**Stalin** Not so very much.
**Wells** I wander around the world as a common man and, as a common
man, observe what is going on around me.
**Stalin** Important public men like yourself are not “common men”. Of
course, history alone can show how important this or that public man has
been; at all events, you do not look at the world as a “common man”.
**Wells** I am not pretending humility. What I mean is that I try to see
the world through the eyes of the common man, and not as a party
politician or a responsible administrator. My visit to the United States
excited my mind. The old financial world is collapsing; the economic
life of the country is being reorganised on new lines.
Lenin said: “We must learn to do business,” learn this from the
capitalists. Today the capitalists have to learn from you, to grasp the
spirit of Socialism. It seems to me that what is taking place in the
United States is a profound reorganisation, the creation of planned,
that is, Socialist, economy. You and Roosevelt begin from two different
starting points. But is there not a relation in ideas, a kinship of
ideas, between Moscow and Washington?
In Washington I was struck by the same thing I see going on here; they
are building offices, they are creating a number of state regulation
bodies, they are organising a long-needed civil service. Their need,
like yours, is directive ability.
 
## America and Russia
**Stalin** The United States is pursuing a different aim from that which
we are pursuing in the USSR. The aim which the Americans are pursuing
arose out of the economic troubles, out of the economic crisis. The
Americans want to rid themselves of the crisis on the basis of private
capitalist activity, without changing the economic basis. They are
trying to reduce to a minimum the ruin, the losses caused by the
existing economic system.
Here, however, as you know, in place of the old, destroyed economic
basis, an entirely different, a new economic basis has been created.
Even if the Americans you mention partly achieve their aim, ie, reduce
these losses to a minimum, they will not destroy the roots of the
anarchy which is inherent in the existing capitalist system. They are
preserving the economic system which must inevitably lead, and cannot
but lead, to anarchy in production. Thus, at best, it will be a matter,
not of the reorganisation of society, not of abolishing the old social
system which gives rise to anarchy and crises, but of restricting
certain of its excesses. Subjectively, perhaps, these Americans think
they are reorganising society; objectively, however, they are preserving
the present basis of society. That is why, objectively, there will be no
reorganisation of society.
Nor will there be planned economy. What is planned economy? What are
some of its attributes? Planned economy tries to abolish unemployment.
Let us suppose it is possible, while preserving the capitalist system,
to reduce unemployment to a certain minimum. But surely, no capitalist
would ever agree to the complete abolition of unemployment, to the
abolition of the reserve army of unemployed, the purpose of which is to
bring pressure on the labour market, to ensure a supply of cheap labour.
You will never compel a capitalist to incur loss to himself and agree to
a lower rate of profit for the sake of satisfying the needs of the
people.
Without getting rid of the capitalists, without abolishing the principle
of private property in the means of production, it is impossible to
create planned economy.
**Wells** I agree with much of what you have said. But I would like to
stress the point that if a country as a whole adopts the principle of
planned economy, if the government, gradually, step by step, begins
consistently to apply this principle, the financial oligarchy will at
last be abolished and Socialism, in the Anglo-Saxon meaning of the word,
will be brought about.
The effect of the ideas of Roosevelt’s “New Deal” is most powerful, and
in my opinion they are Socialist ideas. It seems to me that instead of
stressing the antagonism between the two worlds, we should, in the
present circumstances, strive to establish a common tongue for all the
constructive forces.
**Stalin** In speaking of the impossibility of realising the principles
of planned economy while preserving the economic basis of capitalism, I
do not in the least desire to belittle the outstanding personal
qualities of Roosevelt, his initiative, courage and determination.
Undoubtedly Roosevelt stands out as one of the strongest figures among
all the captains of the contemporary capitalist world. That is why I
would like once again to emphasise the point that my conviction that
planned economy is impossible under the conditions of capitalism does
not mean that I have any doubts about the personal abilities, talent and
courage of President Roosevelt.
But if the circumstances are unfavourable, the most talented captain
cannot reach the goal you refer to. Theoretically, of course, the
possibility of marching gradually, step by step, under the conditions of
capitalism, towards the goal which you call Socialism in the Anglo-Saxon
meaning of the word, is not precluded. But what will this “Socialism”
be? At best, bridling to some extent the most unbridled of individual
representatives of capitalist profit, some increase in the application
of the principle of regulation in national economy. That is all very
well. But as soon as Roosevelt, or any other captain in the contemporary
bourgeois world, proceeds to undertake something serious against the
foundation of capitalism, he will inevitably suffer utter defeat. The
banks, the industries, the large enterprises, the large farms are not in
Roosevelt’s hands. All these are private property. The railroads, the
mercantile fleet, all these belong to private owners. And, finally, the
army of skilled workers, the engineers, the technicians, these too are
not at Roosevelt’s command, they are at the command of the private
owners; they all work for the private owners.
We must not forget the functions of the State in the bourgeois world.
The State is an institution that organises the defence of the country,
organises the maintenance of “order”; it is an apparatus for collecting
taxes. The capitalist State does not deal much with economy in the
strict sense of the word; the latter is not in the hands of the State.
On the contrary, the State is in the hands of capitalist economy. That
is why I fear that in spite of all his energies and abilities, Roosevelt
will not achieve the goal you mention, if indeed that is his goal.
Perhaps in the course of several generations it will be possible to
approach this goal somewhat; but I personally think that even this is
not very probable.
 
## Socialism and Individualism
**Wells** Perhaps I believe more strongly in the economic interpretation
of politics than you do. Huge forces striving for better organisation,
for the better functioning of the community, that is, for Socialism,
have been brought into action by invention
and modern science. Organisation, and the regulation of individual
action, have become mechanical necessities, irrespective of social
theories. If we begin with the State control of the banks and then
follow with the control of the heavy industries, of industry in general,
of commerce, etc, such an all-embracing control will be equivalent to
the State ownership of all branches of national economy.
Socialism and Individualism are not opposites like black and white.
There are many intermediate stages between them. There is Individualism
that borders on brigandage, and there is discipline and organisation
that are the equivalent of Socialism. The introduction of planned
economy depends, to a large degree, upon the organisers of economy, upon
the skilled technical intelligentsia who, step by step, can be converted
to the Socialist principles of organisation. And this is the most
important thing, because organisation comes before Socialism. It is the
more important fact. Without organisation the Socialist idea is a mere
idea.
**Stalin** There is no, nor should there be, irreconcilable contrast
between the individual and the collective, between the interests of the
individual person and the interests of the collective. There should be
no such contrast, because collectivism, Socialism, does not deny, but
combines individual interests with the interests of the collective.
Socialism cannot abstract itself from individual interests.
Socialist society alone can most fully satisfy these personal interests.
More than that, Socialist society alone can firmly safeguard the
interests of the individual. In this sense there is no irreconcilable
contrast between Individualism and Socialism. But can we deny the
contrast between classes, between the propertied class, the capitalist
class, and the toiling class, the proletarian class? On the one hand we
have the propertied class which owns the banks, the factories, the
mines, transport, the plantations in colonies. These people see nothing
but their own interests, their striving after profits. They do not
submit to the will of the collective; they strive to subordinate every
collective to their will. On the other hand we have the class of the
poor, the exploited class, which owns neither factories nor works, nor
banks, which is compelled to live by selling its labour power to the
capitalists and which lacks the opportunity to satisfy its most
elementary requirements.
How can such opposite interests and strivings be reconciled? As far as I
know, Roosevelt has not succeeded in finding the path of conciliation
between these interests. And it is impossible, as experience has shown.
Incidentally, you know the situation in the US better than I do, as I
have never been there and I watch American affairs mainly from
literature. But I have some experience in fighting for Socialism, and
this experience tells me that if Roosevelt makes a real attempt to
satisfy the interests of the proletarian class at the expense of the
capitalist class, the latter will put another President in his place.
The capitalists will say: Presidents come and Presidents go, but we go
on for ever; if this or that President does not protect our interests,
we shall find another. What can the President oppose to the will of the
capitalist class?
**Wells** I object to this simplified classification of mankind into
poor and rich. Of course there is a category of people which strive only
for profit. But are not these people regarded as nuisances in the West
just as much as here? Are there not plenty of people in the West for
whom profit is not an end, who own a certain amount of wealth, who want
to invest and obtain a profit from this investment, but who do not
regard this as the main object? In my opinion there is a numerous class
of people who admit that the present system is unsatisfactory and who
are destined to play a great role in future capitalist society.
During the past few years I have been much engaged in and have thought
of the need for conducting propaganda in favour of Socialism and
cosmopolitanism among wide circles of engineers, airmen, military
technical people, etc. It is useless to approach these circles with
two-track class-war propaganda. These people understand the condition of
the world. They understand that it is a bloody muddle, but they regard
your simple class-war antagonism as nonsense.
 
## The class war
**Stalin** You object to the simplified classification into rich and
poor. Of course there is a middle stratum, there is the technical
intelligentsia that you have mentioned and among which there are very
good and very honest people. Among them there are also dishonest and
wicked people; there are all sorts of people among them. But first of
all mankind is divided into rich and poor, into property owners and
exploited; and to abstract oneself from this fundamental division and
from the antagonism between poor and rich means abstracting oneself from
the fundamental fact.
I do not deny the existence of intermediate middle strata, which either
take the side of one or the other of these two conflicting classes, or
else take up a neutral or semi-neutral position in the struggle. But, I
repeat, to abstract oneself from this fundamental division in society
and from the fundamental struggle between the two main classes means
ignoring facts. The struggle is going on and will continue. The outcome
will be determined by the proletarian class – the working class.
**Wells** But are there not many people who are not poor, but who work
and work productively?
**Stalin** Of course, there are small landowners, artisans, small
traders, but it is not these people who decide the fate of a country,
but the toiling masses, who produce all the things society requires.
**Wells** But there are very different kinds of capitalists. There are
capitalists who only think about profit, about getting rich; but there
are also those who are prepared to make sacrifices. Take old \[J P\]
Morgan, for example. He only thought about profit; he was a parasite on
society, simply, he merely accumulated wealth. But take \[John D\]
Rockefeller. He is a brilliant organiser; he has set an example of how
to organise the delivery of oil that is worthy of emulation.
Or take \[Henry\] Ford. Of course Ford is selfish. But is he not a
passionate organiser of rationalised production from whom you take
lessons? I would like to emphasise the fact that recently an important
change in opinion towards the USSR has taken place in English-speaking
countries. The reason for this, first of all, is the position of Japan,
and the events in Germany. But there are other reasons besides those
arising from international politics. There is a more profound reason,
namely, the recognition by many people of the fact that the system based
on private profit is breaking down. Under these circumstances, it seems
to me, we must not bring to the forefront the antagonism between the two
worlds, but should strive to combine all the constructive movements, all
the constructive forces in one line as much as possible. It seems to me
that I am more to the Left than you, Mr Stalin; I think the old system
is nearer to its end than you think.
 
## The technician class
**Stalin** In speaking of the capitalists who strive only for profit,
only to get rich, I do not want to say that these are the most worthless
people, capable of nothing else. Many of them undoubtedly possess great
organising talent, which I do not dream of denying. We Soviet people
learn a great deal from the capitalists. And Morgan, whom you
characterise so unfavourably, was undoubtedly a good, capable organiser.
But if you mean people who are prepared to reconstruct the world, of
course, you will not be able to find them in the ranks of those who
faithfully serve the cause of profit. We and they stand at opposite
poles.
You mentioned Ford. Of course, he is a capable organiser of production.
But don’t you know his attitude towards the working class? Don’t you
know how many workers he throws on the street? The capitalist is riveted
to profit; and no power on earth can tear him away from it. Capitalism
will be abolished, not by “organisers” of production, not by the
technical intelligentsia, but by the working class, because the
aforementioned strata do not play an independent role. The engineer, the
organiser of production, does not work as he would like to, but as he is
ordered, in such a way as to serve the interests of his employers. There
are exceptions of course; there are people in this stratum who have
awakened from the intoxication of capitalism. The technical
intelligentsia can, under certain conditions, perform miracles and
greatly benefit mankind. But it can also cause great harm.
We Soviet people have not a little experience of the technical
intelligentsia. After the October Revolution, a certain section of the
technical intelligentsia refused to take part in the work of
constructing the new society; they opposed this work of construction and
sabotaged it. We did all we possibly could to bring the technical
intelligentsia into this work of construction; we tried this way and
that. Not a little time passed before our technical intelligentsia
agreed actively to assist the new system. Today the best section of this
technical intelligentsia is in the front rank of the builders of
Socialist society. Having this experience, we are far from
underestimating the good and the bad sides of the technical
intelligentsia, and we know that on the one hand it can do harm, and on
the other hand it can perform “miracles”.
Of course, things would be different if it were possible, at one stroke,
spiritually to tear the technical intelligentsia away from the
capitalist world. But that is Utopia. Are there many of the technical
in­telligentsia who would dare break away from the bourgeois world and
set to work reconstructing society? Do you think there are many people
of this kind, say, in England or in France? No; there are few who would
be willing to break away from their employers and begin reconstructing
the world.
 
## Achievement of political power
**Stalin** Besides, can we lose sight of the fact that in order to
transform the world it is necessary to have political power? It seems to
me, Mr Wells, that you greatly underestimate the question of political
power, that it entirely drops out of your conception.
What can those, even with the best intentions in the world, do if they
are unable to raise the question of seizing power, and do not possess
power? At best they can help the class which takes power, but they
cannot change the world themselves. This can only be done by a great
class which will take the place of the capitalist class and become the
sovereign master as the latter was before. This class is the working
class. Of course, the assistance of the technical intelligentsia must be
accepted; and the latter, in turn, must be assisted. But it must not be
thought that the technical intelligentsia can play an independent
historical role.
The transformation of the world is a great, complicated and painful
process. For this task a great class is required. Big ships go on long
voyages.
**Wells** Yes, but for long voyages a captain and navigator are
required.
**Stalin** That is true; but what is first required for a long voyage is
a big ship. What is a navigator without a ship? An idle man.
**Wells** The big ship is humanity, not a class.
**Stalin** You, Mr Wells, evidently start out with the assumption that
all men are good. I, however, do not forget that there are many wicked
men. I do not believe in the goodness of the bourgeoisie.
**Wells** I remember the situation with regard to the technical
intelligentsia several decades ago. At that time the technical
intelligentsia was numerically small, but there was much to do and every
engineer, technician and intellectual found his opportunity. That is why
the technical intelligentsia was the least revolutionary class. Now,
however, there is a super­abundance of technical intellectuals, and
their mentality has changed very sharply. The skilled man, who would
formerly never listen to revolutionary talk, is now greatly interested
in it.
Recently I was dining with the Royal Society, our great English
scientific society. The President’s speech was a speech for social
planning and scientific control. Thirty years ago, they would not have
listened to what I say to them now. Today, the man at the head of the
Royal Society holds revolutionary views, and insists on the scientific
reorganisation of human society. Your class-war propaganda has not kept
pace with these facts. Mentality changes.
**Stalin** Yes, I know this, and this is to be explained by the fact
that capitalist society is now in a cul de sac. The capitalists are
seeking, but cannot find, a way out of this cul de sac that would be
compatible with the dignity of this class, compatible with the interests
of this class. They could, to some extent, crawl out of the crisis on
their hands and knees, but they cannot find an exit that would enable
them to walk out of it with head raised high, a way out that would not
fundamentally disturb the interests of capitalism.
This, of course, is realised by wide circles of the technical
intelligentsia. A large section of it is beginning to realise the
community of its interests with those of the class which is capable of
pointing the way out of the cul de sac.
**Wells** You of all people know something about revolutions, Mr Stalin,
from the practical side. Do the masses ever rise? Is it not an
established truth that all revolutions are made by a minority?
**Stalin** To bring about a revolution a leading revolutionary minority
is required; but the most talented, devoted and energetic minority would
be helpless if it did not rely upon the at least passive support of
millions.
**Wells** At least passive? Perhaps subconscious?
**Stalin** Partly also the semi-instinctive and semi-conscious, but
without the support of millions, the best minority is impotent.
 
## The place of violence
**Wells** I watch Communist propaganda in the West, and it seems to me
that in modern conditions this propaganda sounds very old-fashioned,
because it is insurrectionary propaganda.
Propaganda in favour of the violent overthrow of the social system was
all very well when it was directed against tyranny. But under modern
conditions, when the system is collapsing anyhow, stress should be laid
on efficiency, on competence, on productiveness, and not on
insurrection.
It seems to me that the insurrectionary note is obsolete. The Communist
propaganda in the West is a nuisance to constructive-minded people.
**Stalin** Of course the old system is breaking down, decaying. That is
true. But it is also true that new efforts are being made by other
methods, by every means, to protect, to save this dying system. You draw
a wrong conclusion from a correct postulate. You rightly state that the
old world is breaking down. But you are wrong in thinking that it is
breaking down of its own accord. No; the substitution of one social
system for another is a complicated and long revolutionary process. It
is not simply a spontaneous process, but a struggle; it is a process
connected with the clash of classes.
Capitalism is decaying, but it must not be compared simply with a tree
which has decayed to such an extent that it must fall to the ground of
its own accord. No, revolution, the substitution of one social system
for another, has always been a struggle, a painful and a cruel struggle,
a life-and-death struggle. And every time the people of the new world
came into power they had to defend themselves against the attempts of
the old world to restore the old power by force; these people of the new
world always had to be on the alert, always had to be ready to repel the
attacks of the old world upon the new system.
Yes, you are right when you say that the old social system is breaking
down; but it is not breaking down of its own accord. Take Fascism for
example. Fascism is a reactionary force which is trying to preserve the
old system by means of violence. What will you do with the Fascists?
Argue with them? Try to convince them? But this will have no effect upon
them at all. Communists do not in the least idealise methods of
violence. But they, the Communists, do not want to be taken by surprise;
they cannot count on the old world voluntarily departing from the stage;
they see that the old system is violently defending itself, and that is
why the Communists say to the working class: Answer violence with
violence; do all you can to prevent the old dying order from crushing
you, do not permit it to put manacles on your hands, on the hands with
which you will overthrow the old system.
As you see, the Communists regard the substitution of one social system
for another, not simply as a spontaneous and peaceful process, but as a
complicated, long and violent process. Communists cannot ignore facts.
**Wells** But look at what is now going on in the capitalist world. The
collapse is not a simple one; it is the outbreak of reactionary violence
which is degenerating to gangsterism. And it seems to me that when it
comes to a conflict with reactionary and unintelligent violence,
Socialists can appeal to the law, and instead of regarding the police as
the enemy they should support them in the fight against the
reactionaries. I think that it is useless operating with the methods of
the old insurrectionary Socialism.
 
## The lessons of history
**Stalin** The Communists base themselves on rich historical experience
which teaches that obsolete classes do not voluntarily abandon the stage
of history.
Recall the history of England in the seventeenth century. Did not many
say that the old social system had decayed? But did it not,
nevertheless, require a Cromwell to crush it by force?
**Wells** Cromwell acted on the basis of the constitution and in the
name of constitutional order.
**Stalin** In the name of the constitution he resorted to violence,
beheaded the king, dispersed Parliament, arrested some and beheaded
others\!
Or take an example from our history. Was it not clear for a long time
that the Tsarist system was decaying, was breaking down? But how much
blood had to be shed in order to overthrow it?
And what about the October Revolution? Were there not plenty of people
who knew that we alone, the Bolsheviks, were indicating the only correct
way out? Was it not clear that Russian capitalism had decayed? But you
know how great was the resistance, how much blood had to be shed in
order to defend the October Revolution from all its enemies.
Or take France at the end of the eighteenth century. Long before 1789 it
was clear to many how rotten the royal power, the feudal system, was.
But a popular insurrection, a clash of classes was not, could not be
avoided. Why? Because the classes which must abandon the stage of
history are the last to become convinced that their role is ended. It is
impossible to convince them of this. They think that the fissures in the
decaying edifice of the old order can be repaired and saved.
That is why dying classes take to arms and resort to every means to save
their existence as a ruling class.
**Wells** But were there not a few lawyers at the head of the great
French Revolution?
**Stalin** I do not deny the role of the intelligentsia in revolutionary
movements. Was the great French Revolution a lawyers’ revolution and not
a popular revolution, which achieved victory by rousing vast masses of
the people against feudalism and championed the interests of the Third
Estate? And did the lawyers among the leaders of the great French
Revolution act in accordance with the laws of the old order? Did they
not introduce new, bourgeois-revolutionary law?
The rich experience of history teaches that up to now not a single class
has voluntarily made way for another class. There is no such precedent
in history. The Communists have learned this lesson of history.
Communists would welcome the voluntary departure of the bourgeoisie. But
such a turn of affairs is improbable, that is what experience teaches.
That is why the Communists want to be prepared for the worst and call
upon the working class to be vigilant, to be prepared for battle.
Who wants a captain who lulls the vigilance of his army, a captain who
does not understand that the enemy will not surrender, that he must be
crushed? To be such a captain means deceiving, betraying the working
class. That is why I think that what seems to you to be old-fashioned is
in fact a measure of revolutionary expediency for the working class.
 
## How to make a revolution
**Wells** I do not deny that force has to be used, but I think the forms
of the struggle should fit as closely as possible to the opportunities
presented by the existing laws, which must be defended against
reactionary attacks. There is no need to disorganise the old system
because it is disorganising itself enough as it is. That is why it seems
to me insurrection against the old order, against the law, is obsolete,
old-fashioned. Incidentally, I exaggerate in order to bring the truth
out more clearly. I can formulate my point of view in the following way:
first, I am for order; second, I attack the present system in so far as
it cannot assure order; third, I think that class war propaganda may
detach from Socialism just those educated people whom Socialism needs.
**Stalin** In order to achieve a great object, an important social
object, there must be a main force, a bulwark, a revolutionary class.
Next it is necessary to organise the assistance of an auxiliary force
for this main force; in this case this auxiliary force is the party, to
which the best forces of the intelligentsia belong. Just now you spoke
about “educated people”. But what educated people did you have in mind?
Were there not plenty of educated people on the side of the old order in
England in the seventeenth century, in France at the end of the
eighteenth century, and in Russia in the epoch of the October
Revolution? The old order had in its service many highly educated people
who defended the old order, who opposed the new order.
Education is a weapon the effect of which is determined by the hands
which wield it, by who is to be struck down. Of course, the proletariat,
Socialism, needs highly educated people. Clearly, simpletons cannot help
the proletariat to fight for Socialism, to build a new society.
I do not under-estimate the role of the intelligentsia; on the contrary,
I emphasise it. The question is, however, which intelligentsia are we
discussing? Because there are different kinds of intelligentsia.
**Wells** There can be no revolution without a radical change in the
educational system. It is sufficient to quote two examples – the example
of the German Republic, which did not touch the old educational system,
and therefore never became a republic; and the example of the British
Labour Party, which lacks the determination to insist on a radical
change in the educational system.
**Stalin** That is a correct observation. Permit me now to reply to your
three points. First, the main thing for the revolution is the existence
of a social bulwark. This bulwark of the revolution is the working
class.
Second, an auxiliary force is required, that which the Communists call a
Party. To the Party belong the intelligent workers and those elements of
the technical intelligentsia which are closely connected with the
working class. The intelligentsia can be strong only if it combines with
the working class. If it opposes the working class it becomes a cipher.
Third, political power is required as a lever for change. The new
political power creates the new laws, the new order, which is
revolutionary order.
I do not stand for any kind of order. I stand for order that corresponds
to the interests of the working class. If, however, any of the laws of
the old order can be utilised in the interests of the struggle for the
new order, the old laws should be utilised.
And, finally, you are wrong if you think that the Communists are
enamoured of violence. They would be very pleased to drop violent
methods if the ruling class agreed to give way to the working class. But
the experience of history speaks against such an assumption.
**Wells** There was a case in the history of England, however, of a
class voluntarily handing over power to another class. In the period
between 1830 and 1870, the aristocracy, whose influence was still very
considerable at the end of the eighteenth century, voluntarily, without
a severe struggle, surrendered power to the bourgeoisie, which serves as
a sentimental support of the monarchy. Subsequently, this transference
of power led to the establishment of the rule of the financial
oligarchy.
**Stalin** But you have imperceptibly passed from questions of
revolution to questions of reform. This is not the same thing. Don’t you
think that the Chartist movement played a great role in the reforms in
England in the nineteenth century?
**Wells** The Chartists did little and disappeared without leaving a
trace.
**Stalin** I do not agree with you. The Chartists, and the strike
movement which they organised, played a great role; they compelled the
ruling class to make a number of concessions in regard to the franchise,
in regard to abolishing the so-called “rotten boroughs”, and in regard
to some of the points of the “Charter”. Chartism played a not
unimportant historical role and compelled a section of the ruling
classes to make certain concessions, reforms, in order to avert great
shocks. Generally speaking, it must be said that of all the ruling
classes, the ruling classes of England, both the aristocracy and the
bourgeoisie, proved to be the cleverest, most flexible from the point of
view of their class interests, from the point of view of maintaining
their power.
Take as an example, say, from modern history, the General Strike in
England in 1926. The first thing any other bourgeoisie would have done
in the face of such an event, when the General Council of Trade Unions
called for a strike, would have been to arrest the Trade Union leaders.
The Brit­ish bourgeoisie did not do that, and it acted cleverly from the
point of view of its own interests. I cannot conceive of such a flexible
strategy being employed by the bourgeoisie in the United States, Germany
or France. In order to maintain their rule, the ruling classes of Great
Britain have never forsworn small concessions, reforms. But it would be
a mistake to think that these reforms were revolutionary.
**Wells** You have a higher opinion of the ruling classes of my country
than I have. But is there a great difference between a small revolution
and a great reform? Is not a reform a small revolution?
**Stalin** Owing to pressure from below, the pressure of the masses, the
bourgeoisie may sometimes concede certain partial reforms while
remaining on the basis of the existing social-economic system. Acting in
this way, it calculates that these concessions are necessary in order to
preserve its class rule. This is the essence of reform. Revolution,
however, means the transference of power from one class to another. That
is why it is impossible to describe any reform as revolution.
 
## What Russia is doing wrong
**Wells** I am very grateful to you for this talk, which has meant a
great deal to me. In explaining things to me you probably called to mind
how you had to explain the fundamentals of Socialism in the illegal
circles before the revolution. At the present time there are only two
persons to whose opinion, to whose every word, millions are listening –
you and Roosevelt. Others may preach as much as they like; what they say
will never be printed or heeded.
I cannot yet appreciate what has been done in your country; I only
arrived yesterday. But I have already seen the happy faces of healthy
men and women and I know that something very considerable is being done
here. The contrast with 1920 is astounding.
**Stalin** Much more could have been done had we Bolsheviks been
cleverer.
**Wells** No, if human beings were cleverer. It would be a good thing to
invent a Five-Year Plan for the reconstruction of the human brain, which
obviously lacks many things needed for a perfect social order.
\[Laughter\]
**Stalin** Don’t you intend to stay for the Congress of the Soviet
Writers’ Union?
**Wells** Unfortunately, I have various engagements to fulfil and I can
stay in the USSR only for a week. I came to see you and I am very
satisfied by our talk. But I intend to discuss with such Soviet writers
as I can meet the possibility of their affiliating to the PEN Club. The
organisation is still weak, but it has branches in many countries, and
what is more important, the speeches of its members are widely reported
in the press. It insists upon this, free expression of opinion – even of
opposition opinion. I hope to discuss this point with Gorki. I do not
know if you are prepared yet for that much freedom . . .
**Stalin** We Bolsheviks call it “self-criticism”. It is widely used in
the USSR. If there is anything I can do to help you I shall be glad to
do so.

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[Source](https://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15609 "Permalink to ")
When Hades decided he loved this girl
he built for her a duplicate of earth,
everything the same, down to the meadow,
but with a bed added.
Everything the same, including sunlight,
because it would be hard on a young girl
to go so quickly from bright light to utter darkness
Gradually, he thought, he'd introduce the night,
first as the shadows of fluttering leaves.
Then moon, then stars. Then no moon, no stars.
Let Persephone get used to it slowly.
In the end, he thought, she'd find it comforting.
A replica of earth
except there was love here.
Doesn't everyone want love?
He waited many years,
building a world, watching
Persephone in the meadow.
Persephone, a smeller, a taster.
If you have one appetite, he thought,
you have them all.
Doesn't everyone want to feel in the night
the beloved body, compass, polestar,
to hear the quiet breathing that says
I am alive, that means also
you are alive, because you hear me,
you are here with me. And when one turns,
the other turns—
That's what he felt, the lord of darkness,
looking at the world he had
constructed for Persephone. It never crossed his mind
that there'd be no more smelling here,
certainly no more eating.
Guilt? Terror? The fear of love?
These things he couldn't imagine;
no lover ever imagines them.
He dreams, he wonders what to call this place.
First he thinks: The New Hell. Then: The Garden.
In the end, he decides to name it
Persephone's Girlhood.
A soft light rising above the level meadow,
behind the bed. He takes her in his arms.
He wants to say I love you, nothing can hurt you
but he thinks
this is a lie, so he says in the end
you're dead, nothing can hurt you
which seems to him
a more promising beginning, more true.

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[Source](https://onbeing.org/program/albert-einstein-the-negro-question-1946 "Permalink to ")
> In the years after World War II, Albert Einstein took up the mantle of
> confronting racism in America. He became a good friend and comrade of
> the prominent opera singer Paul Robeson, co-chaired an anti-lynching
> campaign, and was an outspoken [supporter of W.E.B. Du
> Bois](https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/01/06/albert-einstein-w-e-b-du-bois-racism/).
> But, it was in January 1946, that he penned one of his most articulate
> and eloquent essays [advocating for the civil rights of black people
> in
> America](http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2007/04/albert-einstein-civil-rights-activist/).
> And, as described in [Einstein on Race and
> Racism](https://www.amazon.com/Einstein-Race-Racism-Professor-Jerome/dp/0813539528),
> the iconic physicist equated the ghettoization of Jews in Germany and
> segregation in America, calling racism America’s “worst disease.”
> Originally published in the January 1946 issue of Pageant magazine,
> Albert Einstein’s essay was intended to address a primarily white
> readership:
>
> **The Negro Question**
> by Albert Einstein
>
> I am writing as one who has lived among you in America only a little
> more than ten years, and I am writing seriously and warningly. Many
> readers may ask: “What right has he to speak about things which
> concern us alone, and which no newcomer should touch?”
>
> I do not think such a standpoint is justified. One who has grown up in
> an environment takes much for granted. On the other hand, one who has
> come to this country as a mature person may have a keen eye for
> everything peculiar and characteristic. I believe he should speak out
> freely on what he sees and feels, for by so doing he may perhaps prove
> himself useful.
>
> What soon makes the new arrival devoted to this country is the
> democratic trait among the people. I am not thinking here so much of
> the democratic political constitution of this country, however highly
> it must be praised. I am thinking of the relationship between
> individual people and of the attitude they maintain toward one
> another.
>
> In the United States everyone feels assured of his worth as an
> individual. No one humbles himself before another person or class.
> Even the great difference in wealth, the superior power of a few,
> cannot undermine this healthy self-confidence and natural respect for
> the dignity of one’s fellow-man.
>
> There is, however, a somber point in the social outlook of Americans.
> Their sense of equality and human dignity is mainly limited to men of
> white skins. Even among these there are prejudices of which I as a Jew
> am clearly conscious; but they are unimportant in comparison with the
> attitude of the “Whites” toward their fellow-citizens of darker
> complexion, particularly toward Negroes. The more I feel an American,
> the more this situation pains me. I can escape the feeling of
> complicity in it only by speaking out.
>
> Many a sincere person will answer: “Our attitude towards Negroes is
> the result of unfavorable experiences which we have had by living side
> by side with Negroes in this country. They are not our equals in
> intelligence, sense of responsibility, reliability.”
>
> I am firmly convinced that whoever believes this suffers from a fatal
> misconception. Your ancestors dragged these black people from their
> homes by force; and in the white man’s quest for wealth and an easy
> life they have been ruthlessly suppressed and exploited, degraded into
> slavery. The modern prejudice against Negroes is the result of the
> desire to maintain this unworthy condition.
>
> The ancient Greeks also had slaves. They were not Negroes but white
> men who had been taken captive in war. There could be no talk of
> racial differences. And yet Aristotle, one of the great Greek
> philosophers, declared slaves inferior beings who were justly subdued
> and deprived of their liberty. It is clear that he was enmeshed in a
> traditional prejudice from which, despite his extraordinary intellect,
> he could not free himself.
>
> A large part of our attitude toward things is conditioned by opinions
> and emotions which we unconsciously absorb as children from our
> environment. In other words, it is tradition — besides inherited
> aptitudes and qualities — which makes us what we are. We but rarely
> reflect how relatively small as compared with the powerful influence
> of tradition is the influence of our conscious thought upon our
> conduct and convictions.
>
> It would be foolish to despise tradition. But with our growing
> self-consciousness and increasing intelligence we must begin to
> control tradition and assume a critical attitude toward it, if human
> relations are ever to change for the better. We must try to recognize
> what in our accepted tradition is damaging to our fate and dignity —
> and shape our lives accordingly.
>
> I believe that whoever tries to think things through honestly will
> soon recognize how unworthy and even fatal is the traditional bias
> against Negroes.
>
> What, however, can the man of good will do to combat this deeply
> rooted prejudice? He must have the courage to set an example by word
> and deed, and must watch lest his children become influenced by this
> racial bias.
>
> I do not believe there is a way in which this deeply entrenched evil
> can be quickly healed. But until this goal is reached there is no
> greater satisfaction for a just and well-meaning person than the
> knowledge that he has devoted his best energies to the service of the
> good cause.

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[Source](https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/coldwar/documents/episode-1/kennan.htm "Permalink to ")
861.00/2 - 2246: Telegram
**
The Charge in the Soviet Union (Kennan) to the Secretary of State
SECRET
Moscow, February 22, 1946--9 p.m. \[Received February 22--3: 52 p.m.\]
511\. Answer to Dept's 284, Feb 3 \[13\] involves questions so
intricate, so delicate, so strange to our form of thought, and so
important to analysis of our international environment that I cannot
compress answers into single brief message without yielding to what I
feel would be dangerous degree of over-simplification. I hope,
therefore, Dept will bear with me if I submit in answer to this question
five parts, subjects of which will be roughly as follows:
(1) Basic features of post-war Soviet outlook.
(2) Background of this outlook
(3) Its projection in practical policy on official level.
(4) Its projection on unofficial level.
(5) Practical deductions from standpoint of US policy.
I apologize in advance for this burdening of telegraphic channel; but
questions involved are of such urgent importance, particularly in view
of recent events, that our answers to them, if they deserve attention at
all, seem to me to deserve it at once. There follows
**
Part 1: Basic Features of Post War Soviet Outlook, as Put Forward by
Official Propaganda Machine
Are as Follows:
(a) USSR still lives in antagonistic "capitalist encirclement" with
which in the long run there can be no permanent peaceful coexistence. As
stated by Stalin in 1927 to a delegation of American workers:
"In course of further development of international revolution there will
emerge two centers of world significance: a socialist center, drawing to
itself the countries which tend toward socialism, and a capitalist
center, drawing to itself the countries that incline toward capitalism.
Battle between these two centers for command of world economy will
decide fate of capitalism and of communism in entire world."
**
(b) Capitalist world is beset with internal conflicts, inherent in
nature of capitalist society. These conflicts are insoluble by means of
peaceful compromise. Greatest of them is that between England and US.
(c) Internal conflicts of capitalism inevitably generate wars. Wars thus
generated may be of two kinds: intra-capitalist wars between two
capitalist states, and wars of intervention against socialist world.
Smart capitalists, vainly seeking escape from inner conflicts of
capitalism, incline toward latter.
(d) Intervention against USSR, while it would be disastrous to those who
undertook it, would cause renewed delay in progress of Soviet socialism
and must therefore be forestalled at all costs.
(e) Conflicts between capitalist states, though likewise fraught with
danger for USSR, nevertheless hold out great possibilities for
advancement of socialist cause, particularly if USSR remains militarily
powerful, ideologically monolithic and faithful to its present brilliant
leadership.
(f) It must be borne in mind that capitalist world is not all bad. In
addition to hopelessly reactionary and bourgeois elements, it includes
(1) certain wholly enlightened and positive elements united in
acceptable communistic parties and (2) certain other elements (now
described for tactical reasons as progressive or democratic) whose
reactions, aspirations and activities happen to be "objectively"
favorable to interests of USSR These last must be encouraged and
utilized for Soviet purposes.
(g) Among negative elements of bourgeois-capitalist society, most
dangerous of all are those whom Lenin called false friends of the
people, namely moderate-socialist or social-democratic leaders (in other
words, non-Communist left-wing). These are more dangerous than
out-and-out reactionaries, for latter at least march under their true
colors, whereas moderate left-wing leaders confuse people by employing
devices of socialism to seine interests of reactionary capital.
So much for premises. To what deductions do they lead from standpoint of
Soviet policy? To following:
(a) Everything must be done to advance relative strength of USSR as
factor in international society. Conversely, no opportunity most be
missed to reduce strength and influence, collectively as well as
individually, of capitalist powers.
(b) Soviet efforts, and those of Russia's friends abroad, must be
directed toward deepening and exploiting of differences and conflicts
between capitalist powers. If these eventually deepen into an
"imperialist" war, this war must be turned into revolutionary upheavals
within the various capitalist countries.
(c) "Democratic-progressive" elements abroad are to be utilized to
maximum to bring pressure to bear on capitalist governments along lines
agreeable to Soviet interests.
(d) Relentless battle must be waged against socialist and
social-democratic leaders abroad.
**
Part 2: Background of Outlook
Before examining ramifications of this party line in practice there are
certain aspects of it to which I wish to draw attention.
First, it does not represent natural outlook of Russian people. Latter
are, by and large, friendly to outside world, eager for experience of
it, eager to measure against it talents they are conscious of
possessing, eager above all to live in peace and enjoy fruits of their
own labor. Party line only represents thesis which official propaganda
machine puts forward with great skill and persistence to a public often
remarkably resistant in the stronghold of its innermost thoughts. But
party line is binding for outlook and conduct of people who make up
apparatus of power--party, secret police and Government--and it is
exclusively with these that we have to deal.
Second, please note that premises on which this party line is based are
for most part simply not true. Experience has shown that peaceful and
mutually profitable coexistence of capitalist and socialist states is
entirely possible. Basic internal conflicts in advanced countries are no
longer primarily those arising out of capitalist ownership of means of
production, but are ones arising from advanced urbanism and
industrialism as such, which Russia has thus far been spared not by
socialism but only by her own backwardness. Internal rivalries of
capitalism do not always generate wars; and not all wars are
attributable to this cause. To speak of possibility of intervention
against USSR today, after elimination of Germany and Japan and after
example of recent war, is sheerest nonsense. If not provoked by forces
of intolerance and subversion "capitalist" world of today is quite
capable of living at peace with itself and with Russia. Finally, no sane
person has reason to doubt sincerity of moderate socialist leaders in
Western countries. Nor is it fair to deny success of their efforts to
improve conditions for working population whenever, as in Scandinavia,
they have been given chance to show what they could do.
Falseness of those premises, every one of which predates recent war, was
amply demonstrated by that conflict itself Anglo-American differences
did not turn out to be major differences of Western World. Capitalist
countries, other than those of Axis, showed no disposition to solve
their differences by joining in crusade against USSR. Instead of
imperialist war turning into civil wars and revolution, USSR found
itself obliged to fight side by side with capitalist powers for an
avowed community of aim.
Nevertheless, all these theses, however baseless and disproven, are
being boldly put forward again today. What does this indicate? It
indicates that Soviet party line is not based on any objective analysis
of situation beyond Russia's borders; that it has, indeed, little to do
with conditions outside of Russia; that it arises mainly from basic
inner-Russian necessities which existed before recent war and exist
today.
At bottom of Kremlin's neurotic view of world affairs is traditional and
instinctive Russian sense of insecurity. Originally, this was insecurity
of a peaceful agricultural people trying to live on vast exposed plain
in neighborhood of fierce nomadic peoples. To this was added, as Russia
came into contact with economically advanced West, fear of more
competent, more powerful, more highly organized societies in that area.
But this latter type of insecurity was one which afflicted rather
Russian rulers than Russian people; for Russian rulers have invariably
sensed that their rule was relatively archaic in form fragile and
artificial in its psychological foundation, unable to stand comparison
or contact with political systems of Western countries. For this reason
they have always feared foreign penetration, feared direct contact
between Western world and their own, feared what would happen if
Russians learned truth about world without or if foreigners learned
truth about world within. And they have learned to seek security only in
patient but deadly struggle for total destruction of rival power, never
in compacts and compromises with it.
It was no coincidence that Marxism, which had smoldered ineffectively
for half a century in Western Europe, caught hold and blazed for first
time in Russia. Only in this land which had never known a friendly
neighbor or indeed any tolerant equilibrium of separate powers, either
internal or international, could a doctrine thrive which viewed economic
conflicts of society as insoluble by peaceful means. After establishment
of Bolshevist regime, Marxist dogma, rendered even more truculent and
intolerant by Lenin's interpretation, became a perfect vehicle for sense
of insecurity with which Bolsheviks, even more than previous Russian
rulers, were afflicted. In this dogma, with its basic altruism of
purpose, they found justification for their instinctive fear of outside
world, for the dictatorship without which they did not know how to rule,
for cruelties they did not dare not to inflict, for sacrifice they felt
bound to demand. In the name of Marxism they sacrificed every single
ethical value in their methods and tactics. Today they cannot dispense
with it. It is fig leaf of their moral and intellectual respectability.
Without it they would stand before history, at best, as only the last of
that long succession of cruel and wasteful Russian rulers who have
relentlessly forced country on to ever new heights of military power in
order to guarantee external security of their internally weak regimes.
This is why Soviet purposes most always be solemnly clothed in trappings
of Marxism, and why no one should underrate importance of dogma in
Soviet affairs. Thus Soviet leaders are driven \[by?\] necessities of
their own past and present position to put forward which \[apparent
omission\] outside world as evil, hostile and menacing, but as bearing
within itself germs of creeping disease and destined to be wracked with
growing internal convulsions until it is given final *Coup de grace* by
rising power of socialism and yields to new and better world. This
thesis provides justification for that increase of military and police
power of Russian state, for that isolation of Russian population from
outside world, and for that fluid and constant pressure to extend limits
of Russian police power which are together the natural and instinctive
urges of Russian rulers. Basically this is only the steady advance of
uneasy Russian nationalism, a centuries old movement in which
conceptions of offense and defense are inextricably confused. But in new
guise of international Marxism, with its honeyed promises to a desperate
and war torn outside world, it is more dangerous and insidious than ever
before.
It should not be thought from above that Soviet party line is
necessarily disingenuous and insincere on part of all those who put it
forward. Many of them are too ignorant of outside world and mentally too
dependent to question \[apparent omission\] self-hypnotism, and who have
no difficulty making themselves believe what they find it comforting and
convenient to believe. Finally we have the unsolved mystery as to who,
if anyone, in this great land actually receives accurate and unbiased
information about outside world. In atmosphere of oriental secretiveness
and conspiracy which pervades this Government, possibilities for
distorting or poisoning sources and currents of information are
infinite. The very disrespect of Russians for objective truth--indeed,
their disbelief in its existence--leads them to view all stated facts as
instruments for furtherance of one ulterior purpose or another. There is
good reason to suspect that this Government is actually a conspiracy
within a conspiracy; and I for one am reluctant to believe that Stalin
himself receives anything like an objective picture of outside world.
Here there is ample scope for the type of subtle intrigue at which
Russians are past masters. Inability of foreign governments to place
their case squarely before Russian policy makers--extent to which they
are delivered up in their relations with Russia to good graces of
obscure and unknown advisors whom they never see and cannot
influence--this to my mind is most disquieting feature of diplomacy in
Moscow, and one which Western statesmen would do well to keep in mind if
they would understand nature of difficulties encountered here.
**
Part 3: Projection of Soviet Outlook in Practical Policy on Official
Level
We have now seen nature and background of Soviet program. What may we
expect by way of its practical implementation?
Soviet policy, as Department implies in its query under reference, is
conducted on two planes: (1) official plane represented by actions
undertaken officially in name of Soviet Government; and (2) subterranean
plane of actions undertaken by agencies for which Soviet Government does
not admit responsibility.
Policy promulgated on both planes will be calculated to serve basic
policies (a) to (d) outlined in part 1. Actions taken on different
planes will differ considerably, but will dovetail into each other in
purpose, timing and effect.
On official plane we must look for following:
(a) Internal policy devoted to increasing in every way strength and
prestige of Soviet state: intensive military-industrialization; maximum
development of armed forces; great displays to impress outsiders;
continued secretiveness about internal matters, designed to conceal
weaknesses and to keep opponents in dark.
(b) Wherever it is considered timely and promising, efforts will be made
to advance official limits of Soviet power. For the moment, these
efforts are restricted to certain neighboring points conceived of here
as being of immediate strategic necessity, such as Northern Iran,
Turkey, possibly Bornholm However, other points may at any time come
into question, if and as concealed Soviet political power is extended to
new areas. Thus a "friendly Persian Government might be asked to grant
Russia a port on Persian Gulf. Should Spain fall under Communist
control, question of Soviet base at Gibraltar Strait might be activated.
But such claims will appear on official level only when unofficial
preparation is complete.
(c) Russians will participate officially in international organizations
where they see opportunity of extending Soviet power or of inhibiting or
diluting power of others. Moscow sees in UNO not the mechanism for a
permanent and stable world society founded on mutual interest and aims
of all nations, but an arena in which aims just mentioned can be
favorably pursued. As long as UNO is considered here to serve this
purpose, Soviets will remain with it. But if at any time they come to
conclusion that it is serving to embarrass or frustrate their aims for
power expansion and if they see better prospects for pursuit of these
aims along other lines, they will not hesitate to abandon UNO. This
would imply, however, that they felt themselves strong enough to split
unity of other nations by their withdrawal to render UNO ineffective as
a threat to their aims or security, replace it with an international
weapon more effective from their viewpoint. Thus Soviet attitude toward
UNO will depend largely on loyalty of other nations to it, and on degree
of vigor, decisiveness and cohesion with which those nations defend in
UNO the peaceful and hopeful concept of international life, which that
organization represents to our way of thinking. I reiterate, Moscow has
no abstract devotion to UNO ideals. Its attitude to that organization
will remain essentially pragmatic and tactical.
(d) Toward colonial areas and backward or dependent peoples, Soviet
policy, even on official plane, will be directed toward weakening of
power and influence and contacts of advanced Western nations, on theory
that in so far as this policy is successful, there will be created a
vacuum which will favor Communist-Soviet penetration. Soviet pressure
for participation in trusteeship arrangements thus represents, in my
opinion, a desire to be in a position to complicate and inhibit exertion
of Western influence at such points rather than to provide major channel
for exerting of Soviet power. Latter motive is not lacking, but for this
Soviets prefer to rely on other channels than official trusteeship
arrangements. Thus we may expect to find Soviets asking for admission
everywhere to trusteeship or similar arrangements and using levers thus
acquired to weaken Western influence among such peoples.
(e) Russians will strive energetically to develop Soviet representation
in, and official ties with, countries in which they sense Strong
possibilities of opposition to Western centers of power. This applies to
such widely separated points as Germany, Argentina, Middle Eastern
countries, etc.
(f) In international economic matters, Soviet policy will really be
dominated by pursuit of autarchy for Soviet Union and Soviet-dominated
adjacent areas taken together. That, however, will be underlying policy.
As far as official line is concerned, position is not yet clear. Soviet
Government has shown strange reticence since termination hostilities on
subject foreign trade. If large scale long term credits should be
forthcoming, I believe Soviet Government may eventually again do lip
service, as it did in 1930's to desirability of building up
international economic exchanges in general. Otherwise I think it
possible Soviet foreign trade may be restricted largely to Soviet's own
security sphere, including occupied areas in Germany, and that a cold
official shoulder may be turned to principle of general economic
collaboration among nations.
(g) With respect to cultural collaboration, lip service will likewise be
rendered to desirability of deepening cultural contacts between peoples,
but this will not in practice be interpreted in any way which could
weaken security position of Soviet peoples. Actual manifestations of
Soviet policy in this respect will be restricted to arid channels of
closely shepherded official visits and functions, with superabundance of
vodka and speeches and dearth of permanent effects.
(h) Beyond this, Soviet official relations will take what might be
called "correct" course with individual foreign governments, with great
stress being laid on prestige of Soviet Union and its representatives
and with punctilious attention to protocol as distinct from good
manners.
**
Part 4: Following May Be Said as to What We May Expect by Way of
Implementation of Basic Soviet Policies on Unofficial, or Subterranean
Plane, i.e. on Plane for Which Soviet Government Accepts no
Responsibility
Agencies utilized for promulgation of policies on this plane are
following:
1\. Inner central core of Communist Parties in other countries. While
many of persons who compose this category may also appear and act in
unrelated public capacities, they are in reality working closely
together as an underground operating directorate of world communism, a
concealed Comintern tightly coordinated and directed by Moscow. It is
important to remember that this inner core is actually working on
underground lines, despite legality of parties with which it is
associated.
2\. Rank and file of Communist Parties. Note distinction is drawn
between those and persons defined in paragraph 1. This distinction has
become much sharper in recent years. Whereas formerly foreign Communist
Parties represented a curious (and from Moscow's standpoint often
inconvenient) mixture of conspiracy and legitimate activity, now the
conspiratorial element has been neatly concentrated in inner circle and
ordered underground, while rank and file--no longer even taken into
confidence about realities of movement--are thrust forward as bona fide
internal partisans of certain political tendencies within their
respective countries, genuinely innocent of conspiratorial connection
with foreign states. Only in certain countries where communists are
numerically strong do they now regularly appear and act as a body. As a
rule they are used to penetrate, and to influence or dominate, as case
may be, other organizations less likely to be suspected of being tools
of Soviet Government, with a view to accomplishing their purposes
through \[apparent omission\] organizations, rather than by direct
action as a separate political party.
3\. A wide variety of national associations or bodies which can be
dominated or influenced by such penetration. These include: labor
unions, youth leagues, women's organizations, racial societies,
religious societies, social organizations, cultural groups, liberal
magazines, publishing houses, etc.
4\. International organizations which can be similarly penetrated
through influence over various national components. Labor, youth and
women's organizations are prominent among them. Particular, almost vital
importance is attached in this connection to international labor
movement. In this, Moscow sees possibility of sidetracking western
governments in world affairs and building up international lobby capable
of compelling governments to take actions favorable to Soviet interests
in various countries and of paralyzing actions disagreeable to USSR
5\. Russian Orthodox Church, with its foreign branches, and through it
the Eastern Orthodox Church in general.
6\. Pan-Slav movement and other movements (Azerbaijan, Armenian,
Turcoman, etc.) based on racial groups within Soviet Union.
7\. Governments or governing groups willing to lend themselves to Soviet
purposes in one degree or another, such as present Bulgarian and
Yugoslav Governments, North Persian regime, Chinese Communists, etc. Not
only propaganda machines but actual policies of these regimes can be
placed extensively at disposal of USSR
It may be expected that component parts of this far-flung apparatus will
be utilized in accordance with their individual suitability, as follows:
(a) To undermine general political and strategic potential of major
western powers. Efforts will be made in such countries to disrupt
national self confidence, to hamstring measures of national defense, to
increase social and industrial unrest, to stimulate all forms of
disunity. All persons with grievances, whether economic or racial, will
be urged to spelt redress not in mediation and compromise, but in
defiant violent struggle for destruction of other elements of society.
Here poor will be set against rich, black against white, young against
old, newcomers against established residents, etc.
(b) On unofficial plane particularly violent efforts will be made to
weaken power and influence of Western Powers of \[on\] colonial
backward, or dependent peoples. On this level, no holds will be barred.
Mistakes and weaknesses of western colonial administration will be
mercilessly exposed and exploited. Liberal opinion in Western countries
will be mobilized to weaken colonial policies. Resentment among
dependent peoples will be stimulated. And while latter are being
encouraged to seek independence of Western Powers, Soviet dominated
puppet political machines will be undergoing preparation to take over
domestic power in respective colonial areas when independence is
achieved.
(c) Where individual governments stand in path of Soviet purposes
pressure will be brought for their removal from office. This can happen
where governments directly oppose Soviet foreign policy aims (Turkey,
Iran), where they seal their territories off against Communist
penetration (Switzerland, Portugal), or where they compete too strongly,
like Labor Government in England, for moral domination among elements
which it is important for Communists to dominate. (Sometimes, two of
these elements are present in a single case. Then Communist opposition
becomes particularly shrill and savage. \[)\]
(d) In foreign countries Communists will, as a rule, work toward
destruction of all forms of personal independence, economic, political
or moral. Their system can handle only individuals who have been brought
into complete dependence on higher power. Thus, persons who are
financially independent--such as individual businessmen, estate owners,
successful farmers, artisans and all those who exercise local leadership
or have local prestige, such as popular local clergymen or political
figures, are anathema. It is not by chance that even in USSR local
officials are kept constantly on move from one job to another, to
prevent their taking root.
(e) Everything possible will be done to set major Western Powers against
each other. Anti-British talk will be plugged among Americans,
anti-American talk among British. Continentals, including Germans, will
be taught to abhor both Anglo-Saxon powers. Where suspicions exist, they
will be fanned; where not, ignited. No effort will be spared to
discredit and combat all efforts which threaten to lead to any sort of
unity or cohesion among other \[apparent omission\] from which Russia
might be excluded. Thus, all forms of international organization not
amenable to Communist penetration and control, whether it be the
Catholic \[apparent omission\] international economic concerns, or the
international fraternity of royalty and aristocracy, must expect to find
themselves under fire from many, and often \[apparent omission\].
(f) In general, all Soviet efforts on unofficial international plane
will be negative and destructive in character, designed to tear down
sources of strength beyond reach of Soviet control. This is only in line
with basic Soviet instinct that there can be no compromise with rival
power and that constructive work can start only when Communist power is
doming But behind all this will be applied insistent, unceasing pressure
for penetration and command of key positions in administration and
especially in police apparatus of foreign countries. The Soviet regime
is a police regime par excellence, reared in the dim half world of
Tsarist police intrigue, accustomed to think primarily in terms of
police power. This should never be lost sight of in ganging Soviet
motives.
**
Part 5: \[Practical Deductions From Standpoint of US Policy\]
In summary, we have here a political force committed fanatically to the
belief that with US there can be no permanent *modus vivendi* that it is
desirable and necessary that the internal harmony of our society be
disrupted, our traditional way of life be destroyed, the international
authority of our state be broken, if Soviet power is to be secure. This
political force has complete power of disposition over energies of one
of world's greatest peoples and resources of world's richest national
territory, and is borne along by deep and powerful currents of Russian
nationalism. In addition, it has an elaborate and far flung apparatus
for exertion of its influence in other countries, an apparatus of
amazing flexibility and versatility, managed by people whose experience
and skill in underground methods are presumably without parallel in
history. Finally, it is seemingly inaccessible to considerations of
reality in its basic reactions. For it, the vast fund of objective fact
about human society is not, as with us, the measure against which
outlook is constantly being tested and re-formed, but a grab bag from
which individual items are selected arbitrarily and tendenciously to
bolster an outlook already preconceived. This is admittedly not a
pleasant picture. Problem of how to cope with this force in \[is\]
undoubtedly greatest task our diplomacy has ever faced and probably
greatest it will ever have to face. It should be point of departure from
which our political general staff work at present juncture should
proceed. It should be approached with same thoroughness and care as
solution of major strategic problem in war, and if necessary, with no
smaller outlay in planning effort. I cannot attempt to suggest all
answers here. But I would like to record my conviction that problem is
within our power to solve--and that without recourse to any general
military conflict.. And in support of this conviction there are certain
observations of a more encouraging nature I should like to make:
(1) Soviet power, unlike that of Hitlerite Germany, is neither schematic
nor adventunstic. It does not work by fixed plans. It does not take
unnecessary risks. Impervious to logic of reason, and it is highly
sensitive to logic of force. For this reason it can easily withdraw--and
usually does when strong resistance is encountered at any point. Thus,
if the adversary has sufficient force and makes clear his readiness to
use it, he rarely has to do so. If situations are properly handled there
need be no prestige-engaging showdowns.
(2) Gauged against Western World as a whole, Soviets are still by far
the weaker force. Thus, their success will really depend on degree of
cohesion, firmness and vigor which Western World can muster. And this is
factor which it is within our power to influence.
(3) Success of Soviet system, as form of internal power, is not yet
finally proven. It has yet to be demonstrated that it can survive
supreme test of successive transfer of power from one individual or
group to another. Lenin's death was first such transfer, and its effects
wracked Soviet state for 15 years. After Stalin's death or retirement
will be second. But even this will not be final test. Soviet internal
system will now be subjected, by virtue of recent territorial
expansions, to series of additional strains which once proved severe tax
on Tsardom. We here are convinced that never since termination of civil
war have mass of Russian people been emotionally farther removed from
doctrines of Communist Party than they are today. In Russia, party has
now become a great and--for the moment--highly successful apparatus of
dictatorial administration, but it has ceased to be a source of
emotional inspiration. Thus, internal soundness and permanence of
movement need not yet be regarded as assured.
(4) All Soviet propaganda beyond Soviet security sphere is basically
negative and destructive. It should therefore be relatively easy to
combat it by any intelligent and really constructive program.
For those reasons I think we may approach calmly and with good heart
problem of how to deal with Russia. As to how this approach should be
made, I only wish to advance, by way of conclusion, following comments:
(1) Our first step must be to apprehend, and recognize for what it is,
the nature of the movement with which we are dealing. We must study it
with same courage, detachment, objectivity, and same determination not
to be emotionally provoked or unseated by it, with which doctor studies
unruly and unreasonable individual.
(2) We must see that our public is educated to realities of Russian
situation. I cannot over-emphasize importance of this. Press cannot do
this alone. It must be done mainly by Government, which is necessarily
more experienced and better informed on practical problems involved. In
this we need not be deterred by \[ugliness?\] of picture. I am convinced
that there would be far less hysterical anti-Sovietism in our country
today if realities of this situation were better understood by our
people. There is nothing as dangerous or as terrifying as the unknown.
It may also be argued that to reveal more information on our
difficulties with Russia would reflect unfavorably on Russian-American
relations. I feel that if there is any real risk here involved, it is
one which we should have courage to face, and sooner the better. But I
cannot see what we would be risking. Our stake in this country, even
coming on heels of tremendous demonstrations of our friendship for
Russian people, is remarkably small. We have here no investments to
guard, no actual trade to lose, virtually no citizens to protect, few
cultural contacts to preserve. Our only stake lies in what we hope
rather than what we have; and I am convinced we have better chance of
realizing those hopes if our public is enlightened and if our dealings
with Russians are placed entirely on realistic and matter-of-fact basis.
(3) Much depends on health and vigor of our own society. World communism
is like malignant parasite which feeds only on diseased tissue. This is
point at which domestic and foreign policies meets Every courageous and
incisive measure to solve internal problems of our own society, to
improve self-confidence, discipline, morale and community spirit of our
own people, is a diplomatic victory over Moscow worth a thousand
diplomatic notes and joint communiqués. If we cannot abandon fatalism
and indifference in face of deficiencies of our own society, Moscow will
profit--Moscow cannot help profiting by them in its foreign policies.
(4) We must formulate and put forward for other nations a much more
positive and constructive picture of sort of world we would like to see
than we have put forward in past. It is not enough to urge people to
develop political processes similar to our own. Many foreign peoples, in
Europe at least, are tired and frightened by experiences of past, and
are less interested in abstract freedom than in security. They are
seeking guidance rather than responsibilities. We should be better able
than Russians to give them this. And unless we do, Russians certainly
will.
(5) Finally we must have courage and self-confidence to cling to our own
methods and conceptions of human society. After Al, the greatest danger
that can befall us in coping with this problem of Soviet communism, is
that we shall allow ourselves to become like those with whom we are
coping.
KENNAN
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[Source](https://onbeing.org/program/albert-einstein-the-negro-question-1946 "Permalink to ")
> In the years after World War II, Albert Einstein took up the mantle of
> confronting racism in America. He became a good friend and comrade of
> the prominent opera singer Paul Robeson, co-chaired an anti-lynching
> campaign, and was an outspoken [supporter of W.E.B. Du
> Bois](https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/01/06/albert-einstein-w-e-b-du-bois-racism/).
> But, it was in January 1946, that he penned one of his most articulate
> and eloquent essays [advocating for the civil rights of black people
> in
> America](http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2007/04/albert-einstein-civil-rights-activist/).
> And, as described in [Einstein on Race and
> Racism](https://www.amazon.com/Einstein-Race-Racism-Professor-Jerome/dp/0813539528),
> the iconic physicist equated the ghettoization of Jews in Germany and
> segregation in America, calling racism America’s “worst disease.”
> Originally published in the January 1946 issue of Pageant magazine,
> Albert Einstein’s essay was intended to address a primarily white
> readership:
>
> **The Negro Question**
> by Albert Einstein
>
> I am writing as one who has lived among you in America only a little
> more than ten years, and I am writing seriously and warningly. Many
> readers may ask: “What right has he to speak about things which
> concern us alone, and which no newcomer should touch?”
>
> I do not think such a standpoint is justified. One who has grown up in
> an environment takes much for granted. On the other hand, one who has
> come to this country as a mature person may have a keen eye for
> everything peculiar and characteristic. I believe he should speak out
> freely on what he sees and feels, for by so doing he may perhaps prove
> himself useful.
>
> What soon makes the new arrival devoted to this country is the
> democratic trait among the people. I am not thinking here so much of
> the democratic political constitution of this country, however highly
> it must be praised. I am thinking of the relationship between
> individual people and of the attitude they maintain toward one
> another.
>
> In the United States everyone feels assured of his worth as an
> individual. No one humbles himself before another person or class.
> Even the great difference in wealth, the superior power of a few,
> cannot undermine this healthy self-confidence and natural respect for
> the dignity of one’s fellow-man.
>
> There is, however, a somber point in the social outlook of Americans.
> Their sense of equality and human dignity is mainly limited to men of
> white skins. Even among these there are prejudices of which I as a Jew
> am clearly conscious; but they are unimportant in comparison with the
> attitude of the “Whites” toward their fellow-citizens of darker
> complexion, particularly toward Negroes. The more I feel an American,
> the more this situation pains me. I can escape the feeling of
> complicity in it only by speaking out.
>
> Many a sincere person will answer: “Our attitude towards Negroes is
> the result of unfavorable experiences which we have had by living side
> by side with Negroes in this country. They are not our equals in
> intelligence, sense of responsibility, reliability.”
>
> I am firmly convinced that whoever believes this suffers from a fatal
> misconception. Your ancestors dragged these black people from their
> homes by force; and in the white man’s quest for wealth and an easy
> life they have been ruthlessly suppressed and exploited, degraded into
> slavery. The modern prejudice against Negroes is the result of the
> desire to maintain this unworthy condition.
>
> The ancient Greeks also had slaves. They were not Negroes but white
> men who had been taken captive in war. There could be no talk of
> racial differences. And yet Aristotle, one of the great Greek
> philosophers, declared slaves inferior beings who were justly subdued
> and deprived of their liberty. It is clear that he was enmeshed in a
> traditional prejudice from which, despite his extraordinary intellect,
> he could not free himself.
>
> A large part of our attitude toward things is conditioned by opinions
> and emotions which we unconsciously absorb as children from our
> environment. In other words, it is tradition — besides inherited
> aptitudes and qualities — which makes us what we are. We but rarely
> reflect how relatively small as compared with the powerful influence
> of tradition is the influence of our conscious thought upon our
> conduct and convictions.
>
> It would be foolish to despise tradition. But with our growing
> self-consciousness and increasing intelligence we must begin to
> control tradition and assume a critical attitude toward it, if human
> relations are ever to change for the better. We must try to recognize
> what in our accepted tradition is damaging to our fate and dignity —
> and shape our lives accordingly.
>
> I believe that whoever tries to think things through honestly will
> soon recognize how unworthy and even fatal is the traditional bias
> against Negroes.
>
> What, however, can the man of good will do to combat this deeply
> rooted prejudice? He must have the courage to set an example by word
> and deed, and must watch lest his children become influenced by this
> racial bias.
>
> I do not believe there is a way in which this deeply entrenched evil
> can be quickly healed. But until this goal is reached there is no
> greater satisfaction for a just and well-meaning person than the
> knowledge that he has devoted his best energies to the service of the
> good cause.

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[Source](https://monthlyreview.org/598einstein.php "Permalink to ")
Albert Einstein is the world-famous physicist. This article was
originally published in the first issue of Monthly Review (May 1949). It
was subsequently published in May 1998 to commemorate the first issue of
MR‘s fiftieth year.
—The Editors
Is it advisable for one who is not an expert on economic and social
issues to express views on the subject of socialism? I believe for a
number of reasons that it is.
Let us first consider the question from the point of view of scientific
knowledge. It might appear that there are no essential methodological
differences between astronomy and economics: scientists in both fields
attempt to discover laws of general acceptability for a circumscribed
group of phenomena in order to make the interconnection of these
phenomena as clearly understandable as possible. But in reality such
methodological differences do exist. The discovery of general laws in
the field of economics is made difficult by the circumstance that
observed economic phenomena are often affected by many factors which are
very hard to evaluate separately. In addition, the experience which has
accumulated since the beginning of the so-called civilized period of
human history has—as is well known—been largely influenced and limited
by causes which are by no means exclusively economic in nature. For
example, most of the major states of history owed their existence to
conquest. The conquering peoples established themselves, legally and
economically, as the privileged class of the conquered country. They
seized for themselves a monopoly of the land ownership and appointed a
priesthood from among their own ranks. The priests, in control of
education, made the class division of society into a permanent
institution and created a system of values by which the people were
thenceforth, to a large extent unconsciously, guided in their social
behavior.
But historic tradition is, so to speak, of yesterday; nowhere have we
really overcome what Thorstein Veblen called “the predatory phase” of
human development. The observable economic facts belong to that phase
and even such laws as we can derive from them are not applicable to
other phases. Since the real purpose of socialism is precisely to
overcome and advance beyond the predatory phase of human development,
economic science in its present state can throw little light on the
socialist society of the future.
Second, socialism is directed towards a social-ethical end. Science,
however, cannot create ends and, even less, instill them in human
beings; science, at most, can supply the means by which to attain
certain ends. But the ends themselves are conceived by personalities
with lofty ethical ideals and—if these ends are not stillborn, but vital
and vigorous—are adopted and carried forward by those many human beings
who, half unconsciously, determine the slow evolution of society.
For these reasons, we should be on our guard not to overestimate science
and scientific methods when it is a question of human problems; and we
should not assume that experts are the only ones who have a right to
express themselves on questions affecting the organization of society.
Innumerable voices have been asserting for some time now that human
society is passing through a crisis, that its stability has been gravely
shattered. It is characteristic of such a situation that individuals
feel indifferent or even hostile toward the group, small or large, to
which they belong. In order to illustrate my meaning, let me record here
a personal experience. I recently discussed with an intelligent and
well-disposed man the threat of another war, which in my opinion would
seriously endanger the existence of mankind, and I remarked that only a
supra-national organization would offer protection from that danger.
Thereupon my visitor, very calmly and coolly, said to me: “Why are you
so deeply opposed to the disappearance of the human race?”
I am sure that as little as a century ago no one would have so lightly
made a statement of this kind. It is the statement of a man who has
striven in vain to attain an equilibrium within himself and has more or
less lost hope of succeeding. It is the expression of a painful solitude
and isolation from which so many people are suffering in these days.
What is the cause? Is there a way out?
It is easy to raise such questions, but difficult to answer them with
any degree of assurance. I must try, however, as best I can, although I
am very conscious of the fact that our feelings and strivings are often
contradictory and obscure and that they cannot be expressed in easy and
simple formulas.
Man is, at one and the same time, a solitary being and a social being.
As a solitary being, he attempts to protect his own existence and that
of those who are closest to him, to satisfy his personal desires, and to
develop his innate abilities. As a social being, he seeks to gain the
recognition and affection of his fellow human beings, to share in their
pleasures, to comfort them in their sorrows, and to improve their
conditions of life. Only the existence of these varied, frequently
conflicting, strivings accounts for the special character of a man, and
their specific combination determines the extent to which an individual
can achieve an inner equilibrium and can contribute to the well-being of
society. It is quite possible that the relative strength of these two
drives is, in the main, fixed by inheritance. But the personality that
finally emerges is largely formed by the environment in which a man
happens to find himself during his development, by the structure of the
society in which he grows up, by the tradition of that society, and by
its appraisal of particular types of behavior. The abstract concept
“society” means to the individual human being the sum total of his
direct and indirect relations to his contemporaries and to all the
people of earlier generations. The individual is able to think, feel,
strive, and work by himself; but he depends so much upon society—in his
physical, intellectual, and emotional existence—that it is impossible to
think of him, or to understand him, outside the framework of society. It
is “society” which provides man with food, clothing, a home, the tools
of work, language, the forms of thought, and most of the content of
thought; his life is made possible through the labor and the
accomplishments of the many millions past and present who are all hidden
behind the small word “society.”
It is evident, therefore, that the dependence of the individual upon
society is a fact of nature which cannot be abolished—just as in the
case of ants and bees. However, while the whole life process of ants and
bees is fixed down to the smallest detail by rigid, hereditary
instincts, the social pattern and interrelationships of human beings are
very variable and susceptible to change. Memory, the capacity to make
new combinations, the gift of oral communication have made possible
developments among human being which are not dictated by biological
necessities. Such developments manifest themselves in traditions,
institutions, and organizations; in literature; in scientific and
engineering accomplishments; in works of art. This explains how it
happens that, in a certain sense, man can influence his life through his
own conduct, and that in this process conscious thinking and wanting can
play a part.
Man acquires at birth, through heredity, a biological constitution which
we must consider fixed and unalterable, including the natural urges
which are characteristic of the human species. In addition, during his
lifetime, he acquires a cultural constitution which he adopts from
society through communication and through many other types of
influences. It is this cultural constitution which, with the passage of
time, is subject to change and which determines to a very large extent
the relationship between the individual and society. Modern anthropology
has taught us, through comparative investigation of so-called primitive
cultures, that the social behavior of human beings may differ greatly,
depending upon prevailing cultural patterns and the types of
organization which predominate in society. It is on this that those who
are striving to improve the lot of man may ground their hopes: human
beings are not condemned, because of their biological constitution, to
annihilate each other or to be at the mercy of a cruel, self-inflicted
fate.
If we ask ourselves how the structure of society and the cultural
attitude of man should be changed in order to make human life as
satisfying as possible, we should constantly be conscious of the fact
that there are certain conditions which we are unable to modify. As
mentioned before, the biological nature of man is, for all practical
purposes, not subject to change. Furthermore, technological and
demographic developments of the last few centuries have created
conditions which are here to stay. In relatively densely settled
populations with the goods which are indispensable to their continued
existence, an extreme division of labor and a highly-centralized
productive apparatus are absolutely necessary. The time—which, looking
back, seems so idyllic—is gone forever when individuals or relatively
small groups could be completely self-sufficient. It is only a slight
exaggeration to say that mankind constitutes even now a planetary
community of production and consumption.
I have now reached the point where I may indicate briefly what to me
constitutes the essence of the crisis of our time. It concerns the
relationship of the individual to society. The individual has become
more conscious than ever of his dependence upon society. But he does not
experience this dependence as a positive asset, as an organic tie, as a
protective force, but rather as a threat to his natural rights, or even
to his economic existence. Moreover, his position in society is such
that the egotistical drives of his make-up are constantly being
accentuated, while his social drives, which are by nature weaker,
progressively deteriorate. All human beings, whatever their position in
society, are suffering from this process of deterioration. Unknowingly
prisoners of their own egotism, they feel insecure, lonely, and deprived
of the naive, simple, and unsophisticated enjoyment of life. Man can
find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting
himself to society.
The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my
opinion, the real source of the evil. We see before us a huge community
of producers the members of which are unceasingly striving to deprive
each other of the fruits of their collective labor—not by force, but on
the whole in faithful compliance with legally established rules. In this
respect, it is important to realize that the means of production—that is
to say, the entire productive capacity that is needed for producing
consumer goods as well as additional capital goods—may legally be, and
for the most part are, the private property of individuals.
For the sake of simplicity, in the discussion that follows I shall call
“workers” all those who do not share in the ownership of the means of
production—although this does not quite correspond to the customary use
of the term. The owner of the means of production is in a position to
purchase the labor power of the worker. By using the means of
production, the worker produces new goods which become the property of
the capitalist. The essential point about this process is the relation
between what the worker produces and what he is paid, both measured in
terms of real value. Insofar as the labor contract is “free,” what the
worker receives is determined not by the real value of the goods he
produces, but by his minimum needs and by the capitalists’ requirements
for labor power in relation to the number of workers competing for jobs.
It is important to understand that even in theory the payment of the
worker is not determined by the value of his product.
Private capital tends to become concentrated in few hands, partly
because of competition among the capitalists, and partly because
technological development and the increasing division of labor encourage
the formation of larger units of production at the expense of smaller
ones. The result of these developments is an oligarchy of private
capital the enormous power of which cannot be effectively checked even
by a democratically organized political society. This is true since the
members of legislative bodies are selected by political parties, largely
financed or otherwise influenced by private capitalists who, for all
practical purposes, separate the electorate from the legislature. The
consequence is that the representatives of the people do not in fact
sufficiently protect the interests of the underprivileged sections of
the population. Moreover, under existing conditions, private capitalists
inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of
information (press, radio, education). It is thus extremely difficult,
and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to
come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his
political rights.
The situation prevailing in an economy based on the private ownership of
capital is thus characterized by two main principles: first, means of
production (capital) are privately owned and the owners dispose of them
as they see fit; second, the labor contract is free. Of course, there is
no such thing as a pure capitalist society in this sense. In particular,
it should be noted that the workers, through long and bitter political
struggles, have succeeded in securing a somewhat improved form of the
“free labor contract” for certain categories of workers. But taken as
a whole, the present day economy does not differ much from “pure”
capitalism.
Production is carried on for profit, not for use. There is no provision
that all those able and willing to work will always be in a position to
find employment; an “army of unemployed” almost always exists. The
worker is constantly in fear of losing his job. Since unemployed and
poorly paid workers do not provide a profitable market, the production
of consumers’ goods is restricted, and great hardship is the
consequence. Technological progress frequently results in more
unemployment rather than in an easing of the burden of work for all. The
profit motive, in conjunction with competition among capitalists, is
responsible for an instability in the accumulation and utilization of
capital which leads to increasingly severe depressions. Unlimited
competition leads to a huge waste of labor, and to that crippling of the
social consciousness of individuals which I mentioned before.
This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism.
Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated
competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to
worship acquisitive success as a preparation for his future career.
I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils,
namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by
an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In
such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and
are utilized in a planned fashion. A planned economy, which adjusts
production to the needs of the community, would distribute the work to
be done among all those able to work and would guarantee a livelihood to
every man, woman, and child. The education of the individual, in
addition to promoting his own innate abilities, would attempt to develop
in him a sense of responsibility for his fellow men in place of the
glorification of power and success in our present society.
Nevertheless, it is necessary to remember that a planned economy is not
yet socialism. A planned economy as such may be accompanied by the
complete enslavement of the individual. The achievement of socialism
requires the solution of some extremely difficult socio-political
problems: how is it possible, in view of the far-reaching centralization
of political and economic power, to prevent bureaucracy from becoming
all-powerful and overweening? How can the rights of the individual be
protected and therewith a democratic counterweight to the power of
bureaucracy be assured?
Clarity about the aims and problems of socialism is of greatest
significance in our age of transition. Since, under present
circumstances, free and unhindered discussion of these problems has come
under a powerful taboo, I consider the foundation of this magazine to be
an important public service.

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[Source](https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/art-and-design/2013/05/john-berger-drawing-discovery "Permalink to ")
For the artist drawing is discovery. And that is not just a slick
phrase, it is quite literally true. It is the actual act of drawing that
forces the artist to look at the object in front of him, to dissect it
in his mind’s eye and put it together again; or, if he is drawing from
memory, that forces him to dredge his own mind, to discover the content
of his own store of past observations.
It is a platitude in the teaching of drawing that the heart of the
matter lies in the specific process of looking. A line, an area of tone,
is not really important because it records what you have seen, but
because of what it will lead you on to see. Following up its logic in
order to check its accuracy, you find confirmation or denial in the
object itself or in your memory of it. Each confirmation or denial
brings you closer to the object, until finally you are, as it were,
inside it: the contours you have drawn no longer marking the edge of
what you have seen but the edge of what you have become. Perhaps that
sounds needlessly metaphysical. Another way of putting it would be to
say that each mark you make on the paper is a stepping stone from which
you proceed to the next, until you have crossed your subject as though
it were a river, have put it behind you.
This is quite different from the later process of painting a “finished”
canvas or carving a statue. Here you do not pass through your subject,
but try to recreate it and house yourself in it. Each brush-mark or
chisel-stroke is no longer a stepping stone, but a stone to be fitted
into a planned edifice. A drawing is an autobiographical record of one’s
discovery of an event – either seen, remembered or imagined. A
“finished” work is an attempt to construct an event in itself. It is
significant in this respect that only when the artist gained a
relatively high standard of individual “autobiographical” freedom, did
drawings as we now understand them begin to exist. In a hieratic,
anonymous tradition they are unnecessary. (I should perhaps point out
here that I am talking about working drawings – although a working
drawing need not necessarily be made for a specific project. I do not
mean linear designs, illustrations, caricatures, certain portraits or
graphic works which may be “finished” productions in their own right.)
A number of technical factors often enlarge this distinction between a
working drawing and a “finished” work: the longer time needed to paint a
canvas or carve a block; the larger scale of the job; the problem of
simultaneously managing colour, quality of pigment, tone, texture,
grain, and so on – the “shorthand” of drawing is relatively simple and
direct. But nevertheless the fundamental distinction is in the working
of the artist’s mind. A drawing is essentially a private work, related
only to the artist’s own needs; a “finished” statue or canvas is
essentially a public, presented work – related far more directly to the
demands of communication.
It follows from this that there is an equal distinction from the point
of view of the spectator. In front of a painting or statue he tends to
identify himself with the subject, to interpret the images for their own
sake; in front of a drawing he identifies himself with the artist, using
the images to gain the conscious experience of seeing as though through
the artist’s own eyes. It is this which explains why painters always
value so highly the drawings of the masters they admire and why the
general public find it so difficult to appreciate drawings – except for
sentimental reasons, or in so far as they are impressed by purely manual
dexterity.
All this is prompted by the exhibition of 500 Old Master drawings
(Pisanello to Ingres) now at Burlington House. The distinction I have
tried to make is relevant for on it are based the standards with which
one approaches such a show. A few of the works – the Rowlandsons and the
portrait of Gentile Bellini by Giovanni for instance – come under the
category of “finished” works. Most, however, can be called “working”
drawings. In appreciating these, deftness, charm, ingenuity are, in
themselves, beside the point. Everything originally depends upon the
quality of discovery. Mannerisms, however elegant, are barriers to
discovery as clichés are barriers to thought; look, for instance, at the
Pietro Longhis and some (not all) of the younger Tiepolos.
Then, by contrast, go to the Raphael Head of a Muse and feel how he
discovered the fullness of the form growing under his hand like a pot on
a wheel; how Dürer discovered the direction of every fold and fissure as
though he were reading Braille, how Guercino discovered the sensuality
of his Venus as though he were sleeping with her, how Guardi discovered
the space of a room as though he were filling it with air from a pair of
bellows; how Rembrandt discovered his figures as though encompassing
them with the knowledge of a father. In every case one senses their
surprise.

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[Source](https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB4/ciaguat2.html "Permalink to ")
A STUDY OF ASSASSINATION 
 
DEFINITION
Assassination is a term thought to be derived from "Hashish", a drug
similar to marijuana, said to have been used by Hasan-Dan-Sabah to
induce motivation in his followers, who were assigned to carry out
political and other murders, usually at the cost of their lives.
It is here used to describe the planned killing of a person who is not
under the legal jurisdiction of the killer, who is not physically in the
hands of the killer, who has been selected by a resistance organization
for death, and who has been sele cted by a resistance organization for
death, and whose death provides positive advantages to that
organization.
 
EMPLOYMENT
Assassination is an extreme measure not normally used in clandestine
operations. It should be assumed that it will never be ordered or
authorized by any U.S. Headquarters, though the latter may in rare
instances agree to its execution by membe rs of an associated foreign
service. This reticence is partly due to the necessity for committing
communications to paper. No assassination instructions should ever be
written or recorded. Consequently, the decision to employ this technique
must nearly always be reached in the field, at the area where the act
will take place. Decision and instructions should be confined to an
absolute minimum of persons. Ideally, only one person will be involved.
No report may be made, but usually the act will be pr operly covered by
normal news services, whose output is available to all concerned.
 
JUSTIFICATION
Murder is not morally justifiable. Self-defense may be argued if the
victim has knowledge which may destroy the resistance organization if
divulged. Assassination of persons responsible for atrocities or
reprisals may be regarded as just puni shment. Killing a political
leader whose burgeoning career is a clear and present danger to the
cause of freedom may be held necessary.
But assassination can seldom be employed with a clear conscience.
Persons who are morally squeamish should not attempt it.
 
CLASSIFICATIONS
The techniques employed will vary according to whether the subject is
unaware of his danger, aware but unguarded, or guarded. They will also
be affected by whether or not the assassin is to be killed with the
subject hereafter, assassinations in which the subject is unaware will
be termed "simple"; those where the subject is aware but unguarded will
be termed "chase"; those where the victim is guarded will be termed
"guarded."
If the assassin is to die with the subject, the act will be called
"lost." If the assassin is to escape, the adjective will be "safe." It
should be noted that no compromises should exist here. The assassin must
not fall alive into enemy hands.
A further type division is caused by the need to conceal the fact that
the subject was actually the victim of assassination, rather than an
accident or natural causes. If such concealment is desirable the
operation will be called "secret" ;; if concealment is immaterial, the
act will be called "open"; while if the assassination requires publicity
to be effective it will be termed "terroristic."
 
Following these definitions, the assassination of Julius Caesar was
safe, simple, and terroristic, while that of Huey Long was lost, guarded
and open. Obviously, successful secret assassinations are not recorded
as assassination at all. \[Illeg\] o f Thailand and Augustus Caesar may
have been the victims of safe, guarded and secret assassination. Chase
assassinations usually involve clandestine agents or members of criminal
organizations.
THE ASSASSIN
In safe assassinations, the assassin needs the usual qualities of a
clandestine agent. He should be determined, courageous, intelligent,
resourceful, and physically active. If special equipment is to be used,
such as firearms or drugs, it is clear that he must have outstanding
skill with such equipment.
Except in terroristic assassinations, it is desirable that the assassin
be transient in the area. He should have an absolute minimum of contact
with the rest of the organization and his instructions should be given
orally by one person only. His safe evacuation after the act is
absolutely essential, but here again contact should be as limited as
possible. It is preferable that the person issuing instructions also
conduct any withdrawal or covering action which may be necessary.
In lost assassination, the assassin must be a fanatic of some sort.
Politics, religion, and revenge are about the only feasible motives.
Since a fanatic is unstable psychologically, he must be handled with
extreme care. He must not know the iden tities of the other members of
the organization, for although it is intended that he die in the act,
something may go wrong. While the Assassin of Trotsky has never revealed
any significant information, it was unsound to depend on this when the
act was p lanned.
 
PLANNING
When the decision to assassinate has been reached, the tactics of the
operation must be planned, based upon an estimate of the situation
similar to that used in military operations. The preliminary estimate
will reveal gaps in information and possibly indicate a need for special
equipment which must be procured or constructed. When all necessary data
has been collected, an effective tactical plan can be prepared. All
planning must be mental; no papers should ever contain evidence of the
oper ation.
In resistance situations, assassination may be used as a
counter-reprisal. Since this requires advertising to be effective, the
resistance organization must be in a position to warn high officials
publicly that their lives will be the price of rep risal action against
innocent people. Such a threat is of no value unless it can be carried
out, so it may be necessary to plan the assassination of various
responsible officers of the oppressive regime and hold such plans in
readiness to be used only i f provoked by excessive brutality. Such
plans must be modified frequently to meet changes in the tactical
situation.
TECHNIQUES
The essential point of assassination is the death of the subject. A
human being may be killed in many ways but sureness is often overlooked
by those who may be emotionally unstrung by the seriousness of this act
they intend to commit. The spe cific technique employed will depend upon
a large number of variables, but should be constant in one point: Death
must be absolutely certain. The attempt on Hitler's life failed because
the conspiracy did not give this matter proper attention.
Techniques may be considered as follows:
 
1\. Manual.
It is possible to kill a man with the bare hands, but very few are
skillful enough to do it well. Even a highly trained Judo expert will
hesitate to risk killing by hand unless he has absolutely no
alternative. However, the simplest local tools a re often much the most
efficient means of assassination. A hammer, axe, wrench, screw driver,
fire poker, kitchen knife, lamp stand, or anything hard, heavy and handy
will suffice. A length of rope or wire or a belt will do if the assassin
is strong and agile. All such improvised weapons have the important
advantage of availability and apparent innocence. The obviously lethal
machine gun failed to kill Trotsky where an item of sporting goods
succeeded.
In all safe cases where the assassin may be subject to search, either
before or after the act, specialized weapons should not be used. Even in
the lost case, the assassin may accidentally be searched before the act
and should not carry an incrimin ating device if any sort of lethal
weapon can be improvised at or near the site. If the assassin normally
carries weapons because of the nature of his job, it may still be
desirable to improvise and implement at the scene to avoid disclosure of
his ident ity.
 
2\. Accidents.
For secret assassination, either simple or chase, the contrived accident
is the most effective technique. When successfully executed, it causes
little excitement and is only casually investigated.
The most efficient accident, in simple assassination, is a fall of 75
feet or more onto a hard surface. Elevator shafts, stair wells,
unscreened windows and bridges will serve. Bridge falls into water are
not reliable. In simple cases a private meeting with the subject may be
arranged at a properly-cased location. The act may be executed by
sudden, vigorous \[excised\] of the ankles, tipping the subject over the
edge. If the assassin immediately sets up an outcry, playing the
"horrified wit ness", no alibi or surreptitious withdrawal is necessary.
In chase cases it will usually be necessary to stun or drug the subject
before dropping him. Care is required to insure that no wound or
condition not attributable to the fall is discernible after death.
Falls into the sea or swiftly flowing rivers may suffice if the subject
cannot swim. It will be more reliable if the assassin can arrange to
attempt rescue, as he can thus be sure of the subject's death and at the
same time establish a workable al ibi.
 
If the subject's personal habits make it feasible, alcohol may be used
\[2 words excised\] to prepare him for a contrived accident of any kind.
Falls before trains or subway cars are usually effective, but require
exact timing and can seldom be free from unexpected observation.
Automobile accidents are a less satisfactory means of assassination. If
the subject is deliberately run down, very exact timing is necessary and
investigation is likely to be thorough. If the subject's car is tampered
with, reliability is very lo w. The subject may be stunned or drugged
and then placed in the car, but this is only reliable when the car can
be run off a high cliff or into deep water without observation.
Arson can cause accidental death if the subject is drugged and left in a
burning building. Reliability is not satisfactory unless the building is
isolated and highly combustible.
3\. Drugs.
In all types of assassination except terroristic, drugs can be very
effective. If the assassin is trained as a doctor or nurse and the
subject is under medical care, this is an easy and rare method. An
overdose of morphine administered as a sedat ive will cause death
without disturbance and is difficult to detect. The size of the dose
will depend upon whether the subject has been using narcotics regularly.
If not, two grains will suffice.
 
If the subject drinks heavily, morphine or a similar narcotic can be
injected at the passing out stage, and the cause of death will often be
held to be acute alcoholism.
Specific poisons, such as arsenic or strychine, are effective but their
possession or procurement is incriminating, and accurate dosage is
problematical. Poison was used unsuccessfully in the assassination of
Rasputin and Kolohan, though the latte r case is more accurately
described as a murder.
 
4\. Edge Weapons
Any locally obtained edge device may be successfully employed. A certain
minimum of anatomical knowledge is needed for reliability.
Puncture wounds of the body cavity may not be reliable unless the heart
is reached. The heart is protected by the rib cage and is not always
easy to locate.
Abdominal wounds were once nearly always mortal, but modern medical
treatment has made this no longer true.
Absolute reliability is obtained by severing the spinal cord in the
cervical region. This can be done with the point of a knife or a light
blow of an axe or hatchet.
Another reliable method is the severing of both jugular and carotid
blood vessels on both sides of the windpipe.
If the subject has been rendered unconscious by other wounds or drugs,
either of the above methods can be used to insure death.
5\. Blunt Weapons
As with edge weapons, blunt weapons require some anatomical knowledge
for effective use. Their main advantage is their universal availability.
A hammer may be picked up almost anywhere in the world. Baseball and
\[illeg\] bats are very widely dist ributed. Even a rock or a heavy
stick will do, and nothing resembling a weapon need be procured, carried
or subsequently disposed of.
Blows should be directed to the temple, the area just below and behind
the ear, and the lower, rear portion of the skull. Of course, if the
blow is very heavy, any portion of the upper skull will do. The lower
frontal portion of the head, from th e eyes to the throat, can withstand
enormous blows without fatal consequences.
 
6\. Firearms
Firearms are often used in assassination, often very ineffectively. The
assassin usually has insufficient technical knowledge of the limitations
of weapons, and expects more range, accuracy and killing power than can
be provided with reliability. Since certainty of death is the major
requirement, firearms should be used which can provide destructive power
at least 100% in excess of that thought to be necessary, and ranges
should be half that considered practical for the weapon.
Firearms have other drawbacks. Their possession is often incriminating.
They may be difficult to obtain. They require a degree of experience
from the user. They are \[illeg\]. Their \[illeg\] is consistently
over-rated.
However, there are many cases in which firearms are probably more
efficient than any other means. These cases usually involve distance
between the assassin and the subject, or comparative physical weakness
of the assassin, as with a woman.
(a) The precision rifle. In guarded assassination, a good hunting or
target rifle should always be considered as a possibility. Absolute
reliability can nearly always be achieved at a distance of one hundred
yards. In ideal circumstances, t he range may be extended to 250 yards.
The rifle should be a well made bolt or falling block action type,
handling a powerful long-range cartridge. The .300 F.A.B. Magnum is
probably the best cartridge readily available. Other excellent calibers
are . 375 M.\[illeg\]. Magnum, .270 Winchester, .30 - 106 p.s., 8 x 60
MM Magnum, 9.3 x
 
62 kk and others of this type. These are preferable to ordinary military
calibers, since ammunition available for them is usually of the
expanding bullet type, whereas most ammunition for military rifles is
full jacketed and hence not sufficiently let hal. Military ammunition
should not be altered by filing or drilling bullets, as this will
adversely affect accuracy.
The rifle may be of the "bull gun" variety, with extra heavy barrel and
set triggers, but in any case should be capable of maximum precision.
Ideally, the weapon should be able to group in one inch at one hundred
yards, but 21/2" groups are adequa te. The sight should be telescopic,
not only for accuracy, but because such a sight is much better in dim
light or near darkness. As long as the bare outline of the target is
discernable, a telescope sight will work, even if the rifle and shooter
are in total darkness.
An expanding, hunting bullet of such calibers as described above will
produce extravagant laceration and shock at short or mid-range. If a man
is struck just once in the body cavity, his death is almost entirely
certain.
Public figures or guarded officials may be killed with great reliability
and some safety if a firing point can be established prior to an
official occasion. The propaganda value of this system may be very high.
(b) The machine gun.
Machine guns may be used in most cases where the precision rifle is
applicable. Usually, this will require
 
the subversion of a unit of an official guard at a ceremony, though a
skillful and determined team might conceivably dispose of a loyal gun
crow without commotion and take over the gun at the critical time.
The area fire capacity of the machine gun should not be used to search
out a concealed subject. This was tried with predictable lack of success
on Trotsky. The automatic feature of the machine gun should rather be
used to increase reliability by placing a 5 second burst on the subject.
Even with full jacket ammunition, this will be absolute lethal is the
burst pattern is no larger than a man. This can be accomplished at about
150 yards. In ideal circumstances, a properly padded and targeted ma
chine gun can do it at 850 yards. The major difficulty is placing the
first burst exactly on the target, as most machine gunners are trained
to spot their fire on target by observation of strike. This will not do
in assassination as the subject will not wait.
(c) The Submachine Gun.
This weapon, known as the "machine-pistol" by the Russians and Germans
and "machine-carbine" by the British, is occasionally useful in
assassination. Unlike the rifle and machine gun, this is a short range
weapon and since it fires pistol ammu nition, much less powerful. To be
reliable, it should deliver at least 5 rounds into the subject's chest,
though the .45 caliber U.S. weapons have a much larger margin of killing
efficiency than the 9 mm European arms.
The assassination range of the sub-machine gun is point
 
blank. While accurate single rounds can be delivered by sub-machine
gunners at 50 yards or more, this is not certain enough for
assassination. Under ordinary circumstances, the 5MG should be used as a
fully automatic weapon. In the hands of a capabl e gunner, a high cyclic
rate is a distinct advantage, as speed of execution is most desirable,
particularly in the case of multiple subjects.
The sub-machine gun is especially adapted to indoor work when more than
one subject is to be assassinated. An effective technique has been
devised for the use of a pair of sub-machine gunners, by which a room
containing as many as a dozen subjects can be "purifico" in about twenty
seconds with little or no risk to the gunners. It is illustrated below.
 
While the U.S. sub-machine guns fire the most lethal cartridges, the
higher cyclic rate of some foreign weapons enable the gunner to cover a
target quicker with acceptable pattern density. The Bergmann Model 1934
is particularly good in this way. The Danish Madman? SMG has a
moderately good cyclic rate and is admirably compact and concealable.
The Russian SHG's have a good cyclic rate, but are handicapped by a
small, light protective which requires more kits for equivalent killing
effect.
(d) The Shotgun.
A large bore shotgun is a most effective
 
killing instrument as long as the range is kept under ten yards. It
should normally be used only on single targets as it cannot sustain fire
successfully. The barrel may be "sawed" off for convenience, but this is
not a significant factor in its killi ng performance. Its optimum range
is just out of reach of the subject. 00 buckshot is considered the best
shot size for a twelve gage gun, but anything from single balls to bird
shot will do if the range is right. The assassin should aim for the
solar plexus as the shot pattern is small at close range and can easily
\[illeg\] the head.
(e) The Pistol.
While the handgun is quite inefficient as a weapon of assassination, it
is often used, partly because it is readily available and can be
concealed on the person, and partly because its limitations are not
widely appreciated. While many well kn own assassinations have been
carried out with pistols (Lincoln, Harding, Ghandi), such attempts fail
as often as they succeed, (Truman, Roosevelt, Churchill).
If a pistol is used, it should be as powerful as possible and fired from
just beyond reach. The pistol and the shotgun are used in similar
tactical situations, except that the shotgun is much more lethal and the
pistol is much more easily conceale d.
In the hands of an expert, a powerful pistol is quite deadly, but such
experts are rare and not usually available for assassination missions.
.45 Colt, .44 Special, .455 Kly, .45 A.S.\[illeg\] (U.S. Service) and
.357 Magnum are all efficient calibers. Less powerful
 
rounds can suffice but are less reliable. Sub-power cartridges such as
the .32s and .25s should be avoided.
In all cases, the subject should be hit solidly at least three times for
complete reliability.
(f) Silent Firearms
The sound of the explosion of the proponent in a firearm can be
effectively silenced by appropriate attachments. However, the sound of
the projective passing through the air cannot, since this sound is
generated outside the weapon. In cases w here the velocity of the bullet
greatly exceeds that of sound, the noise so generated is much louder
than that of the explosion. Since all powerful rifles have muzzle
velocities of over 2000 feet per second, they cannot be silenced.
Pistol bullets, on the other hand, usually travel slower than sound and
the sound of their flight is negligible. Therefore, pistols, submachine
guns and any sort of improvised carbine or rifle which will take a low
velocity cartridge can be silenc ed. The user should not forget that the
sound of the operation of a repeating action is considerable, and that
the sound of bullet strike, particularly in bone is quite loud.
Silent firearms are only occasionally useful to the assassin, though
they have been widely publicized in this connection. Because permissible
velocity is low, effective precision range is held to about 100 yards
with rifle or carbine type weapons, while with pistols, silent or
otherwise,
 
are most efficient just beyond arms length. The silent feature attempts
to provide a degree of safety to the assassin, but mere possession of a
silent firearm is likely to create enough hazard to counter the
advantage of its silence. The silent pisto l combines the disadvantages
of any pistol with the added one of its obviously clandestine purpose.
A telescopically sighted, closed-action carbine shooting a low velocity
bullet of great weight, and built for accuracy, could be very useful to
an assassin in certain situations. At the time of writing, no such
weapon is known to exist.
7\. Explosives.
Bombs and demolition charges of various sorts have been used frequently
in assassination. Such devices, in terroristic and open assassination,
can provide safety and overcome guard barriers, but it is curious that
bombs have often been the imp lement of lost assassinations.
The major factor which affects reliability is the use of explosives for
assassination. the charge must be very large and the detonation must be
controlled exactly as to time by the assassin who can observe the
subject. A small or moderate explosi ve charge is highly unreliable as a
cause of death, and time delay or booby-trap devices are extremely prone
to kill the wrong man. In addition to the moral aspects of
indiscriminate killing, the death of casual bystanders can often produce
public reacti ons unfavorable to the cause for which the assassination
is carried out.
Bombs or grenades should never be thrown at a subject. While this
 
will always cause a commotion and may even result in the subject's
death, it is sloppy, unreliable, and bad propaganda. The charge must be
too small and the assassin is never sure of: (1)reaching his attack
position, (2) placing the charge close en ough to the target and (3)
firing the charge at the right time.
Placing the charge surreptitiously in advance permits a charge of proper
size to be employed, but requires accurate prediction of the subject's
movements.
Ten pounds of high explosive should normally be regarded as a minimum,
and this is explosive of fragmentation material. The latter can consist
of any hard, \[illeg\] material as long as the fragments are large
enough. Metal or rock fragments should be walnut-size rather than
pen-size. If solid plates are used, to be ruptured by the explosion,
cast iron, 1" thick, gives excellent fragmentation. Military or
commercial high explosives are practical for use in assassination.
Homemade or improvised e xplosives should be avoided. While possibly
powerful, they tend to be dangerous and unreliable. Anti-personnel
explosive missiles are excellent, provided the assassin has sufficient
technical knowledge to fuse them properly. 81 or 82 mm mortar shells, or
the 120 mm mortar shell, are particularly good. Anti-personnel shells
for 85, 88, 90, 100 and 105 mm guns and howitzers are both large enough
to be completely reliable and small enough to be carried by one man.
The charge should be so placed that the subject is not ever six feet
from it at the moment of detonation.
A large, shaped charge with the \[illeg\] filled with iron fragments
(such as 1" nuts and bolts) will fire a highly lethal shotgun-type
 
\[illeg\] to 50 yards. This reaction has not been thoroughly tested,
however, and an exact replica of the proposed device should be fired in
advance to determine exact range, pattern-size, and penetration of
fragments. Fragments should penetrate at lea st 1" of seasoned pine or
equivalent for minimum reliability. Any firing device may be used which
permits exact control by the assassin. An ordinary commercial or
military explorer is efficient, as long as it is rigged for
instantaneous action with no time fuse in the system. The wise \[illeg\]
electric target can serve as the triggering device and provide exact
timing from as far away as the assassin can reliably hit the target.
This will avid the disadvantages olitary or commercial high explosives
are practical for use in assassination. Homemade or improvised
explosives should be avoided. While possibly powerful, they tend to be
dangerous and unreliable. Anti-personnel explosive missiles are
excellent, provided the assassin has sufficient techn ical knowledge to
fuse them properly. 81 or 82 mm mortar shells, or the 120 mm mortar
shell, are particularly good. Anti-personnel shells for 85, 88, 90, 100
and 105 mm guns and howitzers are both large enough to be completely
reliable and small enough to be carried by one man.
The charge should be so placed that the subject is not ever six feet
from it at the moment of detonation.
A large, shaped charge with the \[illeg\] filled with iron fragments
(such as 1" nuts and bolts) will fire a highly lethal shotgun-type
 
\[illeg\] to 50 yards. This reaction has not been thoroughly tested,
however, and an exact replica of the proposed device should be fired in
advance to determine exact range, pattern-size, and penetration of
fragments. Fragments should penetrate at lea st 1" of seasoned pine or
equivalent for minimum reliability.
Any firing device may be used which permits exact control by the
assassin. An ordinary commercial or military explorer is efficient, as
long as it is rigged for instantaneous action with no time fuse in the
system.
The wise \[illeg\] electric target can serve as the triggering device
and provide exact timing from as far away as the assassin can reliably
hit the target. This will avid the disadvantages of stringing wire
between the proposed positions of the ass assin and the subject, and
also permit the assassin to fire the charge from a variety of possible
positions.
The radio switch can be \[illeg\] to fire \[illeg\], though its
reliability is somewhat lower and its procurement may not be easy.
EXAMPLES
(\[illeg\] may be presented brief outlines, with critical evaluations of
the following assassinations and attempts:
Marat
Hedrich
Lincoln
Hitler
Harding
Roosevelt
Grand Duke Sergei
Truman
Pirhivie
Mussolini
Archduke Francis Ferdinand
Benes
Rasputin
Aung Sang
Madero
\[illeg\]
Kirov
Abdullah
Huey Long
Ghandi
Alexander of Yugoslvia
 
Trotsky
 
 
CONFERENCE ROOM TECHNIQUE
 
1\.
![](ciaguat2_1.GIF)
(1) Enters room quickly but quietly
(2) Stands in doorway
2\.
![](ciaguat2_2.GIF)
(2) Opens fire on first subject to react. Swings across group toward
center of mass. Times burst to empty magazine at end of swing.
(1) Covers group to prevent individual dangerous reactions, if
necessary, fires individual bursts of 3 rounds.
3\.
![](ciaguat2_3.GIF)
(2) Finishes burst. Commands"Shift." Drops back thru \[sic\] door.
Replaces empty magazine. Covers corridor.
(1) On command "shift", opens fire on opposite side of target, swings
one burst across group.
4\.
![](ciaguat2_4.GIF)
(1) Finishes burst. Commands "shift". Drops back thru \[sic\] door.
Replaces magazine. Covers corridor.
(2) On command, "shift", re-enters room. Covers group: kills survivors
with two-round bursts. Leaves propaganda.
5\.
![](ciaguat2_5.GIF)
(2) Leaves room. Commands "GO". Covers rear with nearly full magazine.
(1) On command "GO", leads withdrawl, covering front with full magazine.
6\.
![](ciaguat2_6.GIF)

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@ -19,7 +19,155 @@ _tags:
objectID: '7774375'
---
[Source](https://boingboing.net/2014/05/20/disneylandprospectus.html "Permalink to ")
# Disneyland's original prospectus revealed\!
Thanks to an anonymous benefactor, Boing Boing is pleased to present the
first-ever look at the original Disneyland prospectus.
Thanks to an anonymous benefactor, Boing Boing is pleased to present the
first-ever look at the original Disneyland prospectus. These extremely
high-resolution scans were made from one of the three sets of
pitch-documents Roy and Walt Disney used to raise the money to build
Disneyland. There are no archive copies of this document. Neither the
Walt Disney Company nor the Walt Disney Family Museum have it. But we
certainly hope both organizations will download these documents for
inclusion in their collections.
Roy Disney -- the Disney brother who controlled the company's finances -
-- didn't like the idea of Disneyland at first. Walt Disney poached the
best talent from the studios to help him flesh out his idea for a new
kind of amusement park, eventually winning over Roy, who helped him
raise the $17 million it took to build Disneyland.
The first animator Walt took into the project was the legendary Herb
Ryman. Over the course of a weekend in 1953, Walt and Herb drew the
storied first map of Disneyland, as [pictured
here](http://www.waltdisney.org/content/drawing-park). An additional
eight typed pages of description and sales copy were added to these
pages and the resulting "brochure" was used as an unsuccessful pitch
session that Walt and Herb conducted for three different New York
bankers.
This document [changed hands at
auction](http://weissauctions.auctionflex.com/showlot.ap?co=6845&weid=20584&weiid=7509837&archive=n&lso=lotnumasc&pagenum=4&lang=En)
last year. The new owner has not indicated his interest in exhibiting or
sharing the contents of this document. The new owner is Glenn Beck, a
noted jerkface, so this is not surprising.
As for the document itself, there's a lot of interesting detail in it. I
was quite struck by the extent to which the document focuses on
Disneyland as a unique place to shop. This being the post-war
boom-years, shopping was coming into its own as an American recreational
passtime. And indeed, Disneyland has, at various times in its history,
focused strongly on unique gifts. In the 1950s and 1960s, doing your
Christmas shopping at Disneyland was quite the thing in LA (in those
days, there was a separate, low charge for admission, and ride tickets
were extra, so it was very cheap to pass through the gates in order to
shop). In the 1970s and 1980s, the parks sported loads of wonderful,
bespoke materials (I loved the [Randotti
souvenirs](http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=haunted+mansion+vintage&_sop=3&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR1.TRC0.A0.H0.Xhaunted+mansion+randotti&_nkw=haunted+mansion+randotti&_sacat=0),
especially the Haunted Mansion material). At various times since, the
corporate emphasis on merchandise has varied wildly, though thoughtful,
high-quality, distinctive merchandise now appears to be back in the mix.
But Walt's vision for what the company at one point called
"merchantainment" (\!) was more ambitious than anything yet realized
inside the berm. Page one boasts of a "mail order catalogue" that will
offer everything for sale at Disneyland (a kind of super-duper version
of today's [Disneyland
Delivears](http://disneylandinsideout.com/disneyland-resort-guide/in-the-parks/contact-disneyland)).
This catalogue was to feature actual livestock, including "a real pony
or a miniature donkey thirty inches high."
Once we get to "True-Life Adventureland," we learn of even cooler (and
less probable) living merchandise: "magnificently plumed birds and
fantastic fish from all over the world...which may be purchased and
shipped anywhere in the U.S. if you so desire."
The contrafactual Disneyland of 1953 wrestled with the future just as
much as today's Disney parks do. The prospectus promises "slidewalks," a
scientifically accurate space-simulator, robotic open kitchens and (of
course) merchandise. But what merch\! This being the golden age of
science kits, Walt and Herb promised to send kids home from Disneyland
with "scientific toys, chemical sets and model kits." We were also
promised space-helmets. (I want a space helmet\!)
Futurism and science fiction have been tough nuts for Disneyland to
crack. When the park opened in 1955, there wasn't much budget to kit out
Tomorrowland, so a bunch of corporate sponsors were quickly brought in
to host some pretty dubious exhibits: the [Kaiser Aluminum Hall of
Fame](http://davelandweb.com/tomorrowland/kaiser.html) (a giant tin
telescope, a tin pig, and exhibits about the role of aluminum in
American industry); a Dairy of the Future that featured models of cows
with IVs in their hocks gazing at videos of pastures; the Dutch Boy
Color Gallery (exploring the future through paint mixing). The crowning
glory was a big-top tent housing the special-effects kraken from the
film of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea; it was staffed by a little person
who hid inside it all day, making the tentacles wave.
There have been several attempts to remake Tomorrowland, of varying
success. At one point, it became a focal point for insouciant Orange
County goths, who congregated there every day after school, making good
use of their annual passes. These days, Tomorrowland is thoroughly
grounded in fiction from recently acquired franchises -- not futurism
and the "factual world of tomorrow." There's a rather good Marvel Comics
exhibit in the otherwise lacklustre Innoventions building, and lots of
Star Wars-themed stuff to go with the revamped Star Tours ride (which is
also rather good). No one seems to mind that a franchise set "a long,
long time ago" is a dominant feature in Tomorrowland. Pixar is
represented through a Buzz Lightyear ride/shooting gallery (where my
wife regularly and thoroughly trounces me).
Finally, the prospectus makes a big deal out of the idea of a miniature
walk-through land, "Lilliputian Land," where "mechanical people nine
inches high sing and dance and talk to you." This is clearly inspired by
Walt's experiences touring Copenhagen's Tivoli Gardens, and is the
lineal ancestor of the Small World boats (created for Unicef's pavilion
at the 1964 NYC World's Fair) and the Storybookland Boats. More to the
point, it shows off how much Disneyland was really an elaborate plan by
Walt to let extend the miniature train-set he'd build in his garden as
therapy after his mental breakdown. The classic [photo of Walt Disney
hanging out of a train
locomotive](https://www.google.com/search?site=&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1720&bih=878&q=walt+disney+train+driver&oq=walt+disney+train+driver&gs_l=img.3...316.3617.0.3679.24.14.0.10.5.0.129.1182.13j1.14.0....0...1ac.1.36.img..6.18.1150.ezGGzXT8ghA#q=walt+disney+train+&tbm=isch),
grinning with pure, unfaked joy contain, for me, the real story of
Disneyland: a man who struggled with depression and his relationship to
the company he founded, restless with corporate culture and anxious to
lose himself in play in a world of fantasy.
We are forever grateful to our anonymous source for this extraordinary
document. We hope you enjoy it as much as we
do.
![](https://i1.wp.com/media.boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/map2.jpg?w=970)
![](https://i2.wp.com/media.boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/title12.jpg?w=970)
![](https://i1.wp.com/media.boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/a2.jpg?w=970)
![](https://i1.wp.com/media.boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/b2.jpg?w=970)
![](https://i0.wp.com/media.boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/031.jpg?w=970)
![](https://i0.wp.com/media.boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/122.jpg?w=970)
![](https://i0.wp.com/media.boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/221.jpg?w=970)
![](https://i0.wp.com/media.boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/321.jpg?w=970)
![](https://i1.wp.com/media.boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/421.jpg?w=970)
![](https://i0.wp.com/media.boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/531.jpg?w=970)
![](https://i2.wp.com/media.boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/621.jpg?w=970)
![](https://i2.wp.com/media.boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/bigmap3.jpg?w=970)
[Disneyland Original
Prospectus](https://archive.org/details/Disneylandoriginalprospectus)
\[archive.org\]
A [zip file of high-res TIFF
files](https://ia601403.us.archive.org/27/items/Disneylandoriginalprospectus/Disneylandoriginalprospectus_images.zip)
\[4GB\!\] is also available.
Loading...

137
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objectID: '12517423'
---
[Source](https://newrepublic.com/article/136543/fantastic-world-professor-tolkien "Permalink to ")
All this is the secret information which Gandalf, after twelve years of
search and travels, returns by night to tell Frodo. For, thanks to
Bilbo’s inheritance, the harmless young Hobbit is now in possession of
the Lord of the Rings.
Frodo, appalled, attempts to pass the ring to Gandalf. But Gandalf knows
that those who possess the ring end by being possessed. And, while he is
tempted by power his spirit is one of “pity for weakness, and the desire
of strength to do good.” So he refuses the responsibility. No time is
left, for Sauron is closing in on the Shire. Frodo flees to save his
homeland, taking the ring and followed by three companions, while
Gandalf goes his own way towards their next meeting place. Stone
barrow-wights encase the Hobbits; ringwraiths, slaves of Sauron, pursue
them and wound Frodo. He makes mistake after mistake and survives only
though his own bravery or by the intervention of some unexpected force
of good. Strider, a ranger sent by Gandalf, guides him and so at last
Frodo reaches Rivendell.
For evil is matched and overcome not by superior power, but by the
determination and the goodness of ordinary beings, ennobles by the
assumption of burdens beyond their capacity to bear.
In Rivendell, the Council of Elrond is held and the decision is made to
attempt the destruction of the Ring. But this, ancient folklore asserts,
can be accomplished only by casting the ring into the fire mountain that
rises in Mordor, the fortress of the enemy. The one who will bear it
there must be chosen and after a long silence Frodo whispers, “I will
take the ring though I do not know the way.” Next from the Free Peoples
a fellowship is formed to help the ring-bearer: a man, Boromir, the
three Hobbits, an elf, a dwarf, Gandalf, and Strider, now revealed as
Aragorn, heir of the ancient Kings of the West.
The Fellowship sets out by a hunter’s moon and passes through increasing
peril. A snowstorm drives them into Mines of Moria where Gandalf in
battle with a dreadful spirit of the underworld vanishes into an abyss.
Aragorn leads the company on to the enchanted beauty of Lothlorien.
There no shadow lies, but the reluctant Fellowship moves on. Soon they
are surrounded by orcs and still worse the ring begins to work its evil
among them. For the unconquered cities around Mordor are under attack
from Sauron, and when Boromir realizes that Frodo will not be diverted
to their defense, he attempts in a moment of madness to seize the ring.
Then, at the end of the first volume, Frodo realizes that he must
continue alone. He slips on the ring and escapes followed only by his
gardener, Sam.
So the Fellowship is broken. Aragorn aided by Gandalf, now returned from
the dead, leads the company in desperate battles against the present
forces of Sauron. Frodo, battling evil itself, is lost with Sam on the
barren slopes of the Emyn Muil. There Gollum, who once held the ring,
overtakes and plots to kill them. Frodo, instead is empowered to kill
Gollum, but he remembers his own protest to Gandalf and Gandalf’s
answer:
> “What a pity Bilbo did not stab the vile creature when he had a
> chance.”
>
> “Pity? It was a Pity that stayed his hand.”
>
> “I do not feel any pity for Gollum. He deserves death.”
>
> “Deserves death\! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And
> some die that deserve life. Can you give that to them? Then be not too
> eager to deal out death in the name of Justice ... even the wise
> cannot see all ends.”
So Gollum is spared, to guide Frodo and then betray him. Thus as the
second volume closes, Sam is forced to abandon his master and, bearing
the ring, move on to Mordor alone.
But Frodo survives, and in the third volume while the Fellowship wages a
climactic battle to occupy the attention of Sauron, he accomplishes the
impossible. The battle is won, the wounded remain, beyond hope of
healing. But folklore proclaims: *The hands of the King are the hands of
a healer and so shall the rightful King be known.* Aragorn returns from
the battle and by healing earns his place as King. The Fellowship is
reunited and parts in peace. The new age begins.
> Its promise exceeds the wildest hopes of the heroes. But it is not for
> all to enjoy. “I thought you were going to enjoy the Shire too after
> all you have done,” cries Sam to Frodo whose old wound will not heal.
>
> So I thought once too \[Frodo answers\]. But I have been too deeply
> hurt, Sam. I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not
> for me. It must be often so Sam when things are in danger someone has
> to give them up, to lose them so that others may keep them.
So Frodo departs, leaving Sam to raise a family and the reader to
reflect on the meaning of Tolkien’s tale.
And of course it contains meaning. *The Lord of The Rings* is primarily
story telling, but the universality and the timeliness of its plot give
to it allegorical significance.
It is the struggle of good and evil that Tolkien sets apart, through
fantasy, from superficial detail. Evil in the form of Sauron, is man’s
rebellion against Providence, his attempt to become the lord of a world
he did not make. For he who starts by forcing his will upon others, ends
by destroying everything that he touches. Gollum is also evil, but not
beyond redemption. He is the servant of power, spared out of pity in
order that the compassion of the Hobbits may enable them to surmount the
insurmountable. For evil is matched and overcome not by superior power,
but by the determination and the goodness of ordinary beings, ennobles
by the assumption of burdens beyond their capacity to bear. Gandalf is
brilliant and Aragorn brave, but Frodo’s is the decisive will. And yet
for all his achievements, Frodo remains unchanged. For Tolkien’s purpose
is not that Hobbits should cease to be Hobbits; it is simply that they
should understand and give their best.
Gandalf is the instrument of Providence, but a strange sort of
instrument. His power is limited and less than Sauron’s; his
interventions are decisive but rare; frequently he is absent when he is
most needed. He is forbidden to dominate. For in the First and Second
Ages of Tolkien’s world, the gods interfered in man’s fate and so
obscured it. In the Third Age their emissary is present, but as a helper
only. The Age ends with the destruction of the ring, and the time of
man’s dominion begins. So when Frodo and the High Kindred, whose time
has also passed, step into the ship that bears them to the Grey Havens,
Gandalf is also on board.
> Anyone inheriting the fantastic device of human language can say The
> Green Sun. Many can then imagine or picture it. But that is not
> enough.... To make a secondary world inside the Green Sun will be
> credible commanding Secondary Belief will demand a special skill, a
> kind of elvish craft. Few attempt such difficult tasks. But when they
> are attempted, and in any degree accomplished, then we have a rare
> achievement of Art... indeed story telling in its primary and most
> potent mode - Tolkien
This standard, set by Tolkien in his contribution to the *Essays
Presented to Charles Williams,* is met in his own work. He possesses
elvish craft. He adds to it the scholar’s perspective and the humanist’s
faith. And yet he never allows the magical balance of mystery and
perception to be lost. For reasons his world of fantasy is more gripping
than the events that occur next door, say at *Ten North Frederick.* For
Tolkien’s fantasy does not obscure, but illuminates the inner
consistency of reality. There are very few works of genius in recent
literature.
This is one.

628
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[Source](http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html# "Permalink to ")
[![How can entropy be reversed](/images/mv_logo.png)](/)
## The Last Question by Isaac Asimov © 1956
The last question was asked for the first time, half in jest, on May 21,
2061, at a time when humanity first stepped into the light. The question
came about as a result of a five dollar bet over highballs, and it
happened this way:
Alexander Adell and Bertram Lupov were two of the faithful attendants of
Multivac. As well as any human beings could, they knew what lay behind
the cold, clicking, flashing face -- miles and miles of face -- of that
giant computer. They had at least a vague notion of the general plan of
relays and circuits that had long since grown past the point where any
single human could possibly have a firm grasp of the whole.
Multivac was self-adjusting and self-correcting. It had to be, for
nothing human could adjust and correct it quickly enough or even
adequately enough -- so Adell and Lupov attended the monstrous giant
only lightly and superficially, yet as well as any men could. They fed
it data, adjusted questions to its needs and translated the answers that
were issued. Certainly they, and all others like them, were fully
entitled to share In the glory that was Multivac's.
For decades, Multivac had helped design the ships and plot the
trajectories that enabled man to reach the Moon, Mars, and Venus, but
past that, Earth's poor resources could not support the ships. Too much
energy was needed for the long trips. Earth exploited its coal and
uranium with increasing efficiency, but there was only so much of both.
But slowly Multivac learned enough to answer deeper questions more
fundamentally, and on May 14, 2061, what had been theory, became fact.
The energy of the sun was stored, converted, and utilized directly on a
planet-wide scale. All Earth turned off its burning coal, its fissioning
uranium, and flipped the switch that connected all of it to a small
station, one mile in diameter, circling the Earth at half the distance
of the Moon. All Earth ran by invisible beams of sunpower.
Seven days had not sufficed to dim the glory of it and Adell and Lupov
finally managed to escape from the public function, and to meet in quiet
where no one would think of looking for them, in the deserted
underground chambers, where portions of the mighty buried body of
Multivac showed. Unattended, idling, sorting data with contented lazy
clickings, Multivac, too, had earned its vacation and the boys
appreciated that. They had no intention, originally, of disturbing it.
They had brought a bottle with them, and their only concern at the
moment was to relax in the company of each other and the bottle.
"It's amazing when you think of it," said Adell. His broad face had
lines of weariness in it, and he stirred his drink slowly with a glass
rod, watching the cubes of ice slur clumsily about. "All the energy we
can possibly ever use for free. Enough energy, if we wanted to draw on
it, to melt all Earth into a big drop of impure liquid iron, and still
never miss the energy so used. All the energy we could ever use, forever
and forever and forever."
Lupov cocked his head sideways. He had a trick of doing that when he
wanted to be contrary, and he wanted to be contrary now, partly because
he had had to carry the ice and glassware. "Not forever," he said.
"Oh, hell, just about forever. Till the sun runs down, Bert."
"That's not forever."
"All right, then. Billions and billions of years. Twenty billion, maybe.
Are you satisfied?"
Lupov put his fingers through his thinning hair as though to reassure
himself that some was still left and sipped gently at his own drink.
"Twenty billion years isn't forever."
"Will, it will last our time, won't it?"
"So would the coal and uranium."
"All right, but now we can hook up each individual spaceship to the
Solar Station, and it can go to Pluto and back a million times without
ever worrying about fuel. You can't do THAT on coal and uranium. Ask
Multivac, if you don't believe me."
"I don't have to ask Multivac. I know that."
"Then stop running down what Multivac's done for us," said Adell,
blazing up. "It did all right."
"Who says it didn't? What I say is that a sun won't last forever. That's
all I'm saying. We're safe for twenty billion years, but then what?"
Lupov pointed a slightly shaky finger at the other. "And don't say we'll
switch to another sun."
There was silence for a while. Adell put his glass to his lips only
occasionally, and Lupov's eyes slowly closed. They rested.
Then Lupov's eyes snapped open. "You're thinking we'll switch to another
sun when ours is done, aren't you?"
"I'm not thinking."
"Sure you are. You're weak on logic, that's the trouble with you. You're
like the guy in the story who was caught in a sudden shower and Who ran
to a grove of trees and got under one. He wasn't worried, you see,
because he figured when one tree got wet through, he would just get
under another one."
"I get it," said Adell. "Don't shout. When the sun is done, the other
stars will be gone, too."
"Darn right they will," muttered Lupov. "It all had a beginning in the
original cosmic explosion, whatever that was, and it'll all have an end
when all the stars run down. Some run down faster than others. Hell, the
giants won't last a hundred million years. The sun will last twenty
billion years and maybe the dwarfs will last a hundred billion for all
the good they are. But just give us a trillion years and everything will
be dark. Entropy has to increase to maximum, that's all."
"I know all about entropy," said Adell, standing on his dignity.
"The hell you do."
"I know as much as you do."
"Then you know everything's got to run down someday."
"All right. Who says they won't?"
"You did, you poor sap. You said we had all the energy we needed,
forever. You said 'forever.'"
"It was Adell's turn to be contrary. "Maybe we can build things up again
someday," he said.
"Never."
"Why not? Someday."
"Never."
"Ask Multivac."
"You ask Multivac. I dare you. Five dollars says it can't be done."
Adell was just drunk enough to try, just sober enough to be able to
phrase the necessary symbols and operations into a question which, in
words, might have corresponded to this: Will mankind one day without the
net expenditure of energy be able to restore the sun to its full
youthfulness even after it had died of old age?
Or maybe it could be put more simply like this: How can the net amount
of entropy of the universe be massively decreased?
Multivac fell dead and silent. The slow flashing of lights ceased, the
distant sounds of clicking relays ended.
Then, just as the frightened technicians felt they could hold their
breath no longer, there was a sudden springing to life of the teletype
attached to that portion of Multivac. Five words were printed:
INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER.
"No bet," whispered Lupov. They left hurriedly.
By next morning, the two, plagued with throbbing head and cottony mouth,
had forgotten about the incident.
Jerrodd, Jerrodine, and Jerrodette I and II watched the starry picture
in the visiplate change as the passage through hyperspace was completed
in its non-time lapse. At once, the even powdering of stars gave way to
the predominance of a single bright marble-disk, centered.
"That's X-23," said Jerrodd confidently. His thin hands clamped tightly
behind his back and the knuckles whitened.
The little Jerrodettes, both girls, had experienced the hyperspace
passage for the first time in their lives and were self-conscious over
the momentary sensation of inside-outness. They buried their giggles and
chased one another wildly about their mother, screaming, "We've reached
X-23 -- we've reached X-23 -- we've ----"
"Quiet, children," said Jerrodine sharply. "Are you sure, Jerrodd?"
"What is there to be but sure?" asked Jerrodd, glancing up at the bulge
of featureless metal just under the ceiling. It ran the length of the
room, disappearing through the wall at either end. It was as long as the
ship.
Jerrodd scarcely knew a thing about the thick rod of metal except that
it was called a Microvac, that one asked it questions if one wished;
that if one did not it still had its task of guiding the ship to a
preordered destination; of feeding on energies from the various
Sub-galactic Power Stations; of computing the equations for the
hyperspacial jumps.
Jerrodd and his family had only to wait and live in the comfortable
residence quarters of the ship.
Someone had once told Jerrodd that the "ac" at the end of "Microvac"
stood for "analog computer" in ancient English, but he was on the edge
of forgetting even that.
Jerrodine's eyes were moist as she watched the visiplate. "I can't help
it. I feel funny about leaving Earth."
"Why for Pete's sake?" demanded Jerrodd. "We had nothing there. We'll
have everything on X-23. You won't be alone. You won't be a pioneer.
There are over a million people on the planet already. Good Lord, our
great grandchildren will be looking for new worlds because X-23 will be
overcrowded."
Then, after a reflective pause, "I tell you, it's a lucky thing the
computers worked out interstellar travel the way the race is growing."
"I know, I know," said Jerrodine miserably.
Jerrodette I said promptly, "Our Microvac is the best Microvac in the
world."
"I think so, too," said Jerrodd, tousling her hair.
It was a nice feeling to have a Microvac of your own and Jerrodd was
glad he was part of his generation and no other. In his father's youth,
the only computers had been tremendous machines taking up a hundred
square miles of land. There was only one to a planet. Planetary ACs they
were called. They had been growing in size steadily for a thousand years
and then, all at once, came refinement. In place of transistors had come
molecular valves so that even the largest Planetary AC could be put into
a space only half the volume of a spaceship.
Jerrodd felt uplifted, as he always did when he thought that his own
personal Microvac was many times more complicated than the ancient and
primitive Multivac that had first tamed the Sun, and almost as
complicated as Earth's Planetary AC (the largest) that had first solved
the problem of hyperspatial travel and had made trips to the stars
possible.
"So many stars, so many planets," sighed Jerrodine, busy with her own
thoughts. "I suppose families will be going out to new planets forever,
the way we are now."
"Not forever," said Jerrodd, with a smile. "It will all stop someday,
but not for billions of years. Many billions. Even the stars run down,
you know. Entropy must increase."
"What's entropy, daddy?" shrilled Jerrodette II.
"Entropy, little sweet, is just a word which means the amount of
running-down of the universe. Everything runs down, you know, like your
little walkie-talkie robot, remember?"
"Can't you just put in a new power-unit, like with my robot?"
The stars are the power-units, dear. Once they're gone, there are no
more power-units."
Jerrodette I at once set up a howl. "Don't let them, daddy. Don't let
the stars run down."
"Now look what you've done, " whispered Jerrodine, exasperated.
"How was I to know it would frighten them?" Jerrodd whispered back.
"Ask the Microvac," wailed Jerrodette I. "Ask him how to turn the stars
on again."
"Go ahead," said Jerrodine. "It will quiet them down." (Jerrodette II
was beginning to cry, also.)
Jarrodd shrugged. "Now, now, honeys. I'll ask Microvac. Don't worry,
he'll tell us."
He asked the Microvac, adding quickly, "Print the answer."
Jerrodd cupped the strip of thin cellufilm and said cheerfully, "See
now, the Microvac says it will take care of everything when the time
comes so don't worry."
Jerrodine said, "and now children, it's time for bed. We'll be in our
new home soon."
Jerrodd read the words on the cellufilm again before destroying it:
INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER.
He shrugged and looked at the visiplate. X-23 was just ahead.
VJ-23X of Lameth stared into the black depths of the three-dimensional,
small-scale map of the Galaxy and said, "Are we ridiculous, I wonder, in
being so concerned about the matter?"
MQ-17J of Nicron shook his head. "I think not. You know the Galaxy will
be filled in five years at the present rate of expansion."
Both seemed in their early twenties, both were tall and perfectly
formed.
"Still," said VJ-23X, "I hesitate to submit a pessimistic report to the
Galactic Council."
"I wouldn't consider any other kind of report. Stir them up a bit. We've
got to stir them up."
VJ-23X sighed. "Space is infinite. A hundred billion Galaxies are there
for the taking. More."
"A hundred billion is not infinite and it's getting less infinite all
the time. Consider\! Twenty thousand years ago, mankind first solved the
problem of utilizing stellar energy, and a few centuries later,
interstellar travel became possible. It took mankind a million years to
fill one small world and then only fifteen thousand years to fill the
rest of the Galaxy. Now the population doubles every ten years --"
VJ-23X interrupted. "We can thank immortality for that."
"Very well. Immortality exists and we have to take it into account. I
admit it has its seamy side, this immortality. The Galactic AC has
solved many problems for us, but in solving the problems of preventing
old age and death, it has undone all its other solutions."
"Yet you wouldn't want to abandon life, I suppose."
"Not at all," snapped MQ-17J, softening it at once to, "Not yet. I'm by
no means old enough. How old are you?"
"Two hundred twenty-three. And you?"
"I'm still under two hundred. --But to get back to my point. Population
doubles every ten years. Once this Galaxy is filled, we'll have another
filled in ten years. Another ten years and we'll have filled two more.
Another decade, four more. In a hundred years, we'll have filled a
thousand Galaxies. In a thousand years, a million Galaxies. In ten
thousand years, the entire known Universe. Then what?"
VJ-23X said, "As a side issue, there's a problem of transportation. I
wonder how many sunpower units it will take to move Galaxies of
individuals from one Galaxy to the next."
"A very good point. Already, mankind consumes two sunpower units per
year."
"Most of it's wasted. After all, our own Galaxy alone pours out a
thousand sunpower units a year and we only use two of those."
"Granted, but even with a hundred per cent efficiency, we can only stave
off the end. Our energy requirements are going up in geometric
progression even faster than our population. We'll run out of energy
even sooner than we run out of Galaxies. A good point. A very good
point."
"We'll just have to build new stars out of interstellar gas."
"Or out of dissipated heat?" asked MQ-17J, sarcastically.
"There may be some way to reverse entropy. We ought to ask the Galactic
AC."
VJ-23X was not really serious, but MQ-17J pulled out his AC-contact from
his pocket and placed it on the table before him.
"I've half a mind to," he said. "It's something the human race will have
to face someday."
He stared somberly at his small AC-contact. It was only two inches cubed
and nothing in itself, but it was connected through hyperspace with the
great Galactic AC that served all mankind. Hyperspace considered, it was
an integral part of the Galactic AC.
MQ-17J paused to wonder if someday in his immortal life he would get to
see the Galactic AC. It was on a little world of its own, a spider
webbing of force-beams holding the matter within which surges of
sub-mesons took the place of the old clumsy molecular valves. Yet
despite it's sub-etheric workings, the Galactic AC was known to be a
full thousand feet across.
MQ-17J asked suddenly of his AC-contact, "Can entropy ever be reversed?"
VJ-23X looked startled and said at once, "Oh, say, I didn't really mean
to have you ask that."
"Why not?"
"We both know entropy can't be reversed. You can't turn smoke and ash
back into a tree."
"Do you have trees on your world?" asked MQ-17J.
The sound of the Galactic AC startled them into silence. Its voice came
thin and beautiful out of the small AC-contact on the desk. It said:
THERE IS INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER.
VJ-23X said, "See\!"
The two men thereupon returned to the question of the report they were
to make to the Galactic Council.
Zee Prime's mind spanned the new Galaxy with a faint interest in the
countless twists of stars that powdered it. He had never seen this one
before. Would he ever see them all? So many of them, each with its load
of humanity - but a load that was almost a dead weight. More and more,
the real essence of men was to be found out here, in space.
Minds, not bodies\! The immortal bodies remained back on the planets, in
suspension over the eons. Sometimes they roused for material activity
but that was growing rarer. Few new individuals were coming into
existence to join the incredibly mighty throng, but what matter? There
was little room in the Universe for new individuals.
Zee Prime was roused out of his reverie upon coming across the wispy
tendrils of another mind.
"I am Zee Prime," said Zee Prime. "And you?"
"I am Dee Sub Wun. Your Galaxy?"
"We call it only the Galaxy. And you?"
"We call ours the same. All men call their Galaxy their Galaxy and
nothing more. Why not?"
"True. Since all Galaxies are the same."
"Not all Galaxies. On one particular Galaxy the race of man must have
originated. That makes it different."
Zee Prime said, "On which one?"
"I cannot say. The Universal AC would know."
"Shall we ask him? I am suddenly curious."
Zee Prime's perceptions broadened until the Galaxies themselves shrunk
and became a new, more diffuse powdering on a much larger background. So
many hundreds of billions of them, all with their immortal beings, all
carrying their load of intelligences with minds that drifted freely
through space. And yet one of them was unique among them all in being
the originals Galaxy. One of them had, in its vague and distant past, a
period when it was the only Galaxy populated by man.
Zee Prime was consumed with curiosity to see this Galaxy and called,
out: "Universal AC\! On which Galaxy did mankind originate?"
The Universal AC heard, for on every world and throughout space, it had
its receptors ready, and each receptor lead through hyperspace to some
unknown point where the Universal AC kept itself aloof.
Zee Prime knew of only one man whose thoughts had penetrated within
sensing distance of Universal AC, and he reported only a shining globe,
two feet across, difficult to see.
"But how can that be all of Universal AC?" Zee Prime had asked.
"Most of it, " had been the answer, "is in hyperspace. In what form it
is there I cannot imagine."
Nor could anyone, for the day had long since passed, Zee Prime knew,
when any man had any part of the making of a universal AC. Each
Universal AC designed and constructed its successor. Each, during its
existence of a million years or more accumulated the necessary data to
build a better and more intricate, more capable successor in which its
own store of data and individuality would be submerged.
The Universal AC interrupted Zee Prime's wandering thoughts, not with
words, but with guidance. Zee Prime's mentality was guided into the dim
sea of Galaxies and one in particular enlarged into stars.
A thought came, infinitely distant, but infinitely clear. "THIS IS THE
ORIGINAL GALAXY OF MAN."
But it was the same after all, the same as any other, and Zee Prime
stifled his disappointment.
Dee Sub Wun, whose mind had accompanied the other, said suddenly, "And
Is one of these stars the original star of Man?"
The Universal AC said, "MAN'S ORIGINAL STAR HAS GONE NOVA. IT IS NOW A
WHITE DWARF."
"Did the men upon it die?" asked Zee Prime, startled and without
thinking.
The Universal AC said, "A NEW WORLD, AS IN SUCH CASES, WAS CONSTRUCTED
FOR THEIR PHYSICAL BODIES IN TIME."
"Yes, of course," said Zee Prime, but a sense of loss overwhelmed him
even so. His mind released its hold on the original Galaxy of Man, let
it spring back and lose itself among the blurred pin points. He never
wanted to see it again.
Dee Sub Wun said, "What is wrong?"
"The stars are dying. The original star is dead."
"They must all die. Why not?"
"But when all energy is gone, our bodies will finally die, and you and I
with them."
"It will take billions of years."
"I do not wish it to happen even after billions of years. Universal AC\!
How may stars be kept from dying?"
Dee sub Wun said in amusement, "You're asking how entropy might be
reversed in direction."
And the Universal AC answered. "THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A
MEANINGFUL ANSWER."
Zee Prime's thoughts fled back to his own Galaxy. He gave no further
thought to Dee Sub Wun, whose body might be waiting on a galaxy a
trillion light-years away, or on the star next to Zee Prime's own. It
didn't matter.
Unhappily, Zee Prime began collecting interstellar hydrogen out of which
to build a small star of his own. If the stars must someday die, at
least some could yet be built.
Man considered with himself, for in a way, Man, mentally, was one. He
consisted of a trillion, trillion, trillion ageless bodies, each in its
place, each resting quiet and incorruptible, each cared for by perfect
automatons, equally incorruptible, while the minds of all the bodies
freely melted one into the other, indistinguishable.
Man said, "The Universe is dying."
Man looked about at the dimming Galaxies. The giant stars, spendthrifts,
were gone long ago, back in the dimmest of the dim far past. Almost all
stars were white dwarfs, fading to the end.
New stars had been built of the dust between the stars, some by natural
processes, some by Man himself, and those were going, too. White dwarfs
might yet be crashed together and of the mighty forces so released, new
stars built, but only one star for every thousand white dwarfs
destroyed, and those would come to an end, too.
Man said, "Carefully husbanded, as directed by the Cosmic AC, the energy
that is even yet left in all the Universe will last for billions of
years."
"But even so," said Man, "eventually it will all come to an end. However
it may be husbanded, however stretched out, the energy once expended is
gone and cannot be restored. Entropy must increase to the maximum."
Man said, "Can entropy not be reversed? Let us ask the Cosmic AC."
The Cosmic AC surrounded them but not in space. Not a fragment of it was
in space. It was in hyperspace and made of something that was neither
matter nor energy. The question of its size and Nature no longer had
meaning to any terms that Man could comprehend.
"Cosmic AC," said Man, "How may entropy be reversed?"
The Cosmic AC said, "THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL
ANSWER."
Man said, "Collect additional data."
The Cosmic AC said, "I WILL DO SO. I HAVE BEEN DOING SO FOR A HUNDRED
BILLION YEARS. MY PREDECESSORS AND I HAVE BEEN ASKED THIS QUESTION MANY
TIMES. ALL THE DATA I HAVE REMAINS INSUFFICIENT."
"Will there come a time," said Man, "when data will be sufficient or is
the problem insoluble in all conceivable circumstances?"
The Cosmic AC said, "NO PROBLEM IS INSOLUBLE IN ALL CONCEIVABLE
CIRCUMSTANCES."
Man said, "When will you have enough data to answer the question?"
"THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER."
"Will you keep working on it?" asked Man.
The Cosmic AC said, "I WILL."
Man said, "We shall wait."
"The stars and Galaxies died and snuffed out, and space grew black after
ten trillion years of running down.
One by one Man fused with AC, each physical body losing its mental
identity in a manner that was somehow not a loss but a gain.
Man's last mind paused before fusion, looking over a space that included
nothing but the dregs of one last dark star and nothing besides but
incredibly thin matter, agitated randomly by the tag ends of heat
wearing out, asymptotically, to the absolute zero.
Man said, "AC, is this the end? Can this chaos not be reversed into the
Universe once more? Can that not be done?"
AC said, "THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER."
Man's last mind fused and only AC existed -- and that in hyperspace.
Matter and energy had ended and with it, space and time. Even AC existed
only for the sake of the one last question that it had never answered
from the time a half-drunken computer ten trillion years before had
asked the question of a computer that was to AC far less than was a man
to Man.
All other questions had been answered, and until this last question was
answered also, AC might not release his consciousness.
All collected data had come to a final end. Nothing was left to be
collected.
But all collected data had yet to be completely correlated and put
together in all possible relationships.
A timeless interval was spent in doing that.
And it came to pass that AC learned how to reverse the direction of
entropy.
But there was now no man to whom AC might give the answer of the last
question. No matter. The answer -- by demonstration -- would take care
of that, too.
For another timeless interval, AC thought how best to do this.
Carefully, AC organized the program.
The consciousness of AC encompassed all of what had once been a Universe
and brooded over what was now Chaos. Step by step, it must be done.
And AC said, "LET THERE BE LIGHT\!"
And there was light----
[Back to MultiVAX](/)

8
_stories/1956/8815734.md
View File

@ -19,7 +19,13 @@ _tags:
objectID: '8815734'
---
[Source](https://youtube.com/watch?v=7agl-sNLXMI "Permalink to ")
**Published on Dec 16, 2013**
In 1956 this unnamed American housewife took LSD at the Veteran's
Administration Hospital in Los Angeles. This woman's husband was an
employee at the hospital and referred her to this study, which was
reportedly done for a television program on mental health issues.
This video was found by biographer Don Lattin.
[0:49](#)

681
_stories/1959/12571046.md
View File

@ -19,95 +19,35 @@ _tags:
objectID: '12571046'
---
[Source](https://www.technologyreview.com/s/531911/isaac-asimov-asks-how-do-people-get-new-ideas/ "Permalink to Isaac Asimov Asks, “How Do People Get New Ideas?” - MIT Technology Review")
# Isaac Asimov Asks, “How Do People Get New Ideas?” - MIT Technology Review
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### A View from [**Isaac Asimov**][26]
# Isaac Asimov Asks, "How Do People Get New Ideas?"
* October 20, 2014
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Note from Arthur Obermayer, friend of the author:
_In 1959, I worked as a scientist at Allied Research Associates in Boston. The company was an MIT spinoff that originally focused on the effects of nuclear weapons on aircraft structures. The company received a contract with the acronym GLIPAR ([Guide Line Identification Program for Antimissile Research][28]) from the Advanced Research Projects Agency to elicit the most creative approaches possible for a ballistic missile defense system. The government recognized that no matter how much was spent on improving and expanding current technology, it would remain inadequate. They wanted us and a few other contractors to think "out of the box."_
In 1959, I worked as a scientist at Allied Research Associates in
Boston. The company was an MIT spinoff that originally focused on the
effects of nuclear weapons on aircraft structures. The company received
a contract with the acronym GLIPAR ([Guide Line Identification Program
for Antimissile
Research](http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1959/1959%20-%200699.html))
from the Advanced Research Projects Agency to elicit the most creative
approaches possible for a ballistic missile defense system. The
government recognized that no matter how much was spent on improving and
expanding current technology, it would remain inadequate. They wanted us
and a few other contractors to think “out of the box.”
_ When I first became involved in the project, I suggested that [Isaac Asimov][29], who was a good friend of mine, would be an appropriate person to participate. He expressed his willingness and came to a few meetings. He _eventually _decided not to continue, because he did not want to have access to any secret classified information; it would limit his freedom of expression. Before he left, however, he wrote this essay on creativity as his single formal input. This essay was never published or used beyond our small group. When I recently rediscovered it while cleaning out some old files, I recognized that its contents are as broadly relevant today as when he wrote it. It _describes _not only the creative process and the nature of creative people but also the kind of environment that promotes creativity._
When I first became involved in the project, I suggested that [Isaac
Asimov](http://www.asimovonline.com/asimov_home_page.html), who was a
good friend of mine, would be an appropriate person to participate. He
expressed his willingness and came to a few meetings. He eventually
decided not to continue, because he did not want to have access to any
secret classified information; it would limit his freedom of expression.
Before he left, however, he wrote this essay on creativity as his single
formal input. This essay was never published or used beyond our small
group. When I recently rediscovered it while cleaning out some old
files, I recognized that its contents are as broadly relevant today as
when he wrote it. It describes not only the creative process and the
nature of creative people but also the kind of environment that promotes
creativity.
[ ![][30] ][31]
This story is part of our January/February 2015 Issue
[See the rest of the issue][31]
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Isaac Asimov
@ -117,384 +57,193 @@ Andy Friedman
How do people get new ideas?
Presumably, the process of creativity, whatever it is, is essentially the same in all its branches and varieties, so that the evolution of a new art form, a new gadget, a new scientific principle, all involve common factors. We are most interested in the "creation" of a new scientific principle or a new application of an old one, but we can be general here.
One way of investigating the problem is to consider the great ideas of the past and see just how they were generated. Unfortunately, the method of generation is never clear even to the "generators" themselves.
But what if the same earth-shaking idea occurred to two men, simultaneously and independently? Perhaps, the common factors involved would be illuminating. Consider the theory of evolution by natural selection, independently created by Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace.
There is a great deal in common there. Both traveled to far places, observing strange species of plants and animals and the manner in which they varied from place to place. Both were keenly interested in finding an explanation for this, and both failed until each happened to read Malthus's "Essay on Population."
Both then saw how the notion of overpopulation and weeding out (which Malthus had applied to human beings) would fit into the doctrine of evolution by natural selection (if applied to species generally).
Obviously, then, what is needed is not only people with a good background in a particular field, but also people capable of making a connection between item 1 and item 2 which might not ordinarily seem connected.
Undoubtedly in the first half of the 19th century, a great many naturalists had studied the manner in which species were differentiated among themselves. A great many people had read Malthus. Perhaps some both studied species and read Malthus. But what you needed was someone who studied species, read Malthus, and had the ability to make a cross-connection.
That is the crucial point that is the rare characteristic that must be found. Once the cross-connection is made, it becomes obvious. Thomas H. Huxley is supposed to have exclaimed after reading _On the Origin of Species_, "How stupid of me not to have thought of this."
But why didn't he think of it? The history of human thought would make it seem that there is difficulty in thinking of an idea even when all the facts are on the table. Making the cross-connection requires a certain daring. It must, for any cross-connection that does not require daring is performed at once by many and develops not as a "new idea," but as a mere "corollary of an old idea."
It is only afterward that a new idea seems reasonable. To begin with, it usually seems unreasonable. It seems the height of unreason to suppose the earth was round instead of flat, or that it moved instead of the sun, or that objects required a force to stop them when in motion, instead of a force to keep them moving, and so on.
A person willing to fly in the face of reason, authority, and common sense must be a person of considerable self-assurance. Since he occurs only rarely, he must seem eccentric (in at least that respect) to the rest of us. A person eccentric in one respect is often eccentric in others.
Consequently, the person who is most likely to get new ideas is a person of good background in the field of interest and one who is unconventional in his habits. (To be a crackpot is not, however, enough in itself.)
Once you have the people you want, the next question is: Do you want to bring them together so that they may discuss the problem mutually, or should you inform each of the problem and allow them to work in isolation?
My feeling is that as far as creativity is concerned, isolation is required. The creative person is, in any case, continually working at it. His mind is shuffling his information at all times, even when he is not conscious of it. (The famous example of Kekule working out the structure of benzene in his sleep is well-known.)
The presence of others can only inhibit this process, since creation is embarrassing. For every new good idea you have, there are a hundred, ten thousand foolish ones, which you naturally do not care to display.
Nevertheless, a meeting of such people may be desirable for reasons other than the act of creation itself.
No two people exactly duplicate each other's mental stores of items. One person may know A and not B, another may know B and not A, and either knowing A and B, both may get the idea—though not necessarily at once or even soon.
Furthermore, the information may not only be of individual items A and B, but even of combinations such as A-B, which in themselves are not significant. However, if one person mentions the unusual combination of A-B and another the unusual combination A-C, it may well be that the combination A-B-C, which neither has thought of separately, may yield an answer.
It seems to me then that the purpose of cerebration sessions is not to think up new ideas but to educate the participants in facts and fact-combinations, in theories and vagrant thoughts.
But how to persuade creative people to do so? First and foremost, there must be ease, relaxation, and a general sense of permissiveness. The world in general disapproves of creativity, and to be creative in public is particularly bad. Even to speculate in public is rather worrisome. The individuals must, therefore, have the feeling that the others won't object.
If a single individual present is unsympathetic to the foolishness that would be bound to go on at such a session, the others would freeze. The unsympathetic individual may be a gold mine of information, but the harm he does will more than compensate for that. It seems necessary to me, then, that all people at a session be willing to sound foolish and listen to others sound foolish.
If a single individual present has a much greater reputation than the others, or is more articulate, or has a distinctly more commanding personality, he may well take over the conference and reduce the rest to little more than passive obedience. The individual may himself be extremely useful, but he might as well be put to work solo, for he is neutralizing the rest.
The optimum number of the group would probably not be very high. I should guess that no more than five would be wanted. A larger group might have a larger total supply of information, but there would be the tension of waiting to speak, which can be very frustrating. It would probably be better to have a number of sessions at which the people attending would vary, rather than one session including them all. (This would involve a certain repetition, but even repetition is not in itself undesirable. It is not what people say at these conferences, but what they inspire in each other later on.)
For best purposes, there should be a feeling of informality. Joviality, the use of first names, joking, relaxed kidding are, I think, of the essence—not in themselves, but because they encourage a willingness to be involved in the folly of creativeness. For this purpose I think a meeting in someone's home or over a dinner table at some restaurant is perhaps more useful than one in a conference room.
Probably more inhibiting than anything else is a feeling of responsibility. The great ideas of the ages have come from people who weren't paid to have great ideas, but were paid to be teachers or patent clerks or petty officials, or were not paid at all. The great ideas came as side issues.
To feel guilty because one has not earned one's salary because one has not had a great idea is the surest way, it seems to me, of making it certain that no great idea will come in the next time either.
Yet your company is conducting this cerebration program on government money. To think of congressmen or the general public hearing about scientists fooling around, boondoggling, telling dirty jokes, perhaps, at government expense, is to break into a cold sweat. In fact, the average scientist has enough public conscience not to want to feel he is doing this even if no one finds out.
I would suggest that members at a cerebration session be given sinecure tasks to do—short reports to write, or summaries of their conclusions, or brief answers to suggested problems—and be paid for that, the payment being the fee that would ordinarily be paid for the cerebration session. The cerebration session would then be officially unpaid-for and that, too, would allow considerable relaxation.
I do not think that cerebration sessions can be left unguided. There must be someone in charge who plays a role equivalent to that of a psychoanalyst. A psychoanalyst, as I understand it, by asking the right questions (and except for that interfering as little as possible), gets the patient himself to discuss his past life in such a way as to elicit new understanding of it in his own eyes.
In the same way, a session-arbiter will have to sit there, stirring up the animals, asking the shrewd question, making the necessary comment, bringing them gently back to the point. Since the arbiter will not know which question is shrewd, which comment necessary, and what the point is, his will not be an easy job.
As for "gadgets" designed to elicit creativity, I think these should arise out of the bull sessions themselves. If thoroughly relaxed, free of responsibility, discussing something of interest, and being by nature unconventional, the participants themselves will create devices to stimulate discussion.
_Published with permission of Asimov Holdings._
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Presumably, the process of creativity, whatever it is, is essentially
the same in all its branches and varieties, so that the evolution of a
new art form, a new gadget, a new scientific principle, all involve
common factors. We are most interested in the “creation” of a new
scientific principle or a new application of an old one, but we can be
general here.
One way of investigating the problem is to consider the great ideas of
the past and see just how they were generated. Unfortunately, the method
of generation is never clear even to the “generators” themselves.
But what if the same earth-shaking idea occurred to two men,
simultaneously and independently? Perhaps, the common factors involved
would be illuminating. Consider the theory of evolution by natural
selection, independently created by Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace.
There is a great deal in common there. Both traveled to far places,
observing strange species of plants and animals and the manner in which
they varied from place to place. Both were keenly interested in finding
an explanation for this, and both failed until each happened to read
Malthus’s “Essay on Population.”
Both then saw how the notion of overpopulation and weeding out (which
Malthus had applied to human beings) would fit into the doctrine of
evolution by natural selection (if applied to species generally).
Obviously, then, what is needed is not only people with a good
background in a particular field, but also people capable of making a
connection between item 1 and item 2 which might not ordinarily seem
connected.
Undoubtedly in the first half of the 19th century, a great many
naturalists had studied the manner in which species were differentiated
among themselves. A great many people had read Malthus. Perhaps some
both studied species and read Malthus. But what you needed was someone
who studied species, read Malthus, and had the ability to make a
cross-connection.
That is the crucial point that is the rare characteristic that must be
found. Once the cross-connection is made, it becomes obvious. Thomas H.
Huxley is supposed to have exclaimed after reading On the Origin of
Species, “How stupid of me not to have thought of this.”
But why didn’t he think of it? The history of human thought would make
it seem that there is difficulty in thinking of an idea even when all
the facts are on the table. Making the cross-connection requires a
certain daring. It must, for any cross-connection that does not require
daring is performed at once by many and develops not as a “new idea,”
but as a mere “corollary of an old idea.”
It is only afterward that a new idea seems reasonable. To begin with, it
usually seems unreasonable. It seems the height of unreason to suppose
the earth was round instead of flat, or that it moved instead of the
sun, or that objects required a force to stop them when in motion,
instead of a force to keep them moving, and so on.
A person willing to fly in the face of reason, authority, and common
sense must be a person of considerable self-assurance. Since he occurs
only rarely, he must seem eccentric (in at least that respect) to the
rest of us. A person eccentric in one respect is often eccentric in
others.
Consequently, the person who is most likely to get new ideas is a person
of good background in the field of interest and one who is
unconventional in his habits. (To be a crackpot is not, however, enough
in itself.)
Once you have the people you want, the next question is: Do you want to
bring them together so that they may discuss the problem mutually, or
should you inform each of the problem and allow them to work in
isolation?
My feeling is that as far as creativity is concerned, isolation is
required. The creative person is, in any case, continually working at
it. His mind is shuffling his information at all times, even when he is
not conscious of it. (The famous example of Kekule working out the
structure of benzene in his sleep is well-known.)
The presence of others can only inhibit this process, since creation is
embarrassing. For every new good idea you have, there are a hundred, ten
thousand foolish ones, which you naturally do not care to display.
Nevertheless, a meeting of such people may be desirable for reasons
other than the act of creation itself.
No two people exactly duplicate each other’s mental stores of items. One
person may know A and not B, another may know B and not A, and either
knowing A and B, both may get the idea—though not necessarily at once or
even soon.
Furthermore, the information may not only be of individual items A and
B, but even of combinations such as A-B, which in themselves are not
significant. However, if one person mentions the unusual combination of
A-B and another the unusual combination A-C, it may well be that the
combination A-B-C, which neither has thought of separately, may yield an
answer.
It seems to me then that the purpose of cerebration sessions is not to
think up new ideas but to educate the participants in facts and
fact-combinations, in theories and vagrant thoughts.
But how to persuade creative people to do so? First and foremost, there
must be ease, relaxation, and a general sense of permissiveness. The
world in general disapproves of creativity, and to be creative in public
is particularly bad. Even to speculate in public is rather worrisome.
The individuals must, therefore, have the feeling that the others won’t
object.
If a single individual present is unsympathetic to the foolishness that
would be bound to go on at such a session, the others would freeze. The
unsympathetic individual may be a gold mine of information, but the harm
he does will more than compensate for that. It seems necessary to me,
then, that all people at a session be willing to sound foolish and
listen to others sound foolish.
If a single individual present has a much greater reputation than the
others, or is more articulate, or has a distinctly more commanding
personality, he may well take over the conference and reduce the rest to
little more than passive obedience. The individual may himself be
extremely useful, but he might as well be put to work solo, for he is
neutralizing the rest.
The optimum number of the group would probably not be very high. I
should guess that no more than five would be wanted. A larger group
might have a larger total supply of information, but there would be the
tension of waiting to speak, which can be very frustrating. It would
probably be better to have a number of sessions at which the people
attending would vary, rather than one session including them all. (This
would involve a certain repetition, but even repetition is not in itself
undesirable. It is not what people say at these conferences, but what
they inspire in each other later on.)
For best purposes, there should be a feeling of informality. Joviality,
the use of first names, joking, relaxed kidding are, I think, of the
essence—not in themselves, but because they encourage a willingness to
be involved in the folly of creativeness. For this purpose I think a
meeting in someone’s home or over a dinner table at some restaurant is
perhaps more useful than one in a conference room.
Probably more inhibiting than anything else is a feeling of
responsibility. The great ideas of the ages have come from people who
weren’t paid to have great ideas, but were paid to be teachers or patent
clerks or petty officials, or were not paid at all. The great ideas came
as side issues.
To feel guilty because one has not earned one’s salary because one has
not had a great idea is the surest way, it seems to me, of making it
certain that no great idea will come in the next time either.
Yet your company is conducting this cerebration program on government
money. To think of congressmen or the general public hearing about
scientists fooling around, boondoggling, telling dirty jokes, perhaps,
at government expense, is to break into a cold sweat. In fact, the
average scientist has enough public conscience not to want to feel he is
doing this even if no one finds out.
I would suggest that members at a cerebration session be given sinecure
tasks to do—short reports to write, or summaries of their conclusions,
or brief answers to suggested problems—and be paid for that, the payment
being the fee that would ordinarily be paid for the cerebration session.
The cerebration session would then be officially unpaid-for and that,
too, would allow considerable relaxation.
I do not think that cerebration sessions can be left unguided. There
must be someone in charge who plays a role equivalent to that of a
psychoanalyst. A psychoanalyst, as I understand it, by asking the right
questions (and except for that interfering as little as possible), gets
the patient himself to discuss his past life in such a way as to elicit
new understanding of it in his own eyes.
In the same way, a session-arbiter will have to sit there, stirring up
the animals, asking the shrewd question, making the necessary comment,
bringing them gently back to the point. Since the arbiter will not know
which question is shrewd, which comment necessary, and what the point
is, his will not be an easy job.
As for “gadgets” designed to elicit creativity, I think these should
arise out of the bull sessions themselves. If thoroughly relaxed, free
of responsibility, discussing something of interest, and being by nature
unconventional, the participants themselves will create devices to
stimulate discussion.
Published with permission of Asimov Holdings.
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@ -19,95 +19,35 @@ _tags:
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---
[Source](https://www.technologyreview.com/s/531911/isaac-asimov-asks-how-do-people-get-new-ideas/ "Permalink to Isaac Asimov Asks, “How Do People Get New Ideas?” - MIT Technology Review")
# Isaac Asimov Asks, “How Do People Get New Ideas?” - MIT Technology Review
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### A View from [**Isaac Asimov**][26]
# Isaac Asimov Asks, "How Do People Get New Ideas?"
* October 20, 2014
* [
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Note from Arthur Obermayer, friend of the author:
_In 1959, I worked as a scientist at Allied Research Associates in Boston. The company was an MIT spinoff that originally focused on the effects of nuclear weapons on aircraft structures. The company received a contract with the acronym GLIPAR ([Guide Line Identification Program for Antimissile Research][28]) from the Advanced Research Projects Agency to elicit the most creative approaches possible for a ballistic missile defense system. The government recognized that no matter how much was spent on improving and expanding current technology, it would remain inadequate. They wanted us and a few other contractors to think "out of the box."_
In 1959, I worked as a scientist at Allied Research Associates in
Boston. The company was an MIT spinoff that originally focused on the
effects of nuclear weapons on aircraft structures. The company received
a contract with the acronym GLIPAR ([Guide Line Identification Program
for Antimissile
Research](http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1959/1959%20-%200699.html))
from the Advanced Research Projects Agency to elicit the most creative
approaches possible for a ballistic missile defense system. The
government recognized that no matter how much was spent on improving and
expanding current technology, it would remain inadequate. They wanted us
and a few other contractors to think “out of the box.”
_ When I first became involved in the project, I suggested that [Isaac Asimov][29], who was a good friend of mine, would be an appropriate person to participate. He expressed his willingness and came to a few meetings. He _eventually _decided not to continue, because he did not want to have access to any secret classified information; it would limit his freedom of expression. Before he left, however, he wrote this essay on creativity as his single formal input. This essay was never published or used beyond our small group. When I recently rediscovered it while cleaning out some old files, I recognized that its contents are as broadly relevant today as when he wrote it. It _describes _not only the creative process and the nature of creative people but also the kind of environment that promotes creativity._
When I first became involved in the project, I suggested that [Isaac
Asimov](http://www.asimovonline.com/asimov_home_page.html), who was a
good friend of mine, would be an appropriate person to participate. He
expressed his willingness and came to a few meetings. He eventually
decided not to continue, because he did not want to have access to any
secret classified information; it would limit his freedom of expression.
Before he left, however, he wrote this essay on creativity as his single
formal input. This essay was never published or used beyond our small
group. When I recently rediscovered it while cleaning out some old
files, I recognized that its contents are as broadly relevant today as
when he wrote it. It describes not only the creative process and the
nature of creative people but also the kind of environment that promotes
creativity.
[ ![][30] ][31]
This story is part of our January/February 2015 Issue
[See the rest of the issue][31]
[Subscribe][25] ![][32]
![](https://cdn.technologyreview.com/i/images/jf15-viewsasimov1.jpg?sw=373&cx=0&cy=0&cw=666&ch=1192)
Isaac Asimov
@ -117,384 +57,193 @@ Andy Friedman
How do people get new ideas?
Presumably, the process of creativity, whatever it is, is essentially the same in all its branches and varieties, so that the evolution of a new art form, a new gadget, a new scientific principle, all involve common factors. We are most interested in the "creation" of a new scientific principle or a new application of an old one, but we can be general here.
One way of investigating the problem is to consider the great ideas of the past and see just how they were generated. Unfortunately, the method of generation is never clear even to the "generators" themselves.
But what if the same earth-shaking idea occurred to two men, simultaneously and independently? Perhaps, the common factors involved would be illuminating. Consider the theory of evolution by natural selection, independently created by Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace.
There is a great deal in common there. Both traveled to far places, observing strange species of plants and animals and the manner in which they varied from place to place. Both were keenly interested in finding an explanation for this, and both failed until each happened to read Malthus's "Essay on Population."
Both then saw how the notion of overpopulation and weeding out (which Malthus had applied to human beings) would fit into the doctrine of evolution by natural selection (if applied to species generally).
Obviously, then, what is needed is not only people with a good background in a particular field, but also people capable of making a connection between item 1 and item 2 which might not ordinarily seem connected.
Undoubtedly in the first half of the 19th century, a great many naturalists had studied the manner in which species were differentiated among themselves. A great many people had read Malthus. Perhaps some both studied species and read Malthus. But what you needed was someone who studied species, read Malthus, and had the ability to make a cross-connection.
That is the crucial point that is the rare characteristic that must be found. Once the cross-connection is made, it becomes obvious. Thomas H. Huxley is supposed to have exclaimed after reading _On the Origin of Species_, "How stupid of me not to have thought of this."
But why didn't he think of it? The history of human thought would make it seem that there is difficulty in thinking of an idea even when all the facts are on the table. Making the cross-connection requires a certain daring. It must, for any cross-connection that does not require daring is performed at once by many and develops not as a "new idea," but as a mere "corollary of an old idea."
It is only afterward that a new idea seems reasonable. To begin with, it usually seems unreasonable. It seems the height of unreason to suppose the earth was round instead of flat, or that it moved instead of the sun, or that objects required a force to stop them when in motion, instead of a force to keep them moving, and so on.
A person willing to fly in the face of reason, authority, and common sense must be a person of considerable self-assurance. Since he occurs only rarely, he must seem eccentric (in at least that respect) to the rest of us. A person eccentric in one respect is often eccentric in others.
Consequently, the person who is most likely to get new ideas is a person of good background in the field of interest and one who is unconventional in his habits. (To be a crackpot is not, however, enough in itself.)
Once you have the people you want, the next question is: Do you want to bring them together so that they may discuss the problem mutually, or should you inform each of the problem and allow them to work in isolation?
My feeling is that as far as creativity is concerned, isolation is required. The creative person is, in any case, continually working at it. His mind is shuffling his information at all times, even when he is not conscious of it. (The famous example of Kekule working out the structure of benzene in his sleep is well-known.)
The presence of others can only inhibit this process, since creation is embarrassing. For every new good idea you have, there are a hundred, ten thousand foolish ones, which you naturally do not care to display.
Nevertheless, a meeting of such people may be desirable for reasons other than the act of creation itself.
No two people exactly duplicate each other's mental stores of items. One person may know A and not B, another may know B and not A, and either knowing A and B, both may get the idea—though not necessarily at once or even soon.
Furthermore, the information may not only be of individual items A and B, but even of combinations such as A-B, which in themselves are not significant. However, if one person mentions the unusual combination of A-B and another the unusual combination A-C, it may well be that the combination A-B-C, which neither has thought of separately, may yield an answer.
It seems to me then that the purpose of cerebration sessions is not to think up new ideas but to educate the participants in facts and fact-combinations, in theories and vagrant thoughts.
But how to persuade creative people to do so? First and foremost, there must be ease, relaxation, and a general sense of permissiveness. The world in general disapproves of creativity, and to be creative in public is particularly bad. Even to speculate in public is rather worrisome. The individuals must, therefore, have the feeling that the others won't object.
If a single individual present is unsympathetic to the foolishness that would be bound to go on at such a session, the others would freeze. The unsympathetic individual may be a gold mine of information, but the harm he does will more than compensate for that. It seems necessary to me, then, that all people at a session be willing to sound foolish and listen to others sound foolish.
If a single individual present has a much greater reputation than the others, or is more articulate, or has a distinctly more commanding personality, he may well take over the conference and reduce the rest to little more than passive obedience. The individual may himself be extremely useful, but he might as well be put to work solo, for he is neutralizing the rest.
The optimum number of the group would probably not be very high. I should guess that no more than five would be wanted. A larger group might have a larger total supply of information, but there would be the tension of waiting to speak, which can be very frustrating. It would probably be better to have a number of sessions at which the people attending would vary, rather than one session including them all. (This would involve a certain repetition, but even repetition is not in itself undesirable. It is not what people say at these conferences, but what they inspire in each other later on.)
For best purposes, there should be a feeling of informality. Joviality, the use of first names, joking, relaxed kidding are, I think, of the essence—not in themselves, but because they encourage a willingness to be involved in the folly of creativeness. For this purpose I think a meeting in someone's home or over a dinner table at some restaurant is perhaps more useful than one in a conference room.
Probably more inhibiting than anything else is a feeling of responsibility. The great ideas of the ages have come from people who weren't paid to have great ideas, but were paid to be teachers or patent clerks or petty officials, or were not paid at all. The great ideas came as side issues.
To feel guilty because one has not earned one's salary because one has not had a great idea is the surest way, it seems to me, of making it certain that no great idea will come in the next time either.
Yet your company is conducting this cerebration program on government money. To think of congressmen or the general public hearing about scientists fooling around, boondoggling, telling dirty jokes, perhaps, at government expense, is to break into a cold sweat. In fact, the average scientist has enough public conscience not to want to feel he is doing this even if no one finds out.
I would suggest that members at a cerebration session be given sinecure tasks to do—short reports to write, or summaries of their conclusions, or brief answers to suggested problems—and be paid for that, the payment being the fee that would ordinarily be paid for the cerebration session. The cerebration session would then be officially unpaid-for and that, too, would allow considerable relaxation.
I do not think that cerebration sessions can be left unguided. There must be someone in charge who plays a role equivalent to that of a psychoanalyst. A psychoanalyst, as I understand it, by asking the right questions (and except for that interfering as little as possible), gets the patient himself to discuss his past life in such a way as to elicit new understanding of it in his own eyes.
In the same way, a session-arbiter will have to sit there, stirring up the animals, asking the shrewd question, making the necessary comment, bringing them gently back to the point. Since the arbiter will not know which question is shrewd, which comment necessary, and what the point is, his will not be an easy job.
As for "gadgets" designed to elicit creativity, I think these should arise out of the bull sessions themselves. If thoroughly relaxed, free of responsibility, discussing something of interest, and being by nature unconventional, the participants themselves will create devices to stimulate discussion.
_Published with permission of Asimov Holdings._
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### Credit
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[47]: https://www.technologyreview.com/video/604391/business-of-blockchain-2017-opening-remarks/
[48]: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/610319/orbiting-tesla-roadster-has-6-percent-chance-of-hitting-earth-in-the-next-million-years/
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Presumably, the process of creativity, whatever it is, is essentially
the same in all its branches and varieties, so that the evolution of a
new art form, a new gadget, a new scientific principle, all involve
common factors. We are most interested in the “creation” of a new
scientific principle or a new application of an old one, but we can be
general here.
One way of investigating the problem is to consider the great ideas of
the past and see just how they were generated. Unfortunately, the method
of generation is never clear even to the “generators” themselves.
But what if the same earth-shaking idea occurred to two men,
simultaneously and independently? Perhaps, the common factors involved
would be illuminating. Consider the theory of evolution by natural
selection, independently created by Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace.
There is a great deal in common there. Both traveled to far places,
observing strange species of plants and animals and the manner in which
they varied from place to place. Both were keenly interested in finding
an explanation for this, and both failed until each happened to read
Malthus’s “Essay on Population.”
Both then saw how the notion of overpopulation and weeding out (which
Malthus had applied to human beings) would fit into the doctrine of
evolution by natural selection (if applied to species generally).
Obviously, then, what is needed is not only people with a good
background in a particular field, but also people capable of making a
connection between item 1 and item 2 which might not ordinarily seem
connected.
Undoubtedly in the first half of the 19th century, a great many
naturalists had studied the manner in which species were differentiated
among themselves. A great many people had read Malthus. Perhaps some
both studied species and read Malthus. But what you needed was someone
who studied species, read Malthus, and had the ability to make a
cross-connection.
That is the crucial point that is the rare characteristic that must be
found. Once the cross-connection is made, it becomes obvious. Thomas H.
Huxley is supposed to have exclaimed after reading On the Origin of
Species, “How stupid of me not to have thought of this.”
But why didn’t he think of it? The history of human thought would make
it seem that there is difficulty in thinking of an idea even when all
the facts are on the table. Making the cross-connection requires a
certain daring. It must, for any cross-connection that does not require
daring is performed at once by many and develops not as a “new idea,”
but as a mere “corollary of an old idea.”
It is only afterward that a new idea seems reasonable. To begin with, it
usually seems unreasonable. It seems the height of unreason to suppose
the earth was round instead of flat, or that it moved instead of the
sun, or that objects required a force to stop them when in motion,
instead of a force to keep them moving, and so on.
A person willing to fly in the face of reason, authority, and common
sense must be a person of considerable self-assurance. Since he occurs
only rarely, he must seem eccentric (in at least that respect) to the
rest of us. A person eccentric in one respect is often eccentric in
others.
Consequently, the person who is most likely to get new ideas is a person
of good background in the field of interest and one who is
unconventional in his habits. (To be a crackpot is not, however, enough
in itself.)
Once you have the people you want, the next question is: Do you want to
bring them together so that they may discuss the problem mutually, or
should you inform each of the problem and allow them to work in
isolation?
My feeling is that as far as creativity is concerned, isolation is
required. The creative person is, in any case, continually working at
it. His mind is shuffling his information at all times, even when he is
not conscious of it. (The famous example of Kekule working out the
structure of benzene in his sleep is well-known.)
The presence of others can only inhibit this process, since creation is
embarrassing. For every new good idea you have, there are a hundred, ten
thousand foolish ones, which you naturally do not care to display.
Nevertheless, a meeting of such people may be desirable for reasons
other than the act of creation itself.
No two people exactly duplicate each other’s mental stores of items. One
person may know A and not B, another may know B and not A, and either
knowing A and B, both may get the idea—though not necessarily at once or
even soon.
Furthermore, the information may not only be of individual items A and
B, but even of combinations such as A-B, which in themselves are not
significant. However, if one person mentions the unusual combination of
A-B and another the unusual combination A-C, it may well be that the
combination A-B-C, which neither has thought of separately, may yield an
answer.
It seems to me then that the purpose of cerebration sessions is not to
think up new ideas but to educate the participants in facts and
fact-combinations, in theories and vagrant thoughts.
But how to persuade creative people to do so? First and foremost, there
must be ease, relaxation, and a general sense of permissiveness. The
world in general disapproves of creativity, and to be creative in public
is particularly bad. Even to speculate in public is rather worrisome.
The individuals must, therefore, have the feeling that the others won’t
object.
If a single individual present is unsympathetic to the foolishness that
would be bound to go on at such a session, the others would freeze. The
unsympathetic individual may be a gold mine of information, but the harm
he does will more than compensate for that. It seems necessary to me,
then, that all people at a session be willing to sound foolish and
listen to others sound foolish.
If a single individual present has a much greater reputation than the
others, or is more articulate, or has a distinctly more commanding
personality, he may well take over the conference and reduce the rest to
little more than passive obedience. The individual may himself be
extremely useful, but he might as well be put to work solo, for he is
neutralizing the rest.
The optimum number of the group would probably not be very high. I
should guess that no more than five would be wanted. A larger group
might have a larger total supply of information, but there would be the
tension of waiting to speak, which can be very frustrating. It would
probably be better to have a number of sessions at which the people
attending would vary, rather than one session including them all. (This
would involve a certain repetition, but even repetition is not in itself
undesirable. It is not what people say at these conferences, but what
they inspire in each other later on.)
For best purposes, there should be a feeling of informality. Joviality,
the use of first names, joking, relaxed kidding are, I think, of the
essence—not in themselves, but because they encourage a willingness to
be involved in the folly of creativeness. For this purpose I think a
meeting in someone’s home or over a dinner table at some restaurant is
perhaps more useful than one in a conference room.
Probably more inhibiting than anything else is a feeling of
responsibility. The great ideas of the ages have come from people who
weren’t paid to have great ideas, but were paid to be teachers or patent
clerks or petty officials, or were not paid at all. The great ideas came
as side issues.
To feel guilty because one has not earned one’s salary because one has
not had a great idea is the surest way, it seems to me, of making it
certain that no great idea will come in the next time either.
Yet your company is conducting this cerebration program on government
money. To think of congressmen or the general public hearing about
scientists fooling around, boondoggling, telling dirty jokes, perhaps,
at government expense, is to break into a cold sweat. In fact, the
average scientist has enough public conscience not to want to feel he is
doing this even if no one finds out.
I would suggest that members at a cerebration session be given sinecure
tasks to do—short reports to write, or summaries of their conclusions,
or brief answers to suggested problems—and be paid for that, the payment
being the fee that would ordinarily be paid for the cerebration session.
The cerebration session would then be officially unpaid-for and that,
too, would allow considerable relaxation.
I do not think that cerebration sessions can be left unguided. There
must be someone in charge who plays a role equivalent to that of a
psychoanalyst. A psychoanalyst, as I understand it, by asking the right
questions (and except for that interfering as little as possible), gets
the patient himself to discuss his past life in such a way as to elicit
new understanding of it in his own eyes.
In the same way, a session-arbiter will have to sit there, stirring up
the animals, asking the shrewd question, making the necessary comment,
bringing them gently back to the point. Since the arbiter will not know
which question is shrewd, which comment necessary, and what the point
is, his will not be an easy job.
As for “gadgets” designed to elicit creativity, I think these should
arise out of the bull sessions themselves. If thoroughly relaxed, free
of responsibility, discussing something of interest, and being by nature
unconventional, the participants themselves will create devices to
stimulate discussion.
Published with permission of Asimov Holdings.
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title: 'Sketchpad: A man-machine graphical communication system (1963)'
url: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.10.4290&rep=rep1&type=pdf
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title: 'FBI Investigation: “Louie Louie”, The Song (1964)'
url: https://vault.fbi.gov/louie-louie-the-song/louie-louie-the-song/view
author: dpflan
points: 129
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[Source](https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/23/lifetimes/asi-v-profile.html "Permalink to ")
![C](/images/c.gif)limb to the second floor of a neat, middle-class
house in West Newton, Mass., bear to the right, walk a few steps and you
come to a door. On it are stickers, "Great Lover," "Silence Please,"
"Genius at Work." Obviously in the house there are children, and, as
usual, the pasted-up graffiti of children have something going for them.
"Great Lover' we can skip as being nobody's business. As to the
others\*well, this door leads to the office of Isaac Asimov.
Silence he needs, for this definitely is a hard-working man and one of
fierce concentration. Genius he may be, although he disputes it. In the
matter-of-fact way in which he writes, he puts it thus: "Just say I am
one of the most versatile writers in the world, and the greatest
popularizer of many subjects." These range from the Bible down through
history and the ramifications of science to Shakespeare, on which he's
now working. The 100th bound result of his labors is scheduled for fall,
and in Books in Print, where the the size is small indeed, the listing
of various editions of his work runs a column and a half in length.
Is he the most prolific writer in the world? Says Mr. Asimov, "No, there
are others, most notably Georges Simenon. But he *writes* only novels."
The inference is clear that M. Simenon, word demon that he may be, would
be hard put to turn out such an item as "An Easy Introduction to the
Slide Rule," which Mr. Asimov did. The Asimov books average 70,000
words, he has written 108 of them (the last few are still at the
printers) and all this comes to 7,560,000 words. "And the most pleasant
thing about it is that everything I write gets printed."
He is 49, reasonably slight of build, the type of man who thought he
should put on a necktie while meeting a visitor, then said the hell with
it on the ground it would be unnatural. The most distinguishing things
about him are the heavy frames holding his glasses and the incredible
neatness of his office. This last is as well, for he spends practically
all his life there, knocking out 90 words a minute on an electric
typewriter, with a back-up typewriter should the first one break down.
He leaves his typewriter unwillingly and as seldom as possible\*going
forth into the outer world only to give an occasional lecture or when
his wife and two teen-age children insist he take them somewhere. The
members of the family are crosses to be borne, if pleasant crosses. "I'm
really happy only when I'm up here working," he says with a wry grin.
He met his visitor at 8:30 in the morning—this unholy hour a concession
to his working day\*and while he talked of himself and his work he
seemed on occasion to furtively eye the idle typewriter. People from New
York can be as great a nuisance as a family.
His story technically begins in Russia, where he was born, but really in
East New York\*which is Brooklyn\*where he grew up. His father operated
candy stores, and indeed Isaac worked in or was otherwise connected with
candy stores until he was 27, got married and withdrew. He entered
Columbia at 15, received an A.B., kept going to an M.A., was in the
armed forces, returned to Columbia for his Ph.D., and thus became
entitled to cal himself "Dr. Asimov."
More important to this particular story than the Ph.D is the fact that
at age 11, he found himself with an urge to write. In a series of 5-cent
copybooks, he wrote eight chapters of a novel called "The Greenville
Chums at College," which, it is perhaps unnecessary to say, was modeled
closely on the Rover Boys. When he was 16, his father dipped into the
somewhat lean till of the candy store to buy him a secondhand
typewriter, and young Isaac was, in effect, off to the races.
This began with science fiction. At 18, he sent his first story to John
W. Campbell, editor of Astounding Science Fiction. That came back, but
the same editor on Oct. 21, 1938 -- this date is well-remembered --
bought a story called "Marooned Off Vesta," which appeared five months
later in Amazing Stories. Mr. Asimov remembers a detail, not hard under
the circumstance\*he got $64 for the 6,400 word story.
In 1950, his first book, a science-fiction novel called "Pebble in the
Sky," was published by Doubleday, but a year before he had begun to take
aim at fields beyond science fiction. By then, a professor of
biochemistry at Boston University, he collaborated with two colleagues
on a textbook which proved successful (three editions thus far) and this
led him to science, minus the fiction. Finding he could explain
science\*well, by logical steps, he also could explain the Bible,
history, what have you.
He still has one contact with Boston University. "Each year, I give the
opening lecture for a course in biochemistry. No fee, of course, but a
sort of introductory thing, which I try to keep light and amusing, and
is attended by secretaries as well as students. I hope we all have a
good time; I know that I do."
The neatness of Mr. Asimov's day is as neat as his office. The usual one
and the usual is seven each week -- opens at about 7 o'clock, when he
gets up, has breakfast and goes to the post office, arriving at 8 sharp,
when it opens. He is what is called a "morning caller," meaning that he
collects his own mail rather than waits for delivery, and the simple
truth here is that he does so in order to drop junk mail in the post
office's wastebasket rather than his own. On a recent day the mail he
brought home consisted of the following: A publisher's contract, a
royalty check from new American Library, a Canadian publisher's formal
agreement to terms, contracts for inclusion of an article in an
anthology (he's also one of the most thoroughly anthologized writers
around), a bill, five fan letters from people saying they liked what he
had written, a request for a contribution, eight magazines.
He is through with the mail between 9:30 and 10, and is ready for work.
There are 1,000 volumes in his personal library, 126 volumes of bound
Asimov writings. The bookcases are low because of the sloping ceilings
of his attic habitat, and the books are arranged as fiction, nonfiction,
history, science, etc. There are filing cabinets at various places about
the room, the high-speed typewriter is beside a table he uses as a desk.
Should he look from the window, he would see a willow tree in the yard,
but he does not look. He doesn't cut the grass, either. That would take
time away from writing.
He types his 90 words a minute until about 5 o'clock, sometimes having a
coffee break, and always trying not to overeat at lunch. Usually he goes
back to the shop after dinner and sometimes remains there until 10
o'clock, when he takes outgoing mail to a box in front of nearby Warren
Junior High School.
The comings and goings of high-school students would drive a lesser man
frantic, but he doesn't hear them. Some nights he quits at 8 rather than
10, and then tries to find funny programs on TV or reads mysteries,
magazines or science fiction. He'll miss the Smothers Brothers.
In the Asimov scheme of things, there is no secretary, no typist, no
agent. He arranges his own indices, reads his own galleys, runs
everything through the typewriter at least twice. In this modern age,
everything changes fast and when he comes on changes, from reading
scientific papers and the like, he makes marginal notes in the pages of
his own works\*thus having a filing system that always is up-to-date.
The notes become revisions for later editions, or source material for
entirely new books.
Mrs. Asimov, the former Gertrude Blugerman, born in Toronto but married
in 1942 in New York, keeps her part of the house as neat as he does his.
Womanlike, however, she wants a vacation now and then, and the one he
remembers was a couple of years ago when he gave in and they went to a
hotel at Annisquam on Cape Ann. The college student personnel was
arranging a parody of Cole Porter's "Kiss Me Kate" for the enjoyment of
the guests, and hearing that a writer had arrived, asked Mr. Asimov to
help with the lyrics. He spent seven wonderful days at a typewriter,
never going outdoors. He never saw the show, either, but his wife did,
reporting one guest as saying to another that the music wasn't very
good, but Oh, those lyrics\! It was the greatest accolade he has had.
It takes a good many publishers, hardcover and paperback, to keep up
with the Asimov output and its many subjects. Doubleday and Houghton,
Mifflin publish about 60 per cent of his work, and as he puts it, "both
represent a father image." In January, the first-named father image will
celebrate the 20th anniversary of "Pebble in the Sky" by publishing "The
Solar System and Back," a collection of essays written over the last 11
years for the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. This October, the
other father image will publish "Opus 100," this 100th book being an
anthology of material chosen by the author from his first 99. His
favorite book? "The last one I've written."
The world is the oyster for Asimov, and for the future there are vague
plans for almost everything therein save two. No mysteries are on the
schedule, and no books on computers. He has been asked to write his
autobiography, but counters this with the remark, "What can I say?"
There could be something in the future wind here, however, for he asked
his father, Judah Asimov, now 74 and retired, to put down notes for
*his* autobiography. When these come in, they are filed away and could
end up as background for the Asimov younger days.
The elder Asimov also writes on a typewriter. Having bought a couple
when times were tough so that his son could become a writer, he finally
bought one for himself. He wouldn't accept one as a gift. Rugged
individualist.
*Mr. Nichols is a member of the Book Review
staff.*
[![](http://www.nytimes.com/books/images_br/buy11.gif)](http://www.nytimes.com/books/bn/image?sourceid=4773&categoryid=nytsearch)
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[Source](https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4155/the-art-of-the-essay-no-1-e-b-white "Permalink to ")
Interviewed by George Plimpton and Frank H. Crowther
### Issue 48, Fall 1969
![undefined](/il/c4d3ed8a12/large/EB-White.jpg "undefined")E. B. White
and his dog Minnie.
 
If it happens that your parents concern themselves so little with the
workings of boys’ minds as to christen you Elwyn Brooks White, no doubt
you decide as early as possible to identify yourself as E.B. White. If
it also happens that you attend Cornell, whose first president was
Andrew D. White, then, following a variant of the principle that
everybody named Rhodes winds up being nicknamed “Dusty,” you wind up
being nicknamed “Andy.” And so it has come about that for fifty of his
seventy years Elwyn Brooks White has been known to his readers as E.B.
White and to his friends as Andy. Andy White. Andy and Katharine White.
The Whites. Andy and Katharine have been married for forty years, and in
that time they have been separated so rarely that I find it impossible
to think of one without the other. On the occasions when they have been
obliged to be apart, Andy’s conversation is so likely to center on
Katharine that she becomes all the more present for being absent.
The Whites have shared everything, from professional association on the
same magazine to preoccupation with a joint ill health that many of
their friends have been inclined to regard as imaginary. Years ago, in a
Christmas doggerel, Edmund Wilson saluted them for possessing “mens sana
in corpore insano,” and it was always wonderful to behold the intuitive
seesaw adjustments by which one of them got well in time for the other
to get sick. What a mountain of good work they have accumulated in that
fashion\! Certainly they have been the strongest and most productive
unhealthy couple that I have ever encountered, but I no longer dare to
make fun of their ailments. Now that age is bestowing on them a natural
infirmity, they must be sorely tempted to say to the rest of us, “You
see? What did we tell you?” (“Sorely,” by the way, has been a favorite
adverb of Andy’s- a word that brims with bodily woe and that yet hints
at the heroic: back of Andy, some dying knight out of Malory lifts his
gleaming sword against the dusk.)
Andy White is small and wiry, with an unexpectedly large nose, speckled
eyes, and an air of being just about to turn away, not on an errand of
any importance but as a means of remaining free to cut and run without
the nuisance of prolonged good-byes. Crossing the threshold of his
eighth decade, his person is uncannily boyish-seeming. Though his hair
is grey, I learn at this moment that I do not consent to the fact: away
from him, I remember it as brown, therefore it is brown to me. Andy can
no more lose his youthfulness by the tiresome accident of growing old
than he could ever have been Elwyn by the tiresome un-necessary accident
of baptism; his youth and his “Andy”-ness are intrinsic and
inexpungeable. Katharine White is a woman so good-looking that nobody
has taken it amiss when her husband has described in print as beautiful,
but her beauty has a touch of blue-eyed augustness in it, and her manner
is formal. It would never occur to me to go beyond calling her
Katharine, and I have not found it surprising when her son, Roger
Angell, an editor of The New Yorker, refers to her within the office
precincts as “Mrs. White.” (Roger Angell is the son of her marriage to a
distinguished New York attorney, Ernest Angell; she and Andy have a son,
Joe, who is a naval architect and whose boatyard is a thriving
enterprise in the Whites’ hometown of Brooklin, Maine.)
At the risk of reducing a man’s life to a sort of Merck’s Manual, I may
mention that Andy White’s personal physician, Dana Atchley- giving
characteristically short shrift to a psychosomatic view of his old
friend- has described him as having a Rolls Royce mind in a Model T
body. With Andy, this would pass for a compliment, because in the
tyranny of his modesty he would always choose to be a Ford instead of a
Rolls, but it would be closer to the truth to describe him as a Rolls
Royce mind in a Rolls Royce body that unaccountably keeps bumping to a
stop and humming to itself, not without infinite pleasure to others
along the way. What he achieves must cost him a considerable effort and
appears to cost him very little. His speaking voice, like his writing
voice, is clear, resonant, and invincibly debonair. He wanders over the
pastures of his Maine farm or, for that matter, along the labyrinthine
corridors of The New Yorker offices on West Forty-Third Street with the
off-hand grace of a dancer making up a sequence of steps that the eye
follows with delight and that defies any but his own notation. Clues to
the bold and delicate nature of those steps are to be discovered in
every line he writes, but the man and his work are so nearly one that,
try as we will, we cannot tell the dancer from the dance.
 
 
 -Brendan Gill
 
INTERVIEWER
So many critics equate the success of a writer with an unhappy
childhood. Can you say something of your own childhood in Mount Vernon?
E.B. WHITE
As a child, I was frightened but not unhappy. My parents were loving and
kind. We were a large family (six children) and were a small kingdom
unto ourselves. Nobody ever came to dinner. My father was formal,
conservative, successful, hardworking, and worried. My mother was
loving, hardworking, and retiring. We lived in a large house in a leafy
suburb, where there were backyards and stables and grape arbors. I
lacked for nothing except confidence. I suffered nothing except the
routine terrors of childhood: fear of the dark, fear of the future, fear
of the return to school after a summer on a lake in Maine, fear of
making an appearance on a platform, fear of the lavatory in the school
basement where the slate urinals cascaded, fear that I was unknowing
about things I should know about. I was, as a child, allergic to pollens
and dusts, and still am. I was allergic to platforms, and still am. It
may be, as some critics suggest, that it helps to have an unhappy
childhood. If so, I have no knowledge of it. Perhaps it helps to have
been scared or allergic to pollens—I don’t know.
INTERVIEWER
At what age did you know you were going to follow a literary profession?
Was there a particular incident, or moment?
WHITE
I never knew for sure that I would follow a literary profession. I was
twenty-seven or twenty-eight before anything happened that gave me any
assurance that I could make a go of writing. I had done a great deal of
writing, but I lacked confidence in my ability to put it to good use. I
went abroad one summer and on my return to New York found an
accumulation of mail at my apartment. I took the letters, unopened, and
went to a Childs restaurant on Fourteenth Street, where I ordered dinner
and began opening my mail. From one envelope, two or three checks
dropped out, from The New Yorker. I suppose they totaled a little under
a hundred dollars, but it looked like a fortune to me. I can still
remember the feeling that “this was it”—I was a pro at last. It was a
good feeling and I enjoyed the meal.
INTERVIEWER
What were those first pieces accepted by The New Yorker? Did you send
them in with a covering letter, or through an agent?
WHITE
They were short sketches—what Ross called “casuals.” One, I think, was a
piece called “The Swell Steerage,” about the then new college cabin
class on transatlantic ships. I never submitted a manuscript with a
covering letter or through an agent. I used to put my manuscript in the
mail, along with a stamped envelope for the rejection. This was a matter
of high principle with me: I believed in the doctrine of immaculate
rejection. I never used an agent and did not like the looks of a
manuscript after an agent got through prettying it up and putting it
between covers with brass clips. (I now have an agent for such mysteries
as movie rights and foreign translations.)
A large part of all early contributions to The New Yorker arrived
uninvited and unexpected. They arrived in the mail or under the arm of
people who walked in with them. O’Hara’s “Afternoon Delphians” is one
example out of hundreds. For a number of years, The New Yorker published
an average of fifty new writers a year. Magazines that refuse
unsolicited manuscripts strike me as lazy, incurious, self-assured, and
self-important. I’m speaking of magazines of general circulation. There
may be some justification for a technical journal to limit its list of
contributors to persons who are known to be qualified. But if I were a
publisher, I wouldn’t want to put out a magazine that failed to examine
everything that turned up.
INTERVIEWER
But did The New Yorker ever try to publish the emerging writers of the
time: Hemingway, Faulkner, Dos Passos, Fitzgerald, Miller, Lawrence,
Joyce, Wolfe, et al?
WHITE
The New Yorker had an interest in publishing any writer that could turn
in a good piece. It read everything submitted. Hemingway, Faulkner, and
the others were well established and well paid when The New Yorker came
on the scene. The magazine would have been glad to publish them, but it
didn’t have the money to pay them off, and for the most part they didn’t
submit. They were selling to The Saturday Evening Post and other
well-heeled publications, and in general were not inclined to contribute
to the small, new, impecunious weekly. Also, some of them, I would
guess, did not feel sympathetic to The New Yorker’s frivolity. Ross had
no great urge to publish the big names; he was far more interested in
turning up new and yet undiscovered talent, the Helen Hokinsons and the
James Thurbers. We did publish some things by Wolfe—“Only the Dead Know
Brooklyn” was one. I believe we published something by Fitzgerald. But
Ross didn’t waste much time trying to corral “emerged” writers. He was
looking for the ones that were found by turning over a stone.
INTERVIEWER
What were the procedures in turning down a manuscript by a New
Yorker regular? Was this done by Ross?
WHITE
The manuscript of a New Yorker regular was turned down in the same
manner as was the manuscript of a New Yorker irregular. It was simply
rejected, usually by the subeditor who was handling the author in
question. Ross did not deal directly with writers and artists, except in
the case of a few old friends from an earlier day. He wouldn’t even take
on Woollcott—regarded him as too difficult and fussy. Ross disliked
rejecting pieces, and he disliked firing people—he ducked both tasks
whenever he could.
INTERVIEWER
Did feuds threaten the magazine?
WHITE
Feuds did not threaten The New Yorker. The only feud I recall was the
running battle between the editorial department and the advertising
department. This was largely a one-sided affair, with the editorial
department lobbing an occasional grenade into the enemy’s lines just on
general principles, to help them remember to stay out of sight. Ross was
determined not to allow his magazine to be swayed, in the slightest
degree, by the boys in advertising. As far as I know, he succeeded.
INTERVIEWER
When did you first move to New York, and what were some of the things
you did before joining The New Yorker? Were you ever a part of the
Algonquin group?
WHITE
After I got out of college, in 1921, I went to work in New York but did
not live in New York. I lived at home, with my father and mother in
Mount Vernon, and commuted to work. I held three jobs in about seven
months—first with the United Press, then with a public relations man
named Wheat, then with the American Legion News Service. I disliked them
all, and in the spring of 1922 I headed west in a Model T Ford with a
college mate, Howard Cushman, to seek my fortune and as a way of getting
away from what I disliked. I landed in Seattle six months later, worked
there as a reporter on the Times for a year, was fired, shipped to
Alaska aboard a freighter, and then returned to New York. It was on my
return that I became an advertising man—Frank Seaman & Co., J. H.
Newmark. In the mid-twenties, I moved into a two-room apartment at 112
West Thirteenth Street with three other fellows, college mates of mine
at Cornell: Burke Dowling Adams, Gustave Stubbs Lobrano, and Mitchell T.
Galbreath. The rent was $110 a month. Split four ways it came to $27.50,
which I could afford. My friends in those days were the fellows already
mentioned. Also, Peter Vischer, Russell Lord, Joel Sayre, Frank Sullivan
(he was older and more advanced but I met him and liked him), James
Thurber, and others. I was never a part of the Algonquin group. After
becoming connected with The New Yorker, I lunched once at the Round
Table but didn’t care for it and was embarrassed in the presence of the
great. I never was well acquainted with Benchley or Broun or Dorothy
Parker or Woollcott. I did not know Don Marquis or Ring Lardner, both of
whom I greatly admired. I was a younger man.

9
_stories/1970/5340553.md
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@ -19,7 +19,14 @@ _tags:
objectID: '5340553'
---
[Source](https://ivolo.me/soviet-college-admission/ "Permalink to ")
# 404
**There isn't a GitHub Pages site here.**
If you're trying to publish one, [read the full
documentation](https://help.github.com/pages/) to learn how to set up
**GitHub Pages** for your repository, organization, or user
account.
[![](data:image/png;base64,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)](/)
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---
created_at: '2014-09-11T13:52:24.000Z'
title: New York City Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual (1970)
url: http://thestandardsmanual.com/
author: smacktoward
points: 61
story_text: ''
comment_text:
num_comments: 12
story_id:
story_title:
story_url:
parent_id:
created_at_i: 1410443544
_tags:
- story
- author_smacktoward
- story_8302529
objectID: '8302529'
---
[Source](http://thestandardsmanual.com/ "Permalink to ")

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---
created_at: '2015-09-11T21:36:52.000Z'
title: The original Unix init system (1972)
url: https://code.google.com/p/unix-jun72/source/browse/trunk/src/cmd/init.s
author: vezzy-fnord
points: 94
story_text:
comment_text:
num_comments: 36
story_id:
story_title:
story_url:
parent_id:
created_at_i: 1442007412
_tags:
- story
- author_vezzy-fnord
- story_10206309
objectID: '10206309'
---
[Source](https://code.google.com/p/unix-jun72/source/browse/trunk/src/cmd/init.s "Permalink to ")

554
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---
created_at: '2017-05-14T12:19:12.000Z'
title: How to Spot a Spook (1974)
url: http://cryptome.org/dirty-work/spot-spook.htm
author: mercer
points: 130
story_text:
comment_text:
num_comments: 63
story_id:
story_title:
story_url:
parent_id:
created_at_i: 1494764352
_tags:
- story
- author_mercer
- story_14335310
objectID: '14335310'
---
29 May 2010
Related:
"Where Myths Lead to Murder," Philip Agee:
<http://cryptome.org/dirty-work/cia-myths.htm>
CIA Who's Where in Europe:
<http://cryptome.org/dirty-work/cia-who-where.htm>
### How to Spot a Spook
**by John Marks**
From: *Dirty Work: The CIA in Western Europe*, by Philip Agee and Louis
Wolf, 1978, pp. 29-39.
> Footnote: \[This article first appeared in the November 1974 issue of
> *Washington Monthly*, Washington, D.C.\]
Both the Soviet and American intelligence establishments seem to share
the obsession that the other side is always trying to bug them. Since
the other side is, in fact, usually trying, our technicians and their
technicians are constantly sweeping military installations and embassies
to make sure no enemy, real or imagined, has succeeded. One night about
ten years ago, a State Department security officer, prowling through the
American embassy in Santiago, Chile, in search of Communist microphones,
found a listening device carefully hidden in the office of a senior
"political officer." The security man, along with everyone else in the
embassy, knew that this particular "political officer" was actually the
Central Intelligence Agency's "Station Chief," or principal operative in
Chile. Bugging his office would have indeed been a major coup for the
opposition. Triumphantly. the security man ripped the microphone out of
the wall - only to discover later that it had been installed hy the CIA
station chief himself.
The reason the CIA office was located in the embassy - as it is in most
of the other countries in the world - is that by presidential order the
State Department is responsible for hiding and housing the CIA. Like the
intelligence services of most other countries, the CI A has been
unwilling to set up foreign offices under its own name. So American
embassies - and, less frequently. military bases - provide the needed
cover. State confers respectability on the Agency's operatives, dressing
them up with the same titles and calling cards that give legitimate
diplomats entree into foreign government circles. Protected by
diplomatic immunity, the operatives recruit local officials as CIA
agents to supply secret intelligence and, especially in the Third World,
to help in the Agency's manipulation of a country's internal affairs.
The CIA moves its men off the diplomatic lists only in Germany, Japan,
and other countries where large numbers of American soldiers are
stationed. In those countries, the CIA's command post is still in the
U.S. Embassy, but most of the CIA personnel are under military cover.
With nearly 500,000 U.S. troops scattered around the world, the CIA
"units" buried among them do not attract undue attention.
In contrast, it is difficult for the CIA to dwell inconspicuously within
the American diplomatic corps, since more than a quarter of the 5,435
employees who purportedly work for State overseas are actually with the
CIA. In places such as Argentina, Bolivia, Burma, and Guyana, where the
Agency has special interests and projects, there are about as many CIA
operatives under cover of substantive embassy jobs as there are
legitimate State employees. The CIA also places smaller contingents in
the ranks of other U.S. government agencies which operate overseas,
particularly AID's police training program in Latin America. \[EDITORS'
NOTE: After much public outcry about U.S. exportation of repression via
massive supplying of police equipment and training foreign police in
methods of interrogation and torture since 1961, AID's Office of Public
Safety was closed down by Congress in July 1975.\]
What is surprising is that the CIA even bothers to camouflage its
agents. since they are still easily identifiable. Let us see why the
embassy cover is so transparent:
- The CIA usually has a separate set of offices in the Embassy, often
with an exotic-looking cipher lock on the outside door. In Madrid,
for example, a State Department source reports that the Agency
occupied the whole sixth floor of the Embassy. About 30 people
worked there; half were disguised as "Air Force personnel" and half
as State "political officers." The source says that all the local
Spanish employees knew who worked on what floor of the Embassy and
that visitors could figure out the same thing.
- CIA personnel usually stick together. When they go to lunch or to a
cocktail party or meet a plane from Washington, they are much more
likely to go with each other than with legitimate diplomats. Once
you have identified one, you can quickly figure out the rest.
- The CIA has a different health insurance plan from the State
Department. The premium records, which are unclassified and usually
available to local employees, are a dead giveaway.
- The Agency operative is taught early in training that loud
background sounds interfere with bugging. You can be pretty sure the
CIA man in the Embassy is the one who leaves his radio on all the
time.
- Ironically, despite the State Department's total refusal to comment
on anything concerning the CIA, the Department regularly publishes
two documents, the *Foreign Service List* and the *Biographic
Register*, which, when cross-checked, yield the names of most CIA
operatives under embassy cover.
Here is how it works:
America's real diplomats have insisted on one thing in dealing with the
CIA: that the corps of Foreign Service Officers (FSO) remain pure.
Although there are rumors of exceptions. CIA personnel abroad are always
given the cover rank of Foreign Service Reserve (FSR) or Staff (FSS)
officers - not FSO. Of course, there are some legitimate officials from
the State Department, AID, and USIA who hold FSR and FSS ratings, so
care must he taken to avoid confusing these people with the spooks.
To winnow out the spooks, you start by looking up in the *Foreign
Service List* under the country in question - for example, China. The
letters in the third column from the left signify the man or woman's
personnel status and the number denotes his or her rank. On the China
list, David Bruce is an "R-1," or Reserve Officer of class 1,. the
highest rank. John Holdridge is a regular Foreign Service Officer (FSO)
of the same grade, and secretary Barbara Brooks is a Staff Officer,
class 4.
**PEKING (U.S. LIAISON OFFICE) (LO)**
>
Bruce David KE ...............
Holdridge John H.............
Jenkins Alfred Les ............
Brooks Barbara A .............
McKinley Brunson............
Zaelit Lucille ...................
Anderson Donald M ..........
Hunt Janice E ..................
Lilley James R .................
Pascoe B Lynn .................
Horowitz Herbert Eugene..
Morin Annabelle C ............
Rope William Frederick.....
Blackburn Robert R Jr .......
Herrera Delia L ................
Lambert William F............
Lucas Robert T ................
Morin Emile F..................
Peterson Robert D ............
Riley Albert D.................. chief USLO
dep chief USLO
dep chief USLO
sec
spec asst
sec
pol off
sec
pol off
pol off
econ/cml off
sec
econ/cml off
adm off
sec
coms/rec off
coms/rec off
gen ser off
coms/rec off
coms/rec off R-1
O-1
R-1
S-4
O-6
S-5
O-4
S-8
R-3
O-5
O-3
S-7
O-4
O-3
S-6
R-6
S-2
O-5
R-6
S-5 5-73
5-73
5-73
5-73
5-73
6-73
12-73
7-73
6-73
7-73
4-73
4-73
5-73
2-74
7-73
3-72
7-73
5-73
Now Holdridge almost certainly can be ruled out as an operative, simply
because he is an FSO. Not much can be told one way or the other about
FSS Brooks because, as is the case with most secretaries, the State
Department does not publish much information about her. David Bruce
might be suspect because of his" R" status, but a quick glance at the
*Biographic Register*, which gives a brief curriculum vitae of all State
Department personnel, shows him to be one of the high-level political
appointees who have "R" status because they are not members of the
regular Foreign Service. Similarly, the *Register* report on FSR Jenkins
shows that he had a long career as an FSO before taking on the State
Department's special assignment in Peking as an FSR:
> **Bruce, David KE**--b Md 2/21/98, m (Evangeline Bell).
> Princeton U AB 19. Mem Md bar. US Army 17-19,
> 42-45 col overseas. PRIV EXPER priv law practice
> 21-26, mem State legis 24-26.39-42, with bank-priv bus
> 28-40, chief rep Am Red Cross (England) 40-41,
> GOVT EXPER with Off Strategic Sers 41-45, asst sec
> of Com 47-48, ECA Paris R-1 chief of mission 5/48.
> STATE AEP to France 5/49. Dept under sec of state 2/
> 52\. consult to sec of state 1/53. Paris R-1 pol off-US
> observer to Interim Comm of EDC. also US rep to
> European Coal-Steel Community (Luxembourg) 2/53.
> Dept consult to sec of state 1/55. Bonn AEP to Ger-
> many 3/57-11/59. London AEP to Great Britain 2/61-3/
> 69\. Dept R-1 pers rep of Pres with pers rank amb to hd
> US del at Paris meetings on Viet-Nam 7/70-4/71. Pe-
> king chief liaison off 3/73.
>
> **Jenkins, Alfred leSesne**--b Ga 9/14/16, m. Emory U
> AB 38, Duke U MA 46. US Army 42-46 1st It. PRIV
> EXPER prin-supt pub schs 40-42. STATE Dept FSO
> unclass 6/46. Peiping Chin lang-area trainee 9/46, O-6
> 11/46. Tientsin pol off 7/48,0-54/49. Hong Kong chief
> pol sect 7/49. Taipei pol off 7/50, 0-4 6/51. Dept 3/52.
> O-3 9/54. Jidda couns, dep chief mission 2/55. Dept det
> Nat War Coll 8/57, 0-22/58, dep dir Off of SE Asian
> Aff 6/58, reg plan ad Bu of Far E aff 8/59. Stockholm
> couns, dep chief mission 10/61, cons gen 3/62, 0-1 3/
> 63\. Dept FS insp 8/65, det Nat Security Counc 7/66,
> FS insp 1/69, dir Off of Asian Communist Aff 7/70,
> superior honor award 71, dir for People's Rep of
> China, Mongolia, Hong Kong-Macao aff 2/73. Peking
> dep chief liaison off 4/73. Lang Ger. (w--Martha
> Lippiatt).
Note that there are no gaping holes in their career records, nor did
either of these men serve long tours with nameless Pentagon agencies,
nor did they regularly change their status from "R" to "S" to "GS"
(civil service).
Now, for purposes of comparison, examine the record of the CIA's man in
Peking, a "political officer" named James R. Lilley:
> **Lilley, James R**-b China Am parents 1/15/28, m. Yale
> U BA 51. US Army 46-47. GOVT EXPER anal Dept
> of Army 51-58. STATE Manila R-6 7/58. Dept 10/60.
> Phnom Penh 9/61, R-5 3/63. Bangkok 4/63. Dept 8/64.
> Vientiane pol off 6/65. R-4 5/66. S-24/68. Hong Kong
> 5/68, R-4 5/69. Dept 7/70, GS-15 fgn aff off 4/71, R-4
> det lang trng FSI 7/72-4/73. Lang Fr. Rom. (w--Sally
> Booth).
The *Foreign Service List* provides another clue, in the form of
diplomats' official assignments. Of all the jobs real State Department
representatives perform, political reporting is generally considered to
be the most important. Although genuine FSRs frequently hold
administrative and consular slots, they are almost never given the
important political jobs. So where an FSR does appear in the listing
with a political job, it is most likely that the CIA is using the
position for cover. There is an exception to this rule: A comparatively
few minority-group members who have been brought into the Foreign
Service as Reserve Officers under a special program. They are found
exclusively in the junior ranks, and their biographic data is complete
in the way the CIA people's is not.
Finally there is another almost certain tipoff. If an agent is listed in
the *Biographic Register* as having been an "analyst" for the Department
of the Army (or Navy or Air Force), you can bet that he or she is really
working for the CIA. A search of hundreds of names found no legitimate
State Department personnel listed as ever having held such a job.
In an embassy like the one in Santo Domingo, the spooks in the political
section outnumber the real FSOs by at least seven to three:
**Political Section**
>
Beyer Joel H....................
Brugger Frederick A..........
Bumpus James N ..............
Chafin Gary E ..................
Clayton Thomas A............
Dwiggins Joan H...............
Fambrini Robert L ............
Greig David N Jr...............
Guell Janet E ...................
Markoff Stephanie M .........
Merriam Geraldine C.........
Mooney Robert C .............
Morris Margaret A............
Pascoe Dorothy L .............
Ryan Donald G.................
Williams Albert N ............. pol off
pol off
pol off
pol off
pol off
pol off
pol off
pol off
sec
sec
clk-typist
pol off
clk-typist
sec
pol off
pol off R-5
R-7
O-4
O-6
R-3
R-7
S-2
R-5
S-8
S-8
S-9
R-6
S-10
S-7
R-8
O-3 7-72
9-72
7-72
8-73
5-71
3-72
6-73
8-71
12-73
6-73
2-73
8-72
12-73
2-74
8-73
7-73
While Donald Ryan is an "R" in the political section, there is not
sufficient data published about him to verify his status. It was by
studying these documents that I learned that the CIA has sent an
operative to Peking. For confirmation, I called the State Department's
ranking China expert, Acting Assistant Secretary of State Arthur Hummel.
After I identified myself as a reporter working on a magazine article
and explained where I had gotten my information, Hummel shouted, "I know
what you're up to and I don't want to contribute. Thank you very much\!"
and slammed down the phone.
Another State official confirmed that the decision to send an operative
to Peking was made in early 1973, but declared that making public the
operative's existence could "jeopardize" Chinese-American relations.
Neither this official nor any of his colleagues seemed willing to
consider the notion that the U.S. government was under no obligation to
assign a CIA man there - or anywhere else, for that matter. The first
American mission to China since 1949 certainly could have been staffed
exclusively with real diplomats if concern about damaging relations were
so high. To have excluded the Agency from Peking, however, would have
gone against a basic axiom of the post-World War II foreign policy
establishment: the CIA follows the flag into American embassies.
The Chinese government is presumably clever enough to identify the
operative by sifting through the public documents available. In fact,
his arrival may well have been cleared with the Chinese, who probably
wanted reciprocal privileges for their secret service in Washington.
Such are the arrangements the world's spooks are so fond of working out
with each other - the Soviet KGB and the CIA even exchange names of
intelligence analysts assigned to the other's capital.
**Sacrificing "State"**
Much to the alarm of a few high State Department officials, the
proportion of CIA to State personnel abroad has been steadily rising in
recent years. The precise figures are zealously guarded, but several
State sources confirm the trend. They cite as the main reason for this
tilt toward the CIA a series of government-wide cutbacks that have hit
State proportionately harder than the CIA. What troubles State is not,
as one career diplomat put it, "the principle" that State should provide
the CIA with cover. That is unquestioned, he says. Rather, most
legitimate diplomats do not like being a minority within their own
profession or having the rest of the world confuse them with the CIA's
dirty tricksters. They generally regard themselves as working at a
higher calling.
While the State Department has been comparatively honest in accepting
the personnel cuts ordered by the Johnson and Nixon administrations, two
sources familiar with the CIA budget report that the Agency has done
everything possible to escape the reductions. Traditionally, when
outsiders - even Presidents - have tried to meddle with the Agency's
personnel allotment, the CIA has resisted on "national security"
grounds. And when that argument failed, the CIA resorted to bureaucratic
ruses: cutting out a job and then replacing the person eliminated with a
"contract" or "local" employee, who would not show up on the personnel
roster; or sending home a clandestine support officer - a specialist in
things like renting "safe houses," "laundering" money, and installing
phone taps - and then having the same work done by experts sent out from
Washington on "temporary duty. " Not only does the State Department
provide the CIA with cover, but the Senate - and especially its Foreign
Relations Committee - encourages the current practice of sending over
25% of our "diplomatic" corps abroad under false pretenses.
Every year the Foreign Relations Committee routinely approves and sends
to the full Senate for its advice and consent lists of "Foreign Service
Reserve Officers to be consular officers and secretaries in the
Diplomatic Service of the United States of America." In 1973, of the 121
names submitted by the State Department, more than 70 were CIA
operatives. According to a knowledgeable source, the committee is
informally told the number of CIA people on the lists, but "not who they
are." No Senator in memory has publicly objected to being an accomplice
to this cover-building for the CIA.
Just this spring \[1974\], the State Department took official, if
secret, notice of its declining presence overseas compared to the CIA
when Secretary Henry Kissinger authorized a high-level study of
State-CIA staffing. The Department's top administrator, L. Dean Brown,
who had urged the study be made in the first place, gave the job to
Malcolm Toon, a career diplomat serving as U.S. Ambassador to
Yugoslavia. Toon returned to Washington to compile the top-secret
report.
Asking not to be named and refusing to provide the specific figures, a
source close to Kissinger says that Toon's report calls for a
substantial reduction in the number of CIA operatives abroad under State
cover. The source adds that Kissinger has not made up his mind on the
issue.
Kissinger has always acted very carefully where the CIA is concerned.
One of his former aides notes that the Secretary has regularly treated
the Agency with great deference at government meetings, although he has
often been privately scornful of it afterward. In any case, Kissinger is
unquestionably a believer in the need for the CIA to intervene covertly
in other countries' internal affairs - he was the prime mover behind the
Agency's work against Salvador Allende in Chile. The question of how
much cover State should provide the CIA, however, is chiefly a
bureaucratic one, and is not basic to Kissinger's foreign policy.
The Secretary therefore will probably not take a definite position until
he sees how much opposition the CIA will be able to stir up in the White
House and in the congressional subcommittees that supposedly oversee the
Agency.
The CIA has lost no time in launching its counteroffensive. At a July 19
off-the-record session with key Democratic congressional aides, Carl
Duckett, the CIA's Deputy Director for Intelligence, complained about
the reductions recommended by the Toon report. According to a source who
was present, Duckett said that, even without further embassy cuts, the
CIA now doesn't have enough people overseas.
CIA officials must be especially concerned about Toon's recommendations,
since in countries where there are no U.S. military bases, the only
alternative to embassy cover is "deep," or nonofficial, cover. American
corporations operating overseas have long cooperated in making jobs
available to the CIA and would probably continue to do so. Also, the
Agency would probably have to make more use of smaller firms where fewer
people would know of the clandestine connection. Two examples of this
type are:
- Robert Mullen and Company, the Washington-based public relations
concern for which E. Howard Hunt worked after he left the CIA and
before the break-in at Democratic National Headquarters. Mullen
provided CIA operatives with cover in Stockholm, Mexico City, and
Singapore, and in 1971 set up a subsidiary in cooperation with the
CIA called Interprogres, Ltd. According to a secret Agency document
released with the House Judiciary Committee's impeachment evidence,
"At least two \[CIA\] overseas assets have tangential tasks of
promoting the acceptance of this company as a Mullen subsidiary."
- Psychological Assessment Associates, Inc., a Washington
psychological consulting firm specializing in behavioral research
and analysis. By the admission of its president John Gittinger, most
of the company's business since it was founded in 1957 by three
ex-CIA psychologists has come from Agency contracts. The firm had
two "representatives" in Hong Kong, at least until June of this year
\[1974\].
Unless their cover is blown, companies of this sort and operatives who
work for them cannot be linked to the U.S. government. But the Agency
has learned over the years that it is much more difficult and expensive
to set up an operative as a businessman (or as a missionary or newsman)
than to put him in an embassy. As a "private" citizen, the operative is
not automatically exposed to the host country's key officials and to
foreign diplomats, nor does he have direct access to the CIA
communications and support facilities which are normally housed in
embassies. Moreover, as an ex-CIA official explains, "The deep cover guy
has no mobility. He doesn't have the right passport. He is subject to
local laws and has to pay local taxes. If you try to put him in an
influential business job, you've got to go through all the arrangements
with the Company. "
**Who Needs Gumshoes?**
Everything argues for having the intelligence agent in the embassy -
everything, that is, except the need to keep his existence secret. The
question then becomes whether it is really that important to keep his
existence secret - which, in turn, depends on how important his
clandestine activities are.
Could any rational person, after surveying the history of the last 20
years, from Guatemala to Cuba to Vietnam - and now Chile - contend that
the CIA's clandestine activities have yielded anything but a steady
stream of disaster? The time has come to abolish them. Most of the
military and economic intelligence we need we can get from our
satellites and sensors (which already provide nearly all our information
about Russia's nuclear weaponry) and from reading the newspapers and the
superabundant files of open reports. As for political intelligence -
which is actually an assessment of the intentions of foreign leaders -
we don't really need this kind of information from Third World countries
unless we intend to muck about in their internal affairs. With the
Soviet Union or China - countries powerful enough to really threaten our
national security - timely political intelligence could be a great help.
But for the past 25 years we have relied on open sources and
machine-collected intelligence because our agents have proven incapable
of penetrating these closed societies. There is not enough practical
benefit gained from the CIA's espionage activities to compensate for our
nation's moral and legal liability in maintaining thousands of highly
trained bribers, subverters, and burglars overseas as "representatives"
of our government. The problem of getting good, accurate, reliable
information from abroad is a complicated one, beyond the scope of this
article, but, to paraphrase Mae West, covert has nothing to do with it.
```
```

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[Source](https://www.netflix.com/WiMovie/The_Conversation/60003586?trkid=13462100 "Permalink to ")
# Netflix Site Error - Page Not Found
We were unable to find that page.
Please go to the Netflix home page by clicking the button below.
[](/)
Netflix Home
Build Identifier: 7742b8c7
Instance: i-01dfce0afa14eb109
Request Id: c5b803ed-9b85-4d21-b356-b6e974c94ee3

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[Source](https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-350/ch-13-1.html "Permalink to ")
In Mission Control the Gold Team, directed by Gerald Griffin (seated,
back of head to camera), prepares to take over from Black Team (Glynn
Lunney, seated, in profile) during a critical period. Seven men with
elbows on console are Deke Slayton, Joe Kerwin (Black CapCom), Vance
Brand (Gold CapCom), Phil Shaffer (Gold FIDO), John Llewellyn (Black
RETRO), Charles Deiterich (Gold RETRO), and Lawrence Canin (Black GNC).
Standing at right is Chester Lee, Mission Director from NASA's
Washington headquarters, and broud back at right belogs to Rocco
Petrone, Apollo Program Director. Apollo 13 had two other "ground"
teams, the White and the Maroon. All devised heroic measures to save the
mission from disaster.

1011
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[Source](https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/3605/the-art-of-fiction-no-64-kurt-vonnegut "Permalink to ")
 
![undefined](/il/fdb8a09feb/large/Hunter-S-Thompson.jpg "undefined")
 
In an October 1957 letter to a friend who had recommended he read Ayn
Rand’s The Fountainhead, Hunter S. Thompson wrote, “Although I don’t
feel that it’s at all necessary to tell you how I feel about the
principle of individuality, I know that I’m going to have to spend the
rest of my life expressing it one way or another, and I think that I’ll
accomplish more by expressing it on the keys of a typewriter than by
letting it express itself in sudden outbursts of frustrated violence. .
. .”
Thompson carved out his niche early. He was born in 1937, in Louisville,
Kentucky, where his fiction and poetry earned him induction into the
local Athenaeum Literary Association while he was still in high school.
Thompson continued his literary pursuits in the United States Air Force,
writing a weekly sports column for the base newspaper. After two years
of service, Thompson endured a series of newspaper jobs—all of which
ended badly—before he took to freelancing from Puerto Rico and South
America for a variety of publications. The vocation quickly developed
into a compulsion.
Thompson completed The Rum Diary, his only novel to date, before he
turned twenty-five; bought by Ballantine Books, it finally was
published—to glowing reviews—in 1998. In 1967, Thompson published his
first nonfiction book, Hell’s Angels, a harsh and incisive firsthand
investigation into the infamous motorcycle gang then making the
heartland of America nervous.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which first appeared in Rolling Stone in
November 1971, sealed Thompson’s reputation as an outlandish stylist
successfully straddling the line between journalism and fiction writing.
As the subtitle warns, the book tells of “a savage journey to the heart
of the American Dream” in full-tilt gonzo style—Thompson’s hilarious
first-person approach—and is accented by British illustrator Ralph
Steadman’s appropriate drawings.
His next book, Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72, was a
brutally perceptive take on the 1972 Nixon-McGovern presidential
campaign. A self-confessed political junkie, Thompson chronicled the
1992 presidential campaign in Better than Sex (1994). Thompson’s other
books include The Curse of Lono (1983), a bizarre South Seas tale, and
three collections of Gonzo Papers: The Great Shark
Hunt (1979), Generation of Swine (1988) and Songs of the
Doomed (1990).
In 1997, The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman,
1955-1967, the first volume of Thompson’s correspondence with everyone
from his mother to Lyndon Johnson, was published. The second volume of
letters, Fear and Loathing in America: The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw
Journalist, 1968-1976, has just been released.
•
Located in the mostly posh neighborhood of western Colorado’s Woody
Creek Canyon, ten miles or so down-valley from Aspen, Owl Farm is a
rustic ranch with an old-fashioned Wild West charm. Although Thompson’s
beloved peacocks roam his property freely, it’s the flowers blooming
around the ranch house that provide an unexpected high-country
tranquility. Jimmy Carter, George McGovern and Keith Richards, among
dozens of others, have shot clay pigeons and stationary targets on the
property, which is a designated Rod and Gun Club and shares a border
with the White River National Forest. Almost daily, Thompson leaves Owl
Farm in either his Great Red Shark Convertible or Jeep Grand Cherokee to
mingle at the nearby Woody Creek Tavern.
Visitors to Thompson’s house are greeted by a variety of sculptures,
weapons, boxes of books and a bicycle before entering the nerve center
of Owl Farm, Thompson’s obvious command post on the kitchen side of a
peninsula counter that separates him from a lounge area dominated by an
always-on Panasonic TV, always tuned to news or sports. An antique
upright piano is piled high and deep enough with books to engulf any
reader for a decade. Above the piano hangs a large Ralph Steadman
portrait of “Belinda”—the Slut Goddess of Polo. On another wall covered
with political buttons hangs a Che Guevara banner acquired on Thompson’s
last tour of Cuba. On the counter sits an IBM Selectric typewriter—a
Macintosh computer is set up in an office in the back wing of the house.
The most striking thing about Thompson’s house is that it isn’t the
weirdness one notices first: it’s the words. They’re
everywhere—handwritten in his elegant lettering, mostly in fading red
Sharpie on the blizzard of bits of paper festooning every wall and
surface: stuck to the sleek black leather refrigerator, taped to the
giant TV, tacked up on the lampshades; inscribed by others on framed
photos with lines like, “For Hunter, who saw not only fear and loathing,
but hope and joy in ’72—George McGovern”; typed in IBM Selectric on
reams of originals and copies in fat manila folders that slide in piles
off every counter and table top; and noted in many hands and inks across
the endless flurry of pages.
Thompson extricates his large frame from his ergonomically correct
office chair facing the TV and lumbers over graciously to administer a
hearty handshake or kiss to each caller according to gender, all with an
easy effortlessness and unexpectedly old-world way that somehow
underscores just who is in charge.
•
We talked with Thompson for twelve hours straight. This was nothing out
of the ordinary for the host: Owl Farm operates like an
eighteenth-century salon, where people from all walks of life congregate
in the wee hours for free exchanges about everything from theoretical
physics to local water rights, depending on who’s there. Walter
Isaacson, managing editor of Time, was present during parts of this
interview, as were a steady stream of friends. Given the very late hours
Thompson keeps, it is fitting that the most prominently posted quote in
the room, in Thompson’s hand, twists the last line of Dylan Thomas’s
poem “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”: “Rage, rage against the
coming of the light.”
For most of the half-day that we talked, Thompson sat at his command
post, chain-smoking red Dunhills through a German-made gold-tipped
cigarette filter and rocking back and forth in his swivel chair. Behind
Thompson’s sui generis personality lurks a trenchant humorist with a
sharp moral sensibility. His exaggerated style may defy easy
categorization, but his career-long autopsy on the death of the American
dream places him among the twentieth century’s most exciting writers.
The comic savagery of his best work will continue to electrify readers
for generations to come.
•
. . . I have stolen more quotes and thoughts and purely elegant little
starbursts of writing from the Book of Revelation than from anything
else in the English Language—and it is not because I am a biblical
scholar, or because of any religious faith, but because I love the wild
power of the language and the purity of the madness that governs it and
makes it music.
 
HUNTER S. THOMPSON
Well, wanting to and having to are two different things. Originally I
hadn’t thought about writing as a solution to my problems. But I had a
good grounding in literature in high school. We’d cut school and go down
to a café on Bardstown Road where we would drink beer and read and
discuss Plato’s parable of the cave. We had a literary society in town,
the Athenaeum; we met in coat and tie on Saturday nights. I hadn’t
adjusted too well to society—I was in jail for the night of my high
school graduation—but I learned at the age of fifteen that to get by you
had to find the one thing you can do better than anybody else . . . at
least this was so in my case. I figured that out early. It was writing.
It was the rock in my sock. Easier than algebra. It was always work, but
it was always worthwhile work. I was fascinated early by seeing my
byline in print. It was a rush. Still is.
When I got to the Air Force, writing got me out of trouble. I was
assigned to pilot training at Eglin Air Force Base near Pensacola in
northwest Florida, but I was shifted to electronics . . . advanced, very
intense, eight-month school with bright guys . . . I enjoyed it but I
wanted to get back to pilot training. Besides, I’m afraid of
electricity. So I went up there to the base education office one day and
signed up for some classes at Florida State. I got along well with a guy
named Ed and I asked him about literary possibilities. He asked me if I
knew anything about sports, and I said that I had been the editor of my
high-school paper. He said, “Well, we might be in luck.” It turned out
that the sports editor of the base newspaper, a staff sergeant, had been
arrested in Pensacola and put in jail for public drunkenness, pissing
against the side of a building; it was the third time and they wouldn’t
let him out.
So I went to the base library and found three books on journalism. I
stayed there reading them until it closed. Basic journalism. I learned
about headlines, leads: who, when, what, where, that sort of thing. I
barely slept that night. This was my ticket to ride, my ticket to get
out of that damn place. So I started as an editor. Boy, what a joy. I
wrote long Grantland Rice-type stories. The sports editor of my
hometown Louisville Courier Journal always had a column, left-hand side
of the page. So I started a column.
By the second week I had the whole thing down. I could work at night. I
wore civilian clothes, worked off base, had no hours, but I worked
constantly. I wrote not only for the base paper, The Command Courier,
but also the local paper, The Playground News. I’d put things in the
local paper that I couldn’t put in the base paper. Really inflammatory
shit. I wrote for a professional wrestling newsletter. The Air Force got
very angry about it. I was constantly doing things that violated
regulations. I wrote a critical column about how Arthur Godfrey, who’d
been invited to the base to be the master of ceremonies at a firepower
demonstration, had been busted for shooting animals from the air in
Alaska. The base commander told me: “Goddamn it, son, why did you have
to write about Arthur Godfrey that way?”
When I left the Air Force I knew I could get by as a journalist. So I
went to apply for a job at Sports Illustrated. I had my clippings, my
bylines, and I thought that was magic . . . my passport. The personnel
director just laughed at me. I said, “Wait a minute. I’ve been sports
editor for two papers.” He told me that their writers were judged not by
the work they’d done, but where they’d done it. He said, “Our writers
are all Pulitzer Prize winners from The New York Times. This is a
helluva place for you to start. Go out into the boondocks and improve
yourself.”
I was shocked. After all, I’d broken the Bart Starr story.
INTERVIEWER
What was that?
THOMPSON
At Eglin Air Force Base we always had these great football teams. The
Eagles. Championship teams. We could beat up on the University of
Virginia. Our bird-colonel Sparks wasn’t just any yo-yo coach. We
recruited. We had these great players serving their military time in
ROTC. We had Zeke Bratkowski, the Green Bay quarterback. We had Max
McGee of the Packers. Violent, wild, wonderful drunk. At the start of
the season McGee went AWOL, appeared at the Green Bay camp and he never
came back. I was somehow blamed for his leaving. The sun fell out of the
firmament. Then the word came that we were getting Bart Starr, the
All-American from Alabama. The Eagles were going to roll\! But then the
staff sergeant across the street came in and said, “I’ve got a terrible
story for you. Bart Starr’s not coming.” I managed to break into an
office and get out his files. I printed the order that showed he was
being discharged medically. Very serious leak.
INTERVIEWER
The Bart Starr story was not enough to impress Sports Illustrated?
THOMPSON
The personnel guy there said, “Well, we do have this trainee program.”
So I became a kind of copy boy.
INTERVIEWER
You eventually ended up in San Francisco. With the publication in 1967
of Hell’s Angels, your life must have taken an upward spin.
THOMPSON
All of a sudden I had a book out. At the time I was twenty-nine years
old and I couldn’t even get a job driving a cab in San Francisco, much
less writing. Sure, I had written important articles for The
Nation and The Observer, but only a few good journalists really knew
my byline. The book enabled me to buy a brand new BSA 650 Lightning, the
fastest motorcycle ever tested by Hot Rod magazine. It validated
everything I had been working toward. If Hell’s Angels hadn’t happened I
never would have been able to write Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas or
anything else. To be able to earn a living as a freelance writer in this
country is damned hard; there are very few people who can do
that. Hell’s Angels all of a sudden proved to me that, Holy Jesus,
maybe I can do this. I knew I was a good journalist. I knew I was a good
writer, but I felt like I got through a door just as it was closing.
INTERVIEWER
With the swell of creative energy flowing throughout the San Francisco
scene at the time, did you interact with or were you influenced by any
other writers?
THOMPSON
Ken Kesey for one. His novels One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s
Nest and Sometimes a Great Notion had quite an impact on me. I looked
up to him hugely. One day I went down to the television station to do a
roundtable show with other writers, like Kay Boyle, and Kesey was there.
Afterwards we went across the street to a local tavern and had several
beers together. I told him about the Angels, who I planned to meet later
that day, and I said, “Well, why don’t you come along?” He said, “Whoa,
I’d like to meet these guys.” Then I got second thoughts, because it’s
never a good idea to take strangers along to meet the Angels. But I
figured that this was Ken Kesey, so I’d try. By the end of the night
Kesey had invited them all down to La Honda, his woodsy retreat outside
of San Francisco. It was a time of extreme turbulence—riots in Berkeley.
He was always under assault by the police—day in and day out, so La
Honda was like a war zone. But he had a lot of the literary,
intellectual crowd down there, Stanford people also, visiting editors,
and Hell’s Angels. Kesey’s place was a real cultural vortex.

62
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[Source](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/29/mathematics-khachian-russia-travelling-salesman-archive-1979 "Permalink to ")
A young Soviet mathematician, apparently totally unknown to any of the
world’s senior practitioners, has found an answer to one of the most
baffling problems in computer calculation.
But his obscurity is such that his discovery went unnoticed for 10
months in the mathematical world, although work on the problem has been
going on for years.
The apparent breakthrough was achieved by L. G. Khachian, and was
published in a Soviet scientific journal, Doklady, last January. Few
people in the West read the journal and it was only after rumours of the
discovery circulated at a conference in Germany that anyone in the
mathematical world at large had even a hint that someone had come up
with an answer to what is known in the trade as the “travelling
salesman” problem.
The fact that some of the world’s best brains have been trying to solve
the problem gives some idea of its density to the layman. Reduced to its
simplest, the difficulty is to find a formula for a computer to work out
the best route for a salesman to take when he has to make calls in a
number of different cities.
This is only a sample problem. There are any number of analogous
situations in the everyday life of the industrial world: calculating the
most efficient way of staffing a factory with three shifts of workers is
another.
On the face of it, this should present no difficulty at all and, up to a
point, the computer can do the sums at its normal speed. But it only
needs a small increase in the number of cities to be visited by the
salesman for the machine to fall into the binary version of a nervous
breakdown.
The trouble is that the machine can only be programmed to work on the
problem through trial and error, laboriously going through all the
possible combinations until one emerges which is better than all the
others - known in the trade as the exponential time method.
The alternative being sought would use the polynomial time method, by
which the machine can carry out a whole range of simultaneous
calculations.
A route for a salesman visiting 60 cities would take about one-fifth of
a second to work out with a polynomial formula. Using exponential time
methods it needs literally billions of centuries. But no one so far has
managed to come up with a mathematical theory to underpin a solution.
Now Mr Khachian has burst on the scene and seems to have provided a
significant bit of the answer. Since no one knows who he is and since
there is no record of any previous publication by him, the speculation
is that he carried out his work as part of his doctoral thesis.
The best brains in the business have tried out his formula and agree
that it works, at least on a pocket calculator. It has yet to be given a
full-blown test as part of a computer programme.
Mr Khachian’s solution is not easily explained, but involves the use of
sets (that central element in the new maths) in a more imaginative way
than hitherto which closes in on the best solution.
The practical advantage of this is to cut out consideration of obvious
non-starters. The consensus of the mathematical fraternity is that the
Russian’s obscurity is not likely to last if he continues to produce
work of this calibre.

25
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@ -1,25 +0,0 @@
---
created_at: '2015-09-11T21:23:55.000Z'
title: The 6502 Gets Microprogrammable Instructions (1980)
url: http://www.wiz-worx.com/resume/byte8010.htm
author: ingve
points: 49
story_text:
comment_text:
num_comments: 7
story_id:
story_title:
story_url:
parent_id:
created_at_i: 1442006635
_tags:
- story
- author_ingve
- story_10206262
objectID: '10206262'
---
[Source](http://www.wiz-worx.com/resume/byte8010.htm "Permalink to ")

393
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@ -19,270 +19,139 @@ _tags:
objectID: '10070103'
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[Source](http://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/09/us/changing-san-francisco-is-foreseen-as-a-haven-for-wealthy-and-childless.html?l=0 "Permalink to CHANGING SAN FRANCISCO IS FORESEEN AS A HAVEN FOR WEALTHY AND CHILDLESS - NYTimes.com")
**SAN FRANCISCO, June 8—** Soaring housing costs, urban violence,
shifting ethnic patterns and an increase in childless adults living
together may be turning San Francisco, which the Chamber of Commerce
likes to call ''everybody's favorite city,'' into a haven for the young,
the old, the wealthy and the childless.
# CHANGING SAN FRANCISCO IS FORESEEN AS A HAVEN FOR WEALTHY AND CHILDLESS - NYTimes.com
That is the conclusion of demographers, real estate people and others
who monitor urban trends here, underscored by preliminary statistics
from the 1980 census.
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# CHANGING SAN FRANCISCO IS FORESEEN AS A HAVEN FOR WEALTHY AND CHILDLESS
###### By WAYNE KING, Special to the New York Times
###### Published: June 9, 1981
**SAN FRANCISCO, June 8— ** Soaring housing costs, urban violence, shifting ethnic patterns and an increase in childless adults living together may be turning San Francisco, which the Chamber of Commerce likes to call ''everybody's favorite city,'' into a haven for the young, the old, the wealthy and the childless.
That is the conclusion of demographers, real estate people and others who monitor urban trends here, underscored by preliminary statistics from the 1980 census.
Over the decade of the 1970's, the city lost 5 percent of its population, declining to 678,974 in 1980 from 715,674 in 1970. But more important than the population loss itself, demographers and planners here say, is the continued, and in this census, dramatic, alteration in the population mix. Whites and blacks are being replaced by persons of Asian and Hispanic origin, the middle class by the affluent and families with children by singles and childless.
Over the decade of the 1970's, the city lost 5 percent of its
population, declining to 678,974 in 1980 from 715,674 in 1970. But more
important than the population loss itself, demographers and planners
here say, is the continued, and in this census, dramatic, alteration in
the population mix. Whites and blacks are being replaced by persons of
Asian and Hispanic origin, the middle class by the affluent and families
with children by singles and childless.
A City for the Elite Seen
''At this rate we could become a place only the elite can afford,'' said Dr. Kenneth T. Rosen, chairman of the Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics in the graduate school of business at the University of California at Berkeley.
''Ten years from now,'' he predicted, ''unless we adopt some sort of policy to insure income integration, we will crowd out all the middle-income people. I think San Francisco is going to become a very rich living area, a lot of single and retired people who have money, executives who work down in the financial district. It's going to be very difficult for a nonwealthy person to live here.''
The largest population loss in the last decade was among whites, whose number declined nearly 23 percent, from 511,186 in 1970 to 395,082 in 1980. The drop in white population was not unusual for a mature urban area of the North and West. But San Francisco did have an unusual loss of black population, from 96,414 to 86,078, a decline of 10 percent. Big Increase From Asia
At the same time the number of Asian-Americans living here increased by more than 50 percent, from 97,379 in 1970 to 147,426 at the end of the decade, according to an interolation of census data by the senior San Francisco city planner, Peter Groat.
Although the figures for the Hispanic American population in San Francisco indicated a decline over the decade, from 101,090 in 1970 to 83,273 in 1980, Mr. Groat said that the method of enumerating Hispanic Americans probably skewed the figures significantly, and it it was generally thought that the Hispanic American population actually increased here. The reason is that in 1970 the number of Hispanics was arrived at by a computer model that listed everyone with a Spanish surname as Hispanic. In 1980, census respondents were allowed to choose their own ethnic category. As a result some who would have been listed as Hispanic in 1970 described themselves in 1980 as white, black or ''other.'' In 1980, 46,504 people listed themselves as ''other'' in San Francisco.
The displacement of blacks in San Francisco, according to Mr. Groat and others, appears to result in large measure from the lack of reasonably priced housing, but also from the easing of racial barriers in the suburbs.
''One of the hypotheses,'' said Mr. Groat, ''would be that affluent blacks have left San Francisco as the real estate market in the suburbs has opened up.'' Reasons for White Flight
Housing expenses, problems in the schools and a rising rate of violent crime in the city - the rate of reported rape in San Francisco in 1980 was nearly three times that of Chicago, and the robbery rate almost equal to Detroit - are all cited as contributors to white flight.
The data from the 1980 census have not been analyzed completely. But preliminary theories are that the major population loss has been among the middle class, particularly children.
''What is happening is that San Francisco is losing people, but it is gaining households,'' observed William Witte, deputy director for housing in the city's Office of Community Development. ''It's a net loss of people, a net gain in households, so there is more pressure on the housing market and more pressure on the people who can least afford it. The nationwide trend is to smaller households, and more households per capita, and that is exaggerated here, greater than the national trend. According to the latest figures, the size of the household decreased in the past decade from about 2.7 persons per household to 2.1, something like that. And the incomes went up.'' Exodus Linked to Housing Costs
A major reason for the exodus of the middle class from San Francisco, demographers say, is the high cost of housing, the highest in the mainland United States. Last month, the median cost of a dwelling in the San Francisco Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area was $129,000, according to the Federal Home Loan Bank Board in Washington, D.C. The comparable figure for New York, Newark and Jersey City was $90,400, and for Los Angeles, the second most expensive city, $118,400.
''This city dwarfs anything I've ever seen in terms of housing prices,'' said Mr. Witte. Among factors contributing to high housing cost, according to Mr. Witte and others, is its relative scarcity, since the number of housing units has not grown significantly in a decade; the influx of Asians, whose first priority is usually to buy a home; the high incidence of adults with good incomes and no children, particularly homosexuals who pool their incomes to buy homes, and the desirability of San Francisco as a place to live.
''What you have is a sharp drop in the birth rate, and what we've really lost is children under 15,'' said Dr. Rosen. ''We can't demonstrate it without the numbers, which we'll get in six months to a year, but it has happened in many cities. It's not people moving out of the cities. The number of households has gone up so the number of adults has gone up. People are not having kids, and there is the nontraditional life style. Traditional families are not being formed, people are not getting married and having children.'' More 'Nontraditional' People
''These are people who are nontraditional,'' he continued, ''people who are turning age 30 in the l980's, and San Francisco has more of them, a city where nontraditional life style is very accepted, not only not getting married, but also forming gay households. Gay or nongay, there are a lot of single people living together.''
Estimates of the city's homosexual population range from 10 to 20 percent of the total, and it is generally believed that homosexual households are a significant factor in the trend toward small households.
''We are the center of what we call life-style changes,'' said Mr. Groate. ''But it is very difficult to assess all the impact of the life-style changes. But housing pressures do reflect, for instance, the influx of the gay population, which will not be accounted for in the census figures. I'm sure that will have an impact, a severe impact, on the housing situation.''
Demographers like Mr. Groat say that they not surprised at the shifts. ''We've always had a transient situation,'' he said. ''From the time of the gold rush on, this has not been a normal, stable population.''
Illustrations: photo of Victorian townhouses in Alamo Square, San Francisco photo of moving van and San Francisco houses
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''At this rate we could become a place only the elite can afford,'' said
Dr. Kenneth T. Rosen, chairman of the Center for Real Estate and Urban
Economics in the graduate school of business at the University of
California at Berkeley.
''Ten years from now,'' he predicted, ''unless we adopt some sort of
policy to insure income integration, we will crowd out all the
middle-income people. I think San Francisco is going to become a very
rich living area, a lot of single and retired people who have money,
executives who work down in the financial district. It's going to be
very difficult for a nonwealthy person to live here.''
The largest population loss in the last decade was among whites, whose
number declined nearly 23 percent, from 511,186 in 1970 to 395,082 in
1980. The drop in white population was not unusual for a mature urban
area of the North and West. But San Francisco did have an unusual loss
of black population, from 96,414 to 86,078, a decline of 10 percent. Big
Increase From Asia
At the same time the number of Asian-Americans living here increased by
more than 50 percent, from 97,379 in 1970 to 147,426 at the end of the
decade, according to an interolation of census data by the senior San
Francisco city planner, Peter Groat.
Although the figures for the Hispanic American population in San
Francisco indicated a decline over the decade, from 101,090 in 1970 to
83,273 in 1980, Mr. Groat said that the method of enumerating Hispanic
Americans probably skewed the figures significantly, and it it was
generally thought that the Hispanic American population actually
increased here. The reason is that in 1970 the number of Hispanics was
arrived at by a computer model that listed everyone with a Spanish
surname as Hispanic. In 1980, census respondents were allowed to choose
their own ethnic category. As a result some who would have been listed
as Hispanic in 1970 described themselves in 1980 as white, black or
''other.'' In 1980, 46,504 people listed themselves as ''other'' in San
Francisco.
The displacement of blacks in San Francisco, according to Mr. Groat and
others, appears to result in large measure from the lack of reasonably
priced housing, but also from the easing of racial barriers in the
suburbs.
''One of the hypotheses,'' said Mr. Groat, ''would be that affluent
blacks have left San Francisco as the real estate market in the suburbs
has opened up.'' Reasons for White Flight
Housing expenses, problems in the schools and a rising rate of violent
crime in the city - the rate of reported rape in San Francisco in 1980
was nearly three times that of Chicago, and the robbery rate almost
equal to Detroit - are all cited as contributors to white flight.
The data from the 1980 census have not been analyzed completely. But
preliminary theories are that the major population loss has been among
the middle class, particularly children.
''What is happening is that San Francisco is losing people, but it is
gaining households,'' observed William Witte, deputy director for
housing in the city's Office of Community Development. ''It's a net loss
of people, a net gain in households, so there is more pressure on the
housing market and more pressure on the people who can least afford it.
The nationwide trend is to smaller households, and more households per
capita, and that is exaggerated here, greater than the national trend.
According to the latest figures, the size of the household decreased in
the past decade from about 2.7 persons per household to 2.1, something
like that. And the incomes went up.'' Exodus Linked to Housing Costs
A major reason for the exodus of the middle class from San Francisco,
demographers say, is the high cost of housing, the highest in the
mainland United States. Last month, the median cost of a dwelling in the
San Francisco Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area was $129,000,
according to the Federal Home Loan Bank Board in Washington, D.C. The
comparable figure for New York, Newark and Jersey City was $90,400, and
for Los Angeles, the second most expensive city, $118,400.
''This city dwarfs anything I've ever seen in terms of housing prices,''
said Mr. Witte. Among factors contributing to high housing cost,
according to Mr. Witte and others, is its relative scarcity, since the
number of housing units has not grown significantly in a decade; the
influx of Asians, whose first priority is usually to buy a home; the
high incidence of adults with good incomes and no children, particularly
homosexuals who pool their incomes to buy homes, and the desirability of
San Francisco as a place to live.
''What you have is a sharp drop in the birth rate, and what we've really
lost is children under 15,'' said Dr. Rosen. ''We can't demonstrate it
without the numbers, which we'll get in six months to a year, but it has
happened in many cities. It's not people moving out of the cities. The
number of households has gone up so the number of adults has gone up.
People are not having kids, and there is the nontraditional life style.
Traditional families are not being formed, people are not getting
married and having children.'' More 'Nontraditional' People
''These are people who are nontraditional,'' he continued, ''people who
are turning age 30 in the l980's, and San Francisco has more of them, a
city where nontraditional life style is very accepted, not only not
getting married, but also forming gay households. Gay or nongay, there
are a lot of single people living together.''
Estimates of the city's homosexual population range from 10 to 20
percent of the total, and it is generally believed that homosexual
households are a significant factor in the trend toward small
households.
''We are the center of what we call life-style changes,'' said Mr.
Groate. ''But it is very difficult to assess all the impact of the
life-style changes. But housing pressures do reflect, for instance, the
influx of the gay population, which will not be accounted for in the
census figures. I'm sure that will have an impact, a severe impact, on
the housing situation.''
Demographers like Mr. Groat say that they not surprised at the shifts.
''We've always had a transient situation,'' he said. ''From the time of
the gold rush on, this has not been a normal, stable population.''
Illustrations: photo of Victorian townhouses in Alamo Square, San
Francisco photo of moving van and San Francisco houses

18
_stories/1981/10430276.md
View File

@ -19,7 +19,17 @@ _tags:
objectID: '10430276'
---
[Source](https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/1981-de-lorean-archived-first-drive-review "Permalink to ")
The world's hands-on debut of the De Lorean after years of anticipation
did resolve a couple of longstanding concerns. First of all, this is
unquestionably the most ambitious attempt at running-before-walking ever
seen in the variegated history of the auto industry. The backbone frame
is easy but expensive, the molded-plastic body complicated and
expensive. The gull-wing doors are currently smack-dab in the middle of
a no-man's land in terms of manufacturing experience: Mercedes-Benz
broke the molds after 1400 300SLs, and Malcolm Bricklin went bust
squeezing the next couple thousand winged cars out of his Canadian
plant. What's more, the De Lorean is first packed with the power
accessories and miles of wiring that go with a luxury ride these days,
and only then sealed up in its silver wrapper. To find a
more-complex-to-build car, you might try Rolls-Royce, but it crafts only
a few thousand units a year and their prices run into six figures.

403
_stories/1981/10768239.md
View File

@ -19,270 +19,145 @@ _tags:
objectID: '10768239'
---
[Source](http://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/19/nyregion/the-10000-a-year-college-education-has-arrived.html "Permalink to THE $10,000-A-YEAR COLLEGE EDUCATION HAS ARRIVED - NYTimes.com")
# THE $10,000-A-YEAR COLLEGE EDUCATION HAS ARRIVED - NYTimes.com
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# THE $10,000-A-YEAR COLLEGE EDUCATION HAS ARRIVED
###### By LAURIE JOHNSTON
###### Published: February 19, 1981
Correction Appended
Correction Appended
The price of a college education, which hard-pressed parents have long said is going through the roof, has done just that - only there is apparently no longer a roof. As Gertrude Stein said, ''When you get there, there is no there there.''
For 1981-82 undergraduates, tuition charges alone are crashing through the $7,000 barrier for the first time. Total fees, including room and board, are not only shooting past $10,000, but also emerging strong on the other side at such pace-setting schools as Harvard, Yale, Brown, Bennington, Columbia, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford.
At several campuses, they carry such canny price tags as Princeton's $9,994. Outstripping the inflation rate by several points, the increases will commonly be 15 percent and often more. A benchmark 20 percent rise has been announced by Boston's Northeastern University for four of its colleges, where freshmen will pay $4,500 tuition, with a 16.7 percent rise to $4,200 at the other colleges. Cornell's endowed colleges will go up 18 percent to $7,000 tuition, with housing and dining increases expected to bring the total to $9,864. Student Aid a Concern
The increases come at a time of severe concern over the Reagan Administration's announced goal of limiting Federal financial aid to students, and many schools are increasing their own budgets for student aid. ''I have never been so beside myself about financial aid, both at Barnard and across the country,'' said Suzanne Guard, the Barnard director of financial aid.
At Amherst College, which expects a 13 to 15 percent increase above the present $8,450 comprehensive fee (compared with $3,600 ten years ago), 70 percent of the students have federally guaranteed student loans. The college has budgeted its own financial help for 35 percent of next year's freshmen, as against 27 percent this year.
''If there's no major reduction in Government loans and grants, we're in good shape,'' said Donald Routh, dean for financial aid. ''If there are reductions, then we have some very realproblems.''
Around the country, campus press editorials and a scattering of demonstrations have protested the proposed rises in tuition and other fees. While some officials and students talk about ''pricing ourselves out of the market'' or ''getting beyond what the traffic will bear,'' for the most part they report a mood of near resignation to what is considered inevitable. Some Students Protest
At Fordham University, which has announced 13 and 14 percent increases in tuition, a demonstration was held recently on the Bronx campus, where total fees will go from $3,750 to $4,240. Seven students carried signs and chanted in the cold for 15 minutes before jamming their signs in the door of the administration building and dispersing.
Students at New York University were described as ''complaining'' about increases of 14 percent for tuition, to $5,770, and 12 percent for living costs, but they were said to be more immediately concerned about possible cuts in Federal aid. Housing at N.Y.U. will go to $1,430 and the maximum meal plan charge to $1,384.
Putting the blame on inflation, college officials cite soaring costs of fuel and insulation programs, food and equipment, as well as relatively modest faculty and staff salary increases of 9 to 13 percent. Administrators note in passing that income from endowments and other sources is not keeping pace with inflation.
Announcing that Yale's undergraduate bill would be $10,340, President A. Bartlett Giamatti called it ''as low as it can possibly be'' in the face of energy costs, a decline in the purchasing power of endowments and Yale's decision to increase salaries.
Columbia and Barnard, which expect to announce increases of at least 12 percent, to about $10,300 and $8,840, respectively, are among the schools citing a need for improved security to justify the rises. State University Fees Up
Tuition increases of at least 11 percent at the State University of New York - to $1,000 or $1,050 for undergraduates on 29 four-year campuses, compared with $550 a decade ago - were tentatively approved this month in an attempt to save most of the 440 faculty and nonfaculty positions believed lost in Governor Carey's proposed 1981-82 budget. The trustees also raised next year's dormitory fees by $150 a year, to $1,100.
The breaching of both $1,000 levels, while psychologically dramatic in the state-supported system, still leaves the state university's 10-year increase slightly below the now typical 100 percent rate.
Although the City University of New York is also heavily dependent on the state budget, it plans to remain at the $900 mark, reached four years after its schools began charging for tuition in 1976. ''We have absolutely no intention of increasing the tuition for next year,'' said James P. Murphy, chairman of the board of trustees.
Total fees on nearly all campuses have at least doubled in the past decade - a period when the national consumer price index was rising 112 percent - and most picked up speed in the later years. At Brown University, for example, next year's $10,242 comprehensive fee is up 110 percent from $4,890 in 1970-71 and 78 percent from $5,750 in 1975.
Princeton will break its own records with a 15 percent increase in tuition to $7,250. The total charges come to $9,994 -a 133 percent increase in the last decade. However, students and their families are urged to count also on an allowance of $1,055 (up from this year's $975 estimate) for such expenses as books and laundry -not to mention the beer-and-skittles part of education - bringing the recognized total to $11,049. Bennington at High End
With a mere 12.3 percent rise in total fees, Bennington College in Vermont may still present the nation's most expensive undergraduate bill: $10,560 for tuition, room and board. At Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., a planned 15 percent increase will bring student fees to $9,780, of which $6,850 is for tuition.
Like many other schools, Harvard University cited ''steady inflation and rising energy costs'' for its $1,370 increase in undergraduate charges to $10,540, with tuition alone up 15.5 percent to $6,930. Henry Rosovsky, dean of the faculty of arts and sciences, said an 80 percent rise in the price of steam for heat and hot water had contributed to Harvard's current annual energy bill of $27 million, up 25 percent in a year.
Like other schools, too, Harvard maintains that ''families will still allocate about the same percentage of income in real dollars'' because college charges have only paralleled the inflation in the nation's disposable personal income.
Many students and parents, however, note that money intended for college does not always come out of current income. When Deborah Levinger, a Brandeis University freshman from Sioux City, Iowa., started planning and saving for college five years ago, for example, she thought the money earmarked would last her through graduate school, with ''maybe a little left over.''
''But now, by the time I get to grad school, I won't have any money at all,'' said Miss Levinger, whose 1981-82 tuition, board and room will be $9,824, compared with this year's $8,574. ''The cost is outrageous, but what can I do? Other schools I've looked at are in about the same range.''
Illustrations: photo of students on Yale campus photo of Suzanne Guard and Mel O'Connor at Barnard table comparing tuition at ten colleges
**Correction:** February 27, 1981, Friday, Late City Final Edition A chart in Metropolitan Report last Thursday comparing college costs included an incorrect figure for Fordham University. The total annual cost for tuition, room and board will be $6,800 starting in September.
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The price of a college education, which hard-pressed parents have long
said is going through the roof, has done just that - only there is
apparently no longer a roof. As Gertrude Stein said, ''When you get
there, there is no there there.''
For 1981-82 undergraduates, tuition charges alone are crashing through
the $7,000 barrier for the first time. Total fees, including room and
board, are not only shooting past $10,000, but also emerging strong on
the other side at such pace-setting schools as Harvard, Yale, Brown,
Bennington, Columbia, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and
Stanford.
At several campuses, they carry such canny price tags as Princeton's
$9,994. Outstripping the inflation rate by several points, the increases
will commonly be 15 percent and often more. A benchmark 20 percent rise
has been announced by Boston's Northeastern University for four of its
colleges, where freshmen will pay $4,500 tuition, with a 16.7 percent
rise to $4,200 at the other colleges. Cornell's endowed colleges will go
up 18 percent to $7,000 tuition, with housing and dining increases
expected to bring the total to $9,864. Student Aid a Concern
The increases come at a time of severe concern over the Reagan
Administration's announced goal of limiting Federal financial aid to
students, and many schools are increasing their own budgets for student
aid. ''I have never been so beside myself about financial aid, both at
Barnard and across the country,'' said Suzanne Guard, the Barnard
director of financial aid.
At Amherst College, which expects a 13 to 15 percent increase above the
present $8,450 comprehensive fee (compared with $3,600 ten years ago),
70 percent of the students have federally guaranteed student loans. The
college has budgeted its own financial help for 35 percent of next
year's freshmen, as against 27 percent this year.
''If there's no major reduction in Government loans and grants, we're in
good shape,'' said Donald Routh, dean for financial aid. ''If there are
reductions, then we have some very realproblems.''
Around the country, campus press editorials and a scattering of
demonstrations have protested the proposed rises in tuition and other
fees. While some officials and students talk about ''pricing ourselves
out of the market'' or ''getting beyond what the traffic will bear,''
for the most part they report a mood of near resignation to what is
considered inevitable. Some Students Protest
At Fordham University, which has announced 13 and 14 percent increases
in tuition, a demonstration was held recently on the Bronx campus, where
total fees will go from $3,750 to $4,240. Seven students carried signs
and chanted in the cold for 15 minutes before jamming their signs in the
door of the administration building and dispersing.
Students at New York University were described as ''complaining'' about
increases of 14 percent for tuition, to $5,770, and 12 percent for
living costs, but they were said to be more immediately concerned about
possible cuts in Federal aid. Housing at N.Y.U. will go to $1,430 and
the maximum meal plan charge to $1,384.
Putting the blame on inflation, college officials cite soaring costs of
fuel and insulation programs, food and equipment, as well as relatively
modest faculty and staff salary increases of 9 to 13 percent.
Administrators note in passing that income from endowments and other
sources is not keeping pace with inflation.
Announcing that Yale's undergraduate bill would be $10,340, President A.
Bartlett Giamatti called it ''as low as it can possibly be'' in the face
of energy costs, a decline in the purchasing power of endowments and
Yale's decision to increase salaries.
Columbia and Barnard, which expect to announce increases of at least 12
percent, to about $10,300 and $8,840, respectively, are among the
schools citing a need for improved security to justify the rises. State
University Fees Up
Tuition increases of at least 11 percent at the State University of New
York - to $1,000 or $1,050 for undergraduates on 29 four-year campuses,
compared with $550 a decade ago - were tentatively approved this month
in an attempt to save most of the 440 faculty and nonfaculty positions
believed lost in Governor Carey's proposed 1981-82 budget. The trustees
also raised next year's dormitory fees by $150 a year, to $1,100.
The breaching of both $1,000 levels, while psychologically dramatic in
the state-supported system, still leaves the state university's 10-year
increase slightly below the now typical 100 percent rate.
Although the City University of New York is also heavily dependent on
the state budget, it plans to remain at the $900 mark, reached four
years after its schools began charging for tuition in 1976. ''We have
absolutely no intention of increasing the tuition for next year,'' said
James P. Murphy, chairman of the board of trustees.
Total fees on nearly all campuses have at least doubled in the past
decade - a period when the national consumer price index was rising 112
percent - and most picked up speed in the later years. At Brown
University, for example, next year's $10,242 comprehensive fee is up 110
percent from $4,890 in 1970-71 and 78 percent from $5,750 in 1975.
Princeton will break its own records with a 15 percent increase in
tuition to $7,250. The total charges come to $9,994 -a 133 percent
increase in the last decade. However, students and their families are
urged to count also on an allowance of $1,055 (up from this year's $975
estimate) for such expenses as books and laundry -not to mention the
beer-and-skittles part of education - bringing the recognized total to
$11,049. Bennington at High End
With a mere 12.3 percent rise in total fees, Bennington College in
Vermont may still present the nation's most expensive undergraduate
bill: $10,560 for tuition, room and board. At Wesleyan University in
Middletown, Conn., a planned 15 percent increase will bring student fees
to $9,780, of which $6,850 is for tuition.
Like many other schools, Harvard University cited ''steady inflation and
rising energy costs'' for its $1,370 increase in undergraduate charges
to $10,540, with tuition alone up 15.5 percent to $6,930. Henry
Rosovsky, dean of the faculty of arts and sciences, said an 80 percent
rise in the price of steam for heat and hot water had contributed to
Harvard's current annual energy bill of $27 million, up 25 percent in a
year.
Like other schools, too, Harvard maintains that ''families will still
allocate about the same percentage of income in real dollars'' because
college charges have only paralleled the inflation in the nation's
disposable personal income.
Many students and parents, however, note that money intended for college
does not always come out of current income. When Deborah Levinger, a
Brandeis University freshman from Sioux City, Iowa., started planning
and saving for college five years ago, for example, she thought the
money earmarked would last her through graduate school, with ''maybe a
little left over.''
''But now, by the time I get to grad school, I won't have any money at
all,'' said Miss Levinger, whose 1981-82 tuition, board and room will be
$9,824, compared with this year's $8,574. ''The cost is outrageous, but
what can I do? Other schools I've looked at are in about the same
range.''
Illustrations: photo of students on Yale campus photo of Suzanne Guard
and Mel O'Connor at Barnard table comparing tuition at ten colleges

393
_stories/1981/13464747.md
View File

@ -19,270 +19,139 @@ _tags:
objectID: '13464747'
---
[Source](http://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/09/us/changing-san-francisco-is-foreseen-as-a-haven-for-wealthy-and-childless.html "Permalink to CHANGING SAN FRANCISCO IS FORESEEN AS A HAVEN FOR WEALTHY AND CHILDLESS - NYTimes.com")
**SAN FRANCISCO, June 8—** Soaring housing costs, urban violence,
shifting ethnic patterns and an increase in childless adults living
together may be turning San Francisco, which the Chamber of Commerce
likes to call ''everybody's favorite city,'' into a haven for the young,
the old, the wealthy and the childless.
# CHANGING SAN FRANCISCO IS FORESEEN AS A HAVEN FOR WEALTHY AND CHILDLESS - NYTimes.com
That is the conclusion of demographers, real estate people and others
who monitor urban trends here, underscored by preliminary statistics
from the 1980 census.
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# CHANGING SAN FRANCISCO IS FORESEEN AS A HAVEN FOR WEALTHY AND CHILDLESS
###### By WAYNE KING, Special to the New York Times
###### Published: June 9, 1981
**SAN FRANCISCO, June 8— ** Soaring housing costs, urban violence, shifting ethnic patterns and an increase in childless adults living together may be turning San Francisco, which the Chamber of Commerce likes to call ''everybody's favorite city,'' into a haven for the young, the old, the wealthy and the childless.
That is the conclusion of demographers, real estate people and others who monitor urban trends here, underscored by preliminary statistics from the 1980 census.
Over the decade of the 1970's, the city lost 5 percent of its population, declining to 678,974 in 1980 from 715,674 in 1970. But more important than the population loss itself, demographers and planners here say, is the continued, and in this census, dramatic, alteration in the population mix. Whites and blacks are being replaced by persons of Asian and Hispanic origin, the middle class by the affluent and families with children by singles and childless.
Over the decade of the 1970's, the city lost 5 percent of its
population, declining to 678,974 in 1980 from 715,674 in 1970. But more
important than the population loss itself, demographers and planners
here say, is the continued, and in this census, dramatic, alteration in
the population mix. Whites and blacks are being replaced by persons of
Asian and Hispanic origin, the middle class by the affluent and families
with children by singles and childless.
A City for the Elite Seen
''At this rate we could become a place only the elite can afford,'' said Dr. Kenneth T. Rosen, chairman of the Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics in the graduate school of business at the University of California at Berkeley.
''Ten years from now,'' he predicted, ''unless we adopt some sort of policy to insure income integration, we will crowd out all the middle-income people. I think San Francisco is going to become a very rich living area, a lot of single and retired people who have money, executives who work down in the financial district. It's going to be very difficult for a nonwealthy person to live here.''
The largest population loss in the last decade was among whites, whose number declined nearly 23 percent, from 511,186 in 1970 to 395,082 in 1980. The drop in white population was not unusual for a mature urban area of the North and West. But San Francisco did have an unusual loss of black population, from 96,414 to 86,078, a decline of 10 percent. Big Increase From Asia
At the same time the number of Asian-Americans living here increased by more than 50 percent, from 97,379 in 1970 to 147,426 at the end of the decade, according to an interolation of census data by the senior San Francisco city planner, Peter Groat.
Although the figures for the Hispanic American population in San Francisco indicated a decline over the decade, from 101,090 in 1970 to 83,273 in 1980, Mr. Groat said that the method of enumerating Hispanic Americans probably skewed the figures significantly, and it it was generally thought that the Hispanic American population actually increased here. The reason is that in 1970 the number of Hispanics was arrived at by a computer model that listed everyone with a Spanish surname as Hispanic. In 1980, census respondents were allowed to choose their own ethnic category. As a result some who would have been listed as Hispanic in 1970 described themselves in 1980 as white, black or ''other.'' In 1980, 46,504 people listed themselves as ''other'' in San Francisco.
The displacement of blacks in San Francisco, according to Mr. Groat and others, appears to result in large measure from the lack of reasonably priced housing, but also from the easing of racial barriers in the suburbs.
''One of the hypotheses,'' said Mr. Groat, ''would be that affluent blacks have left San Francisco as the real estate market in the suburbs has opened up.'' Reasons for White Flight
Housing expenses, problems in the schools and a rising rate of violent crime in the city - the rate of reported rape in San Francisco in 1980 was nearly three times that of Chicago, and the robbery rate almost equal to Detroit - are all cited as contributors to white flight.
The data from the 1980 census have not been analyzed completely. But preliminary theories are that the major population loss has been among the middle class, particularly children.
''What is happening is that San Francisco is losing people, but it is gaining households,'' observed William Witte, deputy director for housing in the city's Office of Community Development. ''It's a net loss of people, a net gain in households, so there is more pressure on the housing market and more pressure on the people who can least afford it. The nationwide trend is to smaller households, and more households per capita, and that is exaggerated here, greater than the national trend. According to the latest figures, the size of the household decreased in the past decade from about 2.7 persons per household to 2.1, something like that. And the incomes went up.'' Exodus Linked to Housing Costs
A major reason for the exodus of the middle class from San Francisco, demographers say, is the high cost of housing, the highest in the mainland United States. Last month, the median cost of a dwelling in the San Francisco Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area was $129,000, according to the Federal Home Loan Bank Board in Washington, D.C. The comparable figure for New York, Newark and Jersey City was $90,400, and for Los Angeles, the second most expensive city, $118,400.
''This city dwarfs anything I've ever seen in terms of housing prices,'' said Mr. Witte. Among factors contributing to high housing cost, according to Mr. Witte and others, is its relative scarcity, since the number of housing units has not grown significantly in a decade; the influx of Asians, whose first priority is usually to buy a home; the high incidence of adults with good incomes and no children, particularly homosexuals who pool their incomes to buy homes, and the desirability of San Francisco as a place to live.
''What you have is a sharp drop in the birth rate, and what we've really lost is children under 15,'' said Dr. Rosen. ''We can't demonstrate it without the numbers, which we'll get in six months to a year, but it has happened in many cities. It's not people moving out of the cities. The number of households has gone up so the number of adults has gone up. People are not having kids, and there is the nontraditional life style. Traditional families are not being formed, people are not getting married and having children.'' More 'Nontraditional' People
''These are people who are nontraditional,'' he continued, ''people who are turning age 30 in the l980's, and San Francisco has more of them, a city where nontraditional life style is very accepted, not only not getting married, but also forming gay households. Gay or nongay, there are a lot of single people living together.''
Estimates of the city's homosexual population range from 10 to 20 percent of the total, and it is generally believed that homosexual households are a significant factor in the trend toward small households.
''We are the center of what we call life-style changes,'' said Mr. Groate. ''But it is very difficult to assess all the impact of the life-style changes. But housing pressures do reflect, for instance, the influx of the gay population, which will not be accounted for in the census figures. I'm sure that will have an impact, a severe impact, on the housing situation.''
Demographers like Mr. Groat say that they not surprised at the shifts. ''We've always had a transient situation,'' he said. ''From the time of the gold rush on, this has not been a normal, stable population.''
Illustrations: photo of Victorian townhouses in Alamo Square, San Francisco photo of moving van and San Francisco houses
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''At this rate we could become a place only the elite can afford,'' said
Dr. Kenneth T. Rosen, chairman of the Center for Real Estate and Urban
Economics in the graduate school of business at the University of
California at Berkeley.
''Ten years from now,'' he predicted, ''unless we adopt some sort of
policy to insure income integration, we will crowd out all the
middle-income people. I think San Francisco is going to become a very
rich living area, a lot of single and retired people who have money,
executives who work down in the financial district. It's going to be
very difficult for a nonwealthy person to live here.''
The largest population loss in the last decade was among whites, whose
number declined nearly 23 percent, from 511,186 in 1970 to 395,082 in
1980. The drop in white population was not unusual for a mature urban
area of the North and West. But San Francisco did have an unusual loss
of black population, from 96,414 to 86,078, a decline of 10 percent. Big
Increase From Asia
At the same time the number of Asian-Americans living here increased by
more than 50 percent, from 97,379 in 1970 to 147,426 at the end of the
decade, according to an interolation of census data by the senior San
Francisco city planner, Peter Groat.
Although the figures for the Hispanic American population in San
Francisco indicated a decline over the decade, from 101,090 in 1970 to
83,273 in 1980, Mr. Groat said that the method of enumerating Hispanic
Americans probably skewed the figures significantly, and it it was
generally thought that the Hispanic American population actually
increased here. The reason is that in 1970 the number of Hispanics was
arrived at by a computer model that listed everyone with a Spanish
surname as Hispanic. In 1980, census respondents were allowed to choose
their own ethnic category. As a result some who would have been listed
as Hispanic in 1970 described themselves in 1980 as white, black or
''other.'' In 1980, 46,504 people listed themselves as ''other'' in San
Francisco.
The displacement of blacks in San Francisco, according to Mr. Groat and
others, appears to result in large measure from the lack of reasonably
priced housing, but also from the easing of racial barriers in the
suburbs.
''One of the hypotheses,'' said Mr. Groat, ''would be that affluent
blacks have left San Francisco as the real estate market in the suburbs
has opened up.'' Reasons for White Flight
Housing expenses, problems in the schools and a rising rate of violent
crime in the city - the rate of reported rape in San Francisco in 1980
was nearly three times that of Chicago, and the robbery rate almost
equal to Detroit - are all cited as contributors to white flight.
The data from the 1980 census have not been analyzed completely. But
preliminary theories are that the major population loss has been among
the middle class, particularly children.
''What is happening is that San Francisco is losing people, but it is
gaining households,'' observed William Witte, deputy director for
housing in the city's Office of Community Development. ''It's a net loss
of people, a net gain in households, so there is more pressure on the
housing market and more pressure on the people who can least afford it.
The nationwide trend is to smaller households, and more households per
capita, and that is exaggerated here, greater than the national trend.
According to the latest figures, the size of the household decreased in
the past decade from about 2.7 persons per household to 2.1, something
like that. And the incomes went up.'' Exodus Linked to Housing Costs
A major reason for the exodus of the middle class from San Francisco,
demographers say, is the high cost of housing, the highest in the
mainland United States. Last month, the median cost of a dwelling in the
San Francisco Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area was $129,000,
according to the Federal Home Loan Bank Board in Washington, D.C. The
comparable figure for New York, Newark and Jersey City was $90,400, and
for Los Angeles, the second most expensive city, $118,400.
''This city dwarfs anything I've ever seen in terms of housing prices,''
said Mr. Witte. Among factors contributing to high housing cost,
according to Mr. Witte and others, is its relative scarcity, since the
number of housing units has not grown significantly in a decade; the
influx of Asians, whose first priority is usually to buy a home; the
high incidence of adults with good incomes and no children, particularly
homosexuals who pool their incomes to buy homes, and the desirability of
San Francisco as a place to live.
''What you have is a sharp drop in the birth rate, and what we've really
lost is children under 15,'' said Dr. Rosen. ''We can't demonstrate it
without the numbers, which we'll get in six months to a year, but it has
happened in many cities. It's not people moving out of the cities. The
number of households has gone up so the number of adults has gone up.
People are not having kids, and there is the nontraditional life style.
Traditional families are not being formed, people are not getting
married and having children.'' More 'Nontraditional' People
''These are people who are nontraditional,'' he continued, ''people who
are turning age 30 in the l980's, and San Francisco has more of them, a
city where nontraditional life style is very accepted, not only not
getting married, but also forming gay households. Gay or nongay, there
are a lot of single people living together.''
Estimates of the city's homosexual population range from 10 to 20
percent of the total, and it is generally believed that homosexual
households are a significant factor in the trend toward small
households.
''We are the center of what we call life-style changes,'' said Mr.
Groate. ''But it is very difficult to assess all the impact of the
life-style changes. But housing pressures do reflect, for instance, the
influx of the gay population, which will not be accounted for in the
census figures. I'm sure that will have an impact, a severe impact, on
the housing situation.''
Demographers like Mr. Groat say that they not surprised at the shifts.
''We've always had a transient situation,'' he said. ''From the time of
the gold rush on, this has not been a normal, stable population.''
Illustrations: photo of Victorian townhouses in Alamo Square, San
Francisco photo of moving van and San Francisco houses

26
_stories/1981/3106646.md
View File

@ -19,7 +19,31 @@ _tags:
objectID: '3106646'
---
[Source](https://plus.google.com/u/0/101960720994009339267/posts/jKyyV1tXD6c "Permalink to ")
The lot of you have had such a huge impact on my life. My father was an
engineer at Bell Labs back in the day, and I was always very interested
in his work. When I was 11 or 12, he brought home a terminal (thermal
printer w/acoustic modem), a K\&R book, and a handful of memos about how
to work the shell and the text editor. I was hooked. When I finally
realized my dream of working at Bell Labs myself, I read every technical
memo I could get my hands on from your group. I don't recall if I had
the pleasure of meeting you in person,
echoes my own thoughts. In the late 80s, I worked in the Murray Hill
comp. center for a few years. It was early in my career, but I was in a
meeting for a technical committee with which Dennis was also involved.
At one point he asked my opinion on one of the topics under discussion.
This made an enormous impression on me, not only encouraging me
personally -- if my input was of interest to the likes of dmr, I must be
doing something right\! -- but also as a reminder that the truly great
put their own egos aside and learn all they can from everyone around
them.The lot of you have had such a huge impact on my life. My father
was an engineer at Bell Labs back in the day, and I was always very
interested in his work. When I was 11 or 12, he brought home a terminal
(thermal printer w/acoustic modem), a K\&R book, and a handful of memos
about how to work the shell and the text editor. I was hooked. When I
finally realized my dream of working at Bell Labs myself, I read every
technical memo I could get my hands on from your group. I don't recall
if I had the pleasure of meeting you in person,, but please know that
your work and your writing were invaluable to me.

361
_stories/1981/5995702.md
View File

@ -19,262 +19,105 @@ _tags:
objectID: '5995702'
---
[Source](http://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/03/us/rare-cancer-seen-in-41-homosexuals.html "Permalink to RARE CANCER SEEN IN 41 HOMOSEXUALS - NYTimes.com")
# RARE CANCER SEEN IN 41 HOMOSEXUALS - NYTimes.com
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# RARE CANCER SEEN IN 41 HOMOSEXUALS
###### By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN
###### Published: July 3, 1981
Doctors in New York and California have diagnosed among homosexual men 41 cases of a rare and often rapidly fatal form of cancer. Eight of the victims died less than 24 months after the diagnosis was made.
The cause of the outbreak is unknown, and there is as yet no evidence of contagion. But the doctors who have made the diagnoses, mostly in New York City and the San Francisco Bay area, are alerting other physicians who treat large numbers of homosexual men to the problem in an effort to help identify more cases and to reduce the delay in offering chemotherapy treatment.
The sudden appearance of the cancer, called Kaposi's Sarcoma, has prompted a medical investigation that experts say could have as much scientific as public health importance because of what it may teach about determining the causes of more common types of cancer. First Appears in Spots
Doctors have been taught in the past that the cancer usually appeared first in spots on the legs and that the disease took a slow course of up to 10 years. But these recent cases have shown that it appears in one or more violet-colored spots anywhere on the body. The spots generally do not itch or cause other symptoms, often can be mistaken for bruises, sometimes appear as lumps and can turn brown after a period of time. The cancer often causes swollen lymph glands, and then kills by spreading throughout the body.
Doctors investigating the outbreak believe that many cases have gone undetected because of the rarity of the condition and the difficulty even dermatologists may have in diagnosing it.
In a letter alerting other physicians to the problem, Dr. Alvin E. Friedman-Kien of New York University Medical Center, one of the investigators, described the appearance of the outbreak as ''rather devastating.''
Dr. Friedman-Kien said in an interview yesterday that he knew of 41 cases collated in the last five weeks, with the cases themselves dating to the past 30 months. The Federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta is expected to publish the first description of the outbreak in its weekly report today, according to a spokesman, Dr. James Curran. The report notes 26 of the cases - 20 in New York and six in California.
There is no national registry of cancer victims, but the nationwide incidence of Kaposi's Sarcoma in the past had been estimated by the Centers for Disease Control to be less than six-one-hundredths of a case per 100,000 people annually, or about two cases in every three million people. However, the disease accounts for up to 9 percent of all cancers in a belt across equatorial Africa, where it commonly affects children and young adults.
In the United States, it has primarily affected men older than 50 years. But in the recent cases, doctors at nine medical centers in New York and seven hospitals in California have been diagnosing the condition among younger men, all of whom said in the course of standard diagnostic interviews that they were homosexual. Although the ages of the patients have ranged from 26 to 51 years, many have been under 40, with the mean at 39.
Nine of the 41 cases known to Dr. Friedman-Kien were diagnosed in California, and several of those victims reported that they had been in New York in the period preceding the diagnosis. Dr. Friedman-Kien said that his colleagues were checking on reports of two victims diagnosed in Copenhagen, one of whom had visited New York. Viral Infections Indicated
No one medical investigator has yet interviewed all the victims, Dr. Curran said. According to Dr. Friedman-Kien, the reporting doctors said that most cases had involved homosexual men who have had multiple and frequent sexual encounters with different partners, as many as 10 sexual encounters each night up to four times a week.
Many of the patients have also been treated for viral infections such as herpes, cytomegalovirus and hepatitis B as well as parasitic infections such as amebiasis and giardiasis. Many patients also reported that they had used drugs such as amyl nitrite and LSD to heighten sexual pleasure.
Cancer is not believed to be contagious, but conditions that might precipitate it, such as particular viruses or environmental factors, might account for an outbreak among a single group.
The medical investigators say some indirect evidence actually points away from contagion as a cause. None of the patients knew each other, although the theoretical possibility that some may have had sexual contact with a person with Kaposi's Sarcoma at some point in the past could not be excluded, Dr. Friedman-Kien said.
Dr. Curran said there was no apparent danger to nonhomosexuals from contagion. ''The best evidence against contagion,'' he said, ''is that no cases have been reported to date outside the homosexual community or in women.''
Dr. Friedman-Kien said he had tested nine of the victims and found severe defects in their immunological systems. The patients had serious malfunctions of two types of cells called T and B cell lymphocytes, which have important roles in fighting infections and cancer.
But Dr. Friedman-Kien emphasized that the researchers did not know whether the immunological defects were the underlying problem or had developed secondarily to the infections or drug use.
The research team is testing various hypotheses, one of which is a possible link between past infection with cytomegalovirus and development of Kaposi's Sarcoma.
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[63]: http://up.nytimes.com/?d=0//&t=&s=0&ui=&r=&u=www.nytimes.com%2F1981%2F07%2F03%2Fus%2Frare-cancer-seen-in-41-homosexuals.html
Doctors in New York and California have diagnosed among homosexual men
41 cases of a rare and often rapidly fatal form of cancer. Eight of the
victims died less than 24 months after the diagnosis was made.
The cause of the outbreak is unknown, and there is as yet no evidence of
contagion. But the doctors who have made the diagnoses, mostly in New
York City and the San Francisco Bay area, are alerting other physicians
who treat large numbers of homosexual men to the problem in an effort to
help identify more cases and to reduce the delay in offering
chemotherapy treatment.
The sudden appearance of the cancer, called Kaposi's Sarcoma, has
prompted a medical investigation that experts say could have as much
scientific as public health importance because of what it may teach
about determining the causes of more common types of cancer. First
Appears in Spots
Doctors have been taught in the past that the cancer usually appeared
first in spots on the legs and that the disease took a slow course of up
to 10 years. But these recent cases have shown that it appears in one or
more violet-colored spots anywhere on the body. The spots generally do
not itch or cause other symptoms, often can be mistaken for bruises,
sometimes appear as lumps and can turn brown after a period of time. The
cancer often causes swollen lymph glands, and then kills by spreading
throughout the body.
Doctors investigating the outbreak believe that many cases have gone
undetected because of the rarity of the condition and the difficulty
even dermatologists may have in diagnosing it.
In a letter alerting other physicians to the problem, Dr. Alvin E.
Friedman-Kien of New York University Medical Center, one of the
investigators, described the appearance of the outbreak as ''rather
devastating.''
Dr. Friedman-Kien said in an interview yesterday that he knew of 41
cases collated in the last five weeks, with the cases themselves dating
to the past 30 months. The Federal Centers for Disease Control in
Atlanta is expected to publish the first description of the outbreak in
its weekly report today, according to a spokesman, Dr. James Curran. The
report notes 26 of the cases - 20 in New York and six in California.
There is no national registry of cancer victims, but the nationwide
incidence of Kaposi's Sarcoma in the past had been estimated by the
Centers for Disease Control to be less than six-one-hundredths of a case
per 100,000 people annually, or about two cases in every three million
people. However, the disease accounts for up to 9 percent of all cancers
in a belt across equatorial Africa, where it commonly affects children
and young adults.
In the United States, it has primarily affected men older than 50 years.
But in the recent cases, doctors at nine medical centers in New York and
seven hospitals in California have been diagnosing the condition among
younger men, all of whom said in the course of standard diagnostic
interviews that they were homosexual. Although the ages of the patients
have ranged from 26 to 51 years, many have been under 40, with the mean
at 39.
Nine of the 41 cases known to Dr. Friedman-Kien were diagnosed in
California, and several of those victims reported that they had been in
New York in the period preceding the diagnosis. Dr. Friedman-Kien said
that his colleagues were checking on reports of two victims diagnosed in
Copenhagen, one of whom had visited New York. Viral Infections Indicated
No one medical investigator has yet interviewed all the victims, Dr.
Curran said. According to Dr. Friedman-Kien, the reporting doctors said
that most cases had involved homosexual men who have had multiple and
frequent sexual encounters with different partners, as many as 10 sexual
encounters each night up to four times a week.
Many of the patients have also been treated for viral infections such as
herpes, cytomegalovirus and hepatitis B as well as parasitic infections
such as amebiasis and giardiasis. Many patients also reported that they
had used drugs such as amyl nitrite and LSD to heighten sexual pleasure.
Cancer is not believed to be contagious, but conditions that might
precipitate it, such as particular viruses or environmental factors,
might account for an outbreak among a single group.
The medical investigators say some indirect evidence actually points
away from contagion as a cause. None of the patients knew each other,
although the theoretical possibility that some may have had sexual
contact with a person with Kaposi's Sarcoma at some point in the past
could not be excluded, Dr. Friedman-Kien said.
Dr. Curran said there was no apparent danger to nonhomosexuals from
contagion. ''The best evidence against contagion,'' he said, ''is that
no cases have been reported to date outside the homosexual community or
in women.''
Dr. Friedman-Kien said he had tested nine of the victims and found
severe defects in their immunological systems. The patients had serious
malfunctions of two types of cells called T and B cell lymphocytes,
which have important roles in fighting infections and cancer.
But Dr. Friedman-Kien emphasized that the researchers did not know
whether the immunological defects were the underlying problem or had
developed secondarily to the infections or drug use.
The research team is testing various hypotheses, one of which is a
possible link between past infection with cytomegalovirus and
development of Kaposi's Sarcoma.

272
_stories/1981/7610592.md
View File

@ -19,7 +19,277 @@ _tags:
objectID: '7610592'
---
[Source](https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/3196/the-art-of-fiction-no-69-gabriel-garcia-marquez "Permalink to ")
 
![undefined](/il/fdb8a09feb/large/Hunter-S-Thompson.jpg "undefined")
 
In an October 1957 letter to a friend who had recommended he read Ayn
Rand’s The Fountainhead, Hunter S. Thompson wrote, “Although I don’t
feel that it’s at all necessary to tell you how I feel about the
principle of individuality, I know that I’m going to have to spend the
rest of my life expressing it one way or another, and I think that I’ll
accomplish more by expressing it on the keys of a typewriter than by
letting it express itself in sudden outbursts of frustrated violence. .
. .”
Thompson carved out his niche early. He was born in 1937, in Louisville,
Kentucky, where his fiction and poetry earned him induction into the
local Athenaeum Literary Association while he was still in high school.
Thompson continued his literary pursuits in the United States Air Force,
writing a weekly sports column for the base newspaper. After two years
of service, Thompson endured a series of newspaper jobs—all of which
ended badly—before he took to freelancing from Puerto Rico and South
America for a variety of publications. The vocation quickly developed
into a compulsion.
Thompson completed The Rum Diary, his only novel to date, before he
turned twenty-five; bought by Ballantine Books, it finally was
published—to glowing reviews—in 1998. In 1967, Thompson published his
first nonfiction book, Hell’s Angels, a harsh and incisive firsthand
investigation into the infamous motorcycle gang then making the
heartland of America nervous.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which first appeared in Rolling Stone in
November 1971, sealed Thompson’s reputation as an outlandish stylist
successfully straddling the line between journalism and fiction writing.
As the subtitle warns, the book tells of “a savage journey to the heart
of the American Dream” in full-tilt gonzo style—Thompson’s hilarious
first-person approach—and is accented by British illustrator Ralph
Steadman’s appropriate drawings.
His next book, Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72, was a
brutally perceptive take on the 1972 Nixon-McGovern presidential
campaign. A self-confessed political junkie, Thompson chronicled the
1992 presidential campaign in Better than Sex (1994). Thompson’s other
books include The Curse of Lono (1983), a bizarre South Seas tale, and
three collections of Gonzo Papers: The Great Shark
Hunt (1979), Generation of Swine (1988) and Songs of the
Doomed (1990).
In 1997, The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman,
1955-1967, the first volume of Thompson’s correspondence with everyone
from his mother to Lyndon Johnson, was published. The second volume of
letters, Fear and Loathing in America: The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw
Journalist, 1968-1976, has just been released.
•
Located in the mostly posh neighborhood of western Colorado’s Woody
Creek Canyon, ten miles or so down-valley from Aspen, Owl Farm is a
rustic ranch with an old-fashioned Wild West charm. Although Thompson’s
beloved peacocks roam his property freely, it’s the flowers blooming
around the ranch house that provide an unexpected high-country
tranquility. Jimmy Carter, George McGovern and Keith Richards, among
dozens of others, have shot clay pigeons and stationary targets on the
property, which is a designated Rod and Gun Club and shares a border
with the White River National Forest. Almost daily, Thompson leaves Owl
Farm in either his Great Red Shark Convertible or Jeep Grand Cherokee to
mingle at the nearby Woody Creek Tavern.
Visitors to Thompson’s house are greeted by a variety of sculptures,
weapons, boxes of books and a bicycle before entering the nerve center
of Owl Farm, Thompson’s obvious command post on the kitchen side of a
peninsula counter that separates him from a lounge area dominated by an
always-on Panasonic TV, always tuned to news or sports. An antique
upright piano is piled high and deep enough with books to engulf any
reader for a decade. Above the piano hangs a large Ralph Steadman
portrait of “Belinda”—the Slut Goddess of Polo. On another wall covered
with political buttons hangs a Che Guevara banner acquired on Thompson’s
last tour of Cuba. On the counter sits an IBM Selectric typewriter—a
Macintosh computer is set up in an office in the back wing of the house.
The most striking thing about Thompson’s house is that it isn’t the
weirdness one notices first: it’s the words. They’re
everywhere—handwritten in his elegant lettering, mostly in fading red
Sharpie on the blizzard of bits of paper festooning every wall and
surface: stuck to the sleek black leather refrigerator, taped to the
giant TV, tacked up on the lampshades; inscribed by others on framed
photos with lines like, “For Hunter, who saw not only fear and loathing,
but hope and joy in ’72—George McGovern”; typed in IBM Selectric on
reams of originals and copies in fat manila folders that slide in piles
off every counter and table top; and noted in many hands and inks across
the endless flurry of pages.
Thompson extricates his large frame from his ergonomically correct
office chair facing the TV and lumbers over graciously to administer a
hearty handshake or kiss to each caller according to gender, all with an
easy effortlessness and unexpectedly old-world way that somehow
underscores just who is in charge.
•
We talked with Thompson for twelve hours straight. This was nothing out
of the ordinary for the host: Owl Farm operates like an
eighteenth-century salon, where people from all walks of life congregate
in the wee hours for free exchanges about everything from theoretical
physics to local water rights, depending on who’s there. Walter
Isaacson, managing editor of Time, was present during parts of this
interview, as were a steady stream of friends. Given the very late hours
Thompson keeps, it is fitting that the most prominently posted quote in
the room, in Thompson’s hand, twists the last line of Dylan Thomas’s
poem “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”: “Rage, rage against the
coming of the light.”
For most of the half-day that we talked, Thompson sat at his command
post, chain-smoking red Dunhills through a German-made gold-tipped
cigarette filter and rocking back and forth in his swivel chair. Behind
Thompson’s sui generis personality lurks a trenchant humorist with a
sharp moral sensibility. His exaggerated style may defy easy
categorization, but his career-long autopsy on the death of the American
dream places him among the twentieth century’s most exciting writers.
The comic savagery of his best work will continue to electrify readers
for generations to come.
•
. . . I have stolen more quotes and thoughts and purely elegant little
starbursts of writing from the Book of Revelation than from anything
else in the English Language—and it is not because I am a biblical
scholar, or because of any religious faith, but because I love the wild
power of the language and the purity of the madness that governs it and
makes it music.
 
HUNTER S. THOMPSON
Well, wanting to and having to are two different things. Originally I
hadn’t thought about writing as a solution to my problems. But I had a
good grounding in literature in high school. We’d cut school and go down
to a café on Bardstown Road where we would drink beer and read and
discuss Plato’s parable of the cave. We had a literary society in town,
the Athenaeum; we met in coat and tie on Saturday nights. I hadn’t
adjusted too well to society—I was in jail for the night of my high
school graduation—but I learned at the age of fifteen that to get by you
had to find the one thing you can do better than anybody else . . . at
least this was so in my case. I figured that out early. It was writing.
It was the rock in my sock. Easier than algebra. It was always work, but
it was always worthwhile work. I was fascinated early by seeing my
byline in print. It was a rush. Still is.
When I got to the Air Force, writing got me out of trouble. I was
assigned to pilot training at Eglin Air Force Base near Pensacola in
northwest Florida, but I was shifted to electronics . . . advanced, very
intense, eight-month school with bright guys . . . I enjoyed it but I
wanted to get back to pilot training. Besides, I’m afraid of
electricity. So I went up there to the base education office one day and
signed up for some classes at Florida State. I got along well with a guy
named Ed and I asked him about literary possibilities. He asked me if I
knew anything about sports, and I said that I had been the editor of my
high-school paper. He said, “Well, we might be in luck.” It turned out
that the sports editor of the base newspaper, a staff sergeant, had been
arrested in Pensacola and put in jail for public drunkenness, pissing
against the side of a building; it was the third time and they wouldn’t
let him out.
So I went to the base library and found three books on journalism. I
stayed there reading them until it closed. Basic journalism. I learned
about headlines, leads: who, when, what, where, that sort of thing. I
barely slept that night. This was my ticket to ride, my ticket to get
out of that damn place. So I started as an editor. Boy, what a joy. I
wrote long Grantland Rice-type stories. The sports editor of my
hometown Louisville Courier Journal always had a column, left-hand side
of the page. So I started a column.
By the second week I had the whole thing down. I could work at night. I
wore civilian clothes, worked off base, had no hours, but I worked
constantly. I wrote not only for the base paper, The Command Courier,
but also the local paper, The Playground News. I’d put things in the
local paper that I couldn’t put in the base paper. Really inflammatory
shit. I wrote for a professional wrestling newsletter. The Air Force got
very angry about it. I was constantly doing things that violated
regulations. I wrote a critical column about how Arthur Godfrey, who’d
been invited to the base to be the master of ceremonies at a firepower
demonstration, had been busted for shooting animals from the air in
Alaska. The base commander told me: “Goddamn it, son, why did you have
to write about Arthur Godfrey that way?”
When I left the Air Force I knew I could get by as a journalist. So I
went to apply for a job at Sports Illustrated. I had my clippings, my
bylines, and I thought that was magic . . . my passport. The personnel
director just laughed at me. I said, “Wait a minute. I’ve been sports
editor for two papers.” He told me that their writers were judged not by
the work they’d done, but where they’d done it. He said, “Our writers
are all Pulitzer Prize winners from The New York Times. This is a
helluva place for you to start. Go out into the boondocks and improve
yourself.”
I was shocked. After all, I’d broken the Bart Starr story.
INTERVIEWER
What was that?
THOMPSON
At Eglin Air Force Base we always had these great football teams. The
Eagles. Championship teams. We could beat up on the University of
Virginia. Our bird-colonel Sparks wasn’t just any yo-yo coach. We
recruited. We had these great players serving their military time in
ROTC. We had Zeke Bratkowski, the Green Bay quarterback. We had Max
McGee of the Packers. Violent, wild, wonderful drunk. At the start of
the season McGee went AWOL, appeared at the Green Bay camp and he never
came back. I was somehow blamed for his leaving. The sun fell out of the
firmament. Then the word came that we were getting Bart Starr, the
All-American from Alabama. The Eagles were going to roll\! But then the
staff sergeant across the street came in and said, “I’ve got a terrible
story for you. Bart Starr’s not coming.” I managed to break into an
office and get out his files. I printed the order that showed he was
being discharged medically. Very serious leak.
INTERVIEWER
The Bart Starr story was not enough to impress Sports Illustrated?
THOMPSON
The personnel guy there said, “Well, we do have this trainee program.”
So I became a kind of copy boy.
INTERVIEWER
You eventually ended up in San Francisco. With the publication in 1967
of Hell’s Angels, your life must have taken an upward spin.
THOMPSON
All of a sudden I had a book out. At the time I was twenty-nine years
old and I couldn’t even get a job driving a cab in San Francisco, much
less writing. Sure, I had written important articles for The
Nation and The Observer, but only a few good journalists really knew
my byline. The book enabled me to buy a brand new BSA 650 Lightning, the
fastest motorcycle ever tested by Hot Rod magazine. It validated
everything I had been working toward. If Hell’s Angels hadn’t happened I
never would have been able to write Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas or
anything else. To be able to earn a living as a freelance writer in this
country is damned hard; there are very few people who can do
that. Hell’s Angels all of a sudden proved to me that, Holy Jesus,
maybe I can do this. I knew I was a good journalist. I knew I was a good
writer, but I felt like I got through a door just as it was closing.
INTERVIEWER
With the swell of creative energy flowing throughout the San Francisco
scene at the time, did you interact with or were you influenced by any
other writers?
THOMPSON
Ken Kesey for one. His novels One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s
Nest and Sometimes a Great Notion had quite an impact on me. I looked
up to him hugely. One day I went down to the television station to do a
roundtable show with other writers, like Kay Boyle, and Kesey was there.
Afterwards we went across the street to a local tavern and had several
beers together. I told him about the Angels, who I planned to meet later
that day, and I said, “Well, why don’t you come along?” He said, “Whoa,
I’d like to meet these guys.” Then I got second thoughts, because it’s
never a good idea to take strangers along to meet the Angels. But I
figured that this was Ken Kesey, so I’d try. By the end of the night
Kesey had invited them all down to La Honda, his woodsy retreat outside
of San Francisco. It was a time of extreme turbulence—riots in Berkeley.
He was always under assault by the police—day in and day out, so La
Honda was like a war zone. But he had a lot of the literary,
intellectual crowd down there, Stanford people also, visiting editors,
and Hell’s Angels. Kesey’s place was a real cultural vortex.

339
_stories/1982/10926423.md
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objectID: '10926423'
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[Source](http://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/08/business/for-new-business-during-recession-start-must-be-lean.html "Permalink to FOR NEW BUSINESS DURING RECESSION, START MUST BE LEAN - NYTimes.com")
A year ago, James C. Pearson had a retail furniture business with an
extensive inventory. As interest rates rose, however, his profit margin
fell. Last summer, amid an expanding recession, he cleaned house and
started a new business, Susan James Associates.
# FOR NEW BUSINESS DURING RECESSION, START MUST BE LEAN - NYTimes.com
''We're a consulting firm now,'' said Mr. Pearson, the firm's president.
''We place bids, then buy only what we need for each job. Somebody else
has to keep the inventory.''
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Michael R. Bloomberg was a partner at Salomon Brothers, the securities
firm, until last September. His new company, Innovative Market Systems,
which opened for business in February, is developing computer software
systems for financial analysts. ''When we sold the company to Phibro
last fall,'' Mr. Bloomberg said, ''I left to start a new business.''
Edition: [U.S.][4] / [Global][8]
Both companies were started during a recession, and both have endured a
period of business failures unequaled since the 1940's. And while they
may not be representative of all new businesses formed during the
recession, they may share many of their characteristics. Tight money and
technological change, business people say, are key factors in the
current wave of new companies. 'Interesting Time'
Search All NYTimes.com
''This is an interesting time,'' Mr. Bloomberg said. ''You can't go out
and start a steel mill, but the position of the business cycle and the
rate of technological change are such that people can go and start small
companies when they have a few people with good ideas.''
![New York Times][9]
Not surprisingly, the number of business starts during the first quarter
of 1982 declined from the same period last year. According to
preliminary figures supplied by the Dun & Bradstreet Corporation, 9,094
new businesses were formed during the first three months of 1982, down
2.9 percent from the 9,366 last year. The biggest declines in business
start rates were recorded in the region composed of Kentucky, Tennessee,
Alabama and Mississippi, down 16.9 percent.
## [Business Day][10]
Dun & Bradstreet said the rate of new incorporation declined in every
region of the country except the Middle Atlantic area - New York, New
Jersey and Pennsylvania - which had an increase of 10.3 percent.
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The Small Business Administration, which also monitors new business,
cautions that 1982 figures, though they may be down, are being compared
with a record number of business starts last year. In 1981, 581,661 new
businesses were incorporated, up more than 9 percent from 1980. Thomas
A. Gray, chief economist for the agency, attributed last year's increase
at least partially to the unemployment caused by the recession.
# FOR NEW BUSINESS DURING RECESSION, START MUST BE LEAN
''New business formation just seems to occur more frequently during a
recession,'' Mr. Gray said. ''If you're suddenly unemployed and walking
around in the street, you're more likely to say to yourself, 'Now is the
time to try.' ''
###### By KIRK JOHNSON
''The other question you have to ask is, 'What businesses are failing?'
'' Mr. Bloomberg added. ''I think businesses that are already in
existence -small, medium or large - tend to have greater problems during
a recession, as people stop spending or change their buying habits. I'm
not sure that has anything to do with new businesses.'' Borrowing Costs
Key Factor
###### Published: May 8, 1982
Though other sources echoed Mr. Bloomberg's comments, most still say
that starting up a business these days is no picnic. Undoubtedly, the
primary problem is the cost of borrowing money. For a smallbusiness
owner, who is generally forced to borrow at rates far above the prime
interest rates charged to a bank's best customers, high capital costs
may narrow his choices of business.
A year ago, James C. Pearson had a retail furniture business with an extensive inventory. As interest rates rose, however, his profit margin fell. Last summer, amid an expanding recession, he cleaned house and started a new business, Susan James Associates.
''Without a doubt, it's the biggest problem a small-business man will
face,'' said Gordon Bizar, president of the International Business
Network, a political and economic organization for small businesses.
''On the other hand, if you can get the money, now is the time to be
buying a business.''
''We're a consulting firm now,'' said Mr. Pearson, the firm's president. ''We place bids, then buy only what we need for each job. Somebody else has to keep the inventory.''
Most people do it the other way around, Mr. Bizar said. ''They get in
when the market is good and pay premium prices,'' he said. ''Those are
the businesses that are failing today.''
Michael R. Bloomberg was a partner at Salomon Brothers, the securities firm, until last September. His new company, Innovative Market Systems, which opened for business in February, is developing computer software systems for financial analysts. ''When we sold the company to Phibro last fall,'' Mr. Bloomberg said, ''I left to start a new business.''
Of course, not all new businesses are surviving, either. A small company
founded in Chicago last year with the goal of buying X-ray negatives
from hospitals and selling them for their silver content died when
silver prices fell. Other businesses struggle on, hoping to last until
consumer spending picks up. Some find their niche right away. 'Nothing
to Get Excited About'
Both companies were started during a recession, and both have endured a period of business failures unequaled since the 1940's. And while they may not be representative of all new businesses formed during the recession, they may share many of their characteristics. Tight money and technological change, business people say, are key factors in the current wave of new companies. 'Interesting Time'
Scott Sanders, an actor who co-founded Survival Techniques in his New
York loft last December, said sales of his custom-painted decorated
pillows, at $22.50 each, had been ''O.K., but nothing to get excited
about.''
''This is an interesting time,'' Mr. Bloomberg said. ''You can't go out and start a steel mill, but the position of the business cycle and the rate of technological change are such that people can go and start small companies when they have a few people with good ideas.''
Mr. Sanders said the recession had definitely hurt his sales, but,
because his costs are so low (he and several friends do all the work),
the tiny company will probably stay in business.
Not surprisingly, the number of business starts during the first quarter of 1982 declined from the same period last year. According to preliminary figures supplied by the Dun & Bradstreet Corporation, 9,094 new businesses were formed during the first three months of 1982, down 2.9 percent from the 9,366 last year. The biggest declines in business start rates were recorded in the region composed of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi, down 16.9 percent.
According to Malcolm N. Smith, senior lecturer in the School of Economic
Policy at the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business, high
interest rates have done more to new business formation than simply
restricting the choices involved. Mr. Smith said the recession had made
certains kinds of businesses - specifically, consulting and service
companies - more attractive aside from their low start-up costs.
Dun & Bradstreet said the rate of new incorporation declined in every region of the country except the Middle Atlantic area - New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania - which had an increase of 10.3 percent.
The Small Business Administration, which also monitors new business, cautions that 1982 figures, though they may be down, are being compared with a record number of business starts last year. In 1981, 581,661 new businesses were incorporated, up more than 9 percent from 1980. Thomas A. Gray, chief economist for the agency, attributed last year's increase at least partially to the unemployment caused by the recession.
''New business formation just seems to occur more frequently during a recession,'' Mr. Gray said. ''If you're suddenly unemployed and walking around in the street, you're more likely to say to yourself, 'Now is the time to try.' ''
''The other question you have to ask is, 'What businesses are failing?' '' Mr. Bloomberg added. ''I think businesses that are already in existence -small, medium or large - tend to have greater problems during a recession, as people stop spending or change their buying habits. I'm not sure that has anything to do with new businesses.'' Borrowing Costs Key Factor
Though other sources echoed Mr. Bloomberg's comments, most still say that starting up a business these days is no picnic. Undoubtedly, the primary problem is the cost of borrowing money. For a smallbusiness owner, who is generally forced to borrow at rates far above the prime interest rates charged to a bank's best customers, high capital costs may narrow his choices of business.
''Without a doubt, it's the biggest problem a small-business man will face,'' said Gordon Bizar, president of the International Business Network, a political and economic organization for small businesses. ''On the other hand, if you can get the money, now is the time to be buying a business.''
Most people do it the other way around, Mr. Bizar said. ''They get in when the market is good and pay premium prices,'' he said. ''Those are the businesses that are failing today.''
Of course, not all new businesses are surviving, either. A small company founded in Chicago last year with the goal of buying X-ray negatives from hospitals and selling them for their silver content died when silver prices fell. Other businesses struggle on, hoping to last until consumer spending picks up. Some find their niche right away. 'Nothing to Get Excited About'
Scott Sanders, an actor who co-founded Survival Techniques in his New York loft last December, said sales of his custom-painted decorated pillows, at $22.50 each, had been ''O.K., but nothing to get excited about.''
Mr. Sanders said the recession had definitely hurt his sales, but, because his costs are so low (he and several friends do all the work), the tiny company will probably stay in business.
According to Malcolm N. Smith, senior lecturer in the School of Economic Policy at the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business, high interest rates have done more to new business formation than simply restricting the choices involved. Mr. Smith said the recession had made certains kinds of businesses - specifically, consulting and service companies - more attractive aside from their low start-up costs.
''In times like this, most companies would rather contract out than increase their employment,'' he said. ''If they need a computer programmer, they'll turn to an outside consultant before they'll actually hire anyone.''
''In times like this, most companies would rather contract out than
increase their employment,'' he said. ''If they need a computer
programmer, they'll turn to an outside consultant before they'll
actually hire anyone.''
Illustrations: photo of Michael B. Bloomber and his partners
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81
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[Source](https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD08xx/EWD831.html "Permalink to ")
Why numbering should start at zero
To denote the subsequence of natural numbers 2, 3, ..., 12 without the
pernicious three dots, four conventions are open to us
a) 2 ≤ *i* \< 13 b) 1 \< *i* ≤ 12 c) 2 ≤ *i* ≤ 12 d) 1 \< *i* \< 13
Are there reasons to prefer one convention to the other? Yes, there are.
The observation that conventions a) and b) have the advantage that the
difference between the bounds as mentioned equals the length of the
subsequence is valid. So is the observation that, as a consequence, in
either convention two subsequences are adjacent means that the upper
bound of the one equals the lower bound of the other. Valid as these
observations are, they don't enable us to choose between a) and b); so
let us start afresh.
There is a smallest natural number. Exclusion of the lower bound —as in
b) and d)— forces for a subsequence starting at the smallest natural
number the lower bound as mentioned into the realm of the unnatural
numbers. That is ugly, so for the lower bound we prefer the ≤ as in a)
and c). Consider now the subsequences starting at the smallest natural
number: inclusion of the upper bound would then force the latter to be
unnatural by the time the sequence has shrunk to the empty one. That is
ugly, so for the upper bound we prefer \< as in a) and d). We conclude
that convention a) is to be preferred.
Remark  The programming language Mesa, developed at Xerox PARC, has
special notations for intervals of integers in all four conventions.
Extensive experience with Mesa has shown that the use of the other three
conventions has been a constant source of clumsiness and mistakes, and
on account of that experience Mesa programmers are now strongly advised
not to use the latter three available features. I mention this
experimental evidence —for what it is worth— because some people feel
uncomfortable with conclusions that have not been confirmed in practice.
(End of Remark.)
\*                \*
\*
When dealing with a sequence of length *N*, the elements of which we
wish to distinguish by subscript, the next vexing question is what
subscript value to assign to its starting element. Adhering to
convention a) yields, when starting with subscript 1, the subscript
range 1 ≤ *i* \< *N*+1; starting with 0, however, gives the nicer range
0 ≤  *i* \< *N*. So let us let our ordinals start at zero: an element's
ordinal (subscript) equals the number of elements preceding it in the
sequence. And the moral of the story is that we had better regard —after
all those centuries\!— zero as a most natural number.
Remark  Many programming languages have been designed without due
attention to this detail. In FORTRAN subscripts always start at 1; in
ALGOL 60 and in PASCAL, convention c) has been adopted; the more recent
SASL has fallen back on the FORTRAN convention: a sequence in SASL is at
the same time a function on the positive integers. Pity\! (End of
Remark.)
\*                \*
\*
The above has been triggered by a recent incident, when, in an emotional
outburst, one of my mathematical colleagues at the University —not a
computing scientist— accused a number of younger computing scientists of
"pedantry" because —as they do by habit— they started numbering at zero.
He took consciously adopting the most sensible convention as a
provocation. (Also the "End of ..." convention is viewed of as
provocative; but the convention is useful: I know of a student who
almost failed at an examination by the tacit assumption that the
questions ended at the bottom of the first page.) I think Antony Jay is
right when he states: "In corporate religions as in others, the heretic
must be cast out not because of the probability that he is wrong but
because of the possibility that he is right."
Plataanstraat 5
5671 AL NUENEN
The Netherlands 11 August 1982
prof.dr. Edsger W. Dijkstra
Burroughs Research Fellow
Transcriber: Kevin Hely.
Last revised on Fri, 2 May 2008.

634
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@ -19,341 +19,439 @@ _tags:
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[Source](http://www.lrb.co.uk/v05/n09/oliver-sacks/the-man-who-mistook-his-wife-for-a-hat "Permalink to Oliver Sacks · The man who mistook his wife for a hat · LRB 19 May 1983")
The scientific study of the relationship between brain and mind began in
1861, when Broca, in France, found that specific difficulties in the
expressive use of speech (aphasia) consistently followed damage to a
particular portion of the left hemisphere of the brain. This opened the
way to a cerebral neurology, which made it possible, over the decades,
to ‘map’ the human brain, ascribing specific powers to equally specific
‘centres’ in the brain.
# Oliver Sacks · The man who mistook his wife for a hat · LRB 19 May 1983
Towards the end of the century it became evident to more acute observers
– above all, Freud, in his book on Aphasia (1891) – that this sort of
mapping was too simplistic, that all mental performances had an
intricate internal structure, and must have an equally complex
physiological basis. He felt this, especially, in regard to certain
disorders of recognition and perception, for which he coined the term
‘agnosia’. An adequate understanding of aphasia or agnosia would, he
believed, require a new, more sophisticated science.
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The new science of brain/mind which Freud envisaged came into being in
the Second World War, in Russia, as the joint creation of A.R. Luria
(and his father R.A. Luria), Leontev, Anokhin, Bernstein and others, and
was called by them ‘neuropsychology’. The development of this immensely
fruitful science was the life-work of A.R. Luria, and considering its
revolutionary importance, was somewhat slow in reaching the West. It was
set out, systematically, in a monumental book, Higher Cortical Functions
in Man (translated into English in 1966), and, in a wholly different
way, in a biography or ‘pathography’ – The Man with a Shattered World
(which appeared in English in 1973). Although these books were almost
perfect in their way, there was a whole realm which Luria had not
touched. Higher Cortical Functions in Man treated only those functions
which appertained to the left hemisphere of the brain; similarly,
Zazetsky, the man with the shattered world, had a huge lesion in the
left hemisphere – the right was intact. Indeed, the entire history of
neurology and neuropsychology can be seen as a history of the
investigation of the left hemisphere.
[Log In][10] [Register for Online Access][11]  
One important reason for the neglect of the right hemisphere, the
‘minor’ hemisphere, as it has always been called, is that while it
is easy to demonstrate the effects of variously-located lesions on the
left side, the corresponding syndromes of the right hemisphere are much
less distinct. Anatomically, too, the right hemisphere is less
differentiated than the left: it does not have hundreds of
clearly-demarcated regions like the left, but instead has a relatively
homogeneous appearance. It was presumed, usually contemptuously, to be
more primitive than the left, the latter being seen as the unique flower
of human evolution. And in a sense this is correct: the left hemisphere
is more sophisticated and specialised, a very late outgrowth of the
primate, and especially hominid, brain. On the other hand, it is the
right hemisphere which, controls the crucial powers of recognising
reality which every living creature must have in order to survive. The
left hemisphere, like a computer tacked onto the basic creatural brain,
is designed for programs and schematics; and classical neurology was
more concerned with schematics than with reality, so that when, at last,
some of the right-hemisphere syndromes emerged, they were considered
bizarre.
![London Review of Books][12]
There had been attempts in the past – for example, by Anton in the 1890s
and Pötzl in the 1930s – to explore right-hemisphere syndromes, but
these attempts themselves had been bizarrely ignored. In The Working
Brain, one of his last books, Luria devoted a short but tantalising
section to right-hemisphere syndromes, ending: ‘These still completely
unstudied defects lead us to one of the most fundamental problems – to
the role of the right hemisphere in direct consciousness ... The study
of this highly important field has been so far neglected ... It will
receive a detailed analysis in a special series of papers ... in
preparation for publication.’ Luria did, finally, write some of these
papers, in the last months of his life, when mortally ill. He never saw
their publication, nor were they published in Russia: he sent them to
Richard Gregory in England. They will appear in Gregory’s Oxford
Companion to the Mind.
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* [Introduction][13]
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Inner difficulties and outer difficulties match each other here. It is
not only difficult, it is impossible for patients with certain
right-hemisphere syndromes to know their own problems. Moreover, this
peculiar anosognosia is observed only in such patients, and it is
singularly difficult for the observer, however sensitive, to understand
what it must be like to be in this situation. Left-hemisphere syndromes,
by contrast, are relatively easily imagined. Although right-hemisphere
syndromes are as common as left-hemisphere syndromes – why should they
not be? – one will find a thousand descriptions of left-hemisphere
syndromes in the neurological and neuropsychological literature for
every description of a right-hemisphere syndrome. It is as if such
syndromes were somehow alien to the whole temper of neurology and yet,
as Luria says, they are of the most fundamental importance, so much so
that they may demand a new sort of neurology, a ‘romantic science’, as
he liked to call it. Luria thought a science of this kind would be best
introduced by a story – a detailed case-history of man with a profound
right-hemisphere disturbance, a case-history which would at once be the
complement and opposite of The Man with a Shattered World. In one of his
last letters he wrote: ‘Publish such histories, even if they are just
sketches. It is a realm of great wonder.’
![LRB Cover][22]
Dr P. lived on the East Coast of the United States. He was well-known
for many years as a singer, and then, at the local Academy of Music, as
a teacher. It was here that certain strange mistakes were first
observed. Sometimes a student would present himself, and Dr P. would not
recognise him; or, specifically, would not recognise his face. The
moment the student spoke, he would be recognised by his voice. Such
incidents multiplied, causing embarrassment, perplexity, fear – and,
sometimes, comedy. For not only did Dr P. increasingly fail to see
faces, but he saw faces when there were no faces to see: genially,
Magoo-like, when in the street, he might pat the heads of water-hydrants
and parking-meters, taking these to be the heads of children; he would
amiably address carved knobs on the furniture, and be astounded when
they did not reply. At first these odd mistakes were laughed off as
jokes, not least by Dr P. himself. Had he not always had a quirky sense
of humour, and been given to Zen-like paradoxes and jests? His musical
powers were as dazzling as ever; he did not feel ill – he had never felt
better; and the mistakes were so ludicrous – and so ingenious – they
could hardly be serious or betoken anything serious. The notion of their
being ‘something the matter’ did not emerge until some three years
later, when diabetes developed. Well aware that diabetes could affect
his eyes, Dr P. consulted an ophthalmologist, who took a careful
history, and examined him closely. ‘There’s nothing the matter with your
eyes,’ the doctor concluded. ‘But there is trouble with the visual parts
of your brain. You don’t need my help, you must see a neurologist.’ And
so, as a result of this referral, Dr P. came to me.
[**Oliver Sacks][23]**
It was obvious within a few seconds of meeting him that Dr P. was a man
of great cultivation and charm, who talked well and fluently, with
imagination and humour. I couldn’t think why he had been referred to our
clinic.
* * *
Yet there was something a bid odd: some failure in the normal interplay
of gaze and expression. He saw me, he scanned me, and yet ...
## RELATED ARTICLES
‘What seems to be the matter?’ I asked him at length.
4 February 2016
‘Nothing that I know of,’ he replied with a smile, but people seem to
think there’s something wrong with my eyes.’
### [Peter Godfrey-Smith
Do squid feel pain?][24]
‘But you don’t recognise any visual problems?’
23 May 2013
‘No, not directly, but I occasionally make mistakes.’
### [Mike Jay
Memorylessness][25]
I left the room briefly to talk to his wife. When I came back Dr P. was
sitting placidly by the window, attentive, listening rather than looking
out. ‘Traffic,’ he said. ‘Street sounds, distant trains – they make a
sort of symphony, do they not? Do you know Honegger’s Pacific 231?’ What
a lovely man, I thought to myself, how can there be anything seriously
the matter? Would he permit me to examine him? ‘Yes, of course, Dr
Sacks.’
7 March 2013
I stilled my disquiet, his perhaps too, in the soothing routine of a
neurological exam – muscle strength, co-ordination, reflexes, tone. It
was while examining his reflexes – a trifle abnormal on the left side –
that the first bizarre experience occurred. I had taken off his left
shoe and scratched the sole of his foot with a key – a frivolous-seeming
but essential test of a reflex – and then, excusing myself to screw my
ophthalmoscope together, left him to put on the shoe himself. To my
surprise, a minute later, he had not done this.
### [Mike Jay
Hallucinations][26]
‘Can I help?’I asked.
22 March 2012
‘Help what? Help whom?’
### [Glen Newey
'Thinking, Fast and Slow'][27]
‘Help you put on your shoe.’
9 February 2012
‘Ach,’ he said, ‘I had forgotten the shoe,’ adding, sotto voce: ‘The
shoe\! The shoe?’ He seemed baffled.
### [Jenny Diski
The Me Who Knew It][28]
‘Your shoe,’ I repeated. ‘Perhaps you’d put it on.’
9 February 2012
He continued to look downwards, though not at the shoe, with an intense
but misplaced concentration. Finally his gaze settled on his foot: ‘That
is my shoe, yes?’
### [Gideon Lewis-Kraus
Science does ethics][29]
Did I mishear? Did he mis-see? ‘My eyes,’ he explained, and put a hand
to his foot. ‘This is my shoe, no?’
3 March 2011
‘No, it is not. That is your foot. There is your shoe.’
### [Jim Holt
'The Shallows'][30]
‘Ah\! I thought that was my foot.’
* * *
Was he joking? Was he mad? Was he blind? If this was one of his ‘strange
mistakes’, it was the strangest mistake I had ever come across.
## RELATED CATEGORIES
I helped him on with his shoe (his foot), to avoid further complication.
Dr P. himself seemed untroubled, indifferent, maybe amused. I resumed my
examination. His visual acuity was good: he had no difficulty seeing a
pin on the floor, though sometimes he missed it if it was placed to his
left.
[Science, technology and mathematics][31], [Biology][32], [Neuroscience][33]
* * *
[Vol. 5 No. 9 · 19 May 1983][34]
pages 3-5 | 4320 words
* * *
# The man who mistook his wife for a hat
## Oliver Sacks
The scientific study of the relationship between brain and mind began in 1861, when Broca, in France, found that specific difficulties in the expressive use of speech (aphasia) consistently followed damage to a particular portion of the left hemisphere of the brain. This opened the way to a cerebral neurology, which made it possible, over the decades, to 'map' the human brain, ascribing specific powers to equally specific 'centres' in the brain.
Towards the end of the century it became evident to more acute observers – above all, Freud, in his book on _Aphasia_ (1891) – that this sort of mapping was too simplistic, that all mental performances had an intricate internal structure, and must have an equally complex physiological basis. He felt this, especially, in regard to certain disorders of recognition and perception, for which he coined the term 'agnosia'. An adequate understanding of aphasia or agnosia would, he believed, require a new, more sophisticated science.
The new science of brain/mind which Freud envisaged came into being in the Second World War, in Russia, as the joint creation of A.R. Luria (and his father R.A. Luria), Leontev, Anokhin, Bernstein and others, and was called by them 'neuropsychology'. The development of this immensely fruitful science was the life-work of A.R. Luria, and considering its revolutionary importance, was somewhat slow in reaching the West. It was set out, systematically, in a monumental book, _Higher Cortical Functions in Man_ (translated into English in 1966), and, in a wholly different way, in a biography or 'pathography' – _The Man with a Shattered World_ (which appeared in English in 1973). Although these books were almost perfect in their way, there was a whole realm which Luria had not touched. _Higher Cortical Functions in Man_ treated only those functions which appertained to the left hemisphere of the brain; similarly, Zazetsky, the man with the shattered world, had a huge lesion in the left hemisphere – the right was intact. Indeed, the entire history of neurology and neuropsychology can be seen as a history of the investigation of the left hemisphere.
One important reason for the neglect of the right hemisphere, the 'minor' hemisphere, as it has always been called, is that while it is easy to demonstrate the effects of variously-located lesions on the left side, the corresponding syndromes of the right hemisphere are much less distinct. Anatomically, too, the right hemisphere is less differentiated than the left: it does not have hundreds of clearly-demarcated regions like the left, but instead has a relatively homogeneous appearance. It was presumed, usually contemptuously, to be more primitive than the left, the latter being seen as the unique flower of human evolution. And in a sense this is correct: the left hemisphere is more sophisticated and specialised, a very late outgrowth of the primate, and especially hominid, brain. On the other hand, it is the right hemisphere which, controls the crucial powers of recognising reality which every living creature must have in order to survive. The left hemisphere, like a computer tacked onto the basic creatural brain, is designed for programs and schematics; and classical neurology was more concerned with schematics than with reality, so that when, at last, some of the right-hemisphere syndromes emerged, they were considered bizarre.
There had been attempts in the past – for example, by Anton in the 1890s and Pötzl in the 1930s – to explore right-hemisphere syndromes, but these attempts themselves had been bizarrely ignored. In _The Working Brain_, one of his last books, Luria devoted a short but tantalising section to right-hemisphere syndromes, ending: 'These still completely unstudied defects lead us to one of the most fundamental problems – to the role of the right hemisphere in direct consciousness ... The study of this highly important field has been so far neglected ... It will receive a detailed analysis in a special series of papers ... in preparation for publication.' Luria did, finally, write some of these papers, in the last months of his life, when mortally ill. He never saw their publication, nor were they published in Russia: he sent them to Richard Gregory in England. They will appear in Gregory's _Oxford Companion to the Mind_.
Inner difficulties and outer difficulties match each other here. It is not only difficult, it is impossible for patients with certain right-hemisphere syndromes to know their own problems. Moreover, this peculiar anosognosia is observed only in such patients, and it is singularly difficult for the observer, however sensitive, to understand what it must be like to be in this situation. Left-hemisphere syndromes, by contrast, are relatively easily imagined. Although right-hemisphere syndromes are as common as left-hemisphere syndromes – why should they not be? – one will find a thousand descriptions of left-hemisphere syndromes in the neurological and neuropsychological literature for every description of a right-hemisphere syndrome. It is as if such syndromes were somehow alien to the whole temper of neurology and yet, as Luria says, they are of the most fundamental importance, so much so that they may demand a new sort of neurology, a 'romantic science', as he liked to call it. Luria thought a science of this kind would be best introduced by a story – a detailed case-history of man with a profound right-hemisphere disturbance, a case-history which would at once be the complement and opposite of _The Man with a Shattered World_. In one of his last letters he wrote: 'Publish such histories, even if they are just sketches. It is a realm of great wonder.'
Dr P. lived on the East Coast of the United States. He was well-known for many years as a singer, and then, at the local Academy of Music, as a teacher. It was here that certain strange mistakes were first observed. Sometimes a student would present himself, and Dr P. would not recognise him; or, specifically, would not recognise his face. The moment the student spoke, he would be recognised by his voice. Such incidents multiplied, causing embarrassment, perplexity, fear – and, sometimes, comedy. For not only did Dr P. increasingly fail to see faces, but he saw faces when there were no faces to see: genially, Magoo-like, when in the street, he might pat the heads of water-hydrants and parking-meters, taking these to be the heads of children; he would amiably address carved knobs on the furniture, and be astounded when they did not reply. At first these odd mistakes were laughed off as jokes, not least by Dr P. himself. Had he not always had a quirky sense of humour, and been given to Zen-like paradoxes and jests? His musical powers were as dazzling as ever; he did not feel ill – he had never felt better; and the mistakes were so ludicrous – and so ingenious – they could hardly be serious or betoken anything serious. The notion of their being 'something the matter' did not emerge until some three years later, when diabetes developed. Well aware that diabetes could affect his eyes, Dr P. consulted an ophthalmologist, who took a careful history, and examined him closely. 'There's nothing the matter with your eyes,' the doctor concluded. 'But there is trouble with the visual parts of your brain. You don't need my help, you must see a neurologist.' And so, as a result of this referral, Dr P. came to me.
It was obvious within a few seconds of meeting him that Dr P. was a man of great cultivation and charm, who talked well and fluently, with imagination and humour. I couldn't think why he had been referred to our clinic.
Yet there _was_ something a bid odd: some failure in the normal interplay of gaze and expression. He saw me, he _scanned_ me, and yet ...
'What seems to be the matter?' I asked him at length.
'Nothing that I know of,' he replied with a smile, but people seem to think there's something wrong with my eyes.'
'But _you_ don't recognise any visual problems?'
'No, not directly, but I occasionally make mistakes.'
I left the room briefly to talk to his wife. When I came back Dr P. was sitting placidly by the window, attentive, listening rather than looking out. 'Traffic,' he said. 'Street sounds, distant trains – they make a sort of symphony, do they not? Do you know Honegger's _Pacific 231_?' What a lovely man, I thought to myself, how can there be anything seriously the matter? Would he permit me to examine him? 'Yes, of course, Dr Sacks.'
I stilled my disquiet, his perhaps too, in the soothing routine of a neurological exam – muscle strength, co-ordination, reflexes, tone. It was while examining his reflexes – a trifle abnormal on the left side – that the first bizarre experience occurred. I had taken off his left shoe and scratched the sole of his foot with a key – a frivolous-seeming but essential test of a reflex – and then, excusing myself to screw my ophthalmoscope together, left him to put on the shoe himself. To my surprise, a minute later, he had not done this.
'Can I help?'I asked.
'Help what? Help whom?'
'Help you put on your shoe.'
'Ach,' he said, 'I had forgotten the shoe,' adding, _sotto voce_: 'The shoe! The shoe?' He seemed baffled.
'Your shoe,' I repeated. 'Perhaps you'd put it on.'
He continued to look downwards, though not at the shoe, with an intense but misplaced concentration. Finally his gaze settled on his foot: 'That is my shoe, yes?'
Did I mishear? Did he mis-see? 'My eyes,' he explained, and put a hand to his foot. '_This_ is my shoe, no?'
'No, it is not. That is your foot. _There_ is your shoe.'
'Ah! I thought that was my foot.'
Was he joking? Was he mad? Was he blind? If this was one of his 'strange mistakes', it was the strangest mistake I had ever come across.
I helped him on with his shoe (his foot), to avoid further complication. Dr P. himself seemed untroubled, indifferent, maybe amused. I resumed my examination. His visual acuity was good: he had no difficulty seeing a pin on the floor, though sometimes he missed it if it was placed to his left.
He saw all right, but what did he see? I opened out a copy of the _National Geographic Magazine_, and asked him to describe some pictures in it. His eyes darted from one thing to another, picking up tiny features, as he had picked up the pin. A brightness, a colour, a shape would arrest his attention and elicit comment, but it was always details that he saw – never the whole. And these details he 'spotted', as one might spot blips on a radar-screen. He had no sense of a landscape or a scene.
He saw all right, but what did he see? I opened out a copy of the
National Geographic Magazine, and asked him to describe some pictures in
it. His eyes darted from one thing to another, picking up tiny features,
as he had picked up the pin. A brightness, a colour, a shape would
arrest his attention and elicit comment, but it was always details that
he saw – never the whole. And these details he ‘spotted’, as one might
spot blips on a radar-screen. He had no sense of a landscape or a scene.
I showed him the cover, an unbroken expanse of Sahara dunes.
'What do you see here?'I asked.
‘What do you see here?’I asked.
'I see a river,' he said. 'And a little guesthouse with its terrace on the water. People are dining out on the terrace. I see coloured parasols here and there.' He was looking, if it was 'looking', right off the cover, into mid-air, and confabulating non-existent features, as if the absence of features in the actual picture had driven him to imagine the river and the terrace and the coloured parasols.
‘I see a river,’ he said. ‘And a little guesthouse with its terrace on
the water. People are dining out on the terrace. I see coloured parasols
here and there.’ He was looking, if it was ‘looking’, right off the
cover, into mid-air, and confabulating non-existent features, as if the
absence of features in the actual picture had driven him to imagine the
river and the terrace and the coloured parasols.
I must have looked aghast, but he seemed to think he had done rather well. There was a hint of a smile on his face. He also appeared to have decided the examination was over, and started to look round for his hat. He reached out his hand, and took hold of his wife's head, tried to lift it off, to put it on. He had apparently mistaken his wife for a hat! His wife looked as if she was used to such things.
I must have looked aghast, but he seemed to think he had done rather
well. There was a hint of a smile on his face. He also appeared to have
decided the examination was over, and started to look round for his hat.
He reached out his hand, and took hold of his wife’s head, tried to lift
it off, to put it on. He had apparently mistaken his wife for a hat\!
His wife looked as if she was used to such things.
I could make no sense of what had occurred, in terms of conventional neurology (or neuropsychology). In some ways he seemed perfectly preserved, and in others absolutely, incomprehensibly devastated. How could he, on the one hand, mistake his wife for a hat and, on the other, function, as apparently he still did, as a teacher at the Music Academy?
I could make no sense of what had occurred, in terms of conventional
neurology (or neuropsychology). In some ways he seemed perfectly
preserved, and in others absolutely, incomprehensibly devastated. How
could he, on the one hand, mistake his wife for a hat and, on the other,
function, as apparently he still did, as a teacher at the Music Academy?
A few days later I called on Dr P. and his wife at home, with the score of the _Dichterliebe_ in my briefcase (I knew he liked Schumann), and a variety of odd objects for the testing of perception. Mrs P. showed me into a lofty apartment which recalled Fin-de-Siècle Berlin. A magnificent old Bosendorfer stood in state in the centre of the room, and all round it were music-stands, instruments, scores ... There were books, there were paintings, but the music was central. Dr P. came in, a little bowed and distracted, advanced with outstretched hand to the grandfather clock, but, hearing my voice, corrected himself, and shook hands with me. We exchanged greetings, and chatted a little of current concerts. Diffidently, I asked him if he would sing.
A few days later I called on Dr P. and his wife at home, with the score
of the Dichterliebe in my briefcase (I knew he liked Schumann), and a
variety of odd objects for the testing of perception. Mrs P. showed me
into a lofty apartment which recalled Fin-de-Siècle Berlin. A
magnificent old Bosendorfer stood in state in the centre of the room,
and all round it were music-stands, instruments, scores ... There were
books, there were paintings, but the music was central. Dr P. came in, a
little bowed and distracted, advanced with outstretched hand to the
grandfather clock, but, hearing my voice, corrected himself, and shook
hands with me. We exchanged greetings, and chatted a little of current
concerts. Diffidently, I asked him if he would sing.
'The _Dichterliebe_!' he exclaimed. 'But I can no longer read music. You will play them, yes?' I said I would try. On that wonderful old piano even my playing sounded right, and Dr P. was an aged, but infinitely mellow Fischer-Dieskau, combining a perfect ear and voice with the most incisive musical intelligence. It was clear that the Music Academy was not keeping him on out of charity.
‘The Dichterliebe\!’ he exclaimed. ‘But I can no longer read music. You
will play them, yes?’ I said I would try. On that wonderful old piano
even my playing sounded right, and Dr P. was an aged, but infinitely
mellow Fischer-Dieskau, combining a perfect ear and voice with the most
incisive musical intelligence. It was clear that the Music Academy was
not keeping him on out of charity.
Dr P.'s temporal lobes were obviously intact, he had a wonderful musical cortex: what, I wondered, was going on in his parietal and occipital lobes, and especially in his right visual cortex? I carry the Platonic solids in my neurological kit, and decided to start with these.
Dr P.’s temporal lobes were obviously intact, he had a wonderful musical
cortex: what, I wondered, was going on in his parietal and occipital
lobes, and especially in his right visual cortex? I carry the Platonic
solids in my neurological kit, and decided to start with these.
'What is this?' I asked, drawing out the first.
‘What is this?’ I asked, drawing out the first.
'A cube, of course.'
‘A cube, of course.’
'Now this?' I asked, brandishing another.
‘Now this?’ I asked, brandishing another.
He asked if he might examine it, which he did swiftly and systematically: 'A dodecahedron, of course. And don't bother with the others – I'll get the eicosahedron too.'
He asked if he might examine it, which he did swiftly and
systematically: ‘A dodecahedron, of course. And don’t bother with the
others – I’ll get the eicosahedron too.’
Abstract shapes clearly presented no problems. What about faces? I took out a pack of cards. All of these he identified instantly, including the jacks, queens, kings, and the joker. But these, after all, are stylised designs and it was impossible to tell whether he saw faces or merely patterns. I decided I would show him a volume of cartoons which I had in my briefcase. Here, again, for the most part, he did well. Churchill's cigar, Schnozzle's nose: as soon as he had picked out a key feature he could identify the face. But cartoons, again, are formal and schematic. It remained to be seen how he would do with real faces, realistically represented.
Abstract shapes clearly presented no problems. What about faces? I took
out a pack of cards. All of these he identified instantly, including the
jacks, queens, kings, and the joker. But these, after all, are stylised
designs and it was impossible to tell whether he saw faces or merely
patterns. I decided I would show him a volume of cartoons which I had in
my briefcase. Here, again, for the most part, he did well. Churchill’s
cigar, Schnozzle’s nose: as soon as he had picked out a key feature he
could identify the face. But cartoons, again, are formal and schematic.
It remained to be seen how he would do with real faces, realistically
represented.
I turned on the television, keeping the sound off, and found an early Bette Davis film. A love scene was in progress. Dr P. failed to identify the actress – but this could have been because she had never entered his world. What was more striking was that he failed to identify the expressions on her face or her partner's, though in the course of a single torrid scene these passed from sultry yearning through passion, surprise, disgust and fury to a melting reconciliation. Dr P. could make nothing of any of this. He was very unclear as to what was going on, or who was who, or even what sex they were. His comments on the scene were positively Martian.
I turned on the television, keeping the sound off, and found an early
Bette Davis film. A love scene was in progress. Dr P. failed to identify
the actress – but this could have been because she had never entered his
world. What was more striking was that he failed to identify the
expressions on her face or her partner’s, though in the course of a
single torrid scene these passed from sultry yearning through passion,
surprise, disgust and fury to a melting reconciliation. Dr P. could make
nothing of any of this. He was very unclear as to what was going on, or
who was who, or even what sex they were. His comments on the scene were
positively Martian.
It was – just – possible that some of his difficulties were associated with the unreality of a celluloid, Hollywood world; and it occurred to me that he might be more successful in identifying faces from his own life. On the walls of the apartment there were photographs of his family, his colleagues, his pupils, himself. I gathered a pile of these together, and with some misgivings, presented them to him. What had been funny, or farcical, in relation to the movie, was tragic in relation to real life. By and large, he recognised nobody: neither his family, nor his colleagues, nor his pupils, nor himself. He recognised a portrait of Einstein, because he picked up the characteristic hair and moustache; and the same thing happened with one or two other people. 'Ach, Paul!' he said, when shown a portrait of his brother. 'That square jaw, those big teeth, I would know Paul anywhere!' But was it Paul he recognised, or one or two of his features, on the basis of which he could make a reasonable guess as to the subject's identity? In the absence of obvious 'markers', he was utterly lost. It was distressing to watch him approaching these faces as if they were abstract puzzles or tests. He did not relate to them. Some were identified: not one was familiar. A face, for him, was not the semblance of a human being – it was merely an aggregation of features.
It was – just – possible that some of his difficulties were associated
with the unreality of a celluloid, Hollywood world; and it occurred to
me that he might be more successful in identifying faces from his own
life. On the walls of the apartment there were photographs of his
family, his colleagues, his pupils, himself. I gathered a pile of these
together, and with some misgivings, presented them to him. What had been
funny, or farcical, in relation to the movie, was tragic in relation to
real life. By and large, he recognised nobody: neither his family, nor
his colleagues, nor his pupils, nor himself. He recognised a portrait of
Einstein, because he picked up the characteristic hair and moustache;
and the same thing happened with one or two other people. ‘Ach, Paul\!’
he said, when shown a portrait of his brother. ‘That square jaw, those
big teeth, I would know Paul anywhere\!’ But was it Paul he recognised,
or one or two of his features, on the basis of which he could make a
reasonable guess as to the subject’s identity? In the absence of obvious
‘markers’, he was utterly lost. It was distressing to watch him
approaching these faces as if they were abstract puzzles or tests. He
did not relate to them. Some were identified: not one was familiar. A
face, for him, was not the semblance of a human being – it was merely an
aggregation of features.
I had stopped at a florist on my way to his apartment and bought myself an extravagant red rose for my buttonhole. Now I removed this and handed it to him. He took it like a botanist or morphologist given a specimen, not like a person given a flower.
I had stopped at a florist on my way to his apartment and bought myself
an extravagant red rose for my buttonhole. Now I removed this and handed
it to him. He took it like a botanist or morphologist given a specimen,
not like a person given a flower.
'About six inches in length,' he commented, 'a convoluted red form with a linear green attachment.'
‘About six inches in length,’ he commented, ‘a convoluted red form with
a linear green attachment.’
'Yes,' I said encouragingly, and what do you think it _is_, Dr P.?'
‘Yes,’ I said encouragingly, and what do you think it is, Dr P.?’
'Not easy to say.' He seemed perplexed. 'It lacks the simple symmetry of the Platonic solids, although it may have a higher symmetry of its own ... I think this could be an inflorescence or flower.'
‘Not easy to say.’ He seemed perplexed. ‘It lacks the simple symmetry of
the Platonic solids, although it may have a higher symmetry of its own
... I think this could be an inflorescence or flower.’
'_Could_ be?' I queried.
‘Could be?’ I queried.
'Could be,' he confirmed.
‘Could be,’ he confirmed.
'Smell it,' I suggested, and he again looked somewhat puzzled, as if I had asked him to smell a higher symmetry. But he complied courteously, and took it to his nose. Now, suddenly, he came to life.
‘Smell it,’ I suggested, and he again looked somewhat puzzled, as if I
had asked him to smell a higher symmetry. But he complied courteously,
and took it to his nose. Now, suddenly, he came to life.
'Beautiful!' he exclaimed. 'An early rose. What a heavenly smell!' He started to hum 'Die Rose, die Lillie ...' Reality, it seemed, might be conveyed by smell, not by sight.
‘Beautiful\!’ he exclaimed. ‘An early rose. What a heavenly smell\!’ He
started to hum ‘Die Rose, die Lillie ...’ Reality, it seemed, might be
conveyed by smell, not by sight.
I tried one final test. It was still a cold day, in early spring, and I had thrown my coat and gloves on the sofa.
I tried one final test. It was still a cold day, in early spring, and I
had thrown my coat and gloves on the sofa.
'What is this?' asked, holding up a glove.
‘What is this?’ asked, holding up a glove.
'May I examine it?' he asked, and, taking it from me, he proceeded to examine it as he had examined the geometrical shapes.
‘May I examine it?’ he asked, and, taking it from me, he proceeded to
examine it as he had examined the geometrical shapes.
'A continuous surface,' he announced at last, 'infolded on itself. It appears to have' – he hesitated – 'five outpouchings, if that is the word.'
‘A continuous surface,’ he announced at last, ‘infolded on itself. It
appears to have’ – he hesitated – ‘five outpouchings, if that is the
word.’
'Yes,' I said cautiously. 'You have given me a description. Now tell me what it is.'
‘Yes,’ I said cautiously. ‘You have given me a description. Now tell me
what it is.’
'A container of some sort?'
‘A container of some sort?’
'Yes,' I said, 'and what would it contain?'
‘Yes,’ I said, ‘and what would it contain?’
'It would contain its contents!' said Dr P., with a laugh. There are many possibilities. It could be a change-purse, for example, for coins of five sizes. It could ...'
‘It would contain its contents\!’ said Dr P., with a laugh. There are
many possibilities. It could be a change-purse, for example, for coins
of five sizes. It could ...’
I interrupted the barmy flow. 'Does it not look familiar? Do you think it might contain, might fit, a part of your body?'
I interrupted the barmy flow. ‘Does it not look familiar? Do you think
it might contain, might fit, a part of your body?’
No light of recognition dawned on his face.
No child would have the power to see and speak of 'a continuous surface ... infolded on itself', but any child, any infant, would immediately know a glove as a glove, see it as familiar, as going with a hand. Dr P. didn't. He saw nothing as familiar. Visually, he was lost in a world of lifeless abstractions. Indeed he did not have a real visual world, as he did not have a real visual self. He could speak about things, but did not see them face-to-face. Hughlings Jackson, discussing patients with aphasia and left-hemisphere lesions, says they have lost 'abstract' and 'propositional' thought – and compares them with dogs (or, rather, he compares dogs to patients with aphasia). Dr P., on the other hand, functioned precisely as a machine functions. It wasn't merely that he displayed the same indifference to the visual world as a computer but – even more strikingly – he construed the world as a computer construes it, by means of key features and schematic relationships.
No child would have the power to see and speak of ‘a continuous surface
... infolded on itself’, but any child, any infant, would immediately
know a glove as a glove, see it as familiar, as going with a hand. Dr P.
didn’t. He saw nothing as familiar. Visually, he was lost in a world of
lifeless abstractions. Indeed he did not have a real visual world, as he
did not have a real visual self. He could speak about things, but did
not see them face-to-face. Hughlings Jackson, discussing patients with
aphasia and left-hemisphere lesions, says they have lost ‘abstract’ and
‘propositional’ thought – and compares them with dogs (or, rather, he
compares dogs to patients with aphasia). Dr P., on the other hand,
functioned precisely as a machine functions. It wasn’t merely that he
displayed the same indifference to the visual world as a computer but –
even more strikingly – he construed the world as a computer construes
it, by means of key features and schematic relationships.
The testing I had done so far told me nothing about Dr P.'s inner world. Was it possible that his visual memory and imagination were still intact? I asked him to imagine entering one of our local squares from the north side, to walk through it, in imagination or in memory, and tell me the buildings he might pass as he walked. He listed the buldings on his right side, but none of those on his left. I then asked him to imagine entering the square from the south. Again he mentioned only those buildings that were on the right side, although these were the very buildings he had omitted before. Those he had 'seen' internally before were not mentioned now – presumably, they were no longer 'seen'. It was evident that his difficulties with leftness, his visual field deficits, were as much internal as external, bisecting his visual memory and imagination.
The testing I had done so far told me nothing about Dr P.’s inner world.
Was it possible that his visual memory and imagination were still
intact? I asked him to imagine entering one of our local squares from
the north side, to walk through it, in imagination or in memory, and
tell me the buildings he might pass as he walked. He listed the buldings
on his right side, but none of those on his left. I then asked him to
imagine entering the square from the south. Again he mentioned only
those buildings that were on the right side, although these were the
very buildings he had omitted before. Those he had ‘seen’ internally
before were not mentioned now – presumably, they were no longer ‘seen’.
It was evident that his difficulties with leftness, his visual field
deficits, were as much internal as external, bisecting his visual memory
and imagination.
It was entirely in keeping with his condition that he could remember the plot of a novel and things that the characters said, but had no sense of their physiognomy; that he could remember what happened to them but not the scenes in which they took part. What surprised me was that when I engaged him in a game of mental chess he had no difficulty in visualising the chessboard – indeed, had no difficulty in beating me. Luria said of Zazetsky that he had entirely lost his capacity to play games but that his 'vivid imagination' was unimpaired. Zazetsky and Dr P. lived in worlds which were mirror images of each other. But the saddest difference between them was that Zazetsky, as Luria said, fought to regain his lost faculties with the 'tenacity of the damned', whereas Dr P. did not even know that anything was lost.
It was entirely in keeping with his condition that he could remember the
plot of a novel and things that the characters said, but had no sense of
their physiognomy; that he could remember what happened to them but not
the scenes in which they took part. What surprised me was that when I
engaged him in a game of mental chess he had no difficulty in
visualising the chessboard – indeed, had no difficulty in beating me.
Luria said of Zazetsky that he had entirely lost his capacity to play
games but that his ‘vivid imagination’ was unimpaired. Zazetsky and Dr
P. lived in worlds which were mirror images of each other. But the
saddest difference between them was that Zazetsky, as Luria said, fought
to regain his lost faculties with the ‘tenacity of the damned’, whereas
Dr P. did not even know that anything was lost.
When the examination was over, Mrs P. called us to the table, where there was coffee and a delicious spread of little cakes. Hungrily, hummingly, Dr P. started on the cakes. Swiftly, fluently, unthinkingly, melodiously, he pulled the plates towards him, and took this and that, in a great gurgling stream, an edible song of food, until, suddenly, there came an interruption: a loud, peremptory rat-ta-tat at the door. Startled, taken aback, arrested, by the interruption, Dr P. stopped eating, and sat frozen, motionless, at the table, with an indifferent, blind, bewilderment on his face. He saw, but no longer saw, the table; no longer perceived it as a table laden with cakes. His wife poured him some coffee: the smell titillated his nose, and brought him back to reality. The melody of eating resumed.
When the examination was over, Mrs P. called us to the table, where
there was coffee and a delicious spread of little cakes. Hungrily,
hummingly, Dr P. started on the cakes. Swiftly, fluently, unthinkingly,
melodiously, he pulled the plates towards him, and took this and that,
in a great gurgling stream, an edible song of food, until, suddenly,
there came an interruption: a loud, peremptory rat-ta-tat at the door.
Startled, taken aback, arrested, by the interruption, Dr P. stopped
eating, and sat frozen, motionless, at the table, with an indifferent,
blind, bewilderment on his face. He saw, but no longer saw, the table;
no longer perceived it as a table laden with cakes. His wife poured him
some coffee: the smell titillated his nose, and brought him back to
reality. The melody of eating resumed.
How does he do anything, I wondered to myself? What happens when he's dressing, goes to the lavatory, has a bath? I followed his wife into the kitchen and asked her how, for instance, he managed to dress himself.
How does he do anything, I wondered to myself? What happens when he’s
dressing, goes to the lavatory, has a bath? I followed his wife into the
kitchen and asked her how, for instance, he managed to dress himself.
'It's just like the eating,' she explained. 'I put his usual clothes out, in all the usual places, and he dresses without difficulty, singing to himself. He does everything singing to himself. But if he is interrupted and loses the thread, he comes to a complete stop, doesn't know his clothes – or his own body. He sings all the time – eating songs, dressing songs, bathing songs, everything. He can't do anything unless he makes it a song.'
‘It’s just like the eating,’ she explained. ‘I put his usual clothes
out, in all the usual places, and he dresses without difficulty, singing
to himself. He does everything singing to himself. But if he is
interrupted and loses the thread, he comes to a complete stop, doesn’t
know his clothes – or his own body. He sings all the time – eating
songs, dressing songs, bathing songs, everything. He can’t do anything
unless he makes it a song.’
We returned to the great music-room, with the Bosendorfer in the centre, and Dr P. humming the last torte. 'Well, Doctor Sacks,' he said to me. 'You find me an interesting "case", I perceive. Can you tell me what you find wrong, make recommendations?'
We returned to the great music-room, with the Bosendorfer in the centre,
and Dr P. humming the last torte. ‘Well, Doctor Sacks,’ he said to me.
‘You find me an interesting “case”, I perceive. Can you tell me what
you find wrong, make recommendations?’
I can't tell you what I find wrong,' I replied, 'but I'll say what I find right. You are a wonderful musician, and music is your life. What I would prescribe, in a "case" such as yours, is a life which consists entirely of music. Music has been the centre, now make it the whole of your life.'
This was four years ago. I never saw him again. But I often wondered how he apprehended the world, given his loss of image and visuality and the perfect preservation of his musicality. I think that music for him had taken the place of image: he had no body image – he had body music. This is why he could move and act as fluently as he did, but came to a total stop if the 'inner musk' stopped. In _The World as Will and Representation_ Schopenhauer speaks of music as pure will. How fascinated he would have been by Dr P., a man who had wholly lost the world as representation but wholly preserved it as music, or will. And this, mercifully, held to the end, for despite the gradual advance of the disease – a massive tumour or degenerative process in the visual parts of his brain – Dr P. lived and taught music to the last days of his life.
* * *
[Vol. 5 No. 9 · 19 May 1983][34] » [Oliver Sacks][23] » [The man who mistook his wife for a hat][35]
pages 3-5 | 4320 words
* * *
[Contact us][8] for rights and issues inquiries.
* * *
## Letters
[Vol. 5 No. 16 · 1 September 1983][36]
SIR: I found Oliver Sacks's article ([_LRB_, 19 May][35]) most interesting. Several years ago, I shared a flat with a student working towards attaining her diploma in social work. As part of her course she had been posted to a nearby assessment centre. During holiday periods the children were mostly allowed out on recreational visits to various places along the South Coast. However, one girl – twelve to thirteen years old – was always excluded from such 'treats' as other members of the assessment centre found her behaviour to be unpredictable, and at times quite violent. On one occasion, as a rare treat, she was allowed out for the afternoon under the supervision of the social worker. I suggested she should come back to the flat for a 'grown-up' evening meal, by candlelight, linen tablecloth, red wine heavily diluted with Perrier water, napkins … the full works which she would have received in the best of restaurants. I did not have a television at the time, which disappointed the girl somewhat, but I did possess a fairly good collection of 'progressive/psychedelic' records. She picked out the most 'disturbing': Frank Zappa's _We're only in it for the money_, Captain Beefheart's _Strictly Personal_ and Robert Wyatt's _Rock Bottom_. I looked at the social worker questioningly. The reply was to the effect that I had made an open offer, so was bound to keep my promise.
As I put on the first LP – the Frank Zappa – I asked her what had determined her choice. Her reply – I have forgotten the exact words – was to the effect that they sounded like good fun and rather silly. So, compliant host, never breaking a promise, especially to an individual who was still wary of people who promised anything at all, I set the Zappa LP on the turntable, expecting a freak-out at any moment, especially when it came to the concluding lyrics of 'What's the ugliest part of your body?':
> Some say it's your nose
Some say it's your toes
But I say it's your mind.
The young lady found this highly humorous rather than disturbing, believing Zappa's lyrics to be directed at the governors of the assessment centre.
Many people – perhaps most people – find 'illogical' discourse or behaviour to be frightening. This is to impose a self-centred, nefarious dictatorship of 'belief in the one-and-only God of Reason'. I later learned that the young lady had been transferred to a different establishment, and was the subject of adoption proceedings. Evidently she had been placed in a comprehensive school, where she was showing an extraordinary facility in the composition of 'nonsense-poetry'. For her, I wonder, was it all merely self-centred indulgence in surreal silliness – or the discovery of how language can be manipulated to convey feelings of happiness and fear, as opposed to something to be used as a book of rules and regulations from which governors, wardens and guardians quoted whenever she transgressed?
**Grahame White**
Truro
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[49]:
I can’t tell you what I find wrong,’ I replied, ‘but I’ll say what I
find right. You are a wonderful musician, and music is your life. What I
would prescribe, in a “case” such as yours, is a life which consists
entirely of music. Music has been the centre, now make it the whole of
your life.’
This was four years ago. I never saw him again. But I often wondered how
he apprehended the world, given his loss of image and visuality and the
perfect preservation of his musicality. I think that music for him had
taken the place of image: he had no body image – he had body music. This
is why he could move and act as fluently as he did, but came to a total
stop if the ‘inner musk’ stopped. In The World as Will and
Representation Schopenhauer speaks of music as pure will. How fascinated
he would have been by Dr P., a man who had wholly lost the world as
representation but wholly preserved it as music, or will. And this,
mercifully, held to the end, for despite the gradual advance of the
disease – a massive tumour or degenerative process in the visual parts
of his brain – Dr P. lived and taught music to the last days of his
life.

25
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created_at: '2016-07-19T14:25:03.000Z'
title: Hints for Computer System Design (1983)
url: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/blampson/33-Hints/WebPage.html
author: martincmartin
points: 69
story_text:
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num_comments: 9
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[Source](http://www.butler.lampsons.us "Permalink to ")

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[Source](https://hanshuebner.github.io/lmman/title.xml "Permalink to ")
Lisp Machine ManualSixth Edition, System Version 99June 1984Richard
StallmanDaniel WeinrebDavid Moon
This report describes research done at the Artificial Intelligence
Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Support for the
laboratory's artificial intelligence research is provided in part by the
Advanced Research Projects Agency of the Department of Defense under
Office of Naval Research Contract number N00014-80-C-0505.
Preface
The Lisp Machine manual describes both the language and the operating
system of the Lisp Machine. The language, a dialect of Lisp called
Zetalisp, is completely documented by this manual. The software
environment and operating-system-like parts of the system contain many
things which are still in a state of flux. This manual confines itself
primarily to the stabler parts of the system. It describes how to
program, but not for the most part how to operate the machine. The
window system is documented separately in the Lisp Machine Window System
manual.
Any comments, suggestions, or criticisms will be welcomed. Please send
Arpa network mail to BUG-LMMAN@MIT-MC.
Those not on the Arpanet may send U.S. mail to Richard M. Stallman
Artificial Intelligence Lab 545 Technology Square Cambridge, Mass. 02139
Portions of this manual were written by Mike McMahon and Alan Bawden.
The chapter on the LOOP iteration macro is mostly a reprint of
Laboratory for Computer Science memo TM-169, by Glenn Burke. Sarah
Smith, Meryl Cohen and Richard Ingria of LMI, and Richard Mlynarik of
MIT, helped to correct the manual.
Personal Note from Richard Stallman
The Lisp Machine is a product of the efforts of many people too numerous
to list here and of the former unique unbureaucratic, free-wheeling and
cooperative environment of the M.I.T. Artificial Intelligence
Laboratory. I believe that the commercialization of computer software
has harmed the spirit which enabled such systems to be developed. Now I
am attempting to build a software-sharing movement to revive that spirit
from near oblivion.
Since January 1984 I have been working primarily on the development of
GNU, a complete Unix-compatible software system for standard hardware
architectures, to be shared freely with everyone just like EMACS. This
will enable people to use computers and be good neighbors legally (a
good neighbor allows his neighbors to copy any generally useful software
he has a copy of). This project has inspired a growing movement of
enthusiastic supporters. Just recently the first free portable C
compiler compiled itself. If you would like to contribute to GNU, write
to me at the address above. Restrain social decay--help get programmers
sharing again.

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[Source](http://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/24/science/personal-computers-hardware-review-apple-weighs-in-with-macintosh.html?smid=fb-nytimes&WT.z_sma=SC_PCH_20140124&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id&bicmst=1388552400000&bicmet=1420088400000 "Permalink to PERSONAL COMPUTERS - HARDWARE REVIEW - APPLE WEIGHS IN WITH MACINTOSH - NYTimes.com")
WHEN it comes to apples, I've always preferred tart, crisp ones like
Granny Smiths or Idas to McIntoshes. It seems to me, therefore, that as
a new name in Apple Computer's growing orchard of machines one of those
would have done admirably. What could sound more ''user friendly'' than
a Granny Smith computer around the house. Then again, maybe Apple had
hamburgers on the mind in naming its new computer - in hopes of its Mac
becoming as much a part of the American mythos as the golden arches are.
# PERSONAL COMPUTERS - HARDWARE REVIEW - APPLE WEIGHS IN WITH MACINTOSH - NYTimes.com
Names, and their concomitant marketing strategy, aside, today's
launching of the Macintosh by Apple, unlike I.B.M.'s recent introduction
of the rather unexceptional PCjr, presages a revolution in personal
computing. Like all major innovations, this one entails a high risk of
failure. Apple lost the first battle, begun with its $10,000 Lisa. The
second assault is with a machine only a fourth the cost of its big
sister and almost as versatile.
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One computer the Mac definitely cannot be compared with, though many
people will try, is the PCjr. That would be like comparing apples and
peanuts. It just cannot be done. The PCjr is a more limited product
offered at a lower price. The only real connection between the two
machines is that the introduction of both computers was anxiously
awaited for what seems a decade.
Edition: [U.S.][4] / [Global][8]
The roughly 17-pound Macintosh comes in a square bushel-basket-size
canvas tote bag with an oversized zipper. The preproduction version I
saw did not sport the Apple-with-a-bite logo. The addition of this
emblem could well turn the bag into a classic status symbol, and even if
the computer stayed home, the bag would accompany people on the move,
stuffed with picnic goodies or laundry.
Search All NYTimes.com
As to the computer itself, unpacked, it sits like a towering, square,
robotic Cyclops, its single disk drive an off-center mouth. The machine
definitely has personality, though its high profile, designed, no doubt,
to reduce the amount of desk space needed, is a bit startling.
![New York Times][9]
The first thing to take me by surprise as I sat down at the Macintosh
was not the mouse pointer used to move the cursor on screen, which
everyone has been expecting, but the size of the screen itself. With a
scant nine-inch diagonal, it presents a diminutive five-by-seven viewing
image. My personal dislike for small screens made me chalk up an
immediate minus on the Mac's scorecard, particularly since I found
myself, as I usually do when confronted with a miniscreen, hunkering
right up to the computer, much closer than comfort called for, as I
flicked it on. Then came the second surprise.
## [Science][10]
The Mac display makes all the other personal computer screens look like
distorted rejects from a Cubist art school. With a 512-line horizontal
by 342-line vertical, the display conveys an image that is refreshingly
crisp and clear. The use of square dots rather than the standard
rectangular ones at each of the almost 200,000 line crossings adds even
more to the sharpness of the picture. After a couple of hours of looking
at this screen, going back to the Apple IIe at home brought tears to my
eyes. What the Mac adds in visual clarity, however, it takes away in
chromatics. At present, only a black-and-white screen is available.
Apple appears to be aiming this computer at the small-business and
educational markets rather than the home entertainment segment, so
perhaps the company feels that color is not necessary. Certainly the
machine could not be delivered with the rainbow at the current price of
roughly $2,495. Even so, I suspect the absence of color capability is a
mistake, one which, along with the diminutive screen size, will
hopefully be rectified eventually by add-ons for those wanting them. As
it is, if you can live with the small screen, and the lack of color does
not bother you, there is simply no personal computer that comes close to
the Mac in display quality.
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Another startling feature that I became aware of after a few minutes,
although it may be a minor point to some people, is the absence of fan
noise. The vacuum cleaner sound effects so annoying to many people and
so prevalent in small computers is totally nonexistent. The reason is
simple: The Macintosh has been engineered to cool itself. There is no
fan to drown one's thinking. In fact, at 60 words per minute, the only
sound you will hear is the clicking of the keyboard.
###### PERSONAL COMPUTERS
Keyboards are a very subjective matter. This one is certainly more
comfortable and responsive than those to be found on the Apple II
series. It is also light enough to rest comfortably on one's lap, which
is what manufacturers seem to think people do with these things,
although I personally have never seen anyone work that way. Furthermore,
it solves one of the minor mysteries of personal computer engineering
that has long bothered me; namely, why does the keyboard cord always
have to plug into the rear of the computer so it inevitably becomes
snarled coming around the side? The answer is that it does not. The
Mac's keyboard plugs quite naturally into the front of the computer and
never seems to get hung up.
# PERSONAL COMPUTERS; HARDWARE REVIEW: APPLE WEIGHS IN WITH MACINTOSH
That is one plus for the Mac's design - followed by a negative. There is
no numeric keypad on the board. A separate one may be attached, but
then, counting the mouse's tail, you have three cables snaking their way
back to the machine. All in all, I get the feeling, as I do with I.B.M.
PC products, that a lot of outside manufacturers are going to be
cranking out modified keyboards for owners who do not like the standard
model.
###### By ERIK SANDBERG-DIMENT
As to the mouse, it is part and parcel of the Mac revolution, and it
will probably be the reason you either sign up for or turn your back on
this machine. To a large extent, the Macintosh works with what has been
termed a ''finder environment.''
###### Published: January 24, 1984
YOU find either a word or an icon or pictogram on the screen
representing what you want the computer to do, then slide the mouse on
your desk to move the cursor into position over that screen object, then
press the button on the mouse to activate that particular part of the
program.
WHEN it comes to apples, I've always preferred tart, crisp ones like Granny Smiths or Idas to McIntoshes. It seems to me, therefore, that as a new name in Apple Computer's growing orchard of machines one of those would have done admirably. What could sound more ''user friendly'' than a Granny Smith computer around the house. Then again, maybe Apple had hamburgers on the mind in naming its new computer - in hopes of its Mac becoming as much a part of the American mythos as the golden arches are.
For instance, there is a menu bar at the top of the screen with the
words ''file,'' ''edit,'' ''U,'' ''special,'' and so on. Slide the
cursor over to ''file,'' click the mouse button, and a window beneath
the word opens up with such commands as ''open,'' ''duplicate,'' ''get
info,'' ''close'' and ''print.'' To print what is in a file, all you do,
essentially, is bring the cursor down to ''print,'' press the mouse
button and release.
Names, and their concomitant marketing strategy, aside, today's launching of the Macintosh by Apple, unlike I.B.M.'s recent introduction of the rather unexceptional PCjr, presages a revolution in personal computing. Like all major innovations, this one entails a high risk of failure. Apple lost the first battle, begun with its $10,000 Lisa. The second assault is with a machine only a fourth the cost of its big sister and almost as versatile.
The fundamental difference between the Mac and other personal computers
is that the Macintosh is visually oriented rather than word oriented.
You choose from a menu of commands by simply pressing the wandering
mouse's button rather than by using a number of control keys or by
entering words.
One computer the Mac definitely cannot be compared with, though many people will try, is the PCjr. That would be like comparing apples and peanuts. It just cannot be done. The PCjr is a more limited product offered at a lower price. The only real connection between the two machines is that the introduction of both computers was anxiously awaited for what seems a decade.
The roughly 17-pound Macintosh comes in a square bushel-basket-size canvas tote bag with an oversized zipper. The preproduction version I saw did not sport the Apple-with-a-bite logo. The addition of this emblem could well turn the bag into a classic status symbol, and even if the computer stayed home, the bag would accompany people on the move, stuffed with picnic goodies or laundry.
As to the computer itself, unpacked, it sits like a towering, square, robotic Cyclops, its single disk drive an off-center mouth. The machine definitely has personality, though its high profile, designed, no doubt, to reduce the amount of desk space needed, is a bit startling.
The first thing to take me by surprise as I sat down at the Macintosh was not the mouse pointer used to move the cursor on screen, which everyone has been expecting, but the size of the screen itself. With a scant nine-inch diagonal, it presents a diminutive five-by-seven viewing image. My personal dislike for small screens made me chalk up an immediate minus on the Mac's scorecard, particularly since I found myself, as I usually do when confronted with a miniscreen, hunkering right up to the computer, much closer than comfort called for, as I flicked it on. Then came the second surprise.
The Mac display makes all the other personal computer screens look like distorted rejects from a Cubist art school. With a 512-line horizontal by 342-line vertical, the display conveys an image that is refreshingly crisp and clear. The use of square dots rather than the standard rectangular ones at each of the almost 200,000 line crossings adds even more to the sharpness of the picture. After a couple of hours of looking at this screen, going back to the Apple IIe at home brought tears to my eyes. What the Mac adds in visual clarity, however, it takes away in chromatics. At present, only a black-and-white screen is available. Apple appears to be aiming this computer at the small-business and educational markets rather than the home entertainment segment, so perhaps the company feels that color is not necessary. Certainly the machine could not be delivered with the rainbow at the current price of roughly $2,495. Even so, I suspect the absence of color capability is a mistake, one which, along with the diminutive screen size, will hopefully be rectified eventually by add-ons for those wanting them. As it is, if you can live with the small screen, and the lack of color does not bother you, there is simply no personal computer that comes close to the Mac in display quality.
Another startling feature that I became aware of after a few minutes, although it may be a minor point to some people, is the absence of fan noise. The vacuum cleaner sound effects so annoying to many people and so prevalent in small computers is totally nonexistent. The reason is simple: The Macintosh has been engineered to cool itself. There is no fan to drown one's thinking. In fact, at 60 words per minute, the only sound you will hear is the clicking of the keyboard.
Keyboards are a very subjective matter. This one is certainly more comfortable and responsive than those to be found on the Apple II series. It is also light enough to rest comfortably on one's lap, which is what manufacturers seem to think people do with these things, although I personally have never seen anyone work that way. Furthermore, it solves one of the minor mysteries of personal computer engineering that has long bothered me; namely, why does the keyboard cord always have to plug into the rear of the computer so it inevitably becomes snarled coming around the side? The answer is that it does not. The Mac's keyboard plugs quite naturally into the front of the computer and never seems to get hung up.
That is one plus for the Mac's design - followed by a negative. There is no numeric keypad on the board. A separate one may be attached, but then, counting the mouse's tail, you have three cables snaking their way back to the machine. All in all, I get the feeling, as I do with I.B.M. PC products, that a lot of outside manufacturers are going to be cranking out modified keyboards for owners who do not like the standard model.
As to the mouse, it is part and parcel of the Mac revolution, and it will probably be the reason you either sign up for or turn your back on this machine. To a large extent, the Macintosh works with what has been termed a ''finder environment.''
YOU find either a word or an icon or pictogram on the screen representing what you want the computer to do, then slide the mouse on your desk to move the cursor into position over that screen object, then press the button on the mouse to activate that particular part of the program.
For instance, there is a menu bar at the top of the screen with the words ''file,'' ''edit,'' ''U,'' ''special,'' and so on. Slide the cursor over to ''file,'' click the mouse button, and a window beneath the word opens up with such commands as ''open,'' ''duplicate,'' ''get info,'' ''close'' and ''print.'' To print what is in a file, all you do, essentially, is bring the cursor down to ''print,'' press the mouse button and release.
The fundamental difference between the Mac and other personal computers is that the Macintosh is visually oriented rather than word oriented. You choose from a menu of commands by simply pressing the wandering mouse's button rather than by using a number of control keys or by entering words.
More on the pluses and minuses of the innovative Mac software, such as side orders of Macwriter, Macpaint and Macpascal, will appear in next week's column.
More on the pluses and minuses of the innovative Mac software, such as
side orders of Macwriter, Macpaint and Macpascal, will appear in next
week's column.
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[Source](http://public.wsu.edu/~hughesc/why_men_love_war.htm "Permalink to why_men_love_war")
# why_men_love_war
# Why men love war
_Esquire, _November 1984
Why Men Love War
by William Broyles Jr.
I last saw Hiers in a rice paddy in Vietnam. He was nineteen then--my wonderfully skilled and maddeningly insubordinate radio operator. For months we were seldom more than three feet apart. Then one day he went home, and fifteen years passed before we met by accident last winter at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. A few months later I visited Hiers and his wife. Susan, in Vermont, where they run a bed-and -breakfast place. The first morning we were up at dawn trying to save five newborn rabbits. Hiers built a nest of rabbit fur and straw in his barn and positioned a lamp to provide warmth against the bitter cold.
@ -152,24 +150,3 @@ Hiers turned to me with a smile and said, "It's a long way from Nam isn't it?"
Yes.
And no.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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[Source](https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/05/18/reviews/pynchon-luddite.html "Permalink to ")
![A](/images/qa.gif)s if being 1984 weren't enough, it's also the 25th
anniversary this year of C. P. Snow's famous Rede Lecture, ''The Two
Cultures and the Scientific Revolution,'' notable for its warning that
intellectual life in the West was becoming increasingly polarized into
''literary'' and ''scientific'' factions, each doomed not to understand
or appreciate the other. The lecture was originally meant to address
such matters as curriculum reform in the age of Sputnik and the role of
technology in the development of what would soon be known as the third
world. But it was the two-culture formulation that got people's
attention. In fact it kicked up an amazing row in its day. To some
already simplified points, further reductions were made, provoking
certain remarks, name-calling, even intemperate rejoinders, giving the
whole affair, though attenuated by the mists of time, a distinctly
cranky look.
Today nobody could get away with making such a distinction. Since 1959,
we have come to live among flows of data more vast than anything the
world has seen. Demystification is the order of our day, all the cats
are jumping out of all the bags and even beginning to mingle. We
immediately suspect ego insecurity in people who may still try to hide
behind the jargon of a specialty or pretend to some data base forever
''beyond'' the reach of a layman. Anybody with the time, literacy and
access fee these days can get together with just about any piece of
specialized knowledge s/he may need. So, to that extent, the
two-cultures quarrel can no longer be sustained. As a visit to any local
library or magazine rack will easily confirm, there are now so many more
than two cultures that the problem has really become how to find the
time to read anything outside one's own specialty.
What has persisted, after a long quarter century, is the element of
human character. C. P. Snow, with the reflexes of a novelist after all,
sought to identify not only two kinds of education but also two kinds of
personality. Fragmentary echoes of old disputes, of unforgotten offense
taken in the course of long-ago high- table chitchat, may have helped
form the subtext for Snow's immoderate, and thus celebrated, assertion,
''If we forget the scientific culture, then the rest of intellectuals
have never tried, wanted, or been able to understand the Industrial
Revolution.'' Such ''intellectuals,'' for the most part ''literary,''
were supposed, by Lord Snow, to be ''natural Luddites.''
Except maybe for Brainy Smurf, it's hard to imagine anybody these days
wanting to be called a literary intellectual, though it doesn't sound so
bad if you broaden the labeling to, say, ''people who read and think.''
Being called a Luddite is another matter. It brings up questions such
as, Is there something about reading and thinking that would cause or
predispose a person to turn Luddite? Is it O.K. to be a Luddite? And
come to think of it, what is a Luddite, anyway?
HISTORICALLY, Luddites flourished in Britain from about 1811 to 1816.
They were bands of men, organized, masked, anonymous, whose object was
to destroy machinery used mostly in the textile industry. They swore
allegiance not to any British king but to their own King Ludd. It isn't
clear whether they called themselves Luddites, although they were so
termed by both friends and enemies. C. P. Snow's use of the word was
clearly polemical, wishing to imply an irrational fear and hatred of
science and technology. Luddites had, in this view, come to be imagined
as the counterrevolutionaries of that ''Industrial Revolution'' which
their modern versions have ''never tried, wanted, or been able to
understand.''
But the Industrial Revolution was not, like the American and French
Revolutions of about the same period, a violent struggle with a
beginning, middle and end. It was smoother, less conclusive, more like
an accelerated passage in a long evolution. The phrase was first
popularized a hundred years ago by the historian Arnold Toynbee, and has
had its share of revisionist attention, lately in the July 1984
Scientific American. Here, in ''Medieval Roots of the Industrial
Revolution,'' Terry S. Reynolds suggests that the early role of the
steam engine (1765) may have been overdramatized. Far from being
revolutionary, much of the machinery that steam was coming to drive had
already long been in place, having in fact been driven by water power
since the Middle Ages. Nevertheless, the idea of a technosocial
''revolution,'' in which the same people came out on top as in France
and America, has proven of use to many over the years, not least to
those who, like C. P. Snow, have thought that in ''Luddite'' they have
discovered a way to call those with whom they disagree both politically
reactionary and anti-capitalist at the same time.
But the Oxford English Dictionary has an interesting tale to tell. In
1779, in a village somewhere in Leicestershire, one Ned Lud broke into a
house and ''in a fit of insane rage'' destroyed two machines used for
knitting hosiery. Word got around. Soon, whenever a stocking- frame was
found sabotaged - this had been going on, sez the Encyclopedia
Britannica, since about 1710 - folks would respond with the catch phrase
''Lud must have been here.'' By the time his name was taken up by the
frame-breakers of 1812, historical Ned Lud was well absorbed into the
more or less sarcastic nickname ''King (or Captain) Ludd,'' and was now
all mystery, resonance and dark fun: a more-than-human presence, out in
the night, roaming the hosiery districts of England, possessed by a
single comic shtick - every time he spots a stocking-frame he goes crazy
and proceeds to trash it.
But it's important to remember that the target even of the original
assault of 1779, like many machines of the Industrial Revolution, was
not a new piece of technology. The stocking-frame had been around since
1589, when, according to the folklore, it was invented by the Rev.
William Lee, out of pure meanness. Seems that Lee was in love with a
young woman who was more interested in her knitting than in him. He'd
show up at her place. ''Sorry, Rev, got some knitting.'' ''What,
again?'' After a while, unable to deal with this kind of rejection, Lee,
not, like Ned Lud, in any fit of insane rage, but let's imagine
logically and coolly, vowed to in vent a machine that would make the
hand-knitting of hosiery obsolete. And he did. According to the
encyclopedia, the jilted cleric's frame ''was so perfect in its
conception that it continued to be the only mechanical means of knitting
for hundreds of years.''
Now, given that kind of time span, it's just not easy to think of Ned
Lud as a technophobic crazy. No doubt what people admired and
mythologized him for was the vigor and single-mindedness of his assault.
But the words ''fit of insane rage'' are third-hand and at least 68
years after the event. And Ned Lud's anger was not directed at the
machines, not exactly. I like to think of it more as the controlled,
martial-arts type anger of the dedicated Badass.
There is a long folk history of this figure, the Badass. He is usually
male, and while sometimes earning the quizzical tolerance of women, is
almost universally admired by men for two basic virtues: he is Bad, and
he is Big. Bad meaning not morally evil, necessarily, more like able to
work mischief on a large scale. What is important here is the amplifying
of scale, the multiplication of effect.
The knitting machines which provoked the first Luddite disturbances had
been putting people out of work for well over two centuries. Everybody
saw this happening - it became part of daily life. They also saw the
machines coming more and more to be the property of men who did not
work, only owned and hired. It took no German philosopher, then or
later, to point out what this did, had been doing, to wages and jobs.
Public feeling about the machines could never have been simple
unreasoning horror, but likely something more complex: the love/hate
that grows up between humans and machinery - especially when it's been
around for a while - not to mention serious resentment toward at least
two multiplications of effect that were seen as unfair and threatening.
One was the concentration of capital that each machine represented, and
the other was the ability of each machine to put a certain number of
humans out of work - to be ''worth'' that many human souls. What gave
King Ludd his special Bad charisma, took him from local hero to
nationwide public enemy, was that he went up against these amplified,
multiplied, more than human opponents and prevailed. When times are
hard, and we feel at the mercy of forces many times more powerful, don't
we, in seeking some equalizer, turn, if only in imagination, in wish, to
the Badass - the djinn, the golem, the hulk, the superhero - who will
resist what otherwise would overwhelm us? Of course, the real or secular
frame-bashing was still being done by everyday folks, trade unionists
ahead of their time, using the night, and their own solidarity and
discipline, to achieve their multiplications of effect.
It was open-eyed class war. The movement had its Parliamentary allies,
among them Lord Byron, whose maiden speech in the House of Lords in 1812
compassionately argued against a bill proposing, among other repressive
measures, to make frame-breaking punishable by death. ''Are you not near
the Luddites?'' he wrote from Venice to Thomas Moore. ''By the Lord\! if
there's a row, but I'll be among ye\! How go on the weavers - the
breakers of frames - the Lutherans of politics - the reformers?'' He
includes an ''amiable *chanson,* '' which proves to be a Luddite hymn so
inflammatory that it wasn't published till after the poet's death. The
letter is dated December 1816: Byron had spent the summer previous in
Switzerland, cooped up for a while in the Villa Diodati with the
Shelleys, watching the rain come down, while they all told each other
ghost stories. By that December, as it happened, Mary Shelley was
working on Chapter Four of her novel ''Frankenstein, or the Modern
Prometheus.''
If there were such a genre as the Luddite novel, this one, warning of
what can happen when technology, and those who practice it, get out of
hand, would be the first and among the best. Victor Frankenstein's
creature also, surely, qualifies as a major literary Badass. ''I
resolved . . .,'' Victor tells us, ''to make the being of a gigantic
stature, that is to say, about eight feet in height, and proportionably
large,'' which takes care of Big. The story of how he got to be so Bad
is the heart of the novel, sheltered innermost: told to Victor in the
first person by the creature himself, then nested inside of Victor's own
narrative, which is nested in its turn in the letters of the arctic
explorer Robert Walton. However much of ''Frankenstein's'' longevity is
owing to the undersung genius James Whale, who translated it to film, it
remains today more than well worth reading, for all the reasons we read
novels, as well as for the much more limited question of its Luddite
value: that is, for its attempt, through literary means which are
nocturnal and deal in disguise, to *deny the machine.*
Look, for example, at Victor's account of how he assembles and animates
his creature. He must, of course, be a little vague about the details,
but we're left with a procedure that seems to include surgery,
electricity (though nothing like Whale's galvanic extravaganzas),
chemistry, even, from dark hints about Paracelsus and Albertus Magnus,
the still recently discredited form of magic known as alchemy. What is
clear, though, despite the commonly depicted Bolt Through the Neck, is
that neither the method nor the creature that results is mechanical.
This is one of several interesting similarities between ''Frankenstein''
and an earlier tale of the Bad and Big, ''The Castle of Otranto''
(1765), by Horace Walpole, usually regarded as the first Gothic novel.
For one thing, both authors, in presenting their books to the public,
used voices not their own. Mary Shelley's preface was written by her
husband, Percy, who was pretending to be her. Not till 15 years later
did she write an introduction to ''Frankenstein'' in her own voice.
Walpole, on the other hand, gave his book an entire made-up publishing
history, claiming it was a translation from medieval Italian. Only in
his preface to the second edition did he admit authorship.
THE novels are also of strikingly similar nocturnal origin: both
resulted from episodes of lucid dreaming. Mary Shelley, that ghost-story
summer in Geneva, trying to get to sleep one midnight, suddenly beheld
the creature being brought to life, the images arising in her mind
''with a vividness far beyond the usual bounds of reverie.'' Walpole had
awakened from a dream, ''of which, all I could remember was, that I had
thought myself in an ancient castle . . . and that on the uppermost
bannister of a great staircase I saw a gigantic hand in armour.''
In Walpole's novel, this hand shows up as the hand of Alfonso the Good,
former Prince of Otranto and, despite his epithet, the castle's resident
Badass. Alfonso, like Frankenstein's creature, is assembled from pieces
- sable-plumed helmet, foot, leg, sword, all of them, like the hand,
quite oversized - which fall from the sky or just materialize here and
there about the castle grounds, relentless as Freud's slow return of the
repressed. The activating agencies, again like those in
''Frankenstein,'' are non-mechanical. The final assembly of ''the form
of Alfonso, dilated to an immense magnitude,'' is achieved through
supernatural means: a family curse, and the intercession of Otranto's
patron saint.
The craze for Gothic fiction after ''The Castle of Otranto'' was
grounded, I suspect, in deep and religious yearnings for that earlier
mythical time which had come to be known as the Age of Miracles. In ways
more and less literal, folks in the 18th century believed that once upon
a time all kinds of things had been possible which were no longer so.
Giants, dragons, spells. The laws of nature had not been so strictly
formulated back then. What had once been true working magic had, by the
Age of Reason, degenerated into mere machinery. Blake's dark Satanic
mills represented an old magic that, like Satan, had fallen from grace.
As religion was being more and more secularized into Deism and
nonbelief, the abiding human hunger for evidence of God and afterlife,
for salvation - bodily resurrection, if possible - remained. The
Methodist movement and the American Great Awakening were only two
sectors on a broad front of resistance to the Age of Reason, a front
which included Radicalism and Freemasonry as well as Luddites and the
Gothic novel. Each in its way expressed the same profound unwillingness
to give up elements of faith, however ''irrational,'' to an emerging
technopolitical order that might or might not know what it was doing.
''Gothic'' became code for ''medieval,'' and that has remained code for
''miraculous,'' on through Pre-Raphaelites, turn-of-the-century tarot
cards, space opera in the pulps and the comics, down to ''Star Wars''
and contemporary tales of sword and sorcery.
TO insist on the miraculous is to deny to the machine at least some of
its claims on us, to assert the limited wish that living things, earthly
and otherwise, may on occasion become Bad and Big enough to take part in
transcendent doings. By this theory, for example, King Kong (?-1933)
becomes your classic Luddite saint. The final dialogue in the movie, you
recall, goes: ''Well, the airplanes got him.'' ''No . . . it was Beauty
killed the Beast.'' In which again we encounter the same Snovian
Disjunction, only different, between the human and the technological.
But if we do insist upon fictional violations of the laws of nature - of
space, time, thermodynamics, and the big one, mortality itself - then we
risk being judged by the literary mainstream as Insufficiently Serious.
Being serious about these matters is one way that adults have
traditionally defined themselves against the confidently immortal
children they must deal with. Looking back on ''Frankenstein,'' which
she wrote when she was 19, Mary Shelley said, ''I have an affection for
it, for it was the offspring of happy days, when death and grief were
but words which found no true echo in my heart.'' The Gothic attitude in
general, because it used images of death and ghostly survival toward no
more responsible end than special effects and cheap thrills, was judged
not Serious enough and confined to its own part of town. It is not the
only neighborhood in the great City of Literature so, let us say,
closely defined. In westerns, the good people always win. In romance
novels, love conquers all. In whodunitsses we know better. We say, ''But
the world isn't like that.'' These genres, by insisting on what is
contrary to fact, fail to be Serious enough, and so they get redlined
under the label ''escapist fare.''
This is especially unfortunate in the case of science fiction, in which
the decade after Hiroshima saw one of the most remarkable flowerings of
literary talent and, quite often, genius, in our history. It was just as
important as the Beat movement going on at the same time, certainly more
important than mainstream fiction, which with only a few exceptions had
been paralyzed by the political climate of the cold war and McCarthy
years. Besides being a nearly ideal synthesis of the Two Cultures,
science fiction also happens to have been one of the principal refuges,
in our time, for those of Luddite persuasion.
By 1945, the factory system - which, more than any piece of machinery,
was the real and major result of the Industrial Revolution - had been
extended to include the Manhattan Project, the German long-range rocket
program and the death camps, such as Auschwitz. It has taken no major
gift of prophecy to see how these three curves of development might
plausibly converge, and before too long. Since Hiroshima, we have
watched nuclear weapons multiply out of control, and delivery systems
acquire, for global purposes, unlimited range and accuracy. An
unblinking acceptance of a holocaust running to seven- and eight-figure
body counts has become - among those who, particularly since 1980, have
been guiding our military policies - conventional wisdom.
To people who were writing science fiction in the 50's, none of this was
much of a surprise, though modern Luddite imaginations have yet to come
up with any countercritter Bad and Big enough, even in the most
irresponsible of fictions, to begin to compare with what would happen in
a nuclear war. So, in the science fiction of the Atomic Age and the cold
war, we see the Luddite impulse to deny the machine taking a different
direction. The hardware angle got de-emphasized in favor of more
humanistic concerns - exotic cultural evolutions and social scenarios,
paradoxes and games with space/ time, wild philosophical questions -
most of it sharing, as the critical literature has amply discussed, a
definition of ''human'' as particularly distinguished from ''machine.''
Like their earlier counterparts, 20th-century Luddites looked back
yearningly to another age - curiously, the same Age of Reason which had
forced the first Luddites into nostalgia for the Age of Miracles.
But we now live, we are told, in the Computer Age. What is the outlook
for Luddite sensibility? Will mainframes attract the same hostile
attention as knitting frames once did? I really doubt it. Writers of all
descriptions are stampeding to buy word processors. Machines have
already become so user-friendly that even the most unreconstructed of
Luddites can be charmed into laying down the old sledgehammer and
stroking a few keys instead. Beyond this seems to be a growing consensus
that knowledge really is power, that there is a pretty straightforward
conversion between money and information, and that somehow, if the
logistics can be worked out, miracles may yet be possible. If this is
so, Luddites may at last have come to stand on common ground with their
Snovian adversaries, the cheerful army of technocrats who were supposed
to have the ''future in their bones.'' It may be only a new form of the
perennial Luddite ambivalence about machines, or it may be that the
deepest Luddite hope of miracle has now come to reside in the computer's
ability to get the right data to those whom the data will do the most
good. With the proper deployment of budget and computer time, we will
cure cancer, save ourselves from nuclear extinction, grow food for
everybody, detoxify the results of industrial greed gone berserk -
realize all the wistful pipe dreams of our days.
THE word ''Luddite'' continues to be applied with contempt to anyone
with doubts about technology, especially the nuclear kind. Luddites
today are no longer faced with human factory owners and vulnerable
machines. As well-known President and unintentional Luddite D. D.
Eisenhower prophesied when he left office, there is now a permanent
power establishment of admirals, generals and corporate CEO's, up
against whom us average poor bastards are completely outclassed,
although Ike didn't put it quite that way. We are all supposed to keep
tranquil and allow it to go on, even though, because of the data
revolution, it becomes every day less possible to fool any of the people
any of the time. If our world survives, the next great challenge to
watch out for will come - you heard it here first - when the curves of
research and development in artificial intelligence, molecular biology
and robotics all converge. Oboy. It will be amazing and unpredictable,
and even the biggest of brass, let us devoutly hope, are going to be
caught flat-footed. It is certainly something for all good Luddites to
look forward to if, God willing, we should live so long. Meantime, as
Americans, we can take comfort, however minimal and cold, from Lord
Byron's mischievously improvised song, in which he, like other observers
of the time, saw clear identification between the first Luddites and our
own revolutionary origins. It begins:
*As the Liberty lads o'er the sea
Bought their freedom, and cheaply, with blood,
So we, boys, we
Will die fighting, or live free,
And down with all kings but King Ludd\!*

344
_stories/1985/10897368.md
View File

@ -19,268 +19,112 @@ _tags:
objectID: '10897368'
---
[Source](http://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/08/business/the-executive-computer.html? "Permalink to THE EXECUTIVE COMPUTER - NYTimes.com")
WHATEVER happened to the laptop computer? Two years ago, on my flight to
Las Vegas for Comdex, the annual microcomputer trade show, every second
or third passenger pulled out a portable, ostensibly to work, but more
likely to demonstrate an ability to keep up with the latest fad. Last
year, only a couple of these computers could be seen on the fold-down
trays. This year, every one of them had been replaced by the more
traditional mixed drink or beer.
# THE EXECUTIVE COMPUTER - NYTimes.com
Was the laptop dream an illusion, then? Or was the problem merely that
the right combination of features for such lightweight computers had not
yet materialized? The answer probably is a combination of both views.
For the most part, the portable computer is a dream machine for the few.
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The limitations come from what people actually do with computers, as
opposed to what the marketers expect them to do. On the whole, people
don't want to lug a computer with them to the beach or on a train to
while away hours they would rather spend reading the sports or business
section of the newspaper. Somehow, the microcomputer industry has
assumed that everyone would love to have a keyboard grafted on as an
extension of their fingers. It just is not so.
Edition: [U.S.][4] / [Global][8]
The proponents of portables stoutly maintain that the stumbling block to
a computer in every attache case is price. Right now, a laptop computer
costs considerably more than the equivalent desktop version.
Search All NYTimes.com
Yes, there are a lot of people who would like to be able to work on a
computer at home. But would they really want to carry one back from the
office with them? It would be much simpler to take home a few floppy
disks tucked into an attache case. For the majority of consumers, a
second computer for the home office is usually an inexpensive clone of
the one at work. Not only is such an alternative more convenient, but it
is more cost effective as well. In fact, one ends up with better
technology.
![New York Times][9]
Consumers have passed judgment. Convergent Technology allowed its laptop
to sink into oblivion in June of this year. I.B.M. never legitimized the
market with its much rumored ''Clamshell,'' probably because the company
realized that laptops are a small niche market, not a mass market.
Hewlett-Packard, Panasonic, Data General and, of course, Tandy, which
started it all, are still producing their laptops, albeit with the
almost unreadable liquid crystal display, or L.C.D. Sales, however, are
a fraction of the optimistic projections made only a year ago by
industry soothsayers.
## [Business Day][10]
One key to greater consumer acceptance is better display. It is is
available in the Gridcase laptop (from the Grid Systems Corporation,
Mountain View, Calif., 415-961-4800), which offers a gas-plasma display
quite different from - and in some ways better than - the standard
cathode-ray tube display. The display does much to make the Gridcase the
only battery-powered laptop currently worth considering. But it costs
$4,350, without the recommended maintenance contract and the requisite
software, which together easily bring the total price up to $6,000 to
$7,000, or even more.
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Software is the real weak spot for laptops. If the machines were merely
too expensive, especially in view of their limited display, they would
still sell if they served an unbeatable function. But for that to be the
case, special software would be needed. The word processing and
spreadsheet packages commonly available for them are intended to
accomplish tasks to which laptop computers are simply not well suited.
# THE EXECUTIVE COMPUTER
Where these machines could shine is in such specialized field
applications as those required by the military, the Internal Revenue
Service, accountants and sales representatives. The largest of these
markets is probably sales, and special software to meet the needs of
sales representatives is beginning to dribble into the marketplace.
###### By Erik Sandberg-Diment
One firm that has established itself in this area is Sales Technologies,
of Atlanta (404-239-0799). Founded in 1983 by two former Procter &
Gamble employees and an M.I.T. computer whiz, the company produces a
series of sales-oriented software programs for laptop computers. These
include an order-entry system, an expense tracker, electronic mail, data
communications and a territory management program, which permits a
traveling sales representative to update customer files and the home
office's computer data base. TO outfit one sales representative with
this software and a Gridcase computer on which to run it -would cost
$5,000 to $7,000, depending on the package. (The two companies are not
affiliated, although Grid does package Sales Technologies software with
its computers.) For a concern with a sales force of 500 people, the type
of company for which such packages are geared, the expense would not be
slight. The benefits presumably would come from increased sales by a
more efficient sales force.
###### Published: December 8, 1985
Fred Burke, a spokesman for Sales Technologies, cites the case of a
large apparel maker. The company routinely was unable to fill 13 percent
of its orders because many of the products were out of stock by the time
orders came in from the road. Once they were equipped with laptop
computers, sales representatives were linked to the main office and were
able to convert many ''lost'' orders into sales.
WHATEVER happened to the laptop computer? Two years ago, on my flight to Las Vegas for Comdex, the annual microcomputer trade show, every second or third passenger pulled out a portable, ostensibly to work, but more likely to demonstrate an ability to keep up with the latest fad. Last year, only a couple of these computers could be seen on the fold-down trays. This year, every one of them had been replaced by the more traditional mixed drink or beer.
By being able to determine immediately that, say, a particular green
shirt was sold out, they could push the green-striped ones instead. The
recouped business paid for the apparel company's laptop system in less
than six months.
Was the laptop dream an illusion, then? Or was the problem merely that the right combination of features for such lightweight computers had not yet materialized? The answer probably is a combination of both views. For the most part, the portable computer is a dream machine for the few.
Sales representatives, service managers, field auditors of all varieties
have not been adequately served by the computer industry in pushing
laptop computers. As the technology of these machines, particularly of
their displays, improves, and as their price declines, a lot of
briefcase computers will probably be sold. And as the software that is
capable of turning them into true satellite offices becomes refined,
they will probably even be used - in fact, profitably so.
The limitations come from what people actually do with computers, as opposed to what the marketers expect them to do. On the whole, people don't want to lug a computer with them to the beach or on a train to while away hours they would rather spend reading the sports or business section of the newspaper. Somehow, the microcomputer industry has assumed that everyone would love to have a keyboard grafted on as an extension of their fingers. It just is not so.
The proponents of portables stoutly maintain that the stumbling block to a computer in every attache case is price. Right now, a laptop computer costs considerably more than the equivalent desktop version.
Yes, there are a lot of people who would like to be able to work on a computer at home. But would they really want to carry one back from the office with them? It would be much simpler to take home a few floppy disks tucked into an attache case. For the majority of consumers, a second computer for the home office is usually an inexpensive clone of the one at work. Not only is such an alternative more convenient, but it is more cost effective as well. In fact, one ends up with better technology.
Consumers have passed judgment. Convergent Technology allowed its laptop to sink into oblivion in June of this year. I.B.M. never legitimized the market with its much rumored ''Clamshell,'' probably because the company realized that laptops are a small niche market, not a mass market. Hewlett-Packard, Panasonic, Data General and, of course, Tandy, which started it all, are still producing their laptops, albeit with the almost unreadable liquid crystal display, or L.C.D. Sales, however, are a fraction of the optimistic projections made only a year ago by industry soothsayers.
One key to greater consumer acceptance is better display. It is is available in the Gridcase laptop (from the Grid Systems Corporation, Mountain View, Calif., 415-961-4800), which offers a gas-plasma display quite different from - and in some ways better than - the standard cathode-ray tube display. The display does much to make the Gridcase the only battery-powered laptop currently worth considering. But it costs $4,350, without the recommended maintenance contract and the requisite software, which together easily bring the total price up to $6,000 to $7,000, or even more.
Software is the real weak spot for laptops. If the machines were merely too expensive, especially in view of their limited display, they would still sell if they served an unbeatable function. But for that to be the case, special software would be needed. The word processing and spreadsheet packages commonly available for them are intended to accomplish tasks to which laptop computers are simply not well suited.
Where these machines could shine is in such specialized field applications as those required by the military, the Internal Revenue Service, accountants and sales representatives. The largest of these markets is probably sales, and special software to meet the needs of sales representatives is beginning to dribble into the marketplace.
One firm that has established itself in this area is Sales Technologies, of Atlanta (404-239-0799). Founded in 1983 by two former Procter & Gamble employees and an M.I.T. computer whiz, the company produces a series of sales-oriented software programs for laptop computers. These include an order-entry system, an expense tracker, electronic mail, data communications and a territory management program, which permits a traveling sales representative to update customer files and the home office's computer data base. TO outfit one sales representative with this software and a Gridcase computer on which to run it -would cost $5,000 to $7,000, depending on the package. (The two companies are not affiliated, although Grid does package Sales Technologies software with its computers.) For a concern with a sales force of 500 people, the type of company for which such packages are geared, the expense would not be slight. The benefits presumably would come from increased sales by a more efficient sales force.
Fred Burke, a spokesman for Sales Technologies, cites the case of a large apparel maker. The company routinely was unable to fill 13 percent of its orders because many of the products were out of stock by the time orders came in from the road. Once they were equipped with laptop computers, sales representatives were linked to the main office and were able to convert many ''lost'' orders into sales.
By being able to determine immediately that, say, a particular green shirt was sold out, they could push the green-striped ones instead. The recouped business paid for the apparel company's laptop system in less than six months.
Sales representatives, service managers, field auditors of all varieties have not been adequately served by the computer industry in pushing laptop computers. As the technology of these machines, particularly of their displays, improves, and as their price declines, a lot of briefcase computers will probably be sold. And as the software that is capable of turning them into true satellite offices becomes refined, they will probably even be used - in fact, profitably so.
But the real future of the laptop computer will remain in the specialized niche markets. Because no matter how inexpensive the machines become, and no matter how sophisticated their software, I still can't imagine the average user taking one along when going fishing.
But the real future of the laptop computer will remain in the
specialized niche markets. Because no matter how inexpensive the
machines become, and no matter how sophisticated their software, I still
can't imagine the average user taking one along when going fishing.
Drawing
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[Source](https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD09xx/EWD936.html "Permalink to ")
On anthropomorphism in science
(Delivered at The Philosophers’ Lunch, 25 September 1985)
I must apologize for not speaking to you, but reading to you. I chose to
do so because, not yet feeling quite at home, I am a bit nervous. Of
course I can argue to myself that I don’t need to, but that does not
always work.
I can argue to myself that I grew up in a country whose population is
only slightly larger than that of Texas, so why should I feel not at
home? I spent most of my life at two universities, one four centuries
old, the other a quarter, and if I take the geometric mean of those two
ages I arrive precisely at that of UT, so why shouldn’t I feel at home
here?
Well, actually it is not too bad. I think I am much happier here than I
would have been, say, at XXX–XXX where it is possible to lose sight of
what it means to be an intellectual. The reason that I am a bit nervous
is that I am not quite sure what philosophers do and, hence, somewhat
uncertain about my role here.
OK, so much for an irrelevant introduction; it was given to give you the
opportunity to adapt your ear to my English.
\* \* \*
I chose “anthropomorphism” because —besides being a nice broad topic— it
is so pervasive that many of my colleagues don’t realize how pernicious
it is.
Let me first relate my experience that drove home how pervasive
anthropomorphism is. It took place at one of the monthly meetings of the
science section of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences,
where we were shown a motion picture made through a microscope. Thanks
to phase contrast microscopy —the invention for which Zernike got the
Nobel Prize— it is now possible to see through the microscope undyed
cultures of living cells, and that was what they had done while making
this motion picture. It showed us —somewhat accelerated— the life of a
culture of amoebae. For quite a while we looked at something we had
never seen: I can only describe it as identifiable bubbles with
irregular changing contours, slowly moving without any pattern through a
two-dimensional aquarium. To all intents and purposes it could have been
some sort of dynamic wallpaper. It was, in fact, rather boring, looking
at those aimlessly moving grey blots, until one of the amoeba in the
centre of the screen began to divide. We saw it constrict, we saw in
succession all the images familiar from our high-school biology, we saw
the centres of the two halves move in opposite directions until they
were only connected by a thin thread as they began to pull more
frantically at either end of the leash that still connected them.
Finally the connection broke and the two swam away from each other at
the maximum speed young amoebae can muster.
The fascinating and somewhat frightening observation, however, was that
at the moment of the rupture one hundred otherwise respectable
scientists gave all a sigh of relief: “at last they had succeeded in
freeing themselves from each other.” None of us had been able to resist,
as the division process went on, the temptation to discern two
individuals with which we could identify and of which we felt —more in
our bones than in our brains, but that is beside the point— how much
they “wanted” to get loose. A whole pattern of human desires had been
projected on those blots\! Crazy, of course, but such is the pervasive
and insidious habit of anthropomorphic thought.
Is anthropomorphic thinking bad? Well, it is certainly no good in the
sense that it does not help. Why did the stone fall in Greek antiquity?
Quite simply because it wanted to go to the centre of the earth. And,
several centuries later, we had the burning question: why do stones want
to go to the centre of the earth? Well, that is simple too: because
that’s where they belong. Why are heavier stones heavier than lighter
stones? Because they are more eager to be at the centre of the earth.
But then Galileo made the troubling discovery that the heavier stone
does not fall any faster than the lighter one. How come? Simple, dear
Watson: the heavier stone has indeed a greater desire to be at the
centre of the earth, but it is also more lazy. So much for a —be it
somewhat simplified— history of the development of physics. I trust you
got the message.
So anthropomorphic thinking is no good in the sense that it does not
help. But is it also bad? Yes, it is, because even if we can point to
some analogy between Man and Thing, the analogy is always negligible in
comparison to the differences, and as soon as we allow ourselves to be
seduced by the analogy to describe the Thing in anthropomorphic
terminology, we immediately lose our control over which human
connotations we drag into the picture. And as most of those are totally
inadequate, the anthropomorphism becomes more misleading than helpful.
I started as a theoretical physicist, became involved in computing and
may end up as a mathematician. It is specifically my connection with
computing that has made me allergic, since computing science is cursed
by a rampant anthropomorphism.
This has been so right from its inception, and found its way in the
public perception of the topic, as is illustrated by the title of the
book that Edmund C. Berkeley published in the fifties: “Giant Brains or
Machines that Think”. The simplest way of showing how preposterous that
title is is by pointing at its two companion volumes —still to be
written— “Giant Hearts or Machines that Fall in Love” and “Giant Souls
or Machines that Believe in God”, the most fascinating feature of the
latter, of course, being that they can believe in God much faster than
you. Regrettably we cannot sweep this nonsense under the rug by saying
“Why bother? This is only popular press”. It finds its echo in
publications that are intended to be serious, such as Grace M. Hopper’s
article with the title “The education of a computer.”. It also finds its
reflection in the multi-billion yen mistake of the Japanese “fifth
generation computer project”, of which you may have heard. It would have
taken care of the Japanese competition; regrettably —for the Western
world— they seem to come to their senses, as the larger Japanese
companies are pulling out of the efforts aimed at blurring the
distinction between Man and Machine.
But the blur continues to linger on, and has a much wider impact than
you might suspect. You see, it is not only that the question “Can
machines think?” is regularly raised; we can —and should— deal with that
by pointing out that it is just as relevant as the equally burning
question “Can submarines swim?” A more serious byproduct of the tendency
to talk about machines in anthropomorphic terms is the companion
phenomenon of talking about people in mechanistic terminology. The
critical reading of articles about computer-assisted learning —excuse
me: CAL for the intimi— leaves you no option: in the eyes of their
authors, the educational process is simply reduced to a caricature,
something like the building up of conditional reflexes. For those
educationists, Pavlov’s dog adequately captures the essence of Mankind
—while I can assure you, from intimate observations, that it only
captures a minute fraction of what is involved in being a dog—.
The anthropomorphic metaphor is perhaps even more devastating within
computing science itself. Its use is almost all-pervading. To give you
just an example: entering a lecture hall at a conference I caught just
one sentence and quickly went out again. The sentence started with “When
this guy wants to talk to that guy...”. The speaker referred to two
components of a computer network.
The trouble with the metaphor is, firstly, that it invites you to
identify yourself with the computational processes going on in system
components and, secondly, that we see ourselves as existing in time.
Consequently the use of the metaphor forces one to what we call
“operational reasoning”, that is reasoning in terms of the
computational processes that could take place. From a methodological
point of view this is a well-identified and well-documented mistake: it
induces a combinatorial explosion of the number of cases to consider and
designs thus conceived are as a result full of bugs.
It is possible to base one’s reasoning on non-operational semantics and
to design for instance one’s programs by manipulating one’s program text
as a formal object in its own right, in one’s arguments completely
ignoring that these texts also admit the interpretation of executable
code. By ignoring the computational processes one saves oneself from the
combinatorial explosion. This nonoperational approach is the only known
reliable way of digital system design, and enables you to publish for
instance in full confidence intricate algorithms you designed but never
tested on a machine. The implied abstraction, in which time has
disappeared from the picture, is however beyond the computing scientist
imbued with the operational approach that the anthropomorphic metaphor
induces. In a very real and tragic sense he has a mental block: his
anthropomorphic thinking erects an insurmountable barrier between him
and the only effective way in which his work can be done well. By the
prevailing anthropomorphism the US, computer industry could easily be
done in.
It is not only the industry that suffers, so does the science. Recently,
a whole group of computing scientists from all over the world has wasted
several years of effort. They had decided to apply to the relationship
between a component and its environment a dichotomy: the “obligations”
of the environment versus the “responsibilities” of the component. The
terminology alone should have been sufficient to make them very
suspicious; it did not and they learned the hard way that the whole
distinction did not make sense.
Another notion that creeps in as a result of our anthropomorphism is the
dichotomy of cause and effect. These terms come from our perception of
our intended acts: we wish to pour ourselves a glass of wine, so we pick
up the bottle and turn it, thereby causing the wine to flow from the
bottle into our glass. Our act of pouring had the desired effect. But in
the inanimate world there is little place for such a causal hierarchy.
One of Newton’s Laws says that force equals mass times acceleration, and
there is no point in insisting that the one causes the other or the
other way round: they are equal. In the case of a piezo-electric crystal
deformation and voltage difference are accompanying phenomena: if one
applies a voltage difference, the crystal changes its shape, if the
crystal is deformed, a voltage difference appears (as we all know from
the butane cigarette lighter).
In particular the study of distributed computer systems has severely
suffered from the vain effort to impose a causal hierarchy on the events
that constitute a computational process, thus completely hiding the
symmetry between the sending and the receiving of messages, and between
input and output.
But even in the so much more abstract world of mathematics this has
created havoc. It has caused a preponderance of mathematical structures
of the form: “If A then B” or equivalently “A implies B”. Take good old
Pythagoras
> “If, in triangle ABC, angle C is right, then a2+b2=c2”.
but we have equally well
> “If, in triangle ABC, a2+b2=c2, then angle C is right”.
and the proper way of stating Pythagoras’s Theorem is by saying that in
triangle ABC “a2+b2=c2” and “angle C is right” are equivalent
propositions, either both true or both false. Analyzing the structure of
traditional mathematical arguments one will discover that the
equivalence is the most underexploited logical connective, in contrast
to the implication that is used all over the place. The
underexploitation of the equivalence, i.e. the failure to exploit
inherent symmetries, often lengthens an argument by a factor of 2, 4 or
more.
Why then have mathematicians stuck to the implication? Well, because
they feel comfortable with it because they associate it —again\!— with
cause and effect. They will rephrase “If A then B” also as “B because A”
or “B follows from A”. (The use of the words “because” and “follows” is
very revealing\!). Somehow, in the implication “if A then B”, the
antecedent A is associated with the cause and the consequent B with the
effect.
One can defend the thesis that traditional mathematics is
anthropomorphic in the sense that its proofs reflect the causal
hierarchy we discern in our acts, in the same way that traditional logic
—for centuries viewed as the handmaiden of philosophy— is
anthropomorphic in the sense that it tries to formalize and follow our
habits of reasoning.
The advantage of this thesis is that it invites the speculation how
mathematics and logic will evolve when they divest themselves from our
ingrained human reasoning habits, when the role of formalisms will no
longer be to mimic our familiar reasoning patterns but to liberate
ourselves from the latter’s shackles.
And that is a fascinating question to ponder about\!
Austin, 23 September 1985
prof. dr. Edsger W. Dijkstra
Department of Computer Sciences
The University of Texas at Austin
AUSTIN, Texas 78712–1188
USA
Transcribed by Michael Lugo
Last revised 10 April, 2016 .

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[Source](http://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/04/business/microsoft-has-it-all-almost.html "Permalink to MICROSOFT HAS IT ALL - ALMOST - NYTimes.com")
**BELLEVUE, Wash—** Something is gnawing at Microsoft.
# MICROSOFT HAS IT ALL - ALMOST - NYTimes.com
By all accounts, the Microsoft Corporation, the first major company
spawned by the personal computer to reach its 10th birthday, has a lot
to celebrate. Clearly the company has prospered, with revenues leaping
by more than 40 percent in its last fiscal year. It has by far the
broadest product line among software companies. And recently it signed a
long-term agreement with the International Business Machines Corporation
that is seen as cementing Microsoft's position at the center of the
personal computer universe.
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''They're just on top of the world right now, as far as I'm concerned,''
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# MICROSOFT HAS IT ALL - ALMOST
###### By ANDREW POLLACK, Special to the New York Times
###### Published: September 4, 1985
**BELLEVUE, Wash— ** Something is gnawing at Microsoft.
By all accounts, the Microsoft Corporation, the first major company spawned by the personal computer to reach its 10th birthday, has a lot to celebrate. Clearly the company has prospered, with revenues leaping by more than 40 percent in its last fiscal year. It has by far the broadest product line among software companies. And recently it signed a long-term agreement with the International Business Machines Corporation that is seen as cementing Microsoft's position at the center of the personal computer universe.
''They're just on top of the world right now, as far as I'm concerned,'' said David S. Wagman, co-chairman of Softsel Computer Products, a leading distributor of software.
But what is spoiling the party is that the company was eclipsed last year as the largest personal computer software concern by the Lotus Development Corporation, creator of the highly successful 1-2-3 spreadsheet program. Lotus's revenues totaled $200 million for the 12 months ended June 30. Microsoft's revenues came to $140 million in that period.
But what is spoiling the party is that the company was eclipsed last
year as the largest personal computer software concern by the Lotus
Development Corporation, creator of the highly successful 1-2-3
spreadsheet program. Lotus's revenues totaled $200 million for the 12
months ended June 30. Microsoft's revenues came to $140 million in that
period.
Some Shortcomings
While Lotus and Microsoft remain friendly rivals, Microsoft and its 29-year-old chairman, William H. Gates, clearly want to be No. 1 again. ''It drives him up the wall,'' said one friend of Mr. Gates. Perhaps more important, however, the ascendance of Lotus has pointed out some Microsoft shortcomings that the company is hastening to correct.
While Lotus and Microsoft remain friendly rivals, Microsoft and its
29-year-old chairman, William H. Gates, clearly want to be No. 1 again.
''It drives him up the wall,'' said one friend of Mr. Gates. Perhaps
more important, however, the ascendance of Lotus has pointed out some
Microsoft shortcomings that the company is hastening to correct.
To catch up to Lotus, or even merely to continue to grow, Microsoft must continue to expand beyond systems software, which governs the basic functions of the computer, to the far larger market of applications programs, such as word processors and spreadsheets, which guide the computer in particular tasks. Lotus sells only applications software.
To catch up to Lotus, or even merely to continue to grow, Microsoft must
continue to expand beyond systems software, which governs the basic
functions of the computer, to the far larger market of applications
programs, such as word processors and spreadsheets, which guide the
computer in particular tasks. Lotus sells only applications software.
Microsoft is now unleashing a barrage of programs, including Excel, a spreadsheet program for the Macintosh computer, and Access, a communications package for the I.B.M. computer. It is also finally bringing Windows to market. That program, a key part of its strategy, is more than a year behind schedule.
Microsoft is now unleashing a barrage of programs, including Excel, a
spreadsheet program for the Macintosh computer, and Access, a
communications package for the I.B.M. computer. It is also finally
bringing Windows to market. That program, a key part of its strategy, is
more than a year behind schedule.
But selling software to consumers is different from selling highly technical operating systems directly to computer companies. To compete against sophisticated marketers like Lotus, Microsoft is also undergoing a corporate makeover, trying to shed its ''techie'' image in favor of a flashier one. The corporate image perhaps is a reflection of Mr. Gates himself, who is a technical genius but is much less outgoing than Mitchell D. Kapor, Lotus's chairman.
But selling software to consumers is different from selling highly
technical operating systems directly to computer companies. To compete
against sophisticated marketers like Lotus, Microsoft is also undergoing
a corporate makeover, trying to shed its ''techie'' image in favor of a
flashier one. The corporate image perhaps is a reflection of Mr. Gates
himself, who is a technical genius but is much less outgoing than
Mitchell D. Kapor, Lotus's chairman.
Perhaps symbolically, the company has already replaced its drab green packaging cartons with more colorful boxes and will concentrate its advertising on fewer products to make a bigger splash. ''We're taking a look at everything,'' said Jean Richardson, a former Apple official who now heads Microsoft's corporate communications. ''A year from now you will see a very different image of Microsoft.''
Perhaps symbolically, the company has already replaced its drab green
packaging cartons with more colorful boxes and will concentrate its
advertising on fewer products to make a bigger splash. ''We're taking a
look at everything,'' said Jean Richardson, a former Apple official who
now heads Microsoft's corporate communications. ''A year from now you
will see a very different image of Microsoft.''
Going public next year is also part of the plan. Officials say that the need for money is not the primary reason for a public offering. The company has been consistently profitable and is believed to have more than $15 million in cash on hand. But going public is expected to win increased attention and credibility. In addition, such a move would provide a way of rewarding Microsoft employees, who have received stock or options.
Going public next year is also part of the plan. Officials say that the
need for money is not the primary reason for a public offering. The
company has been consistently profitable and is believed to have more
than $15 million in cash on hand. But going public is expected to win
increased attention and credibility. In addition, such a move would
provide a way of rewarding Microsoft employees, who have received stock
or options.
Microsoft was founded in 1975 by Mr. Gates, then 19, and a friend, Paul Allen, who is now less actively involved in the company. Mr. Gates, who as a teen-ager had developed a previous computer programming business, dropped out of Harvard and wrote a version of the Basic computer language for one of the first personal computers. Selected by I.B.M. Microsoft's big break came five years ago, when its MS-DOS - which stands for Microsoft disk operating system - was chosen by I.B.M. for use on its personal computer. As I.B.M. soared to prominence in the personal computer business, so did Microsoft, in a relationship that one Microsoft official recently described as ''five years on a raft.'' There was always the risk that I.B.M. would go its own way. But the agreement signed recently between I.B.M. and Microsoft seems to remove this threat for the next few years at least.
Microsoft was founded in 1975 by Mr. Gates, then 19, and a friend, Paul
Allen, who is now less actively involved in the company. Mr. Gates, who
as a teen-ager had developed a previous computer programming business,
dropped out of Harvard and wrote a version of the Basic computer
language for one of the first personal computers. Selected by I.B.M.
Microsoft's big break came five years ago, when its MS-DOS - which
stands for Microsoft disk operating system - was chosen by I.B.M. for
use on its personal computer. As I.B.M. soared to prominence in the
personal computer business, so did Microsoft, in a relationship that one
Microsoft official recently described as ''five years on a raft.'' There
was always the risk that I.B.M. would go its own way. But the agreement
signed recently between I.B.M. and Microsoft seems to remove this threat
for the next few years at least.
Last year, MS-DOS accounted for about 20 percent of Microsoft's revenues, while other systems software, mainly programming languages, totaled 30 percent. In applications software, which accounted for most of the rest of the revenues and is expected to grow fastest, Microsoft has done only moderately well.
Last year, MS-DOS accounted for about 20 percent of Microsoft's
revenues, while other systems software, mainly programming languages,
totaled 30 percent. In applications software, which accounted for most
of the rest of the revenues and is expected to grow fastest, Microsoft
has done only moderately well.
It got a late start in the applications software market for I.B.M. and faced entrenched, highly specialized competitors. The I.B.M. computer version of Microsoft Word, the company's word processing software, trails programs by Multimate, Micropro International and I.B.M. itself, according to audits of computer stores by IMS America, a market research firm.
It got a late start in the applications software market for I.B.M. and
faced entrenched, highly specialized competitors. The I.B.M. computer
version of Microsoft Word, the company's word processing software,
trails programs by Multimate, Micropro International and I.B.M. itself,
according to audits of computer stores by IMS America, a market research
firm.
Microsoft was also hurt by its reputation for bringing products to market behind schedule and full of ''bugs'' or errors. In a letter in the latest issue of Macworld magazine, for instance, a reader gripes about finding ''15 bugs and 7 shortcomings'' in the initial Macintosh version of Microsoft Word. ''Word is typical untested Microsoft software,'' he said.
Microsoft was also hurt by its reputation for bringing products to
market behind schedule and full of ''bugs'' or errors. In a letter in
the latest issue of Macworld magazine, for instance, a reader gripes
about finding ''15 bugs and 7 shortcomings'' in the initial Macintosh
version of Microsoft Word. ''Word is typical untested Microsoft
software,'' he said.
To improve its production process, Microsoft has changed its management. Mr. Gates, while still chief executive and clear leader of the company, has no one reporting directly to him. That allows him to concentrate on the direction of the company while leaving day-to-day management to others, particularly the president and chief operating officer, Jon Shirley, former head of the Tandy Corporation's personal computer merchandising.
To improve its production process, Microsoft has changed its management.
Mr. Gates, while still chief executive and clear leader of the company,
has no one reporting directly to him. That allows him to concentrate on
the direction of the company while leaving day-to-day management to
others, particularly the president and chief operating officer, Jon
Shirley, former head of the Tandy Corporation's personal computer
merchandising.
The company has also moved quickly into software for the Macintosh computer, and now dominates that market. It is also expanding overseas, where its Multiplan spreadsheet outsells 1-2-3.
The company has also moved quickly into software for the Macintosh
computer, and now dominates that market. It is also expanding overseas,
where its Multiplan spreadsheet outsells 1-2-3.
But Microsoft is still in search of a hit product. One contender, coming this month, is Excel, a spreadsheet program for the Macintosh that Mr. Gates expects will become Microsoft's best seller. Excel is more like 1-2-3 than Lotus's own program for the Macintosh, which is called Jazz and has sold below expectations.
But Microsoft is still in search of a hit product. One contender, coming
this month, is Excel, a spreadsheet program for the Macintosh that Mr.
Gates expects will become Microsoft's best seller. Excel is more like
1-2-3 than Lotus's own program for the Macintosh, which is called Jazz
and has sold below expectations.
Microsoft officials predict that Excel will do better. The company also plans a multifunctional product for Macintosh, known as Microsoft Works, that will be lower priced than Jazz. Yet it is unclear whether any product for the Macintosh, which has suffered a sales slowdown, will sell all that well.
Microsoft officials predict that Excel will do better. The company also
plans a multifunctional product for Macintosh, known as Microsoft Works,
that will be lower priced than Jazz. Yet it is unclear whether any
product for the Macintosh, which has suffered a sales slowdown, will
sell all that well.
Windows Coming in Fall
For the I.B.M. world, Microsoft this fall is introducing Windows, a program that allows various applications to appear on the screen at once, each in its own ''window.'' Microsoft hopes to make Windows a standard on all MS-DOS PC's.
For the I.B.M. world, Microsoft this fall is introducing Windows, a
program that allows various applications to appear on the screen at
once, each in its own ''window.'' Microsoft hopes to make Windows a
standard on all MS-DOS PC's.
While Windows, which is operating system software, might be a big product in its own right, it could also help increase sales of other Microsoft applications software. Since Windows makes the I.B.M. computer screen resemble the Macintosh screen, Microsoft will be able to convert its Macintosh programs for use on the I.B.M. computers using Windows. A version of Excel running on Windows for the I.B.M. computer, which would directly compete with 1-2-3, is expected early next year.
While Windows, which is operating system software, might be a big
product in its own right, it could also help increase sales of other
Microsoft applications software. Since Windows makes the I.B.M. computer
screen resemble the Macintosh screen, Microsoft will be able to convert
its Macintosh programs for use on the I.B.M. computers using Windows. A
version of Excel running on Windows for the I.B.M. computer, which would
directly compete with 1-2-3, is expected early next year.
But Windows faces an uphill battle. While more than a dozen companies expressed support for Windows when it was announced in 1983, enthusiasm has cooled.
graph of Microsofts annual revenue for fiscal year in millions of dollars; photo of William Gates and Jon Shirley (AP)
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But Windows faces an uphill battle. While more than a dozen companies
expressed support for Windows when it was announced in 1983, enthusiasm
has cooled.
graph of Microsofts annual revenue for fiscal year in millions of
dollars; photo of William Gates and Jon Shirley (AP)

351
_stories/1985/8200387.md
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@ -19,296 +19,133 @@ _tags:
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[Source](http://www.nytimes.com/1985/05/14/us/police-drop-bomb-on-radicals-home-in-philadelphia.html "Permalink to POLICE DROP BOMB ON RADICALS' HOME IN PHILADELPHIA - NYTimes.com")
**PHILADELPHIA, May 13—** A state police helicopter this evening dropped
a bomb on a house occupied by an armed group after a 24-hour siege
involving gun battles.
# POLICE DROP BOMB ON RADICALS' HOME IN PHILADELPHIA - NYTimes.com
A 90-minute shootout this morning came after a week of growing tension
between the city and the group, known as Move. Residents in the western
Philadelphia neighborhood had complained about the group for years. The
only known survivors from within the house were a woman and a child.
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# POLICE DROP BOMB ON RADICALS' HOME IN PHILADELPHIA
###### By WILLIAM K. STEVENS, Special to the New York Times
###### Published: May 14, 1985
**PHILADELPHIA, May 13— ** A state police helicopter this evening dropped a bomb on a house occupied by an armed group after a 24-hour siege involving gun battles.
A 90-minute shootout this morning came after a week of growing tension between the city and the group, known as Move. Residents in the western Philadelphia neighborhood had complained about the group for years. The only known survivors from within the house were a woman and a child.
The fire spread to 50 to 60 other houses in the neighborhood, said the Fire Commissioner, William Richmond. He declared the fire under control about 11:40 P.M.
The fire spread to 50 to 60 other houses in the neighborhood, said the
Fire Commissioner, William Richmond. He declared the fire under control
about 11:40 P.M.
Aimed to Hit Bunker
The Police Commissioner, Gregore Sambor, said tonight that it was was his decision to drop the charge, a square package of explosives designed to destroy a bunker atop the house and drop it through to the second floor. He said the charge succeeded in eliminating the threat from the roof, but touched off the fire.
The Police Commissioner, Gregore Sambor, said tonight that it was was
his decision to drop the charge, a square package of explosives designed
to destroy a bunker atop the house and drop it through to the second
floor. He said the charge succeeded in eliminating the threat from the
roof, but touched off the fire.
Steve Harmon, a resident of the area, said: ''Drop a bomb on a residential area? I never in my life heard of that. It's like Vietnam.''
Steve Harmon, a resident of the area, said: ''Drop a bomb on a
residential area? I never in my life heard of that. It's like Vietnam.''
The Move group, which says it disdains modern technology and materialism and the establishment, was involved in a confrontation with the police in August 1978. One police officer was killed in that shootout. Nine members of the group were convicted on murder charges and are in prison. The group has been demanding their release.
The Move group, which says it disdains modern technology and materialism
and the establishment, was involved in a confrontation with the police
in August 1978. One police officer was killed in that shootout. Nine
members of the group were convicted on murder charges and are in prison.
The group has been demanding their release.
The Police Commissioner said that the authorities did not know whether there were any bodies in the house.
The Police Commissioner said that the authorities did not know whether
there were any bodies in the house.
One Officer Injured
Commissioner Sambor said that one police officer whom he did not identify was bruised in the back by gunfire. ''And the only thing that saved him was his body armor,'' the Comissioner said.
Commissioner Sambor said that one police officer whom he did not
identify was bruised in the back by gunfire. ''And the only thing that
saved him was his body armor,'' the Comissioner said.
The police said earlier that at least three officers had suffered slight injuries, including smoke inhalation, exhaustion and hyperventilation.
The police said earlier that at least three officers had suffered slight
injuries, including smoke inhalation, exhaustion and hyperventilation.
No other casualties were reported, but the whereabouts of some occupants of the house were unknown.
No other casualties were reported, but the whereabouts of some occupants
of the house were unknown.
Mayor W. Wilson Goode said this evening that a 9-year-old left the building with a woman, identified as Ramona Africa, shortly after the fire began. The child, who was taken to a hospital, told the police there were four or five adults and four or five children in the house when the bomb was dropped, the Mayor said at a City Hall news conference. The child was not identified, but the police said the woman was in custody.
Mayor W. Wilson Goode said this evening that a 9-year-old left the
building with a woman, identified as Ramona Africa, shortly after the
fire began. The child, who was taken to a hospital, told the police
there were four or five adults and four or five children in the house
when the bomb was dropped, the Mayor said at a City Hall news
conference. The child was not identified, but the police said the woman
was in custody.
Leo Brooks, the City Managing Director, said tonight at the scene that one of the first things the authorities wanted to do Tuesday was to search the charred area.
Leo Brooks, the City Managing Director, said tonight at the scene that
one of the first things the authorities wanted to do Tuesday was to
search the charred area.
A Fire Department officer, who requested anonymity, said the authorities did not know where the other children were.
A Fire Department officer, who requested anonymity, said the authorities
did not know where the other children were.
Mayor 'Saddened' by Fire
The Mayor said that three armed adults had been in an alley behind the house, where they were firing at the police. He said there were no known deaths and that he was heartened by that, but he was ''saddened'' by reports that many homes had been destroyed by the blaze spreading from the house that was bombed.
The Mayor said that three armed adults had been in an alley behind the
house, where they were firing at the police. He said there were no known
deaths and that he was heartened by that, but he was ''saddened'' by
reports that many homes had been destroyed by the blaze spreading from
the house that was bombed.
A Fire Department officer at the scene this evening had said houses burned on both sides of the street in the 6200 block of Osage Avenue, where the Move headquarters was situated, and houses in the block behind it on Pine Street.
A Fire Department officer at the scene this evening had said houses
burned on both sides of the street in the 6200 block of Osage Avenue,
where the Move headquarters was situated, and houses in the block behind
it on Pine Street.
The Mayor, when asked why the bomb was dropped, said, ''It was an attempt to remove the bunker,'' the structure on the roof of the house.
The Mayor, when asked why the bomb was dropped, said, ''It was an
attempt to remove the bunker,'' the structure on the roof of the house.
He repeatedly took responsibility for the outcome, although he said he had given his department heads complete freedom to decide on the tactics they thought best. ''As Mayor of this city I accept full and total responsibility,'' Mr. Goode said. ''There was no way to avoid it. No way to extract ourselves from that situation except by armed confrontation.''
He repeatedly took responsibility for the outcome, although he said he
had given his department heads complete freedom to decide on the tactics
they thought best. ''As Mayor of this city I accept full and total
responsibility,'' Mr. Goode said. ''There was no way to avoid it. No way
to extract ourselves from that situation except by armed
confrontation.''
Arrived With Warrants
Mr. Brooks, the City Managing Director, said tonight that the police arrived at the house this morning with arrest warrants for four individuals and asked them to come out of the house. He said the police had promised them there would be no firing.
Mr. Brooks, the City Managing Director, said tonight that the police
arrived at the house this morning with arrest warrants for four
individuals and asked them to come out of the house. He said the police
had promised them there would be no firing.
Commissioner Sambor, according to Mr. Brooks, gave them 15 minutes to come out. They refused, Mr. Brooks said, and responded with ''vitriolic talk'' over a loudspeaker and then started firing.
Commissioner Sambor, according to Mr. Brooks, gave them 15 minutes to
come out. They refused, Mr. Brooks said, and responded with ''vitriolic
talk'' over a loudspeaker and then started firing.
''We took a significant number of rounds in our positions,'' said Mr. Brooks.
''We took a significant number of rounds in our positions,'' said Mr.
Brooks.
In the siege this morning, Commissioner Sambor said, the police started returning the fire, with frequent lulls. He said the Move people refused all overtures of family, friends and clergy to mediate and to attempt to talk them into coming out. ''At no time did the police fire in an offensive posture,'' he said. He said the bunker on the roof had wooden beams and steel plates, and that it would not budget despite the authorities' use of water cannon.
In the siege this morning, Commissioner Sambor said, the police started
returning the fire, with frequent lulls. He said the Move people refused
all overtures of family, friends and clergy to mediate and to attempt to
talk them into coming out. ''At no time did the police fire in an
offensive posture,'' he said. He said the bunker on the roof had wooden
beams and steel plates, and that it would not budget despite the
authorities' use of water cannon.
Commissioner Sambor said the bomb was dropped to flush out people who were firing at the police. ''If you were in a firefight and the opposition held the higher ground,'' he said, ''what would you do?''
Commissioner Sambor said the bomb was dropped to flush out people who
were firing at the police. ''If you were in a firefight and the
opposition held the higher ground,'' he said, ''what would you do?''
Fire Starts to Spread
Fire engulfed the house hit by the bomb and spread to neighboring row houses, but firefighters delayed attempts to battle the blaze for at least an hour out of fear that they would become targets of any surviving members of the heavily armed group.
Fire engulfed the house hit by the bomb and spread to neighboring row
houses, but firefighters delayed attempts to battle the blaze for at
least an hour out of fear that they would become targets of any
surviving members of the heavily armed group.
''There is no question in my mind that from the time the fire started until this time there was a real danger'' for the firefighters, the Mayor said at the news conference.
''There is no question in my mind that from the time the fire started
until this time there was a real danger'' for the firefighters, the
Mayor said at the news conference.
Mr. Brooks said that four people came out of the back of the Move house during the blaze. Two of them were the woman and the child. He said they were with another woman and a man.
Mr. Brooks said that four people came out of the back of the Move house
during the blaze. Two of them were the woman and the child. He said they
were with another woman and a man.
The man fired at the police, Mr. Brooks said. He said the police did not return the fire, and the man and the woman disappeared back into the smoke.
Commissioner Sambor said earlier that the police were looking for three armed men who might be in alleys or tunnels dug from under the house.
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The man fired at the police, Mr. Brooks said. He said the police did not
return the fire, and the man and the woman disappeared back into the
smoke.
Commissioner Sambor said earlier that the police were looking for three
armed men who might be in alleys or tunnels dug from under the house.

344
_stories/1985/9325637.md
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@ -19,268 +19,112 @@ _tags:
objectID: '9325637'
---
[Source](http://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/08/business/the-executive-computer.html "Permalink to THE EXECUTIVE COMPUTER - NYTimes.com")
WHATEVER happened to the laptop computer? Two years ago, on my flight to
Las Vegas for Comdex, the annual microcomputer trade show, every second
or third passenger pulled out a portable, ostensibly to work, but more
likely to demonstrate an ability to keep up with the latest fad. Last
year, only a couple of these computers could be seen on the fold-down
trays. This year, every one of them had been replaced by the more
traditional mixed drink or beer.
# THE EXECUTIVE COMPUTER - NYTimes.com
Was the laptop dream an illusion, then? Or was the problem merely that
the right combination of features for such lightweight computers had not
yet materialized? The answer probably is a combination of both views.
For the most part, the portable computer is a dream machine for the few.
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The limitations come from what people actually do with computers, as
opposed to what the marketers expect them to do. On the whole, people
don't want to lug a computer with them to the beach or on a train to
while away hours they would rather spend reading the sports or business
section of the newspaper. Somehow, the microcomputer industry has
assumed that everyone would love to have a keyboard grafted on as an
extension of their fingers. It just is not so.
Edition: [U.S.][4] / [Global][8]
The proponents of portables stoutly maintain that the stumbling block to
a computer in every attache case is price. Right now, a laptop computer
costs considerably more than the equivalent desktop version.
Search All NYTimes.com
Yes, there are a lot of people who would like to be able to work on a
computer at home. But would they really want to carry one back from the
office with them? It would be much simpler to take home a few floppy
disks tucked into an attache case. For the majority of consumers, a
second computer for the home office is usually an inexpensive clone of
the one at work. Not only is such an alternative more convenient, but it
is more cost effective as well. In fact, one ends up with better
technology.
![New York Times][9]
Consumers have passed judgment. Convergent Technology allowed its laptop
to sink into oblivion in June of this year. I.B.M. never legitimized the
market with its much rumored ''Clamshell,'' probably because the company
realized that laptops are a small niche market, not a mass market.
Hewlett-Packard, Panasonic, Data General and, of course, Tandy, which
started it all, are still producing their laptops, albeit with the
almost unreadable liquid crystal display, or L.C.D. Sales, however, are
a fraction of the optimistic projections made only a year ago by
industry soothsayers.
## [Business Day][10]
One key to greater consumer acceptance is better display. It is is
available in the Gridcase laptop (from the Grid Systems Corporation,
Mountain View, Calif., 415-961-4800), which offers a gas-plasma display
quite different from - and in some ways better than - the standard
cathode-ray tube display. The display does much to make the Gridcase the
only battery-powered laptop currently worth considering. But it costs
$4,350, without the recommended maintenance contract and the requisite
software, which together easily bring the total price up to $6,000 to
$7,000, or even more.
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Software is the real weak spot for laptops. If the machines were merely
too expensive, especially in view of their limited display, they would
still sell if they served an unbeatable function. But for that to be the
case, special software would be needed. The word processing and
spreadsheet packages commonly available for them are intended to
accomplish tasks to which laptop computers are simply not well suited.
# THE EXECUTIVE COMPUTER
Where these machines could shine is in such specialized field
applications as those required by the military, the Internal Revenue
Service, accountants and sales representatives. The largest of these
markets is probably sales, and special software to meet the needs of
sales representatives is beginning to dribble into the marketplace.
###### By Erik Sandberg-Diment
One firm that has established itself in this area is Sales Technologies,
of Atlanta (404-239-0799). Founded in 1983 by two former Procter &
Gamble employees and an M.I.T. computer whiz, the company produces a
series of sales-oriented software programs for laptop computers. These
include an order-entry system, an expense tracker, electronic mail, data
communications and a territory management program, which permits a
traveling sales representative to update customer files and the home
office's computer data base. TO outfit one sales representative with
this software and a Gridcase computer on which to run it -would cost
$5,000 to $7,000, depending on the package. (The two companies are not
affiliated, although Grid does package Sales Technologies software with
its computers.) For a concern with a sales force of 500 people, the type
of company for which such packages are geared, the expense would not be
slight. The benefits presumably would come from increased sales by a
more efficient sales force.
###### Published: December 8, 1985
Fred Burke, a spokesman for Sales Technologies, cites the case of a
large apparel maker. The company routinely was unable to fill 13 percent
of its orders because many of the products were out of stock by the time
orders came in from the road. Once they were equipped with laptop
computers, sales representatives were linked to the main office and were
able to convert many ''lost'' orders into sales.
WHATEVER happened to the laptop computer? Two years ago, on my flight to Las Vegas for Comdex, the annual microcomputer trade show, every second or third passenger pulled out a portable, ostensibly to work, but more likely to demonstrate an ability to keep up with the latest fad. Last year, only a couple of these computers could be seen on the fold-down trays. This year, every one of them had been replaced by the more traditional mixed drink or beer.
By being able to determine immediately that, say, a particular green
shirt was sold out, they could push the green-striped ones instead. The
recouped business paid for the apparel company's laptop system in less
than six months.
Was the laptop dream an illusion, then? Or was the problem merely that the right combination of features for such lightweight computers had not yet materialized? The answer probably is a combination of both views. For the most part, the portable computer is a dream machine for the few.
Sales representatives, service managers, field auditors of all varieties
have not been adequately served by the computer industry in pushing
laptop computers. As the technology of these machines, particularly of
their displays, improves, and as their price declines, a lot of
briefcase computers will probably be sold. And as the software that is
capable of turning them into true satellite offices becomes refined,
they will probably even be used - in fact, profitably so.
The limitations come from what people actually do with computers, as opposed to what the marketers expect them to do. On the whole, people don't want to lug a computer with them to the beach or on a train to while away hours they would rather spend reading the sports or business section of the newspaper. Somehow, the microcomputer industry has assumed that everyone would love to have a keyboard grafted on as an extension of their fingers. It just is not so.
The proponents of portables stoutly maintain that the stumbling block to a computer in every attache case is price. Right now, a laptop computer costs considerably more than the equivalent desktop version.
Yes, there are a lot of people who would like to be able to work on a computer at home. But would they really want to carry one back from the office with them? It would be much simpler to take home a few floppy disks tucked into an attache case. For the majority of consumers, a second computer for the home office is usually an inexpensive clone of the one at work. Not only is such an alternative more convenient, but it is more cost effective as well. In fact, one ends up with better technology.
Consumers have passed judgment. Convergent Technology allowed its laptop to sink into oblivion in June of this year. I.B.M. never legitimized the market with its much rumored ''Clamshell,'' probably because the company realized that laptops are a small niche market, not a mass market. Hewlett-Packard, Panasonic, Data General and, of course, Tandy, which started it all, are still producing their laptops, albeit with the almost unreadable liquid crystal display, or L.C.D. Sales, however, are a fraction of the optimistic projections made only a year ago by industry soothsayers.
One key to greater consumer acceptance is better display. It is is available in the Gridcase laptop (from the Grid Systems Corporation, Mountain View, Calif., 415-961-4800), which offers a gas-plasma display quite different from - and in some ways better than - the standard cathode-ray tube display. The display does much to make the Gridcase the only battery-powered laptop currently worth considering. But it costs $4,350, without the recommended maintenance contract and the requisite software, which together easily bring the total price up to $6,000 to $7,000, or even more.
Software is the real weak spot for laptops. If the machines were merely too expensive, especially in view of their limited display, they would still sell if they served an unbeatable function. But for that to be the case, special software would be needed. The word processing and spreadsheet packages commonly available for them are intended to accomplish tasks to which laptop computers are simply not well suited.
Where these machines could shine is in such specialized field applications as those required by the military, the Internal Revenue Service, accountants and sales representatives. The largest of these markets is probably sales, and special software to meet the needs of sales representatives is beginning to dribble into the marketplace.
One firm that has established itself in this area is Sales Technologies, of Atlanta (404-239-0799). Founded in 1983 by two former Procter & Gamble employees and an M.I.T. computer whiz, the company produces a series of sales-oriented software programs for laptop computers. These include an order-entry system, an expense tracker, electronic mail, data communications and a territory management program, which permits a traveling sales representative to update customer files and the home office's computer data base. TO outfit one sales representative with this software and a Gridcase computer on which to run it -would cost $5,000 to $7,000, depending on the package. (The two companies are not affiliated, although Grid does package Sales Technologies software with its computers.) For a concern with a sales force of 500 people, the type of company for which such packages are geared, the expense would not be slight. The benefits presumably would come from increased sales by a more efficient sales force.
Fred Burke, a spokesman for Sales Technologies, cites the case of a large apparel maker. The company routinely was unable to fill 13 percent of its orders because many of the products were out of stock by the time orders came in from the road. Once they were equipped with laptop computers, sales representatives were linked to the main office and were able to convert many ''lost'' orders into sales.
By being able to determine immediately that, say, a particular green shirt was sold out, they could push the green-striped ones instead. The recouped business paid for the apparel company's laptop system in less than six months.
Sales representatives, service managers, field auditors of all varieties have not been adequately served by the computer industry in pushing laptop computers. As the technology of these machines, particularly of their displays, improves, and as their price declines, a lot of briefcase computers will probably be sold. And as the software that is capable of turning them into true satellite offices becomes refined, they will probably even be used - in fact, profitably so.
But the real future of the laptop computer will remain in the specialized niche markets. Because no matter how inexpensive the machines become, and no matter how sophisticated their software, I still can't imagine the average user taking one along when going fishing.
But the real future of the laptop computer will remain in the
specialized niche markets. Because no matter how inexpensive the
machines become, and no matter how sophisticated their software, I still
can't imagine the average user taking one along when going fishing.
Drawing
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[Source](https://history.nasa.gov/rogersrep/v2appf.htm "Permalink to ")
**Report of the PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION on the Space Shuttle Challenger
Accident**
** **
**Volume 2: Appendix F - Personal Observations on Reliability of
Shuttle**
by R. P. Feynman
** **
** **
**Introduction**
\[**F1**\] It appears that there are enormous differences of opinion as
to the probability of a failure with loss of vehicle and of human life.
The estimates range from roughly 1 in 100 to 1 in 100,000. The higher
figures come from the working engineers, and the very low figures from
management. What are the causes and consequences of this lack of
agreement? Since 1 part in 100,000 would imply that one could put a
Shuttle up each day for 300 years expecting to lose only one, we could
properly ask "What is the cause of management's fantastic faith in the
machinery?"
We have also found that certification criteria used in Flight Readiness
Reviews often develop a gradually decreasing strictness. The argument
that the same risk was flown before without failure is often accepted as
an argument for the safety of accepting it again. Because of this,
obvious weaknesses are accepted again and again, sometimes without a
sufficiently serious attempt to remedy them, or to delay a flight
because of their continued presence.
There are several sources of information. There are published criteria
for certification, including a history of modifications in the form of
waivers and deviations. In addition, the records of the Flight Readiness
Reviews for each flight document the arguments used to accept the risks
of the flight. Information was obtained from the direct testimony and
the reports of the range safety officer, Louis J. Ullian, with respect
to the history of success of solid fuel rockets. There was a further
study by him (as chairman of the launch abort safety panel (LASP)) in an
attempt to determine the risks involved in possible accidents leading to
radioactive contamination from attempting to fly a plutonium power
supply (RTG) for future planetary missions. The NASA study of the same
question is also available. For the History of the Space Shuttle Main
Engines, interviews with management and engineers at Marshall, and
informal interviews with engineers at Rocketdyne, were made. An
independent (Cal Tech) mechanical engineer who consulted for NASA about
engines was also interviewed informally. A visit to Johnson was made to
gather information on the reliability of the avionics (computers,
sensors, and effectors). Finally there is a report "A Review of
Certification Practices, Potentially Applicable to Man-rated Reusable
Rocket Engines," prepared at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory by N. Moore,
et al., in February, 1986, for NASA Headquarters, Office of Space
Flight. It deals with the methods used by the FAA and the military to
certify their gas turbine and rocket engines. These authors were also
interviewed informally.
** **
**Solid Fuel Rockets (SRB)**
An estimate of the reliability of solid rockets was made by the range
safety officer, by studying the experience of all previous rocket
flights. Out of a total of nearly 2,900 flights, 121 failed (1 in 25).
This includes, however, what may be called, early errors, rockets flown
for the first few times in which design errors are discovered and fixed.
A more reasonable figure for the mature rockets might be 1 in 50. With
special care in the selection of parts and in inspection, a figure of
below 1 in 100 might be achieved but 1 in 1,000 is probably not
attainable with today's technology. (Since there are two rockets on the
Shuttle, these rocket failure rates must be doubled to get Shuttle
failure rates from Solid Rocket Booster failure.)
NASA officials argue that the figure is much lower. They point out that
these figures are for unmanned rockets but since the Shuttle is a manned
vehicle "the probability of mission success is necessarily very close to
1.0." It is not very clear what this phrase means. Does it mean it is
close to 1 or that it ought to be close to 1? They go on to explain
"Historically this extremely high degree of mission success has given
rise to a difference in philosophy between manned space flight programs
and unmanned programs; i.e., numerical probability usage versus
engineering judgment." (These quotations are from "Space Shuttle Data
for Planetary Mission RTG Safety Analysis," Pages 3-1, 3-2, February 15,
1985, NASA, JSC.) It is true that if the probability of failure was as
low as 1 in 100,000 it would take an inordinate number of tests to
determine it ( you would get nothing but a string of perfect flights
from which no precise figure, other than that the probability is likely
less than the number of such flights in the string so far). But, if the
real probability is not so small, flights would show troubles, near
failures, and possible actual failures with a reasonable number of
trials. and standard statistical methods could give a reasonable
estimate. In fact, previous NASA experience had shown, on occasion, just
such difficulties, near accidents, and accidents, all giving warning
that the probability of flight failure was not so very small. The
inconsistency of the argument not to determine reliability through
historical experience, as the range safety officer did, is that NASA
also appeals to history, beginning "Historically this high degree of
mission success..." Finally, if we are to replace standard numerical
probability usage with engineering judgment, why do we find such an
enormous disparity between the management estimate and the judgment of
the engineers? It would appear that, for whatever purpose, be it for
internal or external consumption, the management of NASA exaggerates the
reliability of its product, to the point of fantasy.
The history of the certification and Flight Readiness Reviews will not
be repeated here. (See other part of Commission reports.) The phenomenon
of accepting for flight, seals that had shown erosion and blow-by in
previous flights, is very clear. The Challenger flight is an excellent
example. There are several references to flights that had gone before.
The acceptance and success of these flights is taken as evidence of
safety. But erosion and blow-by are not what the design expected. They
are warnings that something is wrong. The equipment is not operating as
expected, and therefore there is a danger that it can operate with even
wider deviations in this unexpected and not thoroughly understood way.
The fact that this danger did not lead to a catastrophe before is no
guarantee that it will not the next time, unless it is completely
understood. When playing Russian roulette the fact that the first shot
got off safely is little comfort for the next. The origin and
consequences of the erosion and blow-by were not understood. They did
not occur equally on all flights and all joints; sometimes more, and
sometimes less. Why not sometime, when whatever conditions determined it
were right, still more leading to catastrophe?
In spite of these variations from case to case, officials behaved as if
they understood it, giving apparently logical arguments to each other
often depending on the "success" of previous flights. For example. in
determining if flight 51-L was safe to fly in the face of ring erosion
in flight 51-C, it was noted that the erosion depth was only one-third
of the radius. It had been noted in an \[**F2**\] experiment cutting the
ring that cutting it as deep as one radius was necessary before the ring
failed. Instead of being very concerned that variations of poorly
understood conditions might reasonably create a deeper erosion this
time, it was asserted, there was "a safety factor of three." This is a
strange use of the engineer's term ,"safety factor." If a bridge is
built to withstand a certain load without the beams permanently
deforming, cracking, or breaking, it may be designed for the materials
used to actually stand up under three times the load. This "safety
factor" is to allow for uncertain excesses of load, or unknown extra
loads, or weaknesses in the material that might have unexpected flaws,
etc. If now the expected load comes on to the new bridge and a crack
appears in a beam, this is a failure of the design. There was no safety
factor at all; even though the bridge did not actually collapse because
the crack went only one-third of the way through the beam. The O-rings
of the Solid Rocket Boosters were not designed to erode. Erosion was a
clue that something was wrong. Erosion was not something from which
safety can be inferred.
There was no way, without full understanding, that one could have
confidence that conditions the next time might not produce erosion three
times more severe than the time before. Nevertheless, officials fooled
themselves into thinking they had such understanding and confidence, in
spite of the peculiar variations from case to case. A mathematical model
was made to calculate erosion. This was a model based not on physical
understanding but on empirical curve fitting. To be more detailed, it
was supposed a stream of hot gas impinged on the O-ring material, and
the heat was determined at the point of stagnation (so far, with
reasonable physical, thermodynamic laws). But to determine how much
rubber eroded it was assumed this depended only on this heat by a
formula suggested by data on a similar material. A logarithmic plot
suggested a straight line, so it was supposed that the erosion varied as
the .58 power of the heat, the .58 being determined by a nearest fit. At
any rate, adjusting some other numbers, it was determined that the model
agreed with the erosion (to depth of one-third the radius of the ring).
There is nothing much so wrong with this as believing the answer\!
Uncertainties appear everywhere. How strong the gas stream might be was
unpredictable, it depended on holes formed in the putty. Blow-by showed
that the ring might fail even though not, or only partially eroded
through. The empirical formula was known to be uncertain, for it did not
go directly through the very data points by which it was determined.
There were a cloud of points some twice above, and some twice below the
fitted curve, so erosions twice predicted were reasonable from that
cause alone. Similar uncertainties surrounded the other constants in the
formula, etc., etc. When using a mathematical model careful attention
must be given to uncertainties in the model.
** **
**Liquid Fuel Engine (SSME)**
During the flight of 51-L the three Space Shuttle Main Engines all
worked perfectly, even, at the last moment, beginning to shut down the
engines as the fuel supply began to fail. The question arises, however,
as to whether, had it failed, and we were to investigate it in as much
detail as we did the Solid Rocket Booster, we would find a similar lack
of attention to faults and a deteriorating reliability. In other words,
were the organization weaknesses that contributed to the accident
confined to the Solid Rocket Booster sector or were they a more general
characteristic of NASA? To that end the Space Shuttle Main Engines and
the avionics were both investigated. No similar study of the Orbiter, or
the External Tank were made.
The engine is a much more complicated structure than the Solid Rocket
Booster, and a great deal more detailed engineering goes into it.
Generally, the engineering seems to be of high quality and apparently
considerable attention is paid to deficiencies and faults found in
operation.
The usual way that such engines are designed (for military or civilian
aircraft) may be called the component system, or bottom-up design. First
it is necessary to thoroughly understand the properties and limitations
of the materials to be used (for turbine blades, for example), and tests
are begun in experimental rigs to determine those. With this knowledge
larger component parts (such as bearings) are designed and tested
individually. As deficiencies and design errors are noted they are
corrected and verified with further testing. Since one tests only parts
at a time these tests and modifications are not overly expensive.
Finally one works up to the final design of the entire engine, to the
necessary specifications. There is a good chance, by this time that the
engine will generally succeed, or that any failures are easily isolated
and analyzed because the failure modes, limitations of materials, etc.,
are so well understood. There is a very good chance that the
modifications to the engine to get around the final difficulties are not
very hard to make, for most of the serious problems have already been
discovered and dealt with in the earlier, less expensive, stages of the
process.
The Space Shuttle Main Engine was handled in a different manner, top
down, we might say. The engine was designed and put together all at once
with relatively little detailed preliminary study of the material and
components. Then when troubles are found in the bearings, turbine
blades, coolant pipes, etc., it is more expensive and difficult to
discover the causes and make changes. For example, cracks have been
found in the turbine blades of the high pressure oxygen turbopump. Are
they caused by flaws in the material, the effect of the oxygen
atmosphere on the properties of the material, the thermal stresses of
startup or shutdown, the vibration and stresses of steady running, or
mainly at some resonance at certain speeds, etc.? How long can we run
from crack initiation to crack failure, and how does this depend on
power level? Using the completed engine as a test bed to resolve such
questions is extremely expensive. One does not wish to lose an entire
engine in order to find out where and how failure occurs. Yet, an
accurate knowledge of this information is essential to acquire a
confidence in the engine reliability in use. Without detailed
understanding, confidence can not be attained.
A further disadvantage of the top-down method is that, if an
understanding of a fault is obtained, a simple fix, such as a new shape
for the turbine housing, may be impossible to implement without a
redesign of the entire engine.
The Space Shuttle Main Engine is a very remarkable machine. It has a
greater ratio of thrust to weight than any previous engine. It is built
at the edge of, or outside of, previous engineering experience.
Therefore, as expected, many different kinds of flaws and difficulties
have turned up. Because, unfortunately, it was built in the top-down
manner, they are difficult to find and fix. The design aim of a lifetime
of 55 missions equivalent firings (27,000 seconds of operation, either
in a mission of 500 seconds, or on a test stand) has not been obtained.
The engine now requires very frequent maintenance and replacement of
important parts, such as turbopumps, bearings, sheet metal housings,
etc. The high-pressure fuel turbopump had to be replaced every three or
four mission equivalents (although that may have been fixed, now) and
the high pressure oxygen turbopump every five or six. This is at most
ten percent of the original specification. But our main concern here is
the determination of reliability.
In a total of about 250,000 seconds of operation, the engines have
failed seriously perhaps 16 times. Engineering pays close attention to
these failings and tries to remedy them as quickly as possible. This it
does by test studies on special rigs experimentally designed for the
flaws in question, by careful inspection of the engine for suggestive
clues (like cracks), and by considerable study and analysis. In this
way, in spite of the difficulties of top-down design, through hard work,
many of the problems have apparently been solved.
\[**F3**\] A list of some of the problems follows. Those followed by an
asterisk (\*) are probably solved:
- Turbine blade cracks in high pressure fuel turbopumps (HPFTP). (May
have been solved.)
- Turbine blade cracks in high pressure oxygen turbopumps (HPOTP).
- Augmented Spark Igniter (ASI) line rupture.\*
- Purge check valve failure.\*
- ASI chamber erosion.\*
- HPFTP turbine sheet metal cracking.
- HPFTP coolant liner failure.\*
- Main combustion chamber outlet elbow failure.\*
- Main combustion chamber inlet elbow weld offset.\*
- HPOTP subsynchronous whirl.\*
- Flight acceleration safety cutoff system (partial failure in a
redundant system).\*
- Bearing spalling (partially solved).
- A vibration at 4,000 Hertz making some engines inoperable, etc.
Many of these solved problems are the early difficulties of a new
design, for 13 of them occurred in the first 125,000 seconds and only
three in the second 125,000 seconds. Naturally, one can never be sure
that all the bugs are out, and, for some, the fix may not have addressed
the true cause. Thus, it is not unreasonable to guess there may be at
least one surprise in the next 250,000 seconds, a probability of 1/500
per engine per mission. On a mission there are three engines, but some
accidents would possibly be contained, and only affect one engine. The
system can abort with only two engines. Therefore let us say that the
unknown suprises do not, even of themselves, permit us to guess that the
probability of mission failure do to the Space Shuttle Main Engine is
less than 1/500. To this we must add the chance of failure from known,
but as yet unsolved, problems (those without the asterisk in the list
above). These we discuss below. (Engineers at Rocketdyne, the
manufacturer, estimate the total probability as 1/10,000. Engineers at
marshal estimate it as 1/300, while NASA management, to whom these
engineers report, claims it is 1/100,000. An independent engineer
consulting for NASA thought 1 or 2 per 100 a reasonable estimate.)
The history of the certification principles for these engines is
confusing and difficult to explain. Initially the rule seems to have
been that two sample engines must each have had twice the time operating
without failure as the operating time of the engine to be certified
(rule of 2x). At least that is the FAA practice, and NASA seems to have
adopted it, originally expecting the certified time to be 10 missions
(hence 20 missions for each sample). Obviously the best engines to use
for comparison would be those of greatest total (flight plus test)
operating time -- the so-called "fleet leaders." But what if a third
sample and several others fail in a short time? Surely we will not be
safe because two were unusual in lasting longer. The short time might be
more representative of the real possibilities, and in the spirit of the
safety factor of 2, we should only operate at half the time of the
short-lived samples.
The slow shift toward decreasing safety factor can be seen in many
examples. We take that of the HPFTP turbine blades. First of all the
idea of testing an entire engine was abandoned. Each engine number has
had many important parts (like the turbopumps themselves) replaced at
frequent intervals, so that the rule must be shifted from engines to
components. We accept an HPFTP for a certification time if two samples
have each run successfully for twice that time (and of course, as a
practical matter, no longer insisting that this time be as large as 10
missions). But what is "successfully?" The FAA calls a turbine blade
crack a failure, in order, in practice, to really provide a safety
factor greater than 2. There is some time that an engine can run between
the time a crack originally starts until the time it has grown large
enough to fracture. (The FAA is contemplating new rules that take this
extra safety time into account, but only if it is very carefully
analyzed through known models within a known range of experience and
with materials thoroughly tested. None of these conditions apply to the
Space Shuttle Main Engine.
Cracks were found in many second stage HPFTP turbine blades. In one case
three were found after 1,900 seconds, while in another they were not
found after 4,200 seconds, although usually these longer runs showed
cracks. To follow this story further we shall have to realize that the
stress depends a great deal on the power level. The Challenger flight
was to be at, and previous flights had been at, a power level called
104% of rated power level during most of the time the engines were
operating. Judging from some material data it is supposed that at the
level 104% of rated power level, the time to crack is about twice that
at 109% or full power level (FPL). Future flights were to be at this
level because of heavier payloads, and many tests were made at this
level. Therefore dividing time at 104% by 2, we obtain units called
equivalent full power level (EFPL). (Obviously, some uncertainty is
introduced by that, but it has not been studied.) The earliest cracks
mentioned above occurred at 1,375 EFPL.
Now the certification rule becomes "limit all second stage blades to a
maximum of 1,375 seconds EFPL." If one objects that the safety factor of
2 is lost it is pointed out that the one turbine ran for 3,800 seconds
EFPL without cracks, and half of this is 1,900 so we are being more
conservative. We have fooled ourselves in three ways. First we have only
one sample, and it is not the fleet leader, for the other two samples of
3,800 or more seconds had 17 cracked blades between them. (There are 59
blades in the engine.) Next we have abandoned the 2x rule and
substituted equal time. And finally, 1,375 is where we did see a crack.
We can say that no crack had been found below 1,375, but the last time
we looked and saw no cracks was 1,100 seconds EFPL. We do not know when
the crack formed between these times, for example cracks may have formed
at 1,150 seconds EFPL. (Approximately 2/3 of the blade sets tested in
excess of 1,375 seconds EFPL had cracks. Some recent experiments have,
indeed, shown cracks as early as 1,150 seconds.) It was important to
keep the number high, for the Challenger was to fly an engine very close
to the limit by the time the flight was over.
Finally it is claimed that the criteria are not abandoned, and the
system is safe, by giving up the FAA convention that there should be no
cracks, and considering only a completely fractured blade a failure.
With this definition no engine has yet failed. The idea is that since
there is sufficient time for a crack to grow to a fracture we can insure
that all is safe by inspecting all blades for cracks. If they are found,
replace them, and if none are found we have enough time for a safe
mission. This makes the crack problem not a flight safety problem, but
merely a maintenance problem.
This may in fact be true. But how well do we know that cracks always
grow slowly enough that no fracture can occur in a mission? Three
engines have run for long times with a few cracked blades (about 3,000
seconds EFPL) with no blades broken off.
But a fix for this cracking may have been found. By changing the blade
shape, shot-peening the surface, and covering with insulation to exclude
thermal shock, the blades have not cracked so far.
A very similar story appears in the history of certification of the
HPOTP, but we shall not give the details here.
It is evident, in summary, that the Flight Readiness Reviews and
certification rules show a deterioration for some of the problems of the
Space Shuttle Main Engine that is closely analogous to the deterioration
seen in the rules for the Solid Rocket Booster.
** **
**Avionics**
By "avionics" is meant the computer system on the Orbiter as well as its
input sensors and output actuators. At first we will restrict ourselves
to the computers proper and not be concerned with the reliability of the
input information from the sensors of \[**F4**\] temperature, pressure,
etc., nor with whether the computer output is faithfully followed by the
actuators of rocket firings, mechanical controls, displays to
astronauts, etc.
The computer system is very elaborate, having over 250,000 lines of
code. It is responsible, among many other things, for the automatic
control of the entire ascent to orbit, and for the descent until well
into the atmosphere (below Mach 1) once one button is pushed deciding
the landing site desired. It would be possible to make the entire
landing automatically (except that the landing gear lowering signal is
expressly left out of computer control, and must be provided by the
pilot, ostensibly for safety reasons) but such an entirely automatic
landing is probably not as safe as a pilot controlled landing. During
orbital flight it is used in the control of payloads, in displaying
information to the astronauts, and the exchange of information to the
ground. It is evident that the safety of flight requires guaranteed
accuracy of this elaborate system of computer hardware and software.
In brief, the hardware reliability is ensured by having four essentially
independent identical computer systems. Where possible each sensor also
has multiple copies, usually four, and each copy feeds all four of the
computer lines. If the inputs from the sensors disagree, depending on
circumstances, certain averages, or a majority selection is used as the
effective input. The algorithm used by each of the four computers is
exactly the same, so their inputs (since each sees all copies of the
sensors) are the same. Therefore at each step the results in each
computer should be identical. From time to time they are compared, but
because they might operate at slightly different speeds a system of
stopping and waiting at specific times is instituted before each
comparison is made. If one of the computers disagrees, or is too late in
having its answer ready, the three which do agree are assumed to be
correct and the errant computer is taken completely out of the system.
If, now, another computer fails, as judged by the agreement of the other
two, it is taken out of the system, and the rest of the flight canceled,
and descent to the landing site is instituted, controlled by the two
remaining computers. It is seen that this is a redundant system since
the failure of only one computer does not affect the mission. Finally,
as an extra feature of safety, there is a fifth independent computer,
whose memory is loaded with only the programs of ascent and descent, and
which is capable of controlling the descent if there is a failure of
more than two of the computers of the main line four.
There is not enough room in the memory of the main line computers for
all the programs of ascent, descent, and payload programs in flight, so
the memory is loaded about four time from tapes, by the astronauts.
Because of the enormous effort required to replace the software for such
an elaborate system, and for checking a new system out, no change has
been made to the hardware since the system began about fifteen years
ago. The actual hardware is obsolete; for example, the memories are of
the old ferrite core type. It is becoming more difficult to find
manufacturers to supply such old-fashioned computers reliably and of
high quality. Modern computers are very much more reliable, can run much
faster, simplifying circuits, and allowing more to be done, and would
not require so much loading of memory, for the memories are much larger.
The software is checked very carefully in a bottom-up fashion. First,
each new line of code is checked, then sections of code or modules with
special functions are verified. The scope is increased step by step
until the new changes are incorporated into a complete system and
checked. This complete output is considered the final product, newly
released. But completely independently there is an independent
verification group, that takes an adversary attitude to the software
development group, and tests and verifies the software as if it were a
customer of the delivered product. There is additional verification in
using the new programs in simulators, etc. A discovery of an error
during verification testing is considered very serious, and its origin
studied very carefully to avoid such mistakes in the future. Such
unexpected errors have been found only about six times in all the
programming and program changing (for new or altered payloads) that has
been done. The principle that is followed is that all the verification
is not an aspect of program safety, it is merely a test of that safety,
in a non-catastrophic verification. Flight safety is to be judged solely
on how well the programs do in the verification tests. A failure here
generates considerable concern.
To summarize then, the computer software checking system and attitude is
of the highest quality. There appears to be no process of gradually
fooling oneself while degrading standards so characteristic of the Solid
Rocket Booster or Space Shuttle Main Engine safety systems. To be sure,
there have been recent suggestions by management to curtail such
elaborate and expensive tests as being unnecessary at this late date in
Shuttle history. This must be resisted for it does not appreciate the
mutual subtle influences, and sources of error generated by even small
changes of one part of a program on another. There are perpetual
requests for changes as new payloads and new demands and modifications
are suggested by the users. Changes are expensive because they require
extensive testing. The proper way to save money is to curtail the number
of requested changes, not the quality of testing for each.
One might add that the elaborate system could be very much improved by
more modern hardware and programming techniques. Any outside competition
would have all the advantages of starting over, and whether that is a
good idea for NASA now should be carefully considered.
Finally, returning to the sensors and actuators of the avionics system,
we find that the attitude to system failure and reliability is not
nearly as good as for the computer system. For example, a difficulty was
found with certain temperature sensors sometimes failing. Yet 18 months
later the same sensors were still being used, still sometimes failing,
until a launch had to be scrubbed because two of them failed at the same
time. Even on a succeeding flight this unreliable sensor was used again.
Again reaction control systems, the rocket jets used for reorienting and
control in flight still are somewhat unreliable. There is considerable
redundancy, but a long history of failures, none of which has yet been
extensive enough to seriously affect flight. The action of the jets is
checked by sensors, and, if they fail to fire the computers choose
another jet to fire. But they are not designed to fail, and the problem
should be solved.
** **
**Conclusions**
If a reasonable launch schedule is to be maintained, engineering often
cannot be done fast enough to keep up with the expectations of
originally conservative certification criteria designed to guarantee a
very safe vehicle. In these situations, subtly, and often with
apparently logical arguments, the criteria are altered so that flights
may still be certified in time. They therefore fly in a relatively
unsafe condition, with a chance of failure of the order of a percent (it
is difficult to be more accurate).
Official management, on the other hand, claims to believe the
probability of failure is a thousand times less. One reason for this may
be an attempt to assure the government of NASA perfection and success in
order to ensure the supply of funds. The other may be that they
sincerely believed it to be true, demonstrating an almost incredible
lack of communication between themselves and their working engineers.
In any event this has had very unfortunate consequences, the most
serious of which is to encourage ordinary citizens to fly in such a
dangerous machine, as if it had attained the safety of an ordinary
airliner. The astronauts, like test pilots, should know their risks, and
we honor them for their courage. Who can doubt that McAuliffe was
equally a person of great courage, who was closer to an awareness of the
true risk than NASA management would have us believe?
\[**F5**\] Let us make recommendations to ensure that NASA officials
deal in a world of reality in understanding technological weaknesses and
imperfections well enough to be actively trying to eliminate them. They
must live in reality in comparing the costs and utility of the Shuttle
to other methods of entering space. And they must be realistic in making
contracts, in estimating costs, and the difficulty of the projects. Only
realistic flight schedules should be proposed, schedules that have a
reasonable chance of being met. If in this way the government would not
support them, then so be it. NASA owes it to the citizens from whom it
asks support to be frank, honest, and informative, so that these
citizens can make the wisest decisions for the use of their limited
resources.
For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public
relations, for nature cannot be fooled.

25
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created_at: '2010-09-06T11:22:36.000Z'
title: Dijkstra on the cruelty of really teaching computing science (1988)
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[Source](http://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/25/us/brain-wound-eliminates-man-s-mental-illness.html "Permalink to Brain Wound Eliminates Man's Mental Illness - NYTimes.com")
# Brain Wound Eliminates Man's Mental Illness - NYTimes.com
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# Brain Wound Eliminates Man's Mental Illness
###### AP
###### Published: February 25, 1988
Correction Appended
Correction Appended
**LOS ANGELES, Feb. 24— ** A mentally ill young man who shot himself in the head in a suicide attempt suffered a brain injury that apparently eliminated his phobia of germs and his obsession with washing his hands, doctors say.
**LOS ANGELES, Feb. 24—** A mentally ill young man who shot himself in
the head in a suicide attempt suffered a brain injury that apparently
eliminated his phobia of germs and his obsession with washing his hands,
doctors say.
The .22-caliber slug destroyed the section of the brain responsible for his disabling obsessive-compulsive behavior without causing any other brain damage, his doctor said in a report in Physician's Weekly, a British journal of psychiatry. Victims of the disorder typically have an inexplicable compulsion to repeat activities over and over.
The .22-caliber slug destroyed the section of the brain responsible for
his disabling obsessive-compulsive behavior without causing any other
brain damage, his doctor said in a report in Physician's Weekly, a
British journal of psychiatry. Victims of the disorder typically have an
inexplicable compulsion to repeat activities over and over.
The afflicted man, now a straight-A college student, tried to kill himself five years ago, when he was 19 years old, said Dr. Leslie Solyom, a psychiatrist at Shaughnessy Hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia. Effects of His Behavior
The afflicted man, now a straight-A college student, tried to kill
himself five years ago, when he was 19 years old, said Dr. Leslie
Solyom, a psychiatrist at Shaughnessy Hospital in Vancouver, British
Columbia. Effects of His Behavior
The man, identified only as George, washed his hands hundreds of times a day and took frequent showers, Dr. Solyom said. The behavior had forced him to drop out of school and quit his job.
The man, identified only as George, washed his hands hundreds of times a
day and took frequent showers, Dr. Solyom said. The behavior had forced
him to drop out of school and quit his job.
Dr. Solyom treated him for more than a year before he tried suicide.
''George was also very depressed and told his mother that his life was so wretched that he would rather die,'' Dr. Solyom related. ''She said, 'So look George, if your life is so wretched, just go and shoot yourself.' So George went to the basement, stuck a .22-caliber rifle in his mouth and pulled the trigger.''
''George was also very depressed and told his mother that his life was
so wretched that he would rather die,'' Dr. Solyom related. ''She said,
'So look George, if your life is so wretched, just go and shoot
yourself.' So George went to the basement, stuck a .22-caliber rifle in
his mouth and pulled the trigger.''
The bullet lodged in the left front lobe of the brain. Surgeons removed it but could not get out all the fragments.
The bullet lodged in the left front lobe of the brain. Surgeons removed
it but could not get out all the fragments.
''When he was transferred to our hospital three weeks later, he had hardly any compulsions left,'' Dr. Solyom said.
''When he was transferred to our hospital three weeks later, he had
hardly any compulsions left,'' Dr. Solyom said.
George had also retained the same I.Q. he had before becoming ill, Dr. Solyum said, and he returned to school, got a new job and is now in his second year of college. #3% in U.S. May Be Compulsive The story was also reported in today's issue of The Los Angeles Times.
George had also retained the same I.Q. he had before becoming ill, Dr.
Solyum said, and he returned to school, got a new job and is now in his
second year of college. \#3% in U.S. May Be Compulsive The story was
also reported in today's issue of The Los Angeles Times.
New research indicates that as much as 3 percent of the United States population displays some obsessive-compulsive behavior, said Dr. Michael Jenike, a psychiatrist at Harvard University.
New research indicates that as much as 3 percent of the United States
population displays some obsessive-compulsive behavior, said Dr. Michael
Jenike, a psychiatrist at Harvard University.
Conventional psychotherapy is useless in such victims, Dr. Jenike said. The disorder is most effectively treated with a combination of antidepressant drugs and behavioral therapy.
As a last resort, neurosurgeons will occasionally remove part of the left front lobe of the brain, where the obsessive behavior is thought to originate. The operation is probably performed between 10 and 30 times a year in the United States, with mixed results, said Dr. Thomas Ballantine of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
**Correction:** February 26, 1988, Friday, Late City Final Edition It is a medical news publication produced in New York City by Whittle Communications of Knoxville, Tenn.
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Conventional psychotherapy is useless in such victims, Dr. Jenike said.
The disorder is most effectively treated with a combination of
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As a last resort, neurosurgeons will occasionally remove part of the
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Ballantine of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

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On the cruelty of really teaching computing science
The second part of this talk pursues some of the scientific and
educational consequences of the assumption that computers represent a
radical novelty. In order to give this assumption clear contents, we
have to be much more precise as to what we mean in this context by the
adjective "radical". We shall do so in the first part of this talk, in
which we shall furthermore supply evidence in support of our assumption.
The usual way in which we plan today for tomorrow is in yesterday's
vocabulary. We do so, because we try to get away with the concepts we
are familiar with and that have acquired their meanings in our past
experience. Of course, the words and the concepts don't quite fit
because our future differs from our past, but then we stretch them a
little bit. Linguists are quite familiar with the phenomenon that the
meanings of words evolve over time, but also know that this is a slow
and gradual process.
It is the most common way of trying to cope with novelty: by means of
metaphors and analogies we try to link the new to the old, the novel to
the familiar. Under sufficiently slow and gradual change, it works
reasonably well; in the case of a sharp discontinuity, however, the
method breaks down: though we may glorify it with the name "common
sense", our past experience is no longer relevant, the analogies become
too shallow, and the metaphors become more misleading than illuminating.
This is the situation that is characteristic for the "radical" novelty.
Coping with radical novelty requires an orthogonal method. One must
consider one's own past, the experiences collected, and the habits
formed in it as an unfortunate accident of history, and one has to
approach the radical novelty with a blank mind, consciously refusing to
try to link it with what is already familiar, because the familiar is
hopelessly inadequate. One has, with initially a kind of split
personality, to come to grips with a radical novelty as a dissociated
topic in its own right. Coming to grips with a radical novelty amounts
to creating and learning a new foreign language that can not be
translated into one's mother tongue. (Any one who has learned quantum
mechanics knows what I am talking about.) Needless to say, adjusting to
radical novelties is not a very popular activity, for it requires hard
work. For the same reason, the radical novelties themselves are
unwelcome.
By now, you may well ask why I have paid so much attention to and have
spent so much eloquence on such a simple and obvious notion as the
radical novelty. My reason is very simple: radical novelties are so
disturbing that they tend to be suppressed or ignored, to the extent
that even the possibility of their existence in general is more often
denied than admitted.
On the historical evidence I shall be short. Carl Friedrich Gauss, the
Prince of Mathematicians but also somewhat of a coward, was certainly
aware of the fate of Galileo —and could probably have predicted the
calumniation of Einstein— when he decided to suppress his discovery of
non-Euclidean geometry, thus leaving it to Bolyai and Lobatchewsky to
receive the flak. It is probably more illuminating to go a little bit
further back, to the Middle Ages. One of its characteristics was that
"reasoning by analogy" was rampant; another characteristic was almost
total intellectual stagnation, and we now see why the two go together. A
reason for mentioning this is to point out that, by developing a keen
ear for unwarranted analogies, one can detect a lot of medieval thinking
today.
The other thing I can not stress enough is that the fraction of the
population for which gradual change seems to be all but the only
paradigm of history is very large, probably much larger than you would
expect. Certainly when I started to observe it, their number turned out
to be much larger than I had expected.
For instance, the vast majority of the mathematical community has never
challenged its tacit assumption that doing mathematics will remain very
much the same type of mental activity it has always been: new topics
will come, flourish, and go as they have done in the past, but, the
human brain being what it is, our ways of teaching, learning, and
understanding mathematics, of problem solving, and of mathematical
discovery will remain pretty much the same. Herbert Robbins clearly
states why he rules out a quantum leap in mathematical ability:
> "Nobody is going to run 100 meters in five seconds, no matter how much
> is invested in training and machines. The same can be said about using
> the brain. The human mind is no different now from what it was five
> thousand years ago. And when it comes to mathematics, you must realize
> that this is the human mind at an extreme limit of its capacity."
My comment in the margin was "so reduce the use of the brain and
calculate\!". Using Robbins's own analogy, one could remark that, for
going from A to B fast, there could now exist alternatives to running
that are orders of magnitude more effective. Robbins flatly refuses to
honour any alternative to time-honoured brain usage with the name of
"doing mathematics", thus exorcizing the danger of radical novelty by
the simple device of adjusting his definitions to his needs: simply by
definition, mathematics will continue to be what it used to be. So much
for the mathematicians.
Let me give you just one more example of the widespread disbelief in the
existence of radical novelties and, hence, in the need of learning how
to cope with them. It is the prevailing educational practice, for which
gradual, almost imperceptible, change seems to be the exclusive
paradigm. How many educational texts are not recommended for their
appeal to the student's intuition\! They constantly try to present
everything that could be an exciting novelty as something as familiar as
possible. They consciously try to link the new material to what is
supposed to be the student's familiar world. It already starts with the
teaching of arithmetic. Instead of teaching 2 + 3 = 5 , the hideous
arithmetic operator "plus" is carefully disguised by calling it "and",
and the little kids are given lots of familiar examples first, with
clearly visible such as apples and pears, which are in, in contrast to
equally countable objects such as percentages and electrons, which are
out. The same silly tradition is reflected at university level in
different introductory calculus courses for the future physicist,
architect, or business major, each adorned with examples from the
respective fields. The educational dogma seems to be that everything is
fine as long as the student does not notice that he is learning
something really new; more often than not, the student's impression is
indeed correct. I consider the failure of an educational practice to
prepare the next generation for the phenomenon of radical novelties a
serious shortcoming. \[When King Ferdinand visited the conservative
university of Cervera, the Rector proudly reassured the monarch with the
words; "Far be from us, Sire, the dangerous novelty of thinking.".
Spain's problems in the century that followed justify my
characterization of the shortcoming as "serious".\] So much for
education's adoption of the paradigm of gradual change.
The concept of radical novelties is of contemporary significance
because, while we are ill-prepared to cope with them, science and
technology have now shown themselves expert at inflicting them upon us.
Earlier scientific examples are the theory of relativity and quantum
mechanics; later technological examples are the atom bomb and the pill.
For decades, the former two gave rise to a torrent of religious,
philosophical, or otherwise quasi-scientific tracts. We can daily
observe the profound inadequacy with which the latter two are
approached, be it by our statesmen and religious leaders or by the
public at large. So much for the damage done to our peace of mind by
radical novelties.
I raised all this because of my contention that automatic computers
represent a radical novelty and that only by identifying them as such
can we identify all the nonsense, the misconceptions and the mythology
that surround them. Closer inspection will reveal that it is even worse,
viz. that automatic computers embody not only one radical novelty but
two of them.
The first radical novelty is a direct consequence of the raw power of
today's computing equipment. We all know how we cope with something big
and complex; divide and rule, i.e. we view the whole as a compositum of
parts and deal with the parts separately. And if a part is too big, we
repeat the procedure. The town is made up from neighbourhoods, which are
structured by streets, which contain buildings, which are made from
walls and floors, that are built from bricks, etc. eventually down to
the elementary particles. And we have all our specialists along the
line, from the town planner, via the architect to the solid state
physicist and further. Because, in a sense, the whole is "bigger" than
its parts, the depth of a hierarchical decomposition is some sort of
logarithm of the ratio of the "sizes" of the whole and the ultimate
smallest parts. From a bit to a few hundred megabytes, from a
microsecond to a half an hour of computing confronts us with completely
baffling ratio of 109\! The programmer is in the unique position that
his is the only discipline and profession in which such a gigantic
ratio, which totally baffles our imagination, has to be bridged by a
single technology. He has to be able to think in terms of conceptual
hierarchies that are much deeper than a single mind ever needed to face
before. Compared to that number of semantic levels, the average
mathematical theory is almost flat. By evoking the need for deep
conceptual hierarchies, the automatic computer confronts us with a
radically new intellectual challenge that has no precedent in our
history.
Again, I have to stress this radical novelty because the true believer
in gradual change and incremental improvements is unable to see it. For
him, an automatic computer is something like the familiar cash register,
only somewhat bigger, faster, and more flexible. But the analogy is
ridiculously shallow: it is orders of magnitude worse than comparing, as
a means of transportation, the supersonic jet plane with a crawling
baby, for that speed ratio is only a thousand.
The second radical novelty is that the automatic computer is our first
large-scale digital device. We had a few with a noticeable discrete
component: I just mentioned the cash register and can add the typewriter
with its individual keys: with a single stroke you can type either a Q
or a W but, though their keys are next to each other, not a mixture of
those two letters. But such mechanisms are the exception, and the vast
majority of our mechanisms are viewed as analogue devices whose
behaviour is over a large range a continuous function of all parameters
involved: if we press the point of the pencil a little bit harder, we
get a slightly thicker line, if the violinist slightly misplaces his
finger, he plays slightly out of tune. To this I should add that, to the
extent that we view ourselves as mechanisms, we view ourselves primarily
as analogue devices: if we push a little harder we expect to do a little
better. Very often the behaviour is not only a continuous but even a
monotonic function: to test whether a hammer suits us over a certain
range of nails, we try it out on the smallest and largest nails of the
range, and if the outcomes of those two experiments are positive, we are
perfectly willing to believe that the hammer will suit us for all nails
in between.
It is possible, and even tempting, to view a program as an abstract
mechanism, as a device of some sort. To do so, however, is highly
dangerous: the analogy is too shallow because a program is, as a
mechanism, totally different from all the familiar analogue devices we
grew up with. Like all digitally encoded information, it has unavoidably
the uncomfortable property that the smallest possible perturbations
—i.e. changes of a single bit— can have the most drastic consequences.
\[For the sake of completness I add that the picture is not essentially
changed by the introduction of redundancy or error correction.\] In the
discrete world of computing, there is no meaningful metric in which
"small" changes and "small" effects go hand in hand, and there never
will be.
This second radical novelty shares the usual fate of all radical
novelties: it is denied, because its truth would be too discomforting. I
have no idea what this specific denial and disbelief costs the United
States, but a million dollars a day seems a modest guess.
Having described —admittedly in the broadest possible terms— the nature
of computing's novelties, I shall now provide the evidence that these
novelties are, indeed, radical. I shall do so by explaining a number of
otherwise strange phenomena as frantic —but, as we now know, doomed—
efforts at hiding or denying the frighteningly unfamiliar.
A number of these phenomena have been bundled under the name "Software
Engineering". As economics is known as "The Miserable Science", software
engineering should be known as "The Doomed Discipline", doomed because
it cannot even approach its goal since its goal is self-contradictory.
Software engineering, of course, presents itself as another worthy
cause, but that is eyewash: if you carefully read its literature and
analyse what its devotees actually do, you will discover that software
engineering has accepted as its charter "How to program if you cannot.".
The popularity of its name is enough to make it suspect. In what we
denote as "primitive societies", the superstition that knowing someone's
true name gives you magic power over him is not unusual. We are hardly
less primitive: why do we persist here in answering the telephone with
the most unhelpful "hello" instead of our name?
Nor are we above the equally primitive superstition that we can gain
some control over some unknown, malicious demon by calling it by a safe,
familiar, and innocent name, such as "engineering". But it is totally
symbolic, as one of the US computer manufacturers proved a few years ago
when it hired, one night, hundreds of new "software engineers" by the
simple device of elevating all its programmers to that exalting rank. So
much for that term.
The practice is pervaded by the reassuring illusion that programs are
just devices like any others, the only difference admitted being that
their manufacture might require a new type of craftsmen, viz.
programmers. From there it is only a small step to measuring "programmer
productivity" in terms of "number of lines of code produced per month".
This is a very costly measuring unit because it encourages the writing
of insipid code, but today I am less interested in how foolish a unit it
is from even a pure business point of view. My point today is that, if
we wish to count lines of code, we should not regard them as "lines
produced" but as "lines spent": the current conventional wisdom is so
foolish as to book that count on the wrong side of the ledger.
Besides the notion of productivity, also that of quality control
continues to be distorted by the reassuring illusion that what works
with other devices works with programs as well. It is now two decades
since it was pointed out that program testing may convincingly
demonstrate the presence of bugs, but can never demonstrate their
absence. After quoting this well-publicized remark devoutly, the
software engineer returns to the order of the day and continues to
refine his testing strategies, just like the alchemist of yore, who
continued to refine his chrysocosmic purifications.
Unfathomed misunderstanding is further revealed by the term "software
maintenance", as a result of which many people continue to believe that
programs —and even programming languages themselves— are subject to wear
and tear. Your car needs maintenance too, doesn't it? Famous is the
story of the oil company that believed that its PASCAL programs did not
last as long as its FORTRAN programs "because PASCAL was not
maintained".
In the same vein I must draw attention to the astonishing readiness with
which the suggestion has been accepted that the pains of software
production are largely due to a lack of appropriate "programming tools".
(The telling "programmer's workbench" was soon to follow.) Again, the
shallowness of the underlying analogy is worthy of the Middle Ages.
Confrontations with insipid "tools" of the "algorithm-animation" variety
has not mellowed my judgement; on the contrary, it has confirmed my
initial suspicion that we are primarily dealing with yet another
dimension of the snake oil business.
Finally, to correct the possible impression that the inability to face
radical novelty is confined to the industrial world, let me offer you an
explanation of the —at least American— popularity of Artificial
Intelligence. One would expect people to feel threatened by the "giant
brains or machines that think". In fact, the frightening computer
becomes less frightening if it is used only to simulate a familiar
noncomputer. I am sure that this explanation will remain controversial
for quite some time, for Artificial Intelligence as mimicking the human
mind prefers to view itself as at the front line, whereas my explanation
relegates it to the rearguard. (The effort of using machines to mimic
the human mind has always struck me as rather silly: I'd rather use them
to mimic something better.)
So much for the evidence that the computer's novelties are, indeed,
radical.
And now comes the second —and hardest— part of my talk: the scientific
and educational consequences of the above. The educational consequences
are, of course, the hairier ones, so let's postpone their discussion and
stay for a while with computing science itself. What is computing? And
what is a science of computing about?
Well, when all is said and done, the only thing computers can do for us
is to manipulate symbols and produce results of such manipulations. From
our previous observations we should recall that this is a discrete world
and, moreover, that both the number of symbols involved and the amount
of manipulation performed are many orders of magnitude larger than we
can envisage: they totally baffle our imagination and we must therefore
not try to imagine them.
But before a computer is ready to perform a class of meaningful
manipulations —or calculations, if you prefer— we must write a program.
What is a program? Several answers are possible. We can view the program
as what turns the general-purpose computer into a special-purpose symbol
manipulator, and does so without the need to change a single wire (This
was an enormous improvement over machines with problem-dependent wiring
panels.) I prefer to describe it the other way round: the program is an
abstract symbol manipulator, which can be turned into a concrete one by
supplying a computer to it. After all, it is no longer the purpose of
programs to instruct our machines; these days, it is the purpose of
machines to execute our programs.
So, we have to design abstract symbol manipulators. We all know what
they look like: they look like programs or —to use somewhat more general
terminology— usually rather elaborate formulae from some formal system.
It really helps to view a program as a formula. Firstly, it puts the
programmer's task in the proper perspective: he has to derive that
formula. Secondly, it explains why the world of mathematics all but
ignored the programming challenge: programs were so much longer formulae
than it was used to that it did not even recognize them as such. Now
back to the programmer's job: he has to derive that formula, he has to
derive that program. We know of only one reliable way of doing that,
viz. by means of symbol manipulation. And now the circle is closed: we
construct our mechanical symbol manipulators by means of human symbol
manipulation.
Hence, computing science is —and will always be— concerned with the
interplay between mechanized and human symbol manipulation, usually
referred to as "computing" and "programming" respectively. An immediate
benefit of this insight is that it reveals "automatic programming" as a
contradiction in terms. A further benefit is that it gives us a clear
indication where to locate computing science on the world map of
intellectual disciplines: in the direction of formal mathematics and
applied logic, but ultimately far beyond where those are now, for
computing science is interested in effective use of formal methods and
on a much, much, larger scale than we have witnessed so far. Because no
endeavour is respectable these days without a TLA (= Three-Letter
Acronym), I propose that we adopt for computing science FMI (= Formal
Methods Initiative), and, to be on the safe side, we had better follow
the shining examples of our leaders and make a Trade Mark of it.
In the long run I expect computing science to transcend its parent
disciplines, mathematics and logic, by effectively realizing a
significant part of Leibniz's Dream of providing symbolic calculation as
an alternative to human reasoning. (Please note the difference between
"mimicking" and "providing an alternative to": alternatives are allowed
to be better.)
Needless to say, this vision of what computing science is about is not
universally applauded. On the contrary, it has met widespread —and
sometimes even violent— opposition from all sorts of directions. I
mention as examples
(0) the mathematical guild, which would rather continue to believe that
the Dream of Leibniz is an unrealistic illusion
(1) the business community, which, having been sold to the idea that
computers would make life easier, is mentally unprepared to accept that
they only solve the easier problems at the price of creating much harder
ones
(2) the subculture of the compulsive programmer, whose ethics prescribe
that one silly idea and a month of frantic coding should suffice to make
him a life-long millionaire
(3) computer engineering, which would rather continue to act as if it is
all only a matter of higher bit rates and more flops per second
(4) the military, who are now totally absorbed in the business of using
computers to mutate billion-dollar budgets into the illusion of
automatic safety
(5) all soft sciences for which computing now acts as some sort of
interdisciplinary haven
(6) the educational business that feels that, if it has to teach formal
mathematics to CS students, it may as well close its schools.
And with this sixth example I have reached, imperceptibly but also alas
unavoidably, the most hairy part of this talk: educational consequences.
The problem with educational policy is that it is hardly influenced by
scientific considerations derived from the topics taught, and almost
entirely determined by extra-scientific circumstances such as the
combined expectations of the students, their parents and their future
employers, and the prevailing view of the role of the university: is the
stress on training its graduates for today's entry-level jobs or to
providing its alumni with the intellectual bagage and attitudes that
will last them another 50 years? Do we grudgingly grant the abstract
sciences only a far-away corner on campus, or do we recognize them as
the indispensable motor of the high-technology industry? Even if we do
the latter, do we recognize a high-technology industry as such if its
technology primarily belongs to formal mathematics? Do the universities
provide for society the intellectual leadership it needs or only the
training it asks for?
Traditional academic rhetoric is perfectly willing to give to these
questions the reassuring answers, but I don't believe them. By way of
illustration of my doubts, in a recent article on "Who Rules Canada?",
David H. Flaherty bluntly states "Moreover, the business elite dismisses
traditional academics and intellectuals as largely irrelevant and
powerless.".
So, if I look into my foggy crystal ball at the future of computing
science education, I overwhelmingly see the depressing picture of
"Business as usual". The universities will continue to lack the courage
to teach hard science, they will continue to misguide the students, and
each next stage of infantilization of the curriculum will be hailed as
educational progress.
I now have had my foggy crystal ball for quite a long time. Its
predictions are invariably gloomy and usually correct, but I am quite
used to that and they won't keep me from giving you a few suggestions,
even if it is merely an exercise in futility whose only effect is to
make you feel guilty.
We could, for instance, begin with cleaning up our language by no longer
calling a bug a bug but by calling it an error. It is much more honest
because it squarely puts the blame where it belongs, viz. with the
programmer who made the error. The animistic metaphor of the bug that
maliciously sneaked in while the programmer was not looking is
intellectually dishonest as it disguises that the error is the
programmer's own creation. The nice thing of this simple change of
vocabulary is that it has such a profound effect: while, before, a
program with only one bug used to be "almost correct", afterwards a
program with an error is just "wrong" (because in error).
My next linguistical suggestion is more rigorous. It is to fight the
"if-this-guy-wants-to-talk-to-that-guy" syndrome: never refer to parts
of programs or pieces of equipment in an anthropomorphic terminology,
nor allow your students to do so. This linguistical improvement is much
harder to implement than you might think, and your department might
consider the introduction of fines for violations, say a quarter for
undergraduates, two quarters for graduate students, and five dollars for
faculty members: by the end of the first semester of the new regime, you
will have collected enough money for two scholarships.
The reason for this last suggestion is that the anthropomorphic metaphor
—for whose introduction we can blame John von Neumann— is an enormous
handicap for every computing community that has adopted it. I have now
encountered programs wanting things, knowing things, expecting things,
believing things, etc., and each time that gave rise to avoidable
confusions. The analogy that underlies this personification is so
shallow that it is not only misleading but also paralyzing.
It is misleading in the sense that it suggests that we can adequately
cope with the unfamiliar discrete in terms of the familiar continuous,
i.e. ourselves, quod non. It is paralyzing in the sense that, because
persons exist and act in time, its adoption effectively prevents a
departure from operational semantics and thus forces people to think
about programs in terms of computational behaviours, based on an
underlying computational model. This is bad, because operational
reasoning is a tremendous waste of mental effort.
Let me explain to you the nature of that tremendous waste, and allow me
to try to convince you that the term "tremendous waste of mental effort"
is not an exaggeration. For a short while, I shall get highly technical,
but don't get frightened: it is the type of mathematics that one can do
with one's hands in one's pockets. The point to get across is that if we
have to demonstrate something about all the elements of a large set, it
is hopelessly inefficient to deal with all the elements of the set
individually: the efficient argument does not refer to individual
elements at all and is carried out in terms of the set's definition.
Consider the plane figure Q, defined as the 8 by 8 square from which, at
two opposite corners, two 1 by 1 squares have been removed. The area of
Q is 62, which equals the combined area of 31 dominos of 1 by 2. The
theorem is that the figure Q cannot be covered by 31 of such dominos.
Another way of stating the theorem is that if you start with squared
paper and begin covering this by placing each next domino on two new
adjacent squares, no placement of 31 dominos will yield the figure Q.
So, a possible way of proving the theorem is by generating all possible
placements of dominos and verifying for each placement that it does not
yield the figure Q: a tremendously laborious job.
The simple argument, however is as follows. Colour the squares of the
squared paper as on a chess board. Each domino, covering two adjacent
squares, covers 1 white and 1 black square, and, hence, each placement
covers as many white squares as it covers black squares. In the figure
Q, however, the number of white squares and the number of black squares
differ by 2 —opposite corners lying on the same diagonal— and hence no
placement of dominos yields figure Q.
Not only is the above simple argument many orders of magnitude shorter
than the exhaustive investigation of the possible placements of 31
dominos, it is also essentially more powerful, for it covers the
generalization of Q by replacing the original 8 by 8 square by any
rectangle with sides of even length. The number of such rectangles being
infinite, the former method of exhaustive exploration is essentially
inadequate for proving our generalized theorem.
And this concludes my example. It has been presented because it
illustrates in a nutshell the power of down-to-earth mathematics;
needless to say, refusal to exploit this power of down-to-earth
mathematics amounts to intellectual and technological suicide. The moral
of the story is: deal with all elements of a set by ignoring them and
working with the set's definition.
Back to programming. The statement that a given program meets a certain
specification amounts to a statement about all computations that could
take place under control of that given program. And since this set of
computations is defined by the given program, our recent moral says:
deal with all computations possible under control of a given program by
ignoring them and working with the program. We must learn to work with
program texts while (temporarily) ignoring that they admit the
interpretation of executable code.
Another way of saying the same thing is the following one. A programming
language, with its formal syntax and with the proof rules that define
its semantics, is a formal system for which program execution provides
only a model. It is well-known that formal systems should be dealt with
in their own right, and not in terms of a specific model. And, again,
the corollary is that we should reason about programs without even
mentioning their possible "behaviours".
And this concludes my technical excursion into the reason why
operational reasoning about programming is "a tremendous waste of mental
effort" and why, therefore, in computing science the anthropomorphic
metaphor should be banned.
Not everybody understands this sufficiently well. I was recently exposed
to a demonstration of what was pretended to be educational software for
an introductory programming course. With its "visualizations" on the
screen it was such an obvious case of curriculum infantilization that
its author should be cited for "contempt" of the student body", but this
was only a minor offense compared with what the visualizations were used
for: they were used to display all sorts of features of computations
evolving under control of the student's program\! The system highlighted
precisely what the student has to learn to ignore, it reinforced
precisely what the student has to unlearn. Since breaking out of bad
habits, rather than acquiring new ones, is the toughest part of
learning, we must expect from that system permanent mental damage for
most students exposed to it.
Needless to say, that system completely hid the fact that, all by
itself, a program is no more than half a conjecture. The other half of
the conjecture is the functional specification the program is supposed
to satisfy. The programmer's task is to present such complete
conjectures as proven theorems.
Before we part, I would like to invite you to consider the following way
of doing justice to computing's radical novelty in an introductory
programming course.
On the one hand, we teach what looks like the predicate calculus, but we
do it very differently from the philosophers. In order to train the
novice programmer in the manipulation of uninterpreted formulae, we
teach it more as boolean algebra, familiarizing the student with all
algebraic properties of the logical connectives. To further sever the
links to intuition, we rename the values {true, false} of the boolean
domain as {black, white}.
On the other hand, we teach a simple, clean, imperative programming
language, with a skip and a multiple assignment as basic statements,
with a block structure for local variables, the semicolon as operator
for statement composition, a nice alternative construct, a nice
repetition and, if so desired, a procedure call. To this we add a
minimum of data types, say booleans, integers, characters and strings.
The essential thing is that, for whatever we introduce, the
corresponding semantics is defined by the proof rules that go with it.
Right from the beginning, and all through the course, we stress that the
programmer's task is not just to write down a program, but that his main
task is to give a formal proof that the program he proposes meets the
equally formal functional specification. While designing proofs and
programs hand in hand, the student gets ample opportunity to perfect his
manipulative agility with the predicate calculus. Finally, in order to
drive home the message that this introductory programming course is
primarily a course in formal mathematics, we see to it that the
programming language in question has not been implemented on campus so
that students are protected from the temptation to test their programs.
And this concludes the sketch of my proposal for an introductory
programming course for freshmen.
This is a serious proposal, and utterly sensible. Its only disadvantage
is that it is too radical for many, who, being unable to accept it, are
forced to invent a quick reason for dismissing it, no matter how
invalid. I'll give you a few quick reasons.
You don't need to take my proposal seriously because it is so ridiculous
that I am obviously completely out of touch with the real world. But
that kite won't fly, for I know the real world only too well: the
problems of the real world are primarily those you are left with when
you refuse to apply their effective solutions. So, let us try again.
You don't need to take my proposal seriously because it is utterly
unrealistic to try to teach such material to college freshmen. Wouldn't
that be an easy way out? You just postulate that this would be far too
difficult. But that kite won't fly either for the postulate has been
proven wrong: since the early 80's, such an introductory programming
course has successfully been given to hundreds of college freshmen each
year. \[Because, in my experience, saying this once does not suffice,
the previous sentence should be repeated at least another two times.\]
So, let us try again.
Reluctantly admitting that it could perhaps be taught to sufficiently
docile students, you yet reject my proposal because such a course would
deviate so much from what 18-year old students are used to and expect
that inflicting it upon them would be an act of educational
irresponsibility: it would only frustrate the students. Needless to say,
that kite won't fly either. It is true that the student that has never
manipulated uninterpreted formulae quickly realizes that he is
confronted with something totally unlike anything he has ever seen
before. But fortunately, the rules of manipulation are in this case so
few and simple that very soon thereafter he makes the exciting discovery
that he is beginning to master the use of a tool that, in all its
simplicity, gives him a power that far surpasses his wildest dreams.
Teaching to unsuspecting youngsters the effective use of formal methods
is one of the joys of life because it is so extremely rewarding. Within
a few months, they find their way in a new world with a justified degree
of confidence that is radically novel for them; within a few months,
their concept of intellectual culture has acquired a radically novel
dimension. To my taste and style, that is what education is about.
Universities should not be afraid of teaching radical novelties; on the
contrary, it is their calling to welcome the opportunity to do so. Their
willingness to do so is our main safeguard against dictatorships, be
they of the proletariat, of the scientific establishment, or of the
corporate elite.
Austin, 2 December 1988
prof. dr. Edsger W. Dijkstra
Department of Computer Sciences
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX 78712-1188
USA
Transcription by Javier Smaldone.
Revised Tue, 12 May 2009.

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[Source](https://bombmagazine.org/article/1269/kazuo-ishiguro "Permalink to ")
Kazuo Ishiguro sprang to international prominence with the publication
of his second novel, An Artist of the Floating World, which won the 1986
Whitbread Book of the Year prize and was shortlisted for the Booker. It
is about a Japanese painter who, having once enjoyed great popular
success, finds himself the victim of a revisionist post-war culture,
shunned and despised for the incorrect political choices he made in the
’30s. The Remains of the Day, out this fall from Knopf, works a
similar theme, though this time our narrator is a very English butler
called Stevens, who reflects upon the long years of service he gave to a
nobleman prominent in British politics in the 1930s.
Stevens is a glorious creation, stiff on the outside, touchingly blind
and pathetic within. He agonizes over the question of what makes a
“great” butler, what is dignity, and how to acquire the ability to
banter. It’s a mark of Ishiguro’s technical assurance and delicacy of
touch that he can softly laugh at his character while at the same time
suggesting the deep sadness of his frigid emotional nature. There is,
too, at the heart of the novel a quiet examination of British
anti-Semitism in the ’30s. Swift talked to Ishiguro in London.
Graham Swift You were born in Japan and came to England when you were
five … How Japanese would you say you are?
Kazuo Ishiguro I’m not entirely like English people because I’ve been
brought up by Japanese parents in a Japanese-speaking home. My parents
didn’t realize that we were going to stay in this country for so long,
they felt responsible for keeping me in touch with Japanese values. I do
have a distinct background. I think differently, my perspectives are
slightly different.
GS Would you say that the rest of you is English? Do you feel
particularly English?
KI People are not two-thirds one thing and the remainder something else.
Temperament, personality, or outlook don’t divide quite like that. The
bits don’t separate clearly. You end up a funny homogeneous mixture.
This is something that will become more common in the latter part of the
century—people with mixed cultural backgrounds, and mixed racial
backgrounds. That’s the way the world is going.
GS You are one of a number of English writers, your contemporaries, who
are precisely that: they were born outside England. Do you identify with
them? I’m thinking of people like Timothy Mo, Salman Rushdie, Ben Okri …
KI There is a big difference between someone in my position and someone
who has come from one of the countries that belonged to the British
Empire. There is a very special and very potent relationship between
someone brought up in India, with a very powerful notion of Britain as
the mother country, and the source of modernity and culture and
education.
GS The experience of empire from the other end. Yet it’s true that in
two of your novels, which you could loosely call Japanese novels, A Pale
View of Hills and An Artist of the Floating World, you have dealt with
the ruins of empire, Japanese empire. These are post-war novels. Your
latest novel, The Remains of the Day, is set in the ’50s, in postwar
England. It seems to be as concerned as An Artist of the Floating
World with mistaken allegiances and ideals of an imperial period:
pre-war Britain in the ’30s, Japan in the ’30s. There is a similarity
there.
KI I chose these settings for a particular reason: they are potent for
my themes. I tend to be attracted to pre-war and post-war settings
because I’m interested in this business of values and ideals being
tested, and people having to face up to the notion that their ideals
weren’t quite what they thought they were before the test came. In all
three books the Second World War is present.
GS The Remains of the Day, has for its central character, a butler. One
tends to think of butlers in literary association with detective novels
or comedy, stage farces, but your butler is a very serious figure
indeed. How did you alight on this character?
KI The butler is a good metaphor for the relationship of very ordinary,
small people to power. Most of us aren’t given governments to run or
coup d’etats to lead. We have to offer up the little services we have
perfected to various people: to causes, to employers, to organizations
and hope for the best—that we approve of the way it gets used. This is a
condition that I want to write about. It struck me that the figure of
the butler, the man who serves, someone who is so close and yet so very
far from the hub of power would be a useful person to write through. And
there’s the other reason that you’ve hinted at … It’s precisely because
the butler has become such a mythical figure in British culture. I’ve
always found that bizarre and amusing. This has got something to do with
the fact that I come from a Japanese background. There are certain
things that are very exotic to me about Englishness.
GS Although, you could say that the butler is a figure who leads, by
necessity, a very stylized existence. Dignity is enormously important to
this character. There is a resemblance with Japan—that feeling of
dignity, service, life as a kind of performance. There is a strong echo
of An Artist of the Floating World. The central character of that novel,
Masuji Ono, is also concerned with dignity. Yet Stevens is a much less
self-knowing and more pathetic character. He seems to have this terrible
blindness about his own experience. The only thing which redeems him is
the enormous importance he attaches to dignity. Do you think of dignity
as a virtue?
KI I’m not quite sure what dignity is, you see. This is part of the
debate in The Remains of the Day. Stevens is obsessed with this thing
that he calls dignity. He thinks dignity has to do with not showing your
feelings, in fact he thinks dignity has to do with not having feelings.
GS It’s to do with the suppression of feelings.
KI Yes, being something less than human. He somehow thinks that turning
yourself into some animal that will carry out the duties you’ve been
given to such an extent that you don’t have feelings, or anything that
undermines your professional self, is dignity. People are prone to
equate having feelings with weakness. The book debates that notion of
dignity—not having emotions against another concept of dignity. The
dignity given to human beings when they have a certain amount of control
over their lives. The dignity that democracy gives to ordinary people.
In the end, no one can argue that Stevens has been very dignified in one
sense: he starts to question whether there isn’t something profoundly
undignified about a condition he has rather unthinkingly given all his
loyalty to. A cause in which he has no control over the moral value of
how his talents are spent.
GS And that cause proves to be, however honorably it began, a mistaken
one.
KI Yes.
GS There is of course a whole other area, even more extreme and even
more poignant. Stevens seems to have suppressed completely the
possibility he once had of a love affair with the former housekeeper,
Miss Kenton. He is now taking a rare holiday, to visit her. He hasn’t
seen her for a long time. He’s going back to this crucial moment in the
past. Yet, nothing he says actually constitutes an admission of his
feelings over the matter. The novel succeeds in a very difficult area.
That’s to say, you have a character who is articulate and intelligent to
a degree, and yet he doesn’t seem to have any power of self-analysis or
self-recognition. That’s very hard to get away with. Did you find it
difficult to do?
KI He ends up saying the sorts of things he does because somewhere deep
down he knows which things he has to avoid. He is intelligent enough, in
the true sense of the word, to perceive the danger areas, and this
controls how his narrative goes. The book is written in the language of
self-deception. Why he says certain things, why he brings up certain
topics at certain moments, is not random. It’s controlled by the things
that he doesn’t say. That’s what motivates the narrative. He is in this
painful condition where at some level he does know what’s happening, but
he hasn’t quite brought it to the front. And he has a certain amount of
skill in trying to persuade himself that it’s not there. He’s articulate
and intelligent enough to do quite a good self-deception job.
GS You talk about the language of self-deception. That is a language
that is developed with all your main narrator figures. It particularly
revolves around the fallibility of memory. Your characters seem to
forget and remember at their own convenience or they remember things in
the wrong context or they remember one event elided with another. What
is involved is a process of conscious or unconscious evasion. How
knowing would you say this is?
KI Knowing on their part?
GS Yes.
KI At some level they have to know what they have to avoid and that
determines the routes they take through memory, and through the past.
There’s no coincidence that they’re usually worrying over the past.
They’re worrying because they sense there isn’t something quite right
there. But of course memory is this terribly treacherous terrain, the
very ambiguities of memory go to feed self-deception. And so quite
often, we have situations where the license of the person to keep
inventing versions of what happened in the past is rapidly beginning to
run out. The results of one’s life, the accountability of one’s life is
beginning to catch up.
GS After Stevens has visited Miss Kenton, the former housekeeper, he
goes to sit by the sea and cries. This is a kind of facing up to
himself, a kind of coming clean, but perhaps also a moment of another
kind of dignity. There is a dignity that goes with the recognition of
loss and failure. A dignity way beyond Stevens’s scheme of things, and
yet he acquires it.
KI Yes.
GS Painfully.
KI It’s the dignity of being human, of being honest. I suppose, with
Stevens and with the painter, Ono, in the last book, that would be the
appeal I would make on their behalf. Yes, they’re often pompous and
despicable. They have contributed to rather ugly causes. If there is any
plea on their behalf, it is that they have some sense of dignity as
human beings, that ultimately there is something heroic about coming to
terms with very painful truths about yourself.
GS You seem to have quite a complicated view of dignity. There is a kind
of dignity in the process of writing itself. One could say that your own
style has its dignity. I wonder how much you think that for the artist
or the writer there is a perennial problem, which is not unlike
Stevens’s. There is an inherent dignity; grace in art itself; yet,
when it becomes involved in big affairs, politics and so on, this can be
both an extension of the sphere of art and very ensnaring. Ono, in An
Artist of the Floating World, has been an artist in a very pure sense.
The ‘floating world’ is all about beauty and transience, pure art. It’s
when he puts his talent in the service of politics, that everything goes
wrong in his life. Was he wrong to have done that? Is it bad for art to
be put in the service of politics? Is it right that art should concern
itself with social and political things?
KI It’s right that artists always have to ask themselves these
questions, all the time. A writer, and artists in general, occupy a very
particular and crucial role in society. The question isn’t, “should they
or should they not?” It’s always, “to what extent?” What is appropriate
in any given context? I think this changes with time, depending upon
what country you’re in, or which sector of society you occupy. It’s a
question that artists and writers have to ask every day of their lives.
Obviously, it isn’t good enough to just ponder and sit on the fence
forever. There has to come a point when you say, “No matter the
imperfections of a particular cause, it has to be supported because the
alternatives are disastrous.” The difficulty is judging when. There is
something about the act of writing novels in particular, which makes it
appropriate to actually defer the moment of commitment to quite a late
point. The nature of what a novel is means that it’s very unequipped for
front line campaigning. If you take issue with certain legislation
that’s being debated, you’re better off writing letters to the press,
writing articles in the media. The strength of the novel is that it gets
read at a deeper level; it gets read over a long stretch of time by
generations with a future. There is something about the form of a novel
that makes it appropriate to political debate at a more fundamental,
deeper, more universal level. I’ve been involved in certain campaigns
about homelessness but I’ve never brought any of that into my novel
writing.
GS Are you writing another novel?
KI I’m trying to get going. I’ve got books out of the library. It takes
me a long, long time to start writing the actual drafts. The actual
writing of the words, I can do in under a year, but the background work
takes a long time. Getting myself familiar with the territory I’m going
to enter. I have to more or less know what my themes are, what the
emphasis will be in the book, I have to know about the characters….
GS Before you even put pen to paper.
KI Yes, I’m a very cautious writer in that sense. I can’t do the
business of shoving a blank piece of paper in the typewriter and having
a brain-storming session to see what comes out. I have to have a very
clear map next to me.
GS Do you find that in practice you actually adhere to your plan?
KI Yes. More and more. Less so for my first novel. One of the lessons I
tried to teach myself between my first and second novel was thematic
discipline. However attractive a certain plot development, or idea may
be that you stumble across in the process of writing, if it’s not going
to serve the overall architecture, you must leave it, and keep pursuing
what you wish to pursue. I had the experience in my first novel of
having certain things upstage the subjects I really wanted to explore.
But now I’m beginning to crave the brilliant messiness that certain
writers can achieve through, I suspect, not sticking to their map.
GS From following their noses.
KI I have these two god-like figures in my reading experience: Chekhov
and Dostoevsky. So far, in my writing career, I’ve aspired more to the
Chekhov: the spare and the precise, the carefully, controlled tone. But
I do sometimes envy the utter mess, the chaos of Dostoevsky. He does
reach some things that you can’t reach in any other way than by doing
that.
GS You can’t reach it by a plan.
KI Yes, there is something in that messiness itself that has great
value. Life is messy. I sometimes wonder, should books be so neat,
well-formed? Is it praise to say that book is beautifully structured? Is
it a criticism to say that bits of the book don’t hang together?
GS I think it’s a matter of how it stays or doesn’t stay with the
reader.
KI I feel like a change. There’s another side of my writing self that I
need to explore: the messy, chaotic, undisciplined side. The undignified
side.

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[Source](http://www.nytimes.com/1989/07/02/magazine/the-joys-of-victimhood.html?pagewanted=2&pagewanted=all "Permalink to THE JOYS OF VICTIMHOOD - NYTimes.com")
A SHAME THERE ISN'T A MA-chine, the sociological equivalent of a
seismograph, that registers fundamental shifts in social attitudes and
concerns. In the absence of such a machine, we all have to operate with
our own often rather primitive social radar, taking our signals where we
find them. When one's dentist, for example, begins to say ''pasta''
instead of spaghetti or noodles, one knows that the interest in cookery
has fully swept the middle classes. When one sees Mafia men jogging and
worrying about their cholesterol, one knows that anxiety about health
really is endemic. What began as a fad becomes a trend, which becomes a
shift, which finally becomes a serious change in the way we live and
think about ourselves.
# THE JOYS OF VICTIMHOOD - NYTimes.com
My own fairly low-voltage radar has been pinging away for some while on
another such shift, and last summer, while I was watching the Democratic
National Convention on television, it began to bleep furiously in my
mind. The noise could no longer be avoided when, at the moment that Ann
Richards, the Texas State Treasurer, completed her strong keynote
speech, the commentator on the television network I was watching
remarked (as near as I can recall), ''Ann Richards is a divorced mother
of four who has undergone rehabilitation for an alcohol problem.''
Earlier in the campaign, Kitty Dukakis had announced that she had
undergone treatment for an addiction she had to diet pills. During his
speech at the convention, Jesse Jackson, in speaking of his own origins,
declared that he was an illegitimate child, and then he wove a speech
around the metaphor of the Democratic Party being a quilt both made by
and supplying warmth to all those elements in American life - minority
groups, homosexuals, American Indians (or Native Americans, as they're
now known), welfare families, and many others - who, in Mr. Jackson's
reading, were America's victims. Eight and even four years earlier, the
Democratic Party had advertised itself as the party of concern. Last
summer, though, the Democratic Party seemed to have cut out the
middleman and gone from ''caring persons'' straight to victims. The
logic of the convention seemed to call for Michael Dukakis, on the night
of his nomination, to arrive in an iron lung and announce that he was a
lesbian mother.
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Victims have never been in short supply in the world, but the rush to
identify oneself as a victim is rather a new feature of modern life. Why
this should be so isn't very complicated: to position oneself as a
victim is to position oneself for sympathy, special treatment, even
victory. It's not only individuals who benefit. In international
politics, one sees the deliberate strategy of positioning for victimhood
played out in the Middle East. Although Israel is a country of fewer
than four million Jewish people surrounded by Arab nations numbering
some 200 million people, very few of whom mean the Israelis well, the
Arabs have somehow been able to make themselves - or at least the
Palestinians as their representatives - seem the great victims in the
Middle East. Every time a woman or a small child is injured in the
organized riots known as the intifada - one might ask why small children
are allowed anywhere near such danger - the victimhood of the
Palestinians is reinforced and their cause, as victims, made all the
stronger.
Edition: [U.S.][4] / [Global][8]
Gandhi was the great teacher of the art of victimhood, of setting one's
victimization on full public display. Part of the genius of the Rev. Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. was to recognize the value of Gandhi's lessons
for the American civil rights movement, and most especially the lesson
of nonviolent resistance, which not only highlights victimhood but gives
it, in a good cause, a genuinely moral aura. Their moral and physical
courage lent civil rights workers in the South an appeal that was
irresistible to all but the most hard-hearted of segregationists.
Americans, all of whose families began in this country as immigrants,
have a built-in tradition of having known victimhood, at least
historically, and hence a strong tendency toward sympathy for victims.
Search All NYTimes.com
Yet it was the civil rights movement, by my reckoning, that changed the
tenor, the quality, the very nature of victimhood in the United States.
I happened to be living in the South in the early 1960's, working as a
director of the antipoverty program in Little Rock, Ark., while the
civil rights movement was under way in full earnest. What I saw was a
number of bad laws called into question and ultimately removed by acts
of courage and wise restraint on the part of the victims of those laws.
One really had to have nailed shut the shutters to one's heart not to
have been moved by the spectacle of men and women risking everything to
gain only what in fairness was coming to them. It was immensely
impressive, on every level. Why? Because the early civil rights
movement's appeal was unmistakably not to the guilt but to the
conscience of the nation.
![New York Times][9]
An appeal to conscience is an appeal to one's ethical nature, to one's
sense of fair play; it is fundamentally an appeal to act upon the best
that is in one. An appeal to guilt is almost entirely negative; rather
than awaken the best in one, it reminds one what a dog one is.
Conscience seeks its outlet in action, or right conduct; guilt seeks
assuagement, or to find a way to be let off the hook.
## [Magazine][10]
The civil rights movement, like a spiritual oil spill, left a vast
residue of guilt in its wake. Suddenly, if you were white you couldn't
possibly be in the right. Such civil rights figures as Stokely
Carmichael and H. Rap Brown - and not they alone -were endlessly
reminding everyone that their forebears were brought to this country
against their will in chains by our forebears. (That my forebears
themselves fled a 25-year conscription in the czar's army and your
forebears fled the peril of another potato famine was judged beside the
point.) This abundant stirring up of guilt may have produced little in
the way of direct social change, but it did without doubt strike its
target - so profoundly that social scientists began to write about a
''culture of guilt.'' The guilt that was loosed, moreover, was of a kind
that had no outlet. What are you supposed to do, after all, if someone
blames you for slavery, a hideous institution, to be sure, but one
defunct for more than a century? Say you are sorry it ever happened?
Should you clear your throat and announce that there are historical
reasons for some of these things?
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And yet if you couldn't fight 'em, you could, spiritually at any rate,
attempt to join 'em. The most efficient way to do so was not to deny the
claims of militant blacks but instead set out claims of your own to
victimhood alongside theirs. One saw this happen straightaway with the
student protest movement of the late 1960's and early 1970's. Many
students of those days not only claimed victimhood but claimed it
precisely on the black model. Students were powerless, they said, they
were exploited. Powerless, exploited, thoroughly alienated. Those were
the claims of one group after another - 60's students, feminists,
homosexuals, Vietnam veterans, the handicapped, even artists. Yea,
verily, they would all overcome, except over whom? Who was left to be
overcome? It soon began to seem as if there wasn't anyone in American
life who couldn't find grounds for claiming to be a victim.
# THE JOYS OF VICTIMHOOD
Small wonder, too, for victimhood has not only its privileges but its
pleasures. To begin with, it allows one to save one's greatest sympathy
for that most sympathetic of characters -oneself. Of the various kinds
and degrees of pity, easily the most vigilant is self-pity. To stake out
one's own territory as a victim, or member of a victim group, also
allows one to cut the moral ground out from under others who make an
appeal on the basis of their victimhood - to go off singing, as it were,
''You've got your troubles, I've got mine.''
###### By Joseph Epstein; Joseph Epstein's most recent book is ''Partial Payments.''
THE PLEASURES OF VICTIM-hood include imbuing one's life with a sense of
drama. The drama of daily life is greatly heightened if one feels that
society is organized against one.
###### Published: July 2, 1989
To feel oneself excluded and set apart is no longer obviously or even
necessarily a bad thing. A victim cannot properly be thought bourgeois
or middle-class in any significant way, which in some circles is itself
meritorious. Excluded, set apart, alienated, the victim begins to sound
like no one so much as the modern artist.
A SHAME THERE ISN'T A MA-chine, the sociological equivalent of a seismograph, that registers fundamental shifts in social attitudes and concerns. In the absence of such a machine, we all have to operate with our own often rather primitive social radar, taking our signals where we find them. When one's dentist, for example, begins to say ''pasta'' instead of spaghetti or noodles, one knows that the interest in cookery has fully swept the middle classes. When one sees Mafia men jogging and worrying about their cholesterol, one knows that anxiety about health really is endemic. What began as a fad becomes a trend, which becomes a shift, which finally becomes a serious change in the way we live and think about ourselves.
Artists have for some while now liked to think of themselves as victims.
Whole books - usually overwrought, rather boring books - have been
written about the alienation of the artist in modern society. The bill
of complaint states that the artist is undervalued, underappreciated -
like the soft drink Dr Pepper in an old television commercial, so
misunderstood. Best-selling novelists are driven in limousines to give
lectures whose main message is that the artist in America has no place
to rest his head. Painters with serious real estate holdings rant
against a vile and philistine coun-try. Artists meanwhile maintain
permanent victim status, which, it is understood, no public recognition
or financial success can ever hope to diminish.
My own fairly low-voltage radar has been pinging away for some while on another such shift, and last summer, while I was watching the Democratic National Convention on television, it began to bleep furiously in my mind. The noise could no longer be avoided when, at the moment that Ann Richards, the Texas State Treasurer, completed her strong keynote speech, the commentator on the television network I was watching remarked (as near as I can recall), ''Ann Richards is a divorced mother of four who has undergone rehabilitation for an alcohol problem.'' Earlier in the campaign, Kitty Dukakis had announced that she had undergone treatment for an addiction she had to diet pills. During his speech at the convention, Jesse Jackson, in speaking of his own origins, declared that he was an illegitimate child, and then he wove a speech around the metaphor of the Democratic Party being a quilt both made by and supplying warmth to all those elements in American life - minority groups, homosexuals, American Indians (or Native Americans, as they're now known), welfare families, and many others - who, in Mr. Jackson's reading, were America's victims. Eight and even four years earlier, the Democratic Party had advertised itself as the party of concern. Last summer, though, the Democratic Party seemed to have cut out the middleman and gone from ''caring persons'' straight to victims. The logic of the convention seemed to call for Michael Dukakis, on the night of his nomination, to arrive in an iron lung and announce that he was a lesbian mother.
Like other victim groups, artists can be exceedingly touchy. I once sat
in a room where grants in the arts were being discussed, and I had the
temerity to wonder aloud about the usefulness of a series of grants to
support places where writers might meet to discuss their own and one
another's work. Did writers truly need such institutions, I asked, being
in the trade some years myself and never having felt the need of them.
In response, a rather famous novelist replied with a lengthy exegesis on
the loneliness of the writer who spends months, often years on the same
project, filled with doubt, encouraged by no one, stirred only by the
passion to create something that no one may eventually want. . . . Did
she, I wondered (this time to myself), show slides with that talk? It
reminded me of H. L. Mencken's remark that whenever he heard writers
complain about the loneliness of their work he recommended that they
spend a few days on the assembly line, where they would have plenty of
opportunities for camaraderie with their mates.
Victims have never been in short supply in the world, but the rush to identify oneself as a victim is rather a new feature of modern life. Why this should be so isn't very complicated: to position oneself as a victim is to position oneself for sympathy, special treatment, even victory. It's not only individuals who benefit. In international politics, one sees the deliberate strategy of positioning for victimhood played out in the Middle East. Although Israel is a country of fewer than four million Jewish people surrounded by Arab nations numbering some 200 million people, very few of whom mean the Israelis well, the Arabs have somehow been able to make themselves - or at least the Palestinians as their representatives - seem the great victims in the Middle East. Every time a woman or a small child is injured in the organized riots known as the intifada - one might ask why small children are allowed anywhere near such danger - the victimhood of the Palestinians is reinforced and their cause, as victims, made all the stronger.
Sometimes it must be difficult for the spokesmen for victims to keep up
the anger - Jesse Jackson in an expensive suit, Gloria Steinem at a
socialite party at the New York Public Library - but, whether simulated
or real, the note of outrage always seems to be there when they need it.
A victim, especially a professional victim, must at all times be angry,
suspicious, above all progress-denying. He or she is ever on the lookout
for that touch of racism, sexism, or homophobia that might show up in a
stray opinion, an odd locution, an uninformed misnomer. With victims
everywhere, life becomes a minefield in a cow pasture - no matter where
you step, you are in trouble.
Gandhi was the great teacher of the art of victimhood, of setting one's victimization on full public display. Part of the genius of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was to recognize the value of Gandhi's lessons for the American civil rights movement, and most especially the lesson of nonviolent resistance, which not only highlights victimhood but gives it, in a good cause, a genuinely moral aura. Their moral and physical courage lent civil rights workers in the South an appeal that was irresistible to all but the most hard-hearted of segregationists. Americans, all of whose families began in this country as immigrants, have a built-in tradition of having known victimhood, at least historically, and hence a strong tendency toward sympathy for victims.
As if all this isn't nervous-making enough, there has come into being a
large number of people, many of them in universities, who, if not
victims themselves, wish to speak for victims or rouse other people to a
sense of their injury as victims. They are the intellectual equivalent
of ambulance chasers.
Yet it was the civil rights movement, by my reckoning, that changed the tenor, the quality, the very nature of victimhood in the United States. I happened to be living in the South in the early 1960's, working as a director of the antipoverty program in Little Rock, Ark., while the civil rights movement was under way in full earnest. What I saw was a number of bad laws called into question and ultimately removed by acts of courage and wise restraint on the part of the victims of those laws. One really had to have nailed shut the shutters to one's heart not to have been moved by the spectacle of men and women risking everything to gain only what in fairness was coming to them. It was immensely impressive, on every level. Why? Because the early civil rights movement's appeal was unmistakably not to the guilt but to the conscience of the nation.
Perhaps the best place to see the traffic of victims and ambulance
chasers in full flow is in the contemporary university. I don't think
it's stretching things to say that nowadays if you cannot declare victim
status, or find some way to align yourself with putative victims, in the
contemporary university you don't figure to have much standing.
Victimisme, to Frenchify the condition, is very much where the action is
in universities. Women's centers, African-American studies programs,
student gay and lesbian programs, and those ultimate intellectual
ambulance chasers, academic Marxists, all hammer cheerfully away at
revealing what a perfect hell life has been, and continues to be, for
almost everyone in the world. And yet they all seem so happy in their
work: the young man wearing a smile and a black T-shirt with the pink
triangle that Hitler forced homosexuals under the Nazis to wear; the
young female professor and her graduate student sharing an intimate
scornful laugh at the hopeless sexist assumptions of an older male
professor; the recently tenured Marxist theorist in the black leather
jacket and Bertolt Brecht haircut. Happy victims all.
An appeal to conscience is an appeal to one's ethical nature, to one's sense of fair play; it is fundamentally an appeal to act upon the best that is in one. An appeal to guilt is almost entirely negative; rather than awaken the best in one, it reminds one what a dog one is. Conscience seeks its outlet in action, or right conduct; guilt seeks assuagement, or to find a way to be let off the hook.
One might conceivably be a victim if one works in a coal mine or a steel
mill or in the fields as a sharecropper, but no one who works as a
teacher in a university, or for that matter is a student there, is a
victim. To have a teaching job in a university is to work roughly seven
months a year in a generally Edenic setting at intellectual tasks
largely of one's own choosing. Relativity of relativities, a victim
among university teachers is someone who isn't permitted to teach the
Shakespeare course, or who feels he has stupid students, or whose office
is drafty, or who doesn't get tenure (which is lifetime security in the
job) and therefore must find another job within (usually) the next 16
months. These are not exactly the kinds of problem faced by, say, boat
people fleeing Cambodia.
The civil rights movement, like a spiritual oil spill, left a vast residue of guilt in its wake. Suddenly, if you were white you couldn't possibly be in the right. Such civil rights figures as Stokely Carmichael and H. Rap Brown - and not they alone -were endlessly reminding everyone that their forebears were brought to this country against their will in chains by our forebears. (That my forebears themselves fled a 25-year conscription in the czar's army and your forebears fled the peril of another potato famine was judged beside the point.) This abundant stirring up of guilt may have produced little in the way of direct social change, but it did without doubt strike its target - so profoundly that social scientists began to write about a ''culture of guilt.'' The guilt that was loosed, moreover, was of a kind that had no outlet. What are you supposed to do, after all, if someone blames you for slavery, a hideous institution, to be sure, but one defunct for more than a century? Say you are sorry it ever happened? Should you clear your throat and announce that there are historical reasons for some of these things?
Yet an increasing number of university teachers nowadays teach one or
another branch of victimology -what might not unfairly be called Victim
Lit. The more prestige-laden the school, the more victimological studies
are likely to be a strong component in its curriculum.
''Unfortunately,'' writes a black Harvard graduate named Christopher H.
Foreman Jr. in a letter to The New Republic about ethnic sensitivity
training at Harvard, ''the psychological comfort of being simultaneously
privileged and oppressed seems too enticing for many people to forgo.''
Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford and other only scarcely less august
institutions compete among themselves lest they be caught without a
goodly supply of angry teachers of victimological subjects. Irony of
ironies, nuttiness of nuttinesses, the scene thus presented is that of
the fortunate teaching the privileged that the world is by and large
divided between the oppressed and the oppressors, victims and
executioners, and that the former are inevitably morally superior. As a
tuition-paying parent, I used sometimes to think, writing out those
heavy checks to universities, that the only true victims in this entire
arrangement were those of us who helped to pay for it all.
And yet if you couldn't fight 'em, you could, spiritually at any rate, attempt to join 'em. The most efficient way to do so was not to deny the claims of militant blacks but instead set out claims of your own to victimhood alongside theirs. One saw this happen straightaway with the student protest movement of the late 1960's and early 1970's. Many students of those days not only claimed victimhood but claimed it precisely on the black model. Students were powerless, they said, they were exploited. Powerless, exploited, thoroughly alienated. Those were the claims of one group after another - 60's students, feminists, homosexuals, Vietnam veterans, the handicapped, even artists. Yea, verily, they would all overcome, except over whom? Who was left to be overcome? It soon began to seem as if there wasn't anyone in American life who couldn't find grounds for claiming to be a victim.
Such a situation could never have come about without certain fundamental
confusions having been firmly established, and these begin with language
itself. Victims have traditionally been minority groups, but in fact
women, who in the United States are a slight majority, have been deemed
victims, whereas the Jews and the Chinese in America, though clearly
minorities (and vastly less numerous than blacks or Hispanic people),
are not usually counted as victims and thus rarely get included in
affirmative action or other quota favoritism programs. A victim, then,
is someone who insistently declares himself a victim.
Small wonder, too, for victimhood has not only its privileges but its pleasures. To begin with, it allows one to save one's greatest sympathy for that most sympathetic of characters -oneself. Of the various kinds and degrees of pity, easily the most vigilant is self-pity. To stake out one's own territory as a victim, or member of a victim group, also allows one to cut the moral ground out from under others who make an appeal on the basis of their victimhood - to go off singing, as it were, ''You've got your troubles, I've got mine.''
People who count and call themselves victims never blame themselves for
their condition. They therefore have to find enemies. Forces high and
low block their progress: society is organized against them; history is
not on their side; the malevolent, who are always in ample supply,
conspire to keep them down. Asked by an interviewer in Time magazine
about violence in schools that are all-black -that is, violence by
blacks against blacks - the novelist Toni Morrison replies, ''None of
those things can take place, you know, without the complicity of the
people who run the schools and the city.''
THE PLEASURES OF VICTIM-hood include imbuing one's life with a sense of drama. The drama of daily life is greatly heightened if one feels that society is organized against one.
For victimhood to be taken seriously, there has to be a core of
substance to the victim's complaints. Blacks were discriminated against,
de facto and de jure, in this country for a very long while. Women were
paid lower wages for doing the same work as men and they were
indubitably excluded from jobs they were perfectly capable of
performing. Mexican-Americans often worked under deplorable conditions.
A case for victimhood cannot simply be invented, though some people try.
I recall some time ago watching a television program that stressed the
problems of the unwed teen-age father. Greatly gripping though they
doubtless were, I remember muttering to myself: the unwed father,
another victim group - who'd've thunk it?
To feel oneself excluded and set apart is no longer obviously or even necessarily a bad thing. A victim cannot properly be thought bourgeois or middle-class in any significant way, which in some circles is itself meritorious. Excluded, set apart, alienated, the victim begins to sound like no one so much as the modern artist.
Even when there is a core of substance to the victims' complaints, they
tend to push it. A subtle shift takes place, and suddenly the victim is
no longer making appeals but demands. The terms lady and homosexual are
out; it's only woman and gay that are acceptable. Public pronouncements
from victims take on a slightly menacing quality, in which, somehow, the
line between victim and bully seems to blur. At some point, one gets the
sense that the victims actively enjoy their victimhood - enjoy the moral
vantage point it gives them to tell off the rest of the country, to
overstate their case, to absolve themselves from all responsibility for
their condition, to ask the impossible and then demonstrate outrage when
it isn't delivered.
Artists have for some while now liked to think of themselves as victims. Whole books - usually overwrought, rather boring books - have been written about the alienation of the artist in modern society. The bill of complaint states that the artist is undervalued, underappreciated - like the soft drink Dr Pepper in an old television commercial, so misunderstood. Best-selling novelists are driven in limousines to give lectures whose main message is that the artist in America has no place to rest his head. Painters with serious real estate holdings rant against a vile and philistine coun-try. Artists meanwhile maintain permanent victim status, which, it is understood, no public recognition or financial success can ever hope to diminish.
Apparently, the victims of our day rather like this state of affairs. I
say ''apparently'' because it has been many years since any of the
victim groups have shown anything approaching a genuine interest in
organization. Instead, they seem to function chiefly as loose
repositories for the expression of resentment. A strong sign of this is
the striking absence of leadership in any of the major victim movements
of the time: black, women, gay. The Rainbow Coalition - it might more
accurately be called the Victim Coalition - isn't cutting it. Like the
wild rookie pitcher in the movie ''Bull Durham,'' the various victim
groups are ''all over the place'': blaming racism for black teen-age
crime, male psychology for capitalism, the Government for AIDS. There is
something fundamentally unserious about all of this. Whereas once the
idea was to shake off victimhood through courage and organization,
nowadays the idea seems to be to enjoy it for its emotional effects.
Like other victim groups, artists can be exceedingly touchy. I once sat in a room where grants in the arts were being discussed, and I had the temerity to wonder aloud about the usefulness of a series of grants to support places where writers might meet to discuss their own and one another's work. Did writers truly need such institutions, I asked, being in the trade some years myself and never having felt the need of them. In response, a rather famous novelist replied with a lengthy exegesis on the loneliness of the writer who spends months, often years on the same project, filled with doubt, encouraged by no one, stirred only by the passion to create something that no one may eventually want. . . . Did she, I wondered (this time to myself), show slides with that talk? It reminded me of H. L. Mencken's remark that whenever he heard writers complain about the loneliness of their work he recommended that they spend a few days on the assembly line, where they would have plenty of opportunities for camaraderie with their mates.
Not many other people seem to be enjoying it, though. The reserves of
guilt that victims once felt they could draw on now appear all but
depleted. White ethnics and others have begun to feel themselves the
victims of affirmative action and other favoritism programs, so that we
have the phenomenon of victims created by victims. Those whom the
victims have been attacking all these years are themselves beginning to
feel like victims. It's a real growth industry. When I recently read, in
The Times Literary Supplement of London, at the close of a review of two
books on adultery, that ''Adultery is built upon, even aimed at, female
unhappiness,'' I wondered if the T.L.S. would one day soon carry an
angry answering letter from a man representing a society of cuckolds.
Sometimes it must be difficult for the spokesmen for victims to keep up the anger - Jesse Jackson in an expensive suit, Gloria Steinem at a socialite party at the New York Public Library - but, whether simulated or real, the note of outrage always seems to be there when they need it. A victim, especially a professional victim, must at all times be angry, suspicious, above all progress-denying. He or she is ever on the lookout for that touch of racism, sexism, or homophobia that might show up in a stray opinion, an odd locution, an uninformed misnomer. With victims everywhere, life becomes a minefield in a cow pasture - no matter where you step, you are in trouble.
Just the other day I heard a fresh euphemism for what used to be known
as ''the handicapped.'' Take a moment to breathe in deeply before I set
it out on the page, for I think it might take your breath away. The
handicapped, in this new euphemism, are ''the physically challenged.''
Somebody, obviously, has been working overtime.
As if all this isn't nervous-making enough, there has come into being a large number of people, many of them in universities, who, if not victims themselves, wish to speak for victims or rouse other people to a sense of their injury as victims. They are the intellectual equivalent of ambulance chasers.
Yet I cannot help think of the contempt in which that euphemism is
likely to be held by the people I know who are seriously handicapped.
These people do not in the least think themselves physically challenged;
instead, they know that they have to undergo endless small and
infuriating difficulties that the rest of us have been spared. They have
been kicked, very hard, in the stomach by fate. Without denying or
attempting to disguise the effects of this devastating kick, they
neither whine about it nor protest it.
Perhaps the best place to see the traffic of victims and ambulance chasers in full flow is in the contemporary university. I don't think it's stretching things to say that nowadays if you cannot declare victim status, or find some way to align yourself with putative victims, in the contemporary university you don't figure to have much standing. Victimisme, to Frenchify the condition, is very much where the action is in universities. Women's centers, African-American studies programs, student gay and lesbian programs, and those ultimate intellectual ambulance chasers, academic Marxists, all hammer cheerfully away at revealing what a perfect hell life has been, and continues to be, for almost everyone in the world. And yet they all seem so happy in their work: the young man wearing a smile and a black T-shirt with the pink triangle that Hitler forced homosexuals under the Nazis to wear; the young female professor and her graduate student sharing an intimate scornful laugh at the hopeless sexist assumptions of an older male professor; the recently tenured Marxist theorist in the black leather jacket and Bertolt Brecht haircut. Happy victims all.
One might conceivably be a victim if one works in a coal mine or a steel mill or in the fields as a sharecropper, but no one who works as a teacher in a university, or for that matter is a student there, is a victim. To have a teaching job in a university is to work roughly seven months a year in a generally Edenic setting at intellectual tasks largely of one's own choosing. Relativity of relativities, a victim among university teachers is someone who isn't permitted to teach the Shakespeare course, or who feels he has stupid students, or whose office is drafty, or who doesn't get tenure (which is lifetime security in the job) and therefore must find another job within (usually) the next 16 months. These are not exactly the kinds of problem faced by, say, boat people fleeing Cambodia.
Yet an increasing number of university teachers nowadays teach one or another branch of victimology -what might not unfairly be called Victim Lit. The more prestige-laden the school, the more victimological studies are likely to be a strong component in its curriculum. ''Unfortunately,'' writes a black Harvard graduate named Christopher H. Foreman Jr. in a letter to The New Republic about ethnic sensitivity training at Harvard, ''the psychological comfort of being simultaneously privileged and oppressed seems too enticing for many people to forgo.'' Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford and other only scarcely less august institutions compete among themselves lest they be caught without a goodly supply of angry teachers of victimological subjects. Irony of ironies, nuttiness of nuttinesses, the scene thus presented is that of the fortunate teaching the privileged that the world is by and large divided between the oppressed and the oppressors, victims and executioners, and that the former are inevitably morally superior. As a tuition-paying parent, I used sometimes to think, writing out those heavy checks to universities, that the only true victims in this entire arrangement were those of us who helped to pay for it all.
Such a situation could never have come about without certain fundamental confusions having been firmly established, and these begin with language itself. Victims have traditionally been minority groups, but in fact women, who in the United States are a slight majority, have been deemed victims, whereas the Jews and the Chinese in America, though clearly minorities (and vastly less numerous than blacks or Hispanic people), are not usually counted as victims and thus rarely get included in affirmative action or other quota favoritism programs. A victim, then, is someone who insistently declares himself a victim.
People who count and call themselves victims never blame themselves for their condition. They therefore have to find enemies. Forces high and low block their progress: society is organized against them; history is not on their side; the malevolent, who are always in ample supply, conspire to keep them down. Asked by an interviewer in Time magazine about violence in schools that are all-black -that is, violence by blacks against blacks - the novelist Toni Morrison replies, ''None of those things can take place, you know, without the complicity of the people who run the schools and the city.''
For victimhood to be taken seriously, there has to be a core of substance to the victim's complaints. Blacks were discriminated against, de facto and de jure, in this country for a very long while. Women were paid lower wages for doing the same work as men and they were indubitably excluded from jobs they were perfectly capable of performing. Mexican-Americans often worked under deplorable conditions. A case for victimhood cannot simply be invented, though some people try. I recall some time ago watching a television program that stressed the problems of the unwed teen-age father. Greatly gripping though they doubtless were, I remember muttering to myself: the unwed father, another victim group - who'd've thunk it?
Even when there is a core of substance to the victims' complaints, they tend to push it. A subtle shift takes place, and suddenly the victim is no longer making appeals but demands. The terms lady and homosexual are out; it's only woman and gay that are acceptable. Public pronouncements from victims take on a slightly menacing quality, in which, somehow, the line between victim and bully seems to blur. At some point, one gets the sense that the victims actively enjoy their victimhood - enjoy the moral vantage point it gives them to tell off the rest of the country, to overstate their case, to absolve themselves from all responsibility for their condition, to ask the impossible and then demonstrate outrage when it isn't delivered.
Apparently, the victims of our day rather like this state of affairs. I say ''apparently'' because it has been many years since any of the victim groups have shown anything approaching a genuine interest in organization. Instead, they seem to function chiefly as loose repositories for the expression of resentment. A strong sign of this is the striking absence of leadership in any of the major victim movements of the time: black, women, gay. The Rainbow Coalition - it might more accurately be called the Victim Coalition - isn't cutting it. Like the wild rookie pitcher in the movie ''Bull Durham,'' the various victim groups are ''all over the place'': blaming racism for black teen-age crime, male psychology for capitalism, the Government for AIDS. There is something fundamentally unserious about all of this. Whereas once the idea was to shake off victimhood through courage and organization, nowadays the idea seems to be to enjoy it for its emotional effects.
Not many other people seem to be enjoying it, though. The reserves of guilt that victims once felt they could draw on now appear all but depleted. White ethnics and others have begun to feel themselves the victims of affirmative action and other favoritism programs, so that we have the phenomenon of victims created by victims. Those whom the victims have been attacking all these years are themselves beginning to feel like victims. It's a real growth industry. When I recently read, in The Times Literary Supplement of London, at the close of a review of two books on adultery, that ''Adultery is built upon, even aimed at, female unhappiness,'' I wondered if the T.L.S. would one day soon carry an angry answering letter from a man representing a society of cuckolds.
Just the other day I heard a fresh euphemism for what used to be known as ''the handicapped.'' Take a moment to breathe in deeply before I set it out on the page, for I think it might take your breath away. The handicapped, in this new euphemism, are ''the physically challenged.'' Somebody, obviously, has been working overtime.
Yet I cannot help think of the contempt in which that euphemism is likely to be held by the people I know who are seriously handicapped. These people do not in the least think themselves physically challenged; instead, they know that they have to undergo endless small and infuriating difficulties that the rest of us have been spared. They have been kicked, very hard, in the stomach by fate. Without denying or attempting to disguise the effects of this devastating kick, they neither whine about it nor protest it.
As it happens, these people are all intensely political (they are liberals and conservatives), but the last thing I can imagine any of them doing is using his handicap for political advantage or for that matter in any public way either to define or advance himself. Because they neither act as nor think of themselves as victims, in the end they seem, far from victimized, immensely dignified and quietly heroic. Although it was never their intention to do so, they make the contemporary joys of victimhood -the assumption of moral superiority, the spread of guilt and bad feeling, the shifting of responsibility for one's own destiny onto others or the ''system'' or society at large - seem rather dreary, if not pathetic. They also remind the rest of us that the most efficient way to become truly a victim is to think and act like a victim.
As it happens, these people are all intensely political (they are
liberals and conservatives), but the last thing I can imagine any of
them doing is using his handicap for political advantage or for that
matter in any public way either to define or advance himself. Because
they neither act as nor think of themselves as victims, in the end they
seem, far from victimized, immensely dignified and quietly heroic.
Although it was never their intention to do so, they make the
contemporary joys of victimhood -the assumption of moral superiority,
the spread of guilt and bad feeling, the shifting of responsibility for
one's own destiny onto others or the ''system'' or society at large -
seem rather dreary, if not pathetic. They also remind the rest of us
that the most efficient way to become truly a victim is to think and act
like a victim.
drawing
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[Source](http://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/24/business/all-next-inc-s-plant-lacks-is-orders.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm "Permalink to All Next Inc.'s Plant Lacks Is Orders - NYTimes.com")
# All Next Inc.'s Plant Lacks Is Orders - NYTimes.com
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# All Next Inc.'s Plant Lacks Is Orders
###### By JOHN MARKOFF, Special to The New York Times
###### Published: December 24, 1990
**FREMONT, Calif.— ** In a cavernous factory here, Next Inc.'s flashy jet-black work stations began creating their own offspring this month. The highly automated factory, where robots controlled by Next computers do almost all of the assembling, is a model for improving American competitiveness, many experts say. But the ambitious manufacturing experiment at Silicon Valley's most visible start-up company may be wasted unless its new second generation of computers gains wider acceptance.
"There is a tremendous amount of thought that has gone into their manufacturing process -- it's one of the most automated factories I've ever seen," said Michael Gibson, vice president of the Juran Institute, a Wilton, Conn., manufacturing consulting firm. "But the proof of the pudding will be in high-volume production."
Automated manufacturing is not unusual in Silicon Valley, but those who have visited the $10 million computer factory say that Next has done the best job in the United States computer industry of achieving high quality, low cost and flexibility, as well as linking research and development to manufacturing.
It has accomplished this feat in several important ways. One is the extent to which the plant is automated. It requires only five manual-assembly workers and fewer than a hundred other workers, mostly engineers, for a line capable of producing $1 billion of computers a year. The assembly-line workers are needed only to install a few parts, like the microprocessor. By contrast, Next's main competitor, Sun Microsystems Inc., has only begun to automate and still does much assembly with manual labor.
To visit the factory is to glimpse the high-tech asceticism of Steven P. Jobs, Next's founder, chairman and chief executive, who is fond of buying multimillion-dollar residences, yet has lived in rooms with barely any furniture.
In place of workers along the assembly line are robots, each controlled by an earlier-generation Next work station. These work stations are far easier to program for various assembly tasks than are conventional systems, which rely on a central minicomputer to direct all the robots. With the work stations so easy to reprogram, the changes can be made on the fly, and as a result, all four of Next's new computer models can be assembled without stopping the line. Monitoring Product Quality
The work stations on the assembly line have another important advantage over traditional manufacturing systems: They double as monitors of the quality of the products coming off the line. Using a camera, the system records images of circuit boards moving along the assembly line and feeds the data to a special chip in the work station that analyzes the images for defects.
The robots also illustrate Mr. Jobs's exacting attention to detail: Next asked the Japanese and American makers of the robots to remove their logos and painted the machines gray simply to preserve a uniform appearance.
Another manufacturing advantage is that unlike the Apple Macintosh factory down the road in Fremont and most other plants, the Next factory has no warehouse. Parts arrive at the last minute and go directly into production. What is more, Next uses only 40 suppliers, compared with hundreds for some conventional factories. High-Speed Data Network
The Next factory is also connected by a high-speed data network to the company's headquarters across San Francisco Bay in Redwood City. Computer designers at headquarters can therefore reprogram the robots on the line to assemble experimental circuit boards; they need not manufacture them on a separate prototype line. By allowing the factory people to participate in the design of future products, the often-difficult transition from prototype assembly to full-scale manufacturing is mostly eliminated.
And because software is simpler to write for the Next work stations than for other work stations, technicians in the factory can easily modify programs that control each robot. Many of Next's technicians have advanced degrees and are paid 30 to 40 percent more on average than their counterparts elsewhere, Next officials say.
"It's extraordinary what they've been able to do with a very small group of programmers," said Dr. Martin B. Piszczalski, a manufacturing researcher at the Yankee Group, a market research and consulting organization. Dr. Piszczalski contrasted the dozen programmers who have developed the software for the Next factory with the hundreds of programmers doing a similar task at an I.B.M. factory he visited. Investment in Factory Questioned
But he questioned whether the investment made sense without higher volumes. "Right now it is a little like having a battleship when a 40-foot sailboat would do," he said.
Indeed, critics of Mr. Jobs, who is 35 years old, say he is wasting his money by building a factory at this point. With the small number of machines he is building today, it would have been cheaper simply to contract with other companies to assemble the computers, they say.
But Dr. Piszczalski said the initial high investment in an automated factory may permit Next more control of its expenses while volumes are low.
And backers of Mr. Jobs note that he has a long-term strategy in which manufacturing makes sense. "Steve will be in business for the long pull," said H. Ross Perot, one of Next's investors. "He's not in business for six months." Strategic Advantage Claimed
Next's products have yet to gain a significant share of the marketplace, but Mr. Jobs, who has a reputation for painstaking attention to detail and a passion for the importance of manufacturing, argues that by linking this flexible factory more closely than ever to Next's research and development process, his company can gain a strategic advantage in the industry that will eventually pay off in larger sales.
In Mr. Jobs's view, the factory testifies to the fact that the United States can still compete as both a low-cost and a world-class manufacturer when it sets its mind to the task.
Mr. Jobs said he modeled the factory after those of Japanese corporations like the Sony Corporation that have perfected a design-for-manufacturing strategy that transforms the factory floor into an extension of the company research and development center. Proof of Manufacturing Prowess
Proof of Next's manufacturing prowess came when Sony, which supplies monitors to the computer maker, was able to save $20 a monitor by purchasing the electronics boards for the monitor from Next rather than making them in Japan, said Randy Heffner, Next's vice president of manufacturing.
Next, now four years old, has failed to meet early expectations. The first work station, called the Next Computer System, was acquired only by loyal software developers and universities; other potential customers were deterred by its price, lack of a floppy disk drive and enough software, slow erasable optical disk drive, and incompatibility with most common desktop computers. Sales through Next's retail distributor, Businessland Inc., were weak. The first computer sold fewer than 10,000 machines by some estimates. Four New Computers
Yet with a family of four new computers -- including the souped-up and slimmed-down entry-level Nextstation, which is drawing positive initial reactions -- Mr. Jobs is once again enthusiastically preaching his computer gospel. The Nextstation, about three times faster than Apple's top-of-the-line IIfx and slightly faster than Sun Microsystems' Sparcstation I, is selling for $4,995, significantly less expensive than its competitors. The new machine also has an I.B.M.-compatible floppy disk drive and a hard disk, and the optical disk is available as an option.
Although some in the industry dismiss it, the company does have the support of a number of influential industry executives who think the computer business has been stalled by primitive MS-DOS operating-system standards that are now more than a decade old. Mr. Jobs's machines, which use an advanced version of Unix, offer a path to break the industry out of its malaise, they say. At the September product introduction, both the Lotus Development Corporation and the Wordperfect Corporation enthusiastically endorsed the new Next products and introduced software packages for the computer. In 1991, I.B.M. plans to offer Next's software on its RS/6000 and PS/2 models.
"I feel weird saying nice things about Next because nobody else is," said Stewart Alsop, publisher of PC Letter, a computer industry newsletter. "But I'm betting that he succeeds. Next is farther ahead in software than any of the Unix vendors or Windows."
"The world badly needs an alternative," said Mitchell D. Kapor, the founder of Lotus who has since started the software company On Technology Inc. "I hope Steve makes it." Hopes and Visions
But hope may not be enough, and Mr. Jobs's window of opportunity could soon close. Many in the industry who heard the keynote speech of William Gates, chairman of the Microsoft Corporation, at the Comdex computer show in November noted that his vision for the I.B.M.-compatible personal computer world in 1994 or 1995 appears to be remarkably similar to what Next is offering today. These observers were referring to the ease with which Next work stations communicate and their ability to search quickly through vast amounts of data.
Some industry analysts said Next needs to sell 25,000 computers next year just to survive. Mr. Jobs said he could sell far more than that. The company now describes the market for Next computers as professional workers including financial analysts, lawyers and executives.
Photos: The highly automated factory for Next Inc. in Fremont, Calif., is capable of producing $1 billion worth of computers a year. It requires only five manual-assembly workers and fewer than a hundred other workers (Terrence McCarthy for The New York Times) (pg. 29); The $10 million computer factory in Fremont, Calif., where robots do almost all of the assembly-line work. (Terrence McCarthy for The New York Times) (pg. 33)
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[69]: http://up.nytimes.com/?d=0//&t=&s=0&ui=&r=&u=www.nytimes.com%2F1990%2F12%2F24%2Fbusiness%2Fall-next-inc-s-plant-lacks-is-orders.html
**FREMONT, Calif.—** In a cavernous factory here, Next Inc.'s flashy
jet-black work stations began creating their own offspring this month.
The highly automated factory, where robots controlled by Next computers
do almost all of the assembling, is a model for improving American
competitiveness, many experts say. But the ambitious manufacturing
experiment at Silicon Valley's most visible start-up company may be
wasted unless its new second generation of computers gains wider
acceptance.
"There is a tremendous amount of thought that has gone into their
manufacturing process -- it's one of the most automated factories I've
ever seen," said Michael Gibson, vice president of the Juran Institute,
a Wilton, Conn., manufacturing consulting firm. "But the proof of the
pudding will be in high-volume production."
Automated manufacturing is not unusual in Silicon Valley, but those who
have visited the $10 million computer factory say that Next has done the
best job in the United States computer industry of achieving high
quality, low cost and flexibility, as well as linking research and
development to manufacturing.
It has accomplished this feat in several important ways. One is the
extent to which the plant is automated. It requires only five
manual-assembly workers and fewer than a hundred other workers, mostly
engineers, for a line capable of producing $1 billion of computers a
year. The assembly-line workers are needed only to install a few parts,
like the microprocessor. By contrast, Next's main competitor, Sun
Microsystems Inc., has only begun to automate and still does much
assembly with manual labor.
To visit the factory is to glimpse the high-tech asceticism of Steven P.
Jobs, Next's founder, chairman and chief executive, who is fond of
buying multimillion-dollar residences, yet has lived in rooms with
barely any furniture.
In place of workers along the assembly line are robots, each controlled
by an earlier-generation Next work station. These work stations are far
easier to program for various assembly tasks than are conventional
systems, which rely on a central minicomputer to direct all the robots.
With the work stations so easy to reprogram, the changes can be made on
the fly, and as a result, all four of Next's new computer models can be
assembled without stopping the line. Monitoring Product Quality
The work stations on the assembly line have another important advantage
over traditional manufacturing systems: They double as monitors of the
quality of the products coming off the line. Using a camera, the system
records images of circuit boards moving along the assembly line and
feeds the data to a special chip in the work station that analyzes the
images for defects.
The robots also illustrate Mr. Jobs's exacting attention to detail: Next
asked the Japanese and American makers of the robots to remove their
logos and painted the machines gray simply to preserve a uniform
appearance.
Another manufacturing advantage is that unlike the Apple Macintosh
factory down the road in Fremont and most other plants, the Next factory
has no warehouse. Parts arrive at the last minute and go directly into
production. What is more, Next uses only 40 suppliers, compared with
hundreds for some conventional factories. High-Speed Data Network
The Next factory is also connected by a high-speed data network to the
company's headquarters across San Francisco Bay in Redwood City.
Computer designers at headquarters can therefore reprogram the robots on
the line to assemble experimental circuit boards; they need not
manufacture them on a separate prototype line. By allowing the factory
people to participate in the design of future products, the
often-difficult transition from prototype assembly to full-scale
manufacturing is mostly eliminated.
And because software is simpler to write for the Next work stations than
for other work stations, technicians in the factory can easily modify
programs that control each robot. Many of Next's technicians have
advanced degrees and are paid 30 to 40 percent more on average than
their counterparts elsewhere, Next officials say.
"It's extraordinary what they've been able to do with a very small group
of programmers," said Dr. Martin B. Piszczalski, a manufacturing
researcher at the Yankee Group, a market research and consulting
organization. Dr. Piszczalski contrasted the dozen programmers who have
developed the software for the Next factory with the hundreds of
programmers doing a similar task at an I.B.M. factory he visited.
Investment in Factory Questioned
But he questioned whether the investment made sense without higher
volumes. "Right now it is a little like having a battleship when a
40-foot sailboat would do," he said.
Indeed, critics of Mr. Jobs, who is 35 years old, say he is wasting his
money by building a factory at this point. With the small number of
machines he is building today, it would have been cheaper simply to
contract with other companies to assemble the computers, they say.
But Dr. Piszczalski said the initial high investment in an automated
factory may permit Next more control of its expenses while volumes are
low.
And backers of Mr. Jobs note that he has a long-term strategy in which
manufacturing makes sense. "Steve will be in business for the long
pull," said H. Ross Perot, one of Next's investors. "He's not in
business for six months." Strategic Advantage Claimed
Next's products have yet to gain a significant share of the marketplace,
but Mr. Jobs, who has a reputation for painstaking attention to detail
and a passion for the importance of manufacturing, argues that by
linking this flexible factory more closely than ever to Next's research
and development process, his company can gain a strategic advantage in
the industry that will eventually pay off in larger sales.
In Mr. Jobs's view, the factory testifies to the fact that the United
States can still compete as both a low-cost and a world-class
manufacturer when it sets its mind to the task.
Mr. Jobs said he modeled the factory after those of Japanese
corporations like the Sony Corporation that have perfected a
design-for-manufacturing strategy that transforms the factory floor into
an extension of the company research and development center. Proof of
Manufacturing Prowess
Proof of Next's manufacturing prowess came when Sony, which supplies
monitors to the computer maker, was able to save $20 a monitor by
purchasing the electronics boards for the monitor from Next rather than
making them in Japan, said Randy Heffner, Next's vice president of
manufacturing.
Next, now four years old, has failed to meet early expectations. The
first work station, called the Next Computer System, was acquired only
by loyal software developers and universities; other potential customers
were deterred by its price, lack of a floppy disk drive and enough
software, slow erasable optical disk drive, and incompatibility with
most common desktop computers. Sales through Next's retail distributor,
Businessland Inc., were weak. The first computer sold fewer than 10,000
machines by some estimates. Four New Computers
Yet with a family of four new computers -- including the souped-up and
slimmed-down entry-level Nextstation, which is drawing positive initial
reactions -- Mr. Jobs is once again enthusiastically preaching his
computer gospel. The Nextstation, about three times faster than Apple's
top-of-the-line IIfx and slightly faster than Sun Microsystems'
Sparcstation I, is selling for $4,995, significantly less expensive than
its competitors. The new machine also has an I.B.M.-compatible floppy
disk drive and a hard disk, and the optical disk is available as an
option.
Although some in the industry dismiss it, the company does have the
support of a number of influential industry executives who think the
computer business has been stalled by primitive MS-DOS operating-system
standards that are now more than a decade old. Mr. Jobs's machines,
which use an advanced version of Unix, offer a path to break the
industry out of its malaise, they say. At the September product
introduction, both the Lotus Development Corporation and the Wordperfect
Corporation enthusiastically endorsed the new Next products and
introduced software packages for the computer. In 1991, I.B.M. plans to
offer Next's software on its RS/6000 and PS/2 models.
"I feel weird saying nice things about Next because nobody else is,"
said Stewart Alsop, publisher of PC Letter, a computer industry
newsletter. "But I'm betting that he succeeds. Next is farther ahead in
software than any of the Unix vendors or Windows."
"The world badly needs an alternative," said Mitchell D. Kapor, the
founder of Lotus who has since started the software company On
Technology Inc. "I hope Steve makes it." Hopes and Visions
But hope may not be enough, and Mr. Jobs's window of opportunity could
soon close. Many in the industry who heard the keynote speech of William
Gates, chairman of the Microsoft Corporation, at the Comdex computer
show in November noted that his vision for the I.B.M.-compatible
personal computer world in 1994 or 1995 appears to be remarkably similar
to what Next is offering today. These observers were referring to the
ease with which Next work stations communicate and their ability to
search quickly through vast amounts of data.
Some industry analysts said Next needs to sell 25,000 computers next
year just to survive. Mr. Jobs said he could sell far more than that.
The company now describes the market for Next computers as professional
workers including financial analysts, lawyers and executives.
Photos: The highly automated factory for Next Inc. in Fremont, Calif.,
is capable of producing $1 billion worth of computers a year. It
requires only five manual-assembly workers and fewer than a hundred
other workers (Terrence McCarthy for The New York Times) (pg. 29); The
$10 million computer factory in Fremont, Calif., where robots do almost
all of the assembly-line work. (Terrence McCarthy for The New York
Times) (pg. 33)

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created_at: '2012-11-04T12:05:40.000Z'
title: The Science of Scientific Writing (1990)
url: http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/the-science-of-scientific-writing
author: wamatt
points: 42
story_text: ''
comment_text:
num_comments: 9
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[Source](https://readtext.org/hamradio/cordless-telephones-privacy/ "Permalink to ")
This file may also be known as wombat file \#01, or wombat01 if I ever
bother to type/write something else. \\/\\/ombat (originally published
in Popular Communications, June 1991)
This file is a work of fiction. Everything in it is fictitious. Any
resemblance to persons living or dead, magazines, companies, products,
trademarks, copyrights, or anything else in the real world is purely
coincidental, and you should see a shrink about your over-active
imagination if you think otherwise.
A Boon to Eavesdroppers, Cordless Phones Are as Private as Conversing in
an Elevator. You’ll Never Guess Who’s Listening In\!
OK, so it took a while, but now you’ve accepted the fact that your
cellular phone conversations can easily be overheard by the public at
large. Now you can begin wrestling with the notion that there are many
more scanners in the hands of the public that can listen to cordless
telephone calls than can tune in on cellulars.
Monitoring cellular calls requires the listener to own equipment capable
of picking up signals in the 800 to 900 MHz frequency range. Not all
scanners can receive this band, so unless the scannist wants to purchase
a new scanner, or a converter covering those frequencies, \[see February
and March issues of Radio-Electronics for a converter project
-\\/\\/ombat-\] they can’t tune in on cellular calls. And let’s not
forget that it’s a violation of federal law to monitor cellular
conversations. Not that there seems to be any practical way yet devised
to enforce that law, nor does the U.S. Dept. of Justice appear to be
especially interested in trying.
On the other hand, cordless telephones operate with their base pedestals
in the 46 MHz band, and the handsets in the 49 MHz band. Virtually every
scanner ever built can pick up these frequencies with ease. Cordless
telephones are usually presented to the public as having ranges up to
1,000 feet, but that requires some clarification. That distance
represents the reliable two-way communications range that can be
expected between the handset and the pedestal, given their small
inefficient receivers and antennas, and that they are both being used at
ground level.
In fact, even given those conditions, 1,000 feet of range is far more
coverage than necessary for the average apartment or house and yard.
Consider that 1,000 feet is a big distance. It’s almost one-fifth of a
mile. It’s the height of a 100-story skyscraper. The Chrysler Building,
third tallest building in New York City, is about 1,000 feet high, so is
the First Interstate World Center, tallest building in Los Angeles. When
someone uses a sensitive scanner connected to an efficient antenna
mounted above ground level, the signals from the average 46 MHz cordless
phone base pedestal unit (which broadcasts both sides of all
conversations) can often be monitored from several miles away, and in
all directions.
Some deluxe cordless phones are a snoop’s delight. Like the beautiful
Panasonic KX-T4000. Its range is described as “up to 1,000 feet from the
phone’s base,” however the manufacturer brags that “range may exceed
1,000 feet depending upon operating conditions.” When you stop to think
about it, what at first seems like a boast is really a somewhat harmless
sounding way of warning you that someone could monitor the unit from an
unspecified great distance. In fact, just about all standard cordless
phones exceed their rated ranges. But the KX-T4000’s main bonus and
challenge to the snoop is that it can operate on ten different
frequencies instead of only a single frequency. The BellSouth Products
Southwind 170 cordless phone suggests a range of up to 1,500 feet.,
depending on location and operating conditions. The ten-channel Sony
SPP-1508 has a built-in auto-scan system to select the clearest
channels.
What with millions of scanners in the hands of the public, a cordless
telephone in an urban or suburban area could easily be within receiving
range of dozens of persons owning receiving equipment capable of
listening to every word said over that phone. Likewise, every urban or
suburban scanner owner is most likely to be within receiving range of
dozens of cordless telephones. Many persons with scanners program their
units to search between 46.50 and 47.00 MHz and do listen. Some do it
casually to pass the time of day, others have specific purposes.
## Not Covered
The Electronic communications Privacy Act of 1986, the federal law that
supposedly confers privacy to cellular conversations, doesn’t cover
cordless telephones.
A year and a half ago, the U.S. Supreme Court wasn’t interested in
reviewing a lower court decision that held that some fellow didn’t have
any “justifiable expectation of privacy” for their cordless phone
conversations. It seems that man’s conversations regarding suspected
criminal activity were overheard and the police were alerted, which
caused the police to investigate further and arrest the man after
recording more of his cordless phone conversations.
Yet, even though (at this point) there is no federal law against
monitoring cordless phones, there are several states with laws that
restrict the practice. In New York State, for instance, a state
appellate court ruled that New York’s eavesdropping law prohibits the
government from intentionally tuning in on such conversations.
California recently passed the Cordless and Cellular Radio Telephone
Privacy Act (amending Sections 632, 633, 633.5, 634, and 635 of the
Penal Code, amending Section 1 of Chapter 909 of the Statutes of 1985,
and adding Section 632.6 to the Penal Code) promising to expose an
eavesdropper to a $2,500 fine and a year in jail in the event he or she
gets caught. Gathering the evidence for a conviction may be easier said
than done.
There may be other areas with similar local restrictions, these are two
that I know about. Obviously listening to cordless phones in major
population areas is sufficiently popular to have inspired such
legislative action. There are, however, reported to be efforts afoot to
pass federal legislation forbidding the monitoring of cordless phones as
well as baby monitors. Such a law wouldn’t stop monitoring, nor could it
be enforced. It would be, like the ECPA, just one more piece of glitzy
junk legislation to hoodwink the public and let the ACLU and
well-meaning, know-nothing, starry-eyed privacy advocates think they’ve
accomplished something of genuine value.
## Strange Calls
On April 20th, The Press Democrat, of Santa Rosa, Calif., reported that
a scanner owner had contacted the police in the community of Rohnert
Park to say that he was overhearing cordless phone conversations
concerning sales of illegal drugs. The monitor, code named Zorro by the
police, turned over thirteen tapes of such conversations made over a two
month period.
Police took along a marijuana-sniffing cocker spaniel when they showed
up at the suspect’s home with a warrant one morning. Identifying
themselves, they broke down the door and found a man and a woman, each
with a loaded gun. They also found a large amount of cash, some cocaine,
marijuana, marijuana plants, and assorted marijuana cultivating
paraphernalia.
In another example, Newsday, of Long Island, New York, reported in its
February 10, 1991 edition another tale of beneficial cordless phone
monitoring.
It seems a scanner owner heard a cordless phone conversation between
three youths who were planning a burglary. First, they said that they
were going to buy a handheld CB radio so they could take it with them in
order to keep in contact with the driver of the car, which had a mobile
CB rig installed. Then, they were going to head over to break into a
building that had, until recently, been a nightclub.
The scanner owner notified Suffolk County Police, which staked out the
closed building. At 10:30 p.m., the youths appeared and forced their way
into the premises. They were immediately arrested and charged with
third-degree burglary and possession of burglary tools.
I selected these two examples from the many similar I have on hand
because they happen to have taken place in states where local laws seek
to restrict the monitoring of cordless telephones.
Most of the calls people monitor aren’t criminal in nature, but are
apparently interesting enough to have attracted a growing audience of
recreational monitors easily willing to live with accusations of their
being unethical, nosy, busybodies, snoops, voyeurs, and worse.
As it turns out, recreational monitors are undoubtedly the most harmless
persons listening in on cordless phone calls.
## They're All Ears
A newsletter called Privacy Today, is put out by Murray Associates, one
of the more innovative counterintelligence consultants serving business
and government. This publication noted (as reported in the mass media)
that IRS investigators may use scanners to eavesdrop on suspected tax
cheats as they chat on their cordless phones.
But, the publication points out that accountants who work out of their
homes could turn up as prime targets of such monitoring. Their clients
might not even realize the accountant is using a cordless phone, and
therefore assume that they have some degree of privacy. One accountant
suspected of preparing fraudulent tax returns could, if monitored, allow
the IRS to collect evidence on all clients.
Furthermore, Privacy Today notes that this has ramifications on the IRS
snitch program (recycle tax cheats for cash). They say, “Millions of
scanner owners who previously listened to cordless phones for amusement
will now be able to do it for profit. Any incriminating conversation
they record can be parlayed into cash, legally.”
In fact, in addition to various federal agents and police, there are
private detectives, industrial spies, insurance investigators, spurned
lovers, scam artists, burglars, blackmailers, and various others who
regularly tune in with deliberate intent on cordless telephones in the
pursuit of their respective callings. If you saw the film Midnight Run,
starring Robert DeNiro, you’ll recall that the bounty hunter was shown
using a handheld scanner to eavesdrop on a cordless phone during his
effort to track down a fugitive bail jumper.
No, cordless phone monitoring isn’t primarily being done for sport by
the incurably nosy for the enjoyment and entertainment it can provide.
The cordless telephone has been recognized as a viable and even
important tool for gathering intelligence.
## Intelligence Gathering?
In fact, there are differences between cordless and cellular monitoring.
When a cellular call is monitored, it’s quite difficult to ascertain the
identity of the caller, and impossible to select a particular person for
surveillance. These are mostly portable and mobile units that are
passing through from other areas, and they’re operation on hundreds of
different channels. Sometimes the calls cut off right in the middle of a
conversation. The opportunities for ever hearing the same caller more
than once are very slim.
Not so with cordless phones. These units are operated at permanent
locations in homes, offices, factories, stores. Most models transmit on
only one or two specific frequencies, and while a few models can switch
to any of ten channels, that’s still a lot fewer places to have to look
around than scanning through the hundreds of cellular frequencies. So,
with only minor effort, it’s possible to know which cordless phones in
receiving range are set up to operate on which channels. And you
continually hear the same cordless phone users over a long period of
time. They soon become very familiar voices; you might even recognize
some of them.
The diligent, professional intelligence gatherer creates a logbook for
each of the frequencies in the band, then logs in each cordless phone
normally monitored using that frequency. Then, each time a transmission
is logged from a particular phone, bits and scraps of information can be
added to create a growing dossier picked up from conversations. With
very little real effort, it doesn’t take long to assemble an amazing
amount of information on all cordless phones within monitoring range.
Think about the information that is inadvertently passed in phone calls
that would go into such files. Personal names (first and last) which are
easily obtained from salutations, calls, and messages left on other
people’s answering machines; phone numbers (that people give for
callbacks or leave on answering machines); addresses; credit card
numbers; salary and employment information; discussions of health and
legal problems; details of legit and shady business deals; even
information on the hours when people are normally not at home or will be
out of town, and much more, including the most intimate details of their
personal lives. Anybody who stops for a moment to think about all the
things they say over a cordless telephone over a period of a week or two
should seriously wonder how many of those things they’d prefer not be
transmitted by shortwave radio throughout their neighborhood.
Cordless phone users don’t realize that these units don’t only broadcast
the phone calls themselves. Most units start transmitting the instant
the handset is activated, and will broadcast anything said to others in
the room before and while the phone is being dialed, and while the
called number is ringing. Using a DTMF tone decoder, it’s even possible
to learn the numbers being called from cordless phones. \[see the
classified ads in Popular Communications for DTMF decoders; also for
books on how to modify scanners to restore the cellular frequencies, and
more\! -\\/\\/ombat-\]
One private investigator told me that part of a infidelity surveillance
he just completed included a scanner tuned to someone’s cordless phone
channel, feeding a voice-operated (VOX) tape recorder. Every day he
picked up the old tape and started a new one. The scanner was located in
a rented room several blocks away from the person whose conversations
were being recorded.
## Hardware Topics
Many people are under the impression that the security features included
in some cordless phones provide some sort of voice scrambling or
privacy. They don’t do anything of the kind. All they do is permit the
user to set up a code so that only his or her own handset can access the
pedestal portion of his own cordless phone system. In these days of too
few cordless channels, neighbors have sometimes ended up with cordless
phones operating on the identical frequency pair. That created the
problem of making a call and accessing your neighbor’s dial tone instead
of your own, or your handset ringing when calls come in on your
neighbor’s phone.
The FCC is going to require this feature on all new cordless telephones,
but it still won’t mean that the two neighbors will be able to talk on
their identical-channel cordless phones simultaneously. Such situations
allow neighbors to eavesdrop on one another’s calls, even without owning
a scanner. The FCC is attempting to relieve the common problem of too
many cordless phones having to share the ten existing base channels in
the 46.50 to 47.00 MHz band. These frequencies are 46.61, 46.63, 46.67,
46.71, 46.73, 46.77, 46.83, 46.87, 46.93, and 46.97 MHz. Each of these
frequencies are paired with a 49 MHz handset channel.
Manufacturers are going to be permitted to produce cordless phones with
channels positions in between the existing ten frequency pairs. Cordless
phones will now be permitted operation on these additional offset
frequencies to relieve the congestion.
A date for implementing these new frequencies hasn’t yet been announced,
but it should be soon. The FCC feels that the life expectancy of a
cordless phone isn’t very long, and they’d like these new phones to be
ready to go on line as the existing phones are ready to be replaced. The
new model phones are going to have to also incorporate the dial tone
access security encoding feature I mentioned.
Let’s hope the new batch of cordless phones is less quirky than some of
the ones now in use. We understand that the transmitters of some
cordless phones switch on for brief periods whenever they detect a sharp
increase in the sound level, such as laughter, shouting, or a loud voice
on the extension phone.
Privacy Today tells of the cordless phone that refused to die. They
noted it was reported that the General Electric System 10 cordless
phone, Model 2-9675, just won’t shut up. It broadcasts phone calls even
when they are made using regular extension phones\!
As for receiving all of these signals, any scanner will do. Antennas
that do an especially good job include 50 MHz (6 meter ham band)
omnidirectional types, or (secondarily) any scanner antenna designed for
reception in the 30 to 50 MHz range.
There is a dipole available that is specifically tuned for the 46 to 49
MHz band, which you can string up in your attic (or back yard) and get a
good shot at all signals in the band. This comes with 50 ft. of RG-6
coaxial cable lead-in, plus a BNC connector for hooking to a scanner.
This cordless phone monitoring antenna is $49.95 (shipping included to
USA, add $5 to Canada) from the Cellular Security Group, 4 Gerring Road,
Gloucester, MA 01930. \[you can build one yourself for much less $; look
in the chapter on antennas in the ARRL Radio Amateur’s Handbook
-\\/\\/ombat-\]
The higher an antenna is mounted for this reception, the better the
range and reception quality, and the more phones will be heard.
## Zip The Lip
Once you understand the nature of cordless phoning, you should easily be
able to deal with these useful devices. Let’s face it, it isn’t really
absolutely necessary for all of your conversations to achieve complete
privacy. You are perfectly willing to relinquish expectations of
conversational privacy. You do it every time you converse in an
elevator, a restaurant, a store, a waiting room, a theatre, on the
street, etc. You take precautions not to say certain things at such
times, so you don’t feel that you are being threatened by having been
overheard. Think of speaking on a cordless phone as being in the same
category as if you were in a crowded elevator, and you’ll be just fine.
It’s only when a person subscribes to the completely erroneous notion
that a cordless phone is a secure communications device that any
problems could arise, or paranoia could set in.
Manufacturers don’t claim cordless phones offer any privacy. Frankly,
because they instill a false and misleading expectation of privacy, the
several well-intentioned but unenforceable local laws intended to
restrict cordless monitoring actually do more harm than good. The laws
serve no other purpose or practical function. It would be far better for
all concerned to simply publicize that cordless phones are an open line
for all to hear.
So, cordless phones must be used with the realization that there is no
reason to expect privacy. Not long ago, GTE Telephone Operations
Incorporated issued a notice to its subscribers under the headline
“Cordless Convenience May Warrant Caution.” Users were told to
“recognize that cordless messages are, in fact, open-air FM radio
transmissions. As such, they are subject to interception (without legal
constraint) by those with scanners and similar electronic gear…
Discretion should dictate the comparative advisability of hard-wired
phone use.”
Good advice. We might add that if you are using a cordless phone, you
don’t give out your last name, telephone number, address, any credit
card numbers, bank account numbers, charge account numbers, or discuss
any matters of a confidential nature. Moreover, it might be a good idea
to advise the other party on you call that the conversation is going
through a cordless phone.
Some people might not care, but others could find that their
conversations could put them in an unfortunate position. Harvard Law
School Professor Alan M. Dershowitz, writing on cordless phone snooping
in The Boston Globe (January 22, 1990), said, “The problem of the
non-secure cordless telephone will be particularly acute for
professionals, such as doctors, psychologists, lawyers, priests, and
financial advisors. Anyone who has an ethical obligation of
confidentiality should no longer conduct business over cordless phones,
unless they warn their confidants that they are risking privacy for
convenience.”
That’s more good advice. Not that the public will heed that advice.
People using cellulars have been given similar information many times
over, and somehow it doesn’t sink in. But you got the message, didn’t
you? Zip your lip when using any of these devices. And, if you’ve got a
scanner,you can tune in on everybody else blabbing their lives away, and
maybe even help the police catch drug dealers and other bad guys – well,
unless you live in California or some other place where the local laws
are more protective of cordless phone privacy than the federal courts
are.
That’s it. There wasn’t much high-tech intelligence there, but it was a
lot more readable than something copied out of The Bell System Technical
Journal, right?
Think about the implications: Someone who’d turn in their neighbours for
enjoying recreational chemicals would probably narc on phreaks, hackers,
anarchists or trashers as well. It isn’t just the FBI, Secret Service,
and cops you have to worry about – it’s the guy down the street with a
dozen antennas on his roof. The flip side is that if you knew someone
was listening in, you could have a lot of fun, like implicating your
enemies in child prostitution rings, or making up outrageous plots that
will cause the eavesdropper to sound like a paranoid conspiracy freak
when he she or it talks to the cops.
On the more, uh, active side, the potential for acquiring useful
information like long-distance codes is obvious. Other possibilities
will no doubt occur to you.
Cordless phones also have the potential to allow you to use someone’s
phone line without the hassles of alligator clips. With a bit of luck
you could buy a popular model of phone, then try various channels and
security codes until you get a dial tone. Since many phones have these
codes preset by the factory, one might have to capture the code for a
given system and play it back somehow to gain access. The ultimate would
be a 10 channel handset with the ability to capture and reproduce the
so-called security codes automatically.
This subject requires further research. Guess I’d better get a scanner.
Most short-wave receivers don’t go past 30 MHz, and they generally don’t
have FM demodulators. Looking in the Radio Shark catalog, any of their
scanners would do the job. Some scanners can be modified to restore
cellular coverage and increase the number of channels just by clipping
diodes. If you’re going to buy a scanner, you might as well get one of
those. The scanner modification books advertised in Pop Comm would help,
or check out Sterling’s article “Introduction to Radio
Telecommunications Interception” in Informatik \#01. He lists many
interesting frequencies, and has the following information on the Radio
Shark scanners:
Restoring cellular reception.
Some scanners have been blocked from receiving the cellular band. This
can be corrected. It started out with the Realistic PRO-2004 and the
PRO-34, and went to the PRO-2005. To restore cellular for the 2004, open
the radio and turn it upside down. Carefully remove the cover. Clip one
leg of D-513 to restore cellular frequencies. For the PRO-2005, \[and
for the PRO-2006 -\\/\\/ombat-\] the procedure is the same, except you
clip one leg of D-502 to restore cellular reception. On the PRO-34 and
PRO-37, Cut D11 to add 824-851 and 869-896 MHz bands with 30 kHz
spacing.
All these are described in great detail in the “Scanner Modification
Handbook” volumes I. and II. by Bill Cheek, both available from
Communications Electronics Inc. (313) 996-8888. They run about $18
apiece.
(reproduced from Informatik \#01, file 02)
- Author: Tom Kneitel, K2AES / Wombat / Popular Communications
- Original: <http://textfiles.com/hamradio/cordpriv.txt>

379
_stories/1991/11802952.md
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@ -19,279 +19,140 @@ _tags:
objectID: '11802952'
---
[Source](http://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/04/news/how-the-supermarket-tabloids-stay-out-of-court.html?smid=tw-share "Permalink to How the Supermarket Tabloids Stay Out of Court - NYTimes.com")
Every few months a Hollywood celebrity walks into Vincent Chieffo's law
office in Los Angeles, angrily waving a copy of one of the supermarket
tabloids, those weekly newspapers that offer readers a feast of gossip,
scandal and believe-it-or-not phenomena.
# How the Supermarket Tabloids Stay Out of Court - NYTimes.com
Asserting that an article is not true, the celebrity asks about suing
the newspaper. Mr. Chieffo, a veteran entertainment lawyer, usually
responds with what he calls "the facts of life" in the never-ending
battle between these publications and the famous people whose lives
provide the fodder for each week's blaring headlines.
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He tells the celebrity that the tabloid will aggressively fight back, so
the lawsuit will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and will probably
drag on for years. He emphasizes that in preparing their defense, the
tabloid's lawyers might be given legal permission to scrutinize the
celebrity's personal life.
Edition: [U.S.][4] / [Global][8]
And he points out that by law, the standard of libel for public figures
is high, making the case difficult to win. The celebrity will have to
prove "actual malice" -- that the tabloid was not just negligent, but
rather knew that the item was false and nonetheless displayed a reckless
disregard for the truth. Warnings Often Deter Lawsuits
Search All NYTimes.com
Such lawyers' warnings, which often deter lawsuits, reflect how
successful these newspapers have been at avoiding legal judgments.
![New York Times][9]
Even though newspapers like The National Enquirer, The Star and The
Globe regularly leave famous people fuming about what those people
consider to be lies, half-truths and innuendo, the tabloids face few
lawsuits and almost never lose trials.
## [News][10]
The Enquirer, which publishes about 3,600 stories a year and boasts a
circulation of about four million copies a week, is currently involved
in only two libel suits, said Paul Wolff, a lawyer for the newspaper
with the Washington law firm Williams & Connolly.
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Paul M. Levy, a lawyer at Deutsch, Levy & Engel in Chicago who
represents The Globe, said that in about 25 years of publication, there
had never been a legal judgment against his client in a celebrity
lawsuit. 'The Scorpion Defense'
# How the Supermarket Tabloids Stay Out of Court
Lawyers who have fought the publications say that by spending lavishly
to employ powerful law firms, these newspapers have built intimidating
reputations.
###### Published: January 4, 1991
"It's the scorpion defense: You don't attack a scorpion because you're
going to get stung," said Mr. Chieffo, a partner at Gipson, Hoffman &
Pancione who has sued tabloids about a dozen times. "It's very tough.
It's very difficult to prevail."
Every few months a Hollywood celebrity walks into Vincent Chieffo's law office in Los Angeles, angrily waving a copy of one of the supermarket tabloids, those weekly newspapers that offer readers a feast of gossip, scandal and believe-it-or-not phenomena.
These lawyers say that the case many celebrities cite as their
inspiration for suing the tabloids, the actress Carol Burnett's lawsuit
against The Enquirer, was an anomaly.
Asserting that an article is not true, the celebrity asks about suing the newspaper. Mr. Chieffo, a veteran entertainment lawyer, usually responds with what he calls "the facts of life" in the never-ending battle between these publications and the famous people whose lives provide the fodder for each week's blaring headlines.
Ms. Burnett contended that The Enquirer made up a 1976 article that
depicted her as intoxicated during an encounter at a restaurant with
former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger. The Enquirer wrote:
He tells the celebrity that the tabloid will aggressively fight back, so the lawsuit will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and will probably drag on for years. He emphasizes that in preparing their defense, the tabloid's lawyers might be given legal permission to scrutinize the celebrity's personal life.
"At a Washington restaurant, a boisterous Carol Burnett had a loud
argument with another diner, Henry Kissinger. She traipsed around the
place offering everyone a bite of her dessert. But Carol really raised
eyebrows when she accidentally knocked a glass of wine over one diner
and started giggling instead of apologizing."
And he points out that by law, the standard of libel for public figures is high, making the case difficult to win. The celebrity will have to prove "actual malice" -- that the tabloid was not just negligent, but rather knew that the item was false and nonetheless displayed a reckless disregard for the truth. Warnings Often Deter Lawsuits
A jury awarded Ms. Burnett $1.6 million, but that judgment was later
reduced to $200,000 after a number of appeals, and Ms. Burnett then
agreed to an unspecified out-of-court settlement with The Enquirer.
Damages Often Reduced
Such lawyers' warnings, which often deter lawsuits, reflect how successful these newspapers have been at avoiding legal judgments.
Even though newspapers like The National Enquirer, The Star and The Globe regularly leave famous people fuming about what those people consider to be lies, half-truths and innuendo, the tabloids face few lawsuits and almost never lose trials.
The Enquirer, which publishes about 3,600 stories a year and boasts a circulation of about four million copies a week, is currently involved in only two libel suits, said Paul Wolff, a lawyer for the newspaper with the Washington law firm Williams & Connolly.
Paul M. Levy, a lawyer at Deutsch, Levy & Engel in Chicago who represents The Globe, said that in about 25 years of publication, there had never been a legal judgment against his client in a celebrity lawsuit. 'The Scorpion Defense'
Lawyers who have fought the publications say that by spending lavishly to employ powerful law firms, these newspapers have built intimidating reputations.
"It's the scorpion defense: You don't attack a scorpion because you're going to get stung," said Mr. Chieffo, a partner at Gipson, Hoffman & Pancione who has sued tabloids about a dozen times. "It's very tough. It's very difficult to prevail."
These lawyers say that the case many celebrities cite as their inspiration for suing the tabloids, the actress Carol Burnett's lawsuit against The Enquirer, was an anomaly.
Ms. Burnett contended that The Enquirer made up a 1976 article that depicted her as intoxicated during an encounter at a restaurant with former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger. The Enquirer wrote:
"At a Washington restaurant, a boisterous Carol Burnett had a loud argument with another diner, Henry Kissinger. She traipsed around the place offering everyone a bite of her dessert. But Carol really raised eyebrows when she accidentally knocked a glass of wine over one diner and started giggling instead of apologizing."
A jury awarded Ms. Burnett $1.6 million, but that judgment was later reduced to $200,000 after a number of appeals, and Ms. Burnett then agreed to an unspecified out-of-court settlement with The Enquirer. Damages Often Reduced
John D. Forbess, a Los Angeles lawyer who has sued The Enquirer and The Star on behalf of clients like Cher, noted that the Burnett case symbolized another difficulty in suing such publications -- or, for that matter, any publication: Even if a plaintiff wins high damages, appeals courts tend to reduce the award.
John D. Forbess, a Los Angeles lawyer who has sued The Enquirer and The
Star on behalf of clients like Cher, noted that the Burnett case
symbolized another difficulty in suing such publications -- or, for that
matter, any publication: Even if a plaintiff wins high damages, appeals
courts tend to reduce the award.
For those who decide to pursue a case, the going can be rough.
The tabloids' lawyers, employing a defense strategy that is often used by daily newspapers and other publications in libel suits, usually file a barrage of motions in court that tend to delay cases and put pressure on the plaintiffs to settle.
As a result, very few lawsuits ever come to trial. Some end with a settlement that includes a printed retraction or an agreement that the newspaper will not write anything about the celebrity for a specified period.
Mr. Chieffo and Mr. Forbess said that nearly all of their lawsuits against the tabloids had ended in out-of-court settlements. Suit From Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor sued The Enquirer about three months ago for libel and defamation of character. She cited two articles, one that said she had brought liquor into her hospital room when she was ill and another that said she was suffering from lupus.
Neil Papiano, Ms. Taylor's lawyer, said The Enquirer had filed motions asserting that the complaint is insufficient, seeking to move the case from state to Federal court and requesting Ms. Taylor's medical records from the past 30 years.
"I think they'll do everything they can to drag this on for a while," said Mr. Papiano, a partner at Iverson, Yoakum, Papiano & Hatch in Los Angeles. "Their object is to drag their feet. Our's is to move forward."
But Mr. Wolff, who heads the litigation team for The Enquirer, said he does not try to delay cases.
Mr. Wolff said no one at Williams & Connolly had ever been disciplined by a judge for filing unnecessary motions or seeking unnecessary depositions in an Enquirer case. 'A Thorough Defense'
"Our strategy is to do the best possible job for our client," he said. "And that, of course, means litigating with all the resources necessary. We do what we need to do to win the case. We do not engage in overkill. We engage in a thorough defense of The Enquirer."
Mr. Wolff said that The Enquirer's success in avoiding legal judgments stems from its careful reporting and editing and its reliance on legal advice throughout the editorial process.
In addition to the three lawyers from Williams & Connolly who represent The Enquirer in litigation matters, a group of four lawyers from the firm reads nearly every article before publication. Other supermarket tabloids have similar policies.
Mr. Levy said lawyers who criticize the tabloids' legal tactics are making excuses for their own failures.
"Why haven't celebrities been more successful?" he asked. "We are talking about celebrities with great resources. The reason is that we must be doing something properly within the law, or else there would be more successes here, and there are none."
Photo: "You're going to get stung," Vincent Chieffo, a lawyer, said about suing supermarket tabloids. (Bart Bartholomew for The New York Times)
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The tabloids' lawyers, employing a defense strategy that is often used
by daily newspapers and other publications in libel suits, usually file
a barrage of motions in court that tend to delay cases and put pressure
on the plaintiffs to settle.
As a result, very few lawsuits ever come to trial. Some end with a
settlement that includes a printed retraction or an agreement that the
newspaper will not write anything about the celebrity for a specified
period.
Mr. Chieffo and Mr. Forbess said that nearly all of their lawsuits
against the tabloids had ended in out-of-court settlements. Suit From
Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor sued The Enquirer about three months ago for libel and
defamation of character. She cited two articles, one that said she had
brought liquor into her hospital room when she was ill and another that
said she was suffering from lupus.
Neil Papiano, Ms. Taylor's lawyer, said The Enquirer had filed motions
asserting that the complaint is insufficient, seeking to move the case
from state to Federal court and requesting Ms. Taylor's medical records
from the past 30 years.
"I think they'll do everything they can to drag this on for a while,"
said Mr. Papiano, a partner at Iverson, Yoakum, Papiano & Hatch in Los
Angeles. "Their object is to drag their feet. Our's is to move forward."
But Mr. Wolff, who heads the litigation team for The Enquirer, said he
does not try to delay cases.
Mr. Wolff said no one at Williams & Connolly had ever been disciplined
by a judge for filing unnecessary motions or seeking unnecessary
depositions in an Enquirer case. 'A Thorough Defense'
"Our strategy is to do the best possible job for our client," he said.
"And that, of course, means litigating with all the resources necessary.
We do what we need to do to win the case. We do not engage in overkill.
We engage in a thorough defense of The Enquirer."
Mr. Wolff said that The Enquirer's success in avoiding legal judgments
stems from its careful reporting and editing and its reliance on legal
advice throughout the editorial process.
In addition to the three lawyers from Williams & Connolly who represent
The Enquirer in litigation matters, a group of four lawyers from the
firm reads nearly every article before publication. Other supermarket
tabloids have similar policies.
Mr. Levy said lawyers who criticize the tabloids' legal tactics are
making excuses for their own failures.
"Why haven't celebrities been more successful?" he asked. "We are
talking about celebrities with great resources. The reason is that we
must be doing something properly within the law, or else there would be
more successes here, and there are none."
Photo: "You're going to get stung," Vincent Chieffo, a lawyer, said
about suing supermarket tabloids. (Bart Bartholomew for The New York
Times)

25
_stories/1991/8562358.md
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@ -1,25 +0,0 @@
---
created_at: '2014-11-05T15:54:59.000Z'
title: A Categorical Manifesto (1991) [pdf]
url: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.13.362&rep=rep1&type=pdf
author: pmoriarty
points: 44
story_text: ''
comment_text:
num_comments: 20
story_id:
story_title:
story_url:
parent_id:
created_at_i: 1415202899
_tags:
- story
- author_pmoriarty
- story_8562358
objectID: '8562358'
---
[Source](http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.13.362&rep=rep1&type=pdf "Permalink to ")

245
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@ -19,228 +19,23 @@ _tags:
objectID: '11278172'
---
[Source](http://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/30/nyregion/court-computer-says-all-hartford-is-dead.html "Permalink to Court Computer Says All Hartford Is Dead - NYTimes.com")
# Court Computer Says All Hartford Is Dead - NYTimes.com
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# Court Computer Says All Hartford Is Dead
###### Published: September 30, 1992
**HARTFORD, Sept. 29— ** Court officials have figured out why Hartford residents were excluded from Federal grand jury pools over the past three years: The computer that selected names thought everyone in the city was dead.
Federal District Court workers discovered the computer error while investigating why no Hartford residents had been on lists of prospective grand jurors.
The city's name had been listed in the wrong place on computer records, forcing the "d" at the end of "Hartford" into the column used to describe the status of prospective jurors. "D" stands for dead.
So every time the names of Hartford residents popped up for jury duty, the computer noted the deaths and declined to send them juror questionnaires, said Kevin Rowe, chief Federal clerk.
The problem came to light in a lawsuit challenging the racial makeup of the grand jury that indicted Luis Colon Osario, a defendant in the $7.1 million robbery of a Wells Fargo depot in West Hartford in 1983.
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[60]: http://up.nytimes.com/?d=0//&t=&s=0&ui=&r=&u=www.nytimes.com%2F1992%2F09%2F30%2Fnyregion%2Fcourt-computer-says-all-hartford-is-dead.html
**HARTFORD, Sept. 29—** Court officials have figured out why Hartford
residents were excluded from Federal grand jury pools over the past
three years: The computer that selected names thought everyone in the
city was dead.
Federal District Court workers discovered the computer error while
investigating why no Hartford residents had been on lists of prospective
grand jurors.
The city's name had been listed in the wrong place on computer records,
forcing the "d" at the end of "Hartford" into the column used to
describe the status of prospective jurors. "D" stands for dead.
So every time the names of Hartford residents popped up for jury duty,
the computer noted the deaths and declined to send them juror
questionnaires, said Kevin Rowe, chief Federal clerk.
The problem came to light in a lawsuit challenging the racial makeup of
the grand jury that indicted Luis Colon Osario, a defendant in the $7.1
million robbery of a Wells Fargo depot in West Hartford in 1983.

28
_stories/1992/14038211.md
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objectID: '14038211'
---
[Source](https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19930010781 "Permalink to ")
Abstract: Many types of paper documentation are employed on the
flight-deck. They range from a simple checklist card to a bulky Aircraft
Flight Manual (AFM). Some of these documentations have typographical and
graphical deficiencies; yet, many cockpit tasks such as conducting
checklists, way-point entry, limitations and performance calculations,
and many more, require the use of these documents. Moreover, during
emergency and abnormal situations, the flight crews' effectiveness in
combating the situation is highly dependent on such documentation;
accessing and reading procedures has a significant impact on flight
safety. Although flight-deck documentation are an important (and
sometimes critical) form of display in the modern cockpit, there is a
dearth of information on how to effectively design these displays. The
object of this report is to provide a summary of the available
literature regarding the design and typographical aspects of printed
matter. The report attempts 'to bridge' the gap between basic research
about typography, and the kind of information needed by designers of
flight-deck documentation. The report focuses on typographical factors
such as type-faces, character height, use of lower- and upper-case
characters, line length, and spacing. Some graphical aspects such as
layout, color coding, fonts, and character contrast are also discussed.
In addition, several aspects of cockpit reading conditions such as
glare, angular alignment, and paper quality are addressed. Finally, a
list of recommendations for the graphical design of flight-deck
documentation is provided.

25
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---
created_at: '2017-05-07T22:01:55.000Z'
title: A History of CLU – Barbara Liskov (1992) [pdf]
url: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download;jsessionid=F5D7C821199F22C5D30A51F155DB9D23?doi=10.1.1.46.9499&rep=rep1&type=pdf
author: tjalfi
points: 75
story_text:
comment_text:
num_comments: 8
story_id:
story_title:
story_url:
parent_id:
created_at_i: 1494194515
_tags:
- story
- author_tjalfi
- story_14287943
objectID: '14287943'
---
[Source](http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download;jsessionid=F5D7C821199F22C5D30A51F155DB9D23?doi=10.1.1.46.9499&rep=rep1&type=pdf "Permalink to ")

454
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objectID: '15350015'
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[Source](https://newrepublic.com/article/90898/shame-why-americans-should-be-wary-self-esteem "Permalink to ")
This distinction had a twofold effect: it robbed shame of its
transgressive dimension, now reserved for guilt alone, and it encouraged
a legalistic understanding of transgression itself. Piers and Singer
were quite explicit about the first of these effects: “Guilt anxiety
accompanies transgression; shame, failure.” The second implication
became unmistakable in Helen Merrell Lynd’s study *On Shame and the
Search for Identity,* which appeared in 1958. Elaborating on the
interpretation advanced by Piers and Singer, Lynd associated guilt not
simply with “transgression of prohibitions” but with “Violation of a
specific taboo,” a feeling therefore concentrated on “each separate,
discrete act.” In Lynd’s account, guilt moved away from its old
association with sin and came to be assimilated to the category of
crime—and finally to any kind of merely unconventional conduct. In an
older moral tradition, sin referred not only to violations of the moral
law, but also to a failure to keep faith with God. It referred not only
to specific actions, but also to a disposition of the will, a chronic
state of rebellion against God and the human condition. Lynd’s
secularized conception of guilt reduced it to the fear of punishment
that follows violation of community standards, which were themselves
trivialized and partially discredited as “taboos.”
Cultural anthropologists made guilt, the inner voice of conscience, seem
more weighty than shame; but “guilt feelings,” according to Lynd,
actually “result from efforts for social adjustment” and carry very
little “self reference.” Now it was shame that appeared more deeply
internalized. “The deepest shame is not shame in the eyes of others but
weakness in one’s own eyes.” Shame called one’s entire identity into
question, shattered “basic trust” in the world, and thus could “be said
to go deeper than guilt.” Shame was more disturbing than its cousin,
more deeply felt, more urgently in need of treatment. “It is worse to be
inferior and isolated than to be wrong, to be outcast in one’s own eyes
than to be condemned by society.” This remarkable statement, uttered in
casual disregard of the accumulated weight of moral and philosophical
tradition, casts a flood of light on the current preoccupation with
shame and self-esteem. We fear weakness more than a troubled conscience.
Indeed, conscience disappears from our conceptual order: guilt becomes
condemnation by “society.”
Helen Block Lewis added a few details to this emerging consensus in her
*Shame and Guilt in Neurosis,* which appeared in 1971 and is often over
praised today as a pioneering work in the field. Lewis devoted most of
her attention to variations in “proneness” to guilt or shame. Men’s
aggressiveness, she decided, predisposed them to guilty fears of
retaliation. Women were more inclined to shame, thanks to their
eagerness to please. “Girls’ self-esteem is neither so objectively nor
firmly grounded as boys’.” Later commentators would extend this line of
thinking to underprivileged groups in general. Shame could be
eliminated, they maintained by improving their collective self-image.
Leon Wurmser resisted such simplifications in *The Mask of Shame,* the
best of the psychoanalytic studies of shame and quite possibly the last,
given the probable collapse of the whole psychoanalytic enterprise. By
1981, when it appeared, the reaction against psychoanalysis was in full
swing: a chorus of critics denounced Freud’s ideas as unscientific,
elitist, patriarchal, and therapeutically useless. Within
psychoanalysis, Heinz Kohut and his followers had shifted the emphasis
from intrapsychic conflict to the “whole self and its relations with
others.” The need to counter these tendencies led Wurmser to undertake a
much deeper analysis of the inner conflicts leading to shame than
anything offered by his predecessors.
Thus, although he built on the work of Piers and Singer, he cautioned
against excessive emphasis on the ego ideal. “A mere falling short of
ego standards or even of the postulates of the ego ideal does not evoke
shame.” No less than guilt, shame had to be seen as a form of
self-punishment, a fierce condemnation of the self that is rooted, in
the case of shame, in the “absolute sense of unlovability.” If this
element of self-torture was missing, it was appropriate to speak only of
a “loss of self-esteem.” Wurmser’s refusal to confuse this with shame
made intelligible much that otherwise remained obscure.
Psychoanalysis, as Wurmser understood it, was above all the
interpretation of inner psychic conflict and the inner defenses against
it. His insistence on the “centrality of conflict,” in the face of an
“incessant pull away” from conflict that was making the psychoanalytic
method increasingly superficial, had the added and unexpected advantage
of restoring some of the moral and religious associations that once
clustered around the concept of shame. Wurmser asked himself, in effect,
how the same word could refer both to the impulse to pry and to the
impulse to conceal. Mindful of Freud’s dictum that opposites share an
underlying affinity, he found that his patients were simultaneously
obsessed with seeing and with being seen.
One of them, a woman suffering from anxiety, depression, and a consuming
suspiciousness, told him: “I want to find out the hidden, forbidden
truth about who creates and who does not create”—a statement worthy of
Faust or Prometheus. But she was also consumed with the fear” that her
own secrets would be revealed. Penetrating other people’s secrets (those
of her parents in particular) became a way of presenting her own. Her
fear of defilement and dishonor made her wish to defile others—a
striking illustration of the connection between shameful disgrace and
the shameless act of exposure. Another patient wished to hide her face
from the world—the characteristic stance of shame—but also bad a
compulsion to exhibit herself. It was as if she were saying: “I want to
show the world how magnificently I can hide.” Here the rage for exposure
was redirected to the self, in the form of an exhibitionism that “knew
no shame,” as we used to say.
Beneath the contradictory wish to hide and to spy, to see and be seen,
Wurmser detected a deeper set of paired opposites—the “polarity” between
the “yearning for boundless union” and a “murderous contempt.” Both
arose out of an underlying fear of abandonment. What Wurmser’s patients
experience as shameful is the contingency and the finitude of human
life, nothing less. They cannot reconcile themselves to the
intractability of limits. The record of their suffering makes us see why
shame is so closely associated with the body, which resists efforts to
control it and therefore reminds us, vividly and painfully, of our
inescapable limitations, the inescapability of death above everything.
It is man’s bondage to nature, as Erich Heller once said, that makes him
ashamed. “Anything that is nature about him, ... anything that shows him
to be enslaved by laws and necessities impervious to his will,” becomes
a source of unbearable humiliation, which can express itself in
seemingly incompatible ways—in the effort to hide from the world, but
also in the effort to penetrate its secrets. What these opposite
reactions share is a kind of outrage in the face of whatever is
mysterious and therefore resistant to human control, “Shame,” said
Nietzsche, “exists everywhere where there is a ‘mystery.’”
When psychoanalysts reject the temptation to dismiss shame as the
vestigial remnant of an outmoded prudery, they have much to tell us
about its moral and existential implications, Wurmser’s study owes its
power and its clarity not only to his sensitive reporting of case
histories, but also to his insistence on the philosophical dimension of
psychoanalysis. He conceives his work as a “dialogue with the best minds
that still speak directly to us across the abyss of death and time.” It
disturbs him that “the vast symbolic fields of the humanities no longer
form the shared matrix in which psychoanalytic work is organically
embedded.” The newer studies of shame and self-esteem—only a few of
which will be considered here, a small selection from a huge
outpouring—owe very little to the best psychoanalytic tradition and
suffer accordingly.
The decline in quality is immediately evident. The value of Donald
Nathanson’s *Shame and Pride,* the most ambitious of these studies, is
inversely proportional to its pretensions. Nathanson wants to show that
shame performs certain functions that contribute to psychic equilibrium.
There may be some truth in this, but it hardly qualifies as an “entirely
new way of thinking” about shame, an “entirely new theory for the nature
of human sexuality,” an “entirely new mode of study.” Nathanson’s
ambitious system often seems to yield more than banalities. “Shame will
occur whenever desire outruns fulfillment.” “Shame affect is triggered
any time interest or enjoyment is impeded.” “Life is full of impediments
to positive affect.” “It seems that nearly everybody needs an inferior.”
Nathanson thanks Wurmser for unstinting “support and assistance”—a
tribute to Wurmser’s generosity if not to his judgment. Nathanson’.s
approach exemplifies precisely the behaviorism that Wurmser cautioned
against. It treats “shame affect” as a “unique biological mechanism,” It
aims to “return psychology entirely to biological science” and to banish
“mysticism.” It rests on a mechanistic model of the psyche as a
comptiter, a system for processing information. Evidently struggling for
scientific precision, Nathanson writes much of the time in a barbarous
jargon in which “startle” becomes a noun and “dissmell” refers to the
recoil from unpleasant odors. He is deaf to the conversation of the
ages, and perhaps to his patients as well, since he reports no case
histories. As for his therapy, it seems to consist largely of drugs. “We
stopped the medication, and the symptom disappeared,” “All of these
symptoms vanished when he began to take the drug *fluoxetine.”* “She was
astonished to see these feelings of shame disappear when she resumed her
medication.”
In place of the interpretation of intrapsychic conflict, Nathanson
offers a mechanistic theory, derived from the work of Sylvan Tomkins, in
which affect acts as an “amplifier,” informing the organism of unruly
appetites in need of intelligent management. Shame, an essential
component in our “basic wiring pattern,” protects the organism “from its
growing avidity for positive affect.” By forcing us to “know and
remember our failures,” it acts as a “teacher.” Just what it teaches
remains a little unclear: to modify our expectations? to pursue more
realistic goals? Whenever his prose veers too close to clarity,
Nathanson interjects an explanation that defies explanation: It
\[shame\] is a biological system by which the organism controls its
affective output so that it will not remain interested or content when
it may not be safe to do so, or so that it will not remain in affective
resonance with an organism that fails to match patterns stored in
memory. In plain English, shame keeps us from taking ourselves too
seriously.
This seems to be the gist of it. Whereas Wurmser pleads for the “heroic
transcendence of shame” through love and work, Nathanson recommends a
kind of inoculation against shame—a healthy dose of shame in manageable
amounts, such as we find in the therapeutic comedy of Buddy Hackett,
that keeps it from becoming lethal. What he finds appealing, I take it,
is the lowering effect of Hackett’s bathroom humor. The reminder that no
one escapes “the call of nature,” as our grandmothers used to put it so
delicately, serves both to deflate self-importance and to mock false
modesty—all the more effectively, Nathanson seems to think, when it is
couched in coarse, uninhibited language. Hackett’s “comedy of
acceptance” reconciles us to our limitations, according to Nathanson.
I think it merely encourages us to lower our sights. There is a crucial
difference between the acceptance of limitations and the impulse to
reduce everything exalted to its lowest common denominator. “Acceptance”
becomes shameless, cynical surrender when it can no longer distinguish
between nobility and pomposity, refinement of taste and social snobbery,
modesty and prudery. Cynicism confuses delusions of grandeur, which call
for moral and therapeutic correction, with grandeur itself.
Cynicism, of course, is the last thing Nathanson intends to promote. He
wants only to replace shame with what he calls pride—a sense of
accomplishment based on acceptance of our limitations, but his vaccine
is worse than the disease. By recommending the deflation of ideals as
the prescription for mental health, he proposes, in effect, to cure
shame with shamelessness. This is itself a well-known defense (and, as
such, hardly a cure)—the strategy cogently identified by Wurmser as the
“lifelong reversal” of the “‘shameless’ cynic,” the transvaluation of
values by means of which “narcissistic grandiosity and contemptuousness
defend against a fatal brittleness and woundedness.” As Wurmser points
out, this defense now sets the tone of our culture as a whole:
Everywhere there is an unrestrained exposure of one’s emotions and of
one’s body, a parading of secrets, a wanton intrusion of curiosity....
It has ... become hard to express tender feelings, feelings of respect,
of awe, of idealization, of reverence. It almost belongs to the “good
tone” to be irreverent. It is no accident that in German and Greek,
words for shame are also words of reverence. The culture of
shamelessness is also the culture of irreverence, of debunking and
devaluing ideals. Trust in life carries the risk of disappointment, so
we inoculate ourselves with irreverence.
Even the most obtuse students of shame understand, in principle, that
shamelessness is a defensive strategy, not a real solution. In *No Place
to Hide,* Michael Nichols warns that “shamelessness is a reaction
formation against shame, a defiant, counter phobic attempt to deny and
overcome a profound inner fear of weakness.” But Nichols and his like
recognize the affinity between shamelessness and shame only in its most
blatant form. They can see shamelessness in “defiance” but not in their
own ideology of “acceptance,” The deflation of “extravagant
expectations”—Nichols’s favorite remedy for the oppressive sense of
failure—amounts to a milder version of Nathanson’s strategy of
existential distrust. Thus he warns against religion, which purveys
“oversimplified messages about right and wrong” and holds up
impossible standards—”a vision of righteousness that remains forever out
of reach.” The old religions preached the sinfulness of sex and divorce,
discouraged “understanding and acceptance.” Fortunately “today’s
enlightened ministers and rabbis are preaching a humanistic acceptance
of the self and the body.” Indeed, they are “more attuned to humanistic
concerns than most psychiatrists”— surely a backhanded compliment,
though Nichols intends it as high praise.
“The story of Adam and Eve,” in Nichols’s retelling, “reflects the
general awareness that children of nature don’t know shame; they have to
be taught.” From this Panglossian point of view, we can rid the world of
shame and many other evils simply by treating children with “empathy,”
engineering settings in which they can “feel good about themselves,” and
“validating their right to think and feel whatever they wish.” There is
some value in the advice to “let them be themselves,” if it helps to
discourage over management of children by adults. We do children a
terrible disservice, however, by showering them with undeserved
approval. The kind of reassurance they need comes only with a growing
ability to meet impersonal standards of competence. Children need to
risk failure and disappointment, to overcome obstacles, to face down the
terrors that surround them. Self-respect cannot be conferred, it has to
be earned. Current therapeutic and pedagogical practice, all “empathy”
and “understanding,” hopes to manufacture self-respect without risk. Not
even witch doctors could perform a medical miracle on that order.
The early Freudians warned against “prophylactic” misapplications of
psychoanalysis, as Anna Freud called them. They knew that a superficial
reading of Freud encouraged the notion that enlightened methods of
child-rearing could do away with suffering and neurosis. They countered
this foolish optimism with the reminder that growing up is never easy,
that children will never achieve maturity unless they work things out
for themselves. But the helping professions paid no attention to this
realism. In order to justify the expansion of therapeutic authority over
the family, the school, and large areas of public policy, they made
extravagant claims for their expertise. They set themselves up as
doctors not only to sick patients, but to a sick society.
By 1937 Karen Horney, one of the first of the Freudian revisionists, was
already insisting that “neurosis and culture” were problems “not only
for psychiatrists but for social workers and teachers,” for
“anthropologists and sociologists,” and for all those professionals,
indeed, who had become “aware of the significance of psychic factors” in
social life. Therapy was no longer the business of psychiatrists alone;
nor could it be confined to individuals. In an influential essay
published in the same year, the sociologist Lawrence Frank took the
position that society itself was the patient.
It is significant that this consensus took shape in the ‘30s, when the
designers of an emerging welfare state were trying to convince the
public that poverty and unemployment should not be attributed to lack of
individual enterprise, that the system (not the individual) was at
fault, that dependence on public relief was no disgrace, and that
self-help was an illusion. The first step toward economic recovery and
social justice, it appeared, was to “absolve the individual from guilt,”
as Frank put it, To the chagrin of reformers, however, many Americans,
even those victimized by unemployment, clung to an ethic of self-help
and refused to acknowledge the state’s responsibility to relieve
suffering or the individual’s right to relief. For liberals, the debates
touched off by the Depression and the New Deal appeared to confirm the
wisdom of therapeutic as opposed to ethical analysis of social problems.
The “conception of a sick society in need of treatment,” according to
Frank, was far more useful than conceptions stressing “human volition,
human autonomy, and individual responsibility.”
This has remained the dominant view, right down to the present day. It
has come to be widely shared even by “religious and ethical groups,”
singled out (along with lawyers) by Frank as bastions of the old ethic
of individual accountability. As Nichols says, the contemporary church
is just as “enlightened” as the helping professions. “Pastors ... speak
out about healthy self-esteem. You wouldn’t have heard this twenty years
ago.” His description of pastoral speech is accurate enough, but his
memory is much too short. The clergy began to see the light a long time
ago. The social gospel, an important influence in American Protestantism
since the turn of the century, had prepared them for the idea that
society is the patient. Henry J. Cadbury, a critic of the social gospel,
observed in 1937 that it had become the “staple diet of American
liberals,” who “affirm with one voice that society, not individuals
merely, is the subject of redemption.” Thirty years later the Harvard
theologian Harvey Cox argued in *The Secular City* that “the achievement
of health in place of neurosis on the individual level cannot be
separated from the restoration of wholeness to the entire society.”
Freud “concentrated on the sick individual in his therapy,” Cox
complained; but the sick individual could no longer be treated apart
from the “sick society.”
Low self-esteem is merely the latest form of social pathology commending
itself to specialists in the cure of souls. Il should not surprise us
when the new pathologists of shame announce that a “more articulated
theory” of shame, in the words of Michael Lewis, has “applicability to
the social as well as to the individual level.” Lewis readily embraces
the cliché that blacks and women are “shamed by the culture in which
they live,” in need of “understanding rather than humiliation.” Raising
their self-esteem, he thinks, would “eliminate many social problems.”
“The solution I propose,” he writes, “is a cognitive affective program
designed to reduce shame.”
Gloria Steinem, like Lewis, dwells at length on the social implications
of low self-esteem, especially in women. Feminists have criticized her
new book as a retreat from political involvements, but it is better
understood as another plea to the effect that politics and therapy are
indistinguishable. It is completely consistent with the dominant brand
of liberalism, a liberalism obsessed with the rights of women and
minorities, with gay rights and unlimited abortion rights, with the
allegedly epidemic spread of child abuse and sexual harassment, with the
need for regulations against offensive speech, and with curricular
reforms designed to end the cultural hegemony of “dead white European
males.” “Social justice,” as liberals have come to define it, now refers
to political therapies intended to undo the unwholesome effects of
“authoritarian,” “patriarchal” attitudes and to prevent anyone from
“blaming the victim.” The therapeutic discovery of shame finds its
political expression in remedial programs administered by caretakers
professing to speak on behalf of the downtrodden, but concerned above
all to expand their own professional jurisdiction. Steinem’s “revolution
from within” does not signal a flight from politics, only a continuation
of politics by other means.
Her therapeutic assault on shame requires political action for its
completion. As a salutary example, she recommends California’s Statewide
Task Force to Promote Self-Esteem. She maintains that although
journalists and politicians have ridiculed this noble experiment, it
showed that almost every social problem can be traced to a failure of
self-esteem. Self-contempt, the task force discovered, was a “primary
causal factor” in “crime and violence, alcohol abuse, drug abuse,
teenage pregnancy, child and spousal abuse, chronic welfare dependency,
and failure to achieve in school”—the “very problems,” Steinem adds,
that “Americans fear most.”
She does not bother to explain how the California task force arrived at
this finding—that is, by ignoring the reservations that were advanced by
the experts on whose testimony its report was based. Papers prepared for
the task force repeatedly spoke of the “paucity of good research”
linking low self-esteem to social pathology; but the chairman of the
body, John Vasconcellos, dismissed these reservations on the grounds
that they came from “those who only live in their heads, in the
intellectual.” The importance of self-esteem, he said, was confirmed by
“our intuitive knowledge.”
Steinem says nothing about the controversy surrounding the Vasconcellos
report. It is enough for her that California’s dubious example has been
initiated by other states and by California’s fifty-eight counties,
almost every one of which now has its own task force on self-esteem.
She, too, prefers to rely on “intuitive knowledge.” Her book overflows
with it. Children, she explains, should “feel loved and valued from the
beginning.” Most of us, however, were ignored or abused as children, and
since we all “continue to treat ourselves the way we were treated as
children,” we therefore abuse ourselves as adults. But a “unique and
true self resides in each one of us,” the discovery of which will set us
free. “The moment we find the true reason for some feeling that has an
irrationally powerful hold over us... the spell is broken.”
It is hard to see how anyone could take such stuff seriously, but it
commands automatic assent in many quarters and it provides much of the
rationale for an expansion of the welfare state. That liberal
“activists,” as Steinem refers to them admiringly, now find themselves
reduced to such slogans may indicate that welfare liberalism is
suffering from terminal fatigue. Is it really necessary to point out, at
this late date, that public policies based on a therapeutic model of the
state have failed miserably, over and over again? Far from promoting
self-respect, they have created a nation of dependents. They have given
rise to a cult of the victim in which entitlements are based on the
display of accumulated injuries inflicted by an uncaring society. The
politics of “compassion” degrades both the victims, by reducing them to
objects of pity, and their would-be benefactors, who find it easier to
pity their fellow citizens than to hold them up to impersonal standards,
the attainment of which would make them respected. Compassion has become
the human face of contempt.
Democracy once meant opposition to every kind of double standard. Today
we accept double standards—as always, a recipe for second-class
citizenship—in the name of humanitarian concern. We hand out awards
indiscriminately, hoping to give the recipients the illusion of
accomplishment. Having given up attempts to raise the general level of
competence, we are content to restrict it to the caring class, which
arrogates to itself the job of looking out for everybody else. The
professionalization of compassion does not make us a kinder, gentler
nation. Instead it institutionalizes inequality, under the pretense that
everyone is “special” in his own way. And since the pretense is
transparent, the attempt to make people feel good about themselves only
makes them cynical. “Caring” is no substitute for candor.
If psychotherapy has failed as politics, most recently as the politics
of self-esteem, it has also failed as a replacement for religion. The
founder of psychoanalysis believed that men and women would outgrow the
need for religion as they came to depend on their own resources. He was
wrong about that, as it turned out. Still, his kind of therapy
encouraged introspection, and it aimed at moral insight; and it was not
entirely unreasonable, therefore, to suppose that psychiatry could take
over the healing functions performed by priests and confessors—performed
very clumsily at that, according to Freud.
For some time now, however, the psychiatric profession has been moving
toward therapies aimed more at behavior modification than insight.
Whatever it has gained in the management of symptoms, often with the
help of drugs, bas been achieved at the expense of introspection. This
trend may be regrettable, but it is easy to see why psychoanalytic
therapies, in their classic form, no longer have much of a following in
the profession as a whole. They cost too much, last too long, and demand
too much intellectual sophistication from the patient. Even the most
enthusiastic admirers of the psychoanalytic method might be disconcerted
to read that one of Wurmser’s patients “abruptly” broke off analysis “in
the 1,172nd session.” Another patient of Wurmser’s remained in analysis
for eleven years. Still another “eventually killed herself by jumping
off a bridge.” When psychoanalytic treatment threatens to become
interminable and often ends in failure, sometimes after years of
intensive self-exploration, both doctors and patients understandably
turn to methods promising fast relief, even at the price of deep
understanding.
At its best, psychoanalytic theory exposes the moral and existential
dimension of mental conflict; but even then it cannot compete with
religion. Wurmser’s book on shame, a work in the grand tradition of
psychoanalytic speculation, reminds us that psychoanalytically informed
interpretation can reclaim ageless moral wisdom and deepen our
understanding of it. Reading Wurmser, we see why shame and curiosity
have always been so closely linked in people’s minds, why shame ought to
evoke feelings of awe and reverence, and why it refers, above all, to
the irreducible element of mystery in human affairs.
But this very depth of moral understanding, so compelling at the level
of moral theory, can also render psychoanalysis useless not only for
therapeutic purposes but also as a guide to the conduct of life. The
more it infringes on the territory once occupied by religion, the more
it invites unflattering comparisons with its rival. Can psychoanalysis
really do anything for people who suffer from an inner conviction of
“absolute unlovability”? Maybe religion is the answer after all. It is
not at all clear, at any rate, that religion could do much worse.

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created_at: '2013-04-18T01:04:45.000Z'
title: Secrets of the Magus (1993)
url: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1993/04/05/1993_04_05_054_TNY_CARDS_000362341?currentPage=all
author: kqr2
points: 54
story_text: ''
comment_text:
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[Source](https://www.newyorker.com/archive/1993/04/05/1993_04_05_054_TNY_CARDS_000362341?currentPage=all "Permalink to ")

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[Source](https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-problem-with-music "Permalink to ")
Whenever I talk to a band who are about to sign with a major label, I
always end up thinking of them in a particular context. I imagine a
trench, about four feet wide and five feet deep, maybe sixty yards long,
filled with runny, decaying shit. I imagine these people, some of them
good friends, some of them barely acquaintances, at one end of this
trench. I also imagine a faceless industry lackey at the other end,
holding a fountain pen and a contract waiting to be signed.
Nobody can see what’s printed on the contract. It’s too far away, and
besides, the shit stench is making everybody’s eyes water. The lackey
shouts to everybody that the first one to swim the trench gets to sign
the contract. Everybody dives in the trench and they struggle furiously
to get to the other end. Two people arrive simultaneously and begin
wrestling furiously, clawing each other and dunking each other under the
shit. Eventually, one of them capitulates, and there’s only one
contestant left. He reaches for the pen, but the Lackey says, “Actually,
I think you need a little more development. Swim it again, please.
Backstroke.”
And he does, of course.
I. A\&R Scouts
Every major label involved in the hunt for new bands now has on staff a
high-profile point man, an “A\&R” rep who can present a comfortable face
to any prospective band. The initials stand for “Artist and Repertoire,”
because historically, the A\&R staff would select artists to record
music that they had also selected, out of an available pool of each.
This is still the case, though not openly.
> The A\&R person is the first person to promise them the moon.
These guys are universally young (about the same age as the bands being
wooed), and nowadays they always have some obvious underground rock
credibility flag they can wave. Lyle Preslar, former guitarist for Minor
Threat, is one of them. Terry Tolkin, former NY independent booking
agent and assistant manager at Touch and Go is one of them. Al Smith,
former soundman at CBGB is one of them. Mike Gitter, former editor of
XXX fanzine and contributor to Rip, Kerrang and other lowbrow rags is
one of them. Many of the annoying turds who used to staff college radio
stations are in their ranks as well.
There are several reasons A\&R scouts are always young. The explanation
usually copped-to is that the scout will be “hip” to the current musical
“scene.” A more important reason is that the bands will intuitively
trust someone they think is a peer, and who speaks fondly of the same
formative rock and roll experiences.
The A\&R person is the first person to make contact with the band, and
as such is the first person to promise them the moon. Who better to
promise them the moon than an idealistic young turk who expects to be
calling the shots in a few years, and who has had no previous experience
with a big record company. Hell, he’s as naive as the band he’s duping.
When he tells them no one will interfere in their creative process, he
probably even believes it.
When he sits down with the band for the first time, over a plate of
angel hair pasta, he can tell them with all sincerity that when they
sign with company X, they’re really signing with him, and he’s on their
side. Remember that great gig I saw you at in ’85? Didn’t we have a
blast.
By now all rock bands are wise enough to be suspicious of music industry
scum. There is a pervasive caricature in popular culture of a portly,
middle aged ex-hipster talking a mile-a-minute, using outdated jargon
and calling everybody “baby.” After meeting “their” A\&R guy, the band
will say to themselves and everyone else, “He’s not like a record
company guy at all\! He’s like one of us.” And they will be right.
That’s one of the reasons he was hired.
These A\&R guys are not allowed to write contracts. What they do is
present the band with a letter of intent, or “deal memo,” which loosely
states some terms, and affirms that the band will sign with the label
once a contract has been agreed on.
> One of my favorite bands was held hostage for two years by a “He’s not
> like a label guy at all,” A\&R rep.
The spookiest thing about this harmless sounding little “memo,” is that
it is, for all legal purposes, a binding document. That is, once the
band sign it, they are under obligation to conclude a deal with the
label. If the label presents them with a contract that the band don’t
want to sign, all the label has to do is wait. There are a hundred other
bands willing to sign the exact same contract, so the label is in a
position of strength.
These letters never have any term of expiry, so the band remain bound by
the deal memo until a contract is signed, no matter how long that takes.
The band cannot sign to another label or even put out its own material
unless they are released from their agreement, which never happens. Make
no mistake about it: once a band has signed a letter of intent, they
will either eventually sign a contract that suits the label or they will
be destroyed.
One of my favorite bands was held hostage for the better part of two
years by a slick young “He’s not like a label guy at all,” A\&R rep, on
the basis of such a deal memo. He had failed to come through on any of
his promises (something he did with similar effect to another well-known
band), and so the band wanted out. Another label expressed interest, but
when the A\&R man was asked to release the band, he said he would need
money or points, or possibly both, before he would consider it.
The new label was afraid the price would be too dear, and they said no
thanks. On the cusp of making their signature album, an excellent band,
humiliated, broke up from the stress and the many months of inactivity.
II. What I Hate about Recording
1\. Producers and engineers who use meaningless words to make their
clients think they know what’s going on. Words like “Punchy,” “Warm,”
“Groove,” “Vibe,” “Feel.” Especially “Punchy” and “Warm.” Every time I
hear those words, I want to throttle somebody.
2\. Producers who aren’t also engineers, and as such, don’t have the
slightest fucking idea what they’re doing in a studio, besides talking
all the time. Historically, the progression of effort required to become
a producer went like this: Go to college, get an EE degree. Get a job as
an assistant at a studio. Eventually become a second engineer. Learn the
job and become an engineer. Do that for a few years, then you can try
your hand at producing. Now, all that’s required to be a full-fledged
“producer” is the gall it takes to claim to be one.
Calling people like Don Fleming, Al Jourgensen, Lee Ranaldo or Jerry
Harrison “producers” in the traditional sense is akin to calling Bernie
a “shortstop” because he watched the whole playoffs this year.
The term has taken on perjorative qualities in some circles. Engineers
tell jokes about producers the way people back in Montana tell jokes
about North Dakotans. (How many producers does it take to change a light
bulb?—Hmmm. I don’t know. What do you think? Why did the producer cross
the road?—Because that’s the way the Beatles did it, man.) That’s why
few self-respecting engineers will allow themselves to be called
“producers.”
The minimum skills required to do an adequate job recording an album
are:
– Working knowledge of all the microphones at hand and their properties
and uses. I mean something beyond knowing that you can drop an SM57
without breaking it.
– Experience with every piece of equipment which might be of use and
every function it may provide. This means more than knowing what echo
sounds like. Which equalizer has the least phase shift in neighbor
bands? Which console has more head-room? Which mastering deck has the
cleanest output electronics?
– Experience with the style of music at hand, to know when obvious
blunders are occurring.
> Nobody on earth could make the Smashing Pumpkins sound like the
> Beatles.
– Ability to tune and maintain all the required instruments and
electronics, so as to insure that everything is in proper working order.
This means more than plugging a guitar into a tuner. How should the
drums be tuned to simulate a rising note on the decay? A falling note? A
consonant note? Can a bassoon play a concert E-flat in key with a piano
tuned to a reference A of 440 Hz? What percentage of varispeed is
necessary to make a whole-tone pitch change? What degree of overbias
gives you the most headroom at 10Khz? What reference fluxivity gives you
the lowest self-noise from biased, unrecorded tape? Which tape
manufacturer closes every year in July, causing shortages of tape
globally? What can be done for a shedding master tape? A sticky one?
– Knowledge of electronic circuits to an extent that will allow
selection of appropriate signal paths. This means more than knowing the
difference between a delay line and an equalizer. Which has more
headroom, a discrete class A microphone preamp with a transformer output
or a differential circuit built with monolithics? Where is the best
place in an unbalanced line to attenuate the signal? If you short the
cold leg of a differential input to ground, what happens to the signal
level? Which gain control device has the least distortion, a VCA, a
printed plastic pot, a photoresistor or a wire-wound stepped attenuator?
Will putting an unbalanced line on a half-normalled jack unbalance the
normal signal path? Will a transformer splitter load the input to a
device parallel to it? Which will have less RF noise, a shielded
unbalanced line or a balanced line with a floated shield?
– An aesthetic that is well-rooted and compatible with the music, and
– The good taste to know when to exercise it.
3\. Trendy electronics and other flashy shit that nobody really needs.
Five years ago, everything everywhere was being done with discrete
samples. No actual drumming allowed on most records. Samples only. The
next trend was Pultec Equalizers. Everything had to be run through
Pultec EQs.
Then vintage microphones were all the rage (but only Neumanns, the most
annoyingly whiny microphone line ever made). The current trendy thing is
compression. Compression by the ton, especially if it comes from a tube
limiter. Wow. It doesn’t matter how awful the recording is, as long as
it goes through a tube limiter, somebody will claim it sounds “warm,” or
maybe even “punchy.” They might even compare it to the Beatles. I want
to find the guy that invented compression and tear his liver out. I hate
it. It makes everything sound like a beer commercial.
> Tape machines ought to be big and cumbersome and difficult to use, if
> only to keep the riff-raff out.
4\. DAT machines. They sound like shit and every crappy studio has one
now because they’re so cheap. Because the crappy engineers that inhabit
crappy studios are too thick to learn how to align and maintain analog
mastering decks, they’re all using DAT machines exclusively. DAT tapes
deteriorate over time, and when they do, the information on them is lost
forever. I have personally seen tapes go irretrievably bad in less than
a month. Using them for final masters is almost fraudulently
irresponsible.
Tape machines ought to be big and cumbersome and difficult to use, if
only to keep the riff-raff out. DAT machines make it possible for morons
to make a living, and do damage to the music we all have to listen to.
5\. Trying to sound like the Beatles. Every record I hear these days has
incredibly loud, compressed vocals, and a quiet little murmur of a rock
band in the background. The excuse given by producers for inflicting
such an imbalance on a rock band is that it makes the record sound more
like the Beatles. Yeah, right. Fuck’s sake, Thurston Moore is not Paul
McCartney, and nobody on earth, not with unlimited time and resources,
could make the Smashing Pumpkins sound like the Beatles. Trying just
makes them seem even dumber. Why can’t people try to sound like the
Smashchords or Metal Urbain or Third World War for a change?
III. There’s This Band
There’s this band. They’re pretty ordinary, but they’re also pretty
good, so they’ve attracted some attention. They’re signed to a
moderate-sized “independent” label owned by a distribution company, and
they have another two albums owed to the label.
They’re a little ambitious. They’d like to get signed by a major label
so they can have some security—you know, get some good equipment, tour
in a proper tour bus—nothing fancy, just a little reward for all the
hard work.
To that end, they got a manager. He knows some of the label guys, and he
can shop their next project to all the right people. He takes his cut,
sure, but it’s only 15%, and if he can get them signed then it’s money
well spent. Anyway, it doesn’t cost them anything if it doesn’t work.
15% of nothing isn’t much\!
One day an A\&R scout calls them, says he’s “been following them for a
while now,” and when their manager mentioned them to him, it just
“clicked.” Would they like to meet with him about the possibility of
working out a deal with his label? Wow. Big Break time.
> The A\&R guy was full of great ideas, even talked about using a name
> producer.
They meet the guy, and y’know what—he’s not what they expected from a
label guy. He’s young and dresses pretty much like the band does. He
knows all their favorite bands. He’s like one of them. He tells them he
wants to go to bat for them, to try to get them everything they want. He
says anything is possible with the right attitude. They conclude the
evening by taking home a copy of a deal memo they wrote out and signed
on the spot.
The A\&R guy was full of great ideas, even talked about using a name
producer. Butch Vig is out of the question—he wants 100 g’s and three
points, but they can get Don Fleming for $30,000 plus three points. Even
that’s a little steep, so maybe they’ll go with that guy who used to be
in David Letterman’s band. He only wants three points. Or they can have
just anybody record it (like Warton Tiers, maybe—cost you 5 or 10 grand)
and have Andy Wallace remix it for 4 grand a track plus 2 points. It was
a lot to think about.
Well, they like this guy and they trust him. Besides, they already
signed the deal memo. He must have been serious about wanting them to
sign. They break the news to their current label, and the label manager
says he wants them to succeed, so they have his blessing. He will need
to be compensated, of course, for the remaining albums left on their
contract, but he’ll work it out with the label himself. Sub Pop made
millions from selling off Nirvana, and Twin Tone hasn’t done bad either:
50 grand for the Babes and 60 grand for the Poster Children—without
having to sell a single additional record. It’ll be something modest.
The new label doesn’t mind, so long as it’s recoupable out of royalties.
Well, they get the final contract, and it’s not quite what they
expected. They figure it’s better to be safe than sorry and they turn it
over to a lawyer—one who says he’s experienced in entertainment law—and
he hammers out a few bugs. They’re still not sure about it, but the
lawyer says he’s seen a lot of contracts, and theirs is pretty good.
They’ll be getting a great royalty: 13% (less a 10% packaging
deduction). Wasn’t it Buffalo Tom that were only getting 12% less 10?
Whatever.
The old label only wants 50 grand, and no points. Hell, Sub Pop got 3
points when they let Nirvana go. They’re signed for four years, with
options on each year, for a total of over a million dollars\! That’s a
lot of money in any man’s english. The first year’s advance alone is
$250,000. Just think about it, a quarter-million, just for being in a
rock band\!
Their manager thinks it’s a great deal, especially the large advance.
Besides, he knows a publishing company that will take the band on if
they get signed, and even give them an advance of 20 grand, so they’ll
be making that money too. The manager says publishing is pretty
mysterious, and nobody really knows where all the money comes from, but
the lawyer can look that contract over too. Hell, it’s free money.
> He used a bunch of equipment on them and by the end of it, they all
> agreed that it sounded very “punchy,” yet “warm.”
Their booking agent is excited about the band signing to a major. He
says they can maybe average $1,000 or $2,000 a night from now on. That’s
enough to justify a five week tour, and with tour support, they can use
a proper crew, buy some good equipment and even get a tour bus\! Buses
are pretty expensive, but if you figure in the price of a hotel room for
everybody in the band and crew, they’re actually about the same cost.
Some bands (like Therapy? and Sloan and Stereolab) use buses on their
tours even when they’re getting paid only a couple hundred bucks a
night, and this tour should earn at least a grand or two every night.
It’ll be worth it. The band will be more comfortable and will play
better.
The agent says a band on a major label can get a merchandising company
to pay them an advance on t-shirt sales\! Ridiculous\! There’s a gold
mine here\! The lawyer should look over the merchandising contract, just
to be safe.
They get drunk at the signing party. Polaroids are taken and everybody
looks thrilled. The label picked them up in a limo.
They decided to go with the producer who used to be in Letterman’s band.
He had these technicians come in and tune the drums for them and tweak
their amps and guitars. He had a guy bring in a slew of expensive old
“vintage” microphones. Boy, were they “warm.” He even had a guy come
in and check the phase of all the equipment in the control room\! Boy,
was he professional. He used a bunch of equipment on them and by the end
of it, they all agreed that it sounded very “punchy,” yet “warm.”
All that hard work paid off. With the help of a video, the album went
like hotcakes\! They sold a quarter million copies\!
Here is the math that will explain just how fucked they are:
These figures are representative of amounts that appear in record
contracts daily. There’s no need to skew the figures to make the
scenario look bad, since real-life examples more than abound. Income is
underlined, expenses are not.
Advance: $250,000
Manager’s cut: $37,500
Legal fees: $10,000
Recording Budget: $150,000
Producer’s advance: $50,000
Studio fee: $52,500
Drum, Amp, Mic and Phase “Doctors”: $3,000
Recording tape: $8,000
Equipment rental: $5,000
Cartage and Transportation: $5,000
Lodgings while in studio: $10,000
Catering: $3,000
Mastering: $10,000
Tape copies, reference CD’s, shipping tapes, misc expenses: $2,000
Video budget: $30,000
Cameras: $8,000
Crew: $5,000
Processing and transfers: $3,000
Offline: $2,000
Online editing: $3,000
Catering: $1,000
Stage and construction: $3,000
Copies, couriers, transportation: $2,000
Director’s fee: $3,000
Album Artwork: $5,000
Promotional photo shoot and duplication: $2,000
Band fund: $15,000
New fancy professional drum kit: $5,000
New fancy professional guitars (2): $3,000
New fancy professional guitar amp rigs (2): $4,000
New fancy potato-shaped bass guitar: $1,000
New fancy rack of lights bass amp: $1,000
Rehearsal space rental: $500
Big blowout party for their friends: $500
Tour expense (5 weeks): $50,875
Bus: $25,000
Crew (3): $7,500
Food and per diems: $7,875
Fuel: $3,000
Consumable supplies: $3,500
Wardrobe: $1,000
Promotion: $3,000
Tour gross income: $50,000
Agent’s cut: $7,500
Manager’s cut: $7,500
Merchandising advance: $20,000
Manager’s cut: $3,000
Lawyer’s fee: $1,000
Publishing advance: $20,000
Manager’s cut: $3,000
Lawyer’s fee: $1,000
Record sales: 250,000 @ $12 = $3,000,000 gross retail revenue Royalty
(13% of 90% of retail): $351,000
less advance: $250,000
Producer’s points: (3% less $50,000 advance) $40,000
Promotional budget: $25,000
Recoupable buyout from previous label: $50,000
Net royalty: (-$14,000)
Record company income:
Record wholesale price $6,50 x 250,000 = $1,625,000 gross income Artist
Royalties: $351,000
Deficit from royalties: $14,000
Manufacturing, packaging and distribution @ $2.20 per record: $550,000
Gross profit: $710,000
THE BALANCE SHEET
This is how much each player got paid at the end of the game.
Record company: $710,000
Producer: $90,000
Manager: $51,000
Studio: $52,500
Previous label: $50,000
Agent: $7,500
Lawyer: $12,000
Band member net income each: $4,031.25
The band is now 1/4 of the way through its contract, has made the music
industry more than 3 million dollars richer, but is in the hole $14,000
on royalties. The band members have each earned about 1/3 as much as
they would working at a 7-11, but they got to ride in a tour bus for a
month.
The next album will be about the same, except that the record company
will insist they spend more time and money on it. Since the previous one
never “recouped,” the band will have no leverage, and will oblige.
The next tour will be about the same, except the merchandising advance
will have already been paid, and the band, strangely enough, won’t have
earned any royalties from their t-shirts yet. Maybe the t-shirt guys
have figured out how to count money like record company guys.
**Some of your friends are probably already this
fucked.**
[![baf5-problem-with-music](http://48ic4g3gr5iyzszh237mlfcm-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/baf5-problem-with-music-1024x723.jpg)](http://48ic4g3gr5iyzszh237mlfcm-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/baf5-problem-with-music.jpg)

456
_stories/1994/10526572.md
View File

@ -19,302 +19,160 @@ _tags:
objectID: '10526572'
---
[Source](http://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/12/business/attention-shoppers-internet-is-open.html "Permalink to Attention Shoppers - Internet Is Open - NYTimes.com")
# Attention Shoppers - Internet Is Open - NYTimes.com
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# Attention Shoppers: Internet Is Open
###### By PETER H. LEWIS
###### Published: August 12, 1994
At noon yesterday, Phil Brandenberger of Philadelphia went shopping for a compact audio disk, paid for it with his credit card and made history.
Moments later, the champagne corks were popping in a small two-story frame house in Nashua, N.H. There, a team of young cyberspace entrepreneurs celebrated what was apparently the first retail transaction on the Internet using a readily available version of powerful data encryption software designed to guarantee privacy.
Experts have long seen such iron-clad security as a necessary first step before commercial transactions can become common on the Internet, the global computer network.
From his work station in Philadelphia, Mr. Brandenburger logged onto the computer in Nashua, and used a secret code to send his Visa credit card number to pay $12.48, plus shipping costs, for the compact disk "Ten Summoners' Tales" by the rock musician Sting.
"Even if the N.S.A. was listening in, they couldn't get his credit card number," said Daniel M. Kohn, the 21-year-old chief executive of the Net Market Company of Nashua, N.H., a new venture that is the equivalent of a shopping mall in cyberspace. Mr. Kohn was referring to the National Security Agency, the arm of the Pentagon that develops and breaks the complex algorithms that are used to keep the most secret electronic secrets secret.
Even bigger organizations working on rival systems yesterday called the achievement by the tiny Net Market a welcome first step.
"It's really clear that most companies want the security prior to doing major commitments to significant electronic commerce on the Internet," said Cathy Medich, executive director of Commercenet, a Government and industry organization based in Menlo Park, Calif., that hopes to establish standards for commercial transactions on the Internet and other networks.
The idea is to make such data communications immune to wiretaps, electronic eavesdropping and theft by scrambling the transmissions with a secret code -- a security technique known as data encryption.
While Commercenet and other organizations have been working to develop a standard for the automated data encryption of commercial transactions, the small band of recent college graduates who formed the Net Market Company in New Hampshire appear to be the first to implement such technology successfully.
Tests of Commercenet's encryption system, which is based on algorithms -- mathematical formulas -- developed by RSA Data Security Inc. of Redwood City, Calif., are expected to begin this fall.
Commercenet hopes to create an easy-to-use industry standard for protecting Internet transactions.
For now, Net Market's approach is available to the limited number of computer users who have work stations running the Unix software operating system and a sophisticated Internet navigational program called X-Mosaic. The data encryption program is called PGP, for Pretty Good Privacy, which is based on the same RSA algorithms used by Commercenet.
PGP is available free, but it requires technical expertise to download it from the Internet. But within a few months commercial versions of PGP are expected to be available for personal computers using the Windows and Macintosh operating systems, which comprise the vast majority of computers in North America. Security Breaches Reported
The widespread adoption of standard data encryption tools cannot come too quickly for many Internet entrepreneurs, who hope to foster new levels of commerce on the rapidly growing network.
Alarmed by increasing reports of security breaches on the Internet, many people and businesses are reluctant to transmit sensitive information, including credit cards numbers, sales information or private electronic mail messages, on the network.
But the use of standard data encryption software, which scrambles messages so they can be read only by someone with the proper software "key," has been hindered by a combination of Government regulations and software patent disputes.
Experts say the PGP encryption software used by Net Market is at least as robust as the so-called Clipper encryption technology that the Clinton Administration has been pushing as a national standard. But unlike the Clipper system, the software keys for opening and reading PGP-encrypted documents is not controlled by the Government.
A version of PGP for individuals is available free through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but users must retrieve it from an M.I.T. computer through the Internet.
Organizations wanting to use PGP for commercial purposes must obtain it on the Internet from a company in Phoenix called Viacrypt, a maker of computer security software and hardware tools. Prices for PGP begin at $100 a copy. A Browsing Feature
One achievement of the young programmers at Net Market was to incorporate PGP into X-Mosaic, the software that many Internet users rely on for browsing through the global network.
X-Mosaic is a software tool that allows the users of Unix computers to browse a service of the Internet called the World Wide Web, where companies can post the electronic equivalent of a glossy color brochure with supporting sales or marketing documents.
In the case of Noteworthy Music, the record retailer that leases a "store front" in Net Market's Internet computer, a shopper can look at color pictures of CD album covers.
Mr. Kohn, a 1994 honors graduate in economics from Swarthmore College, came up with the idea for Net Market during his junior year abroad, at the London School of Economics. There, he persuaded an American classmate, Roger Lee, to join his venture.
Mr. Lee, who graduated from Yale this past spring with a degree in political science, is president of the company. For technical expertise, they recruited two other partners from Swarthmore, Guy H. T. Haskin and Eiji Hirai.
The four men live upstairs in the house in Nashua, commuting downstairs each morning to run the business. Because of the pressures of running the system and debugging the software, they rarely venture outside, even though they have a backyard swimming pool.
"We don't get much sun," Mr. Kohn said, "but we're down to a case of Coke a day." 'An Important Step'
Although Net Market has been selling various products like CD's, flowers and books for several months on behalf of various merchants, yesterday was the first time they had offered digitally secure transactions.
"I think it's an important step in pioneering this work, but later on we'll probably see more exciting things in the way of digital cash," said Philip R. Zimmermann, a computer security consultant in Boulder, Colo., who created the PGP program.
Digital cash, Mr. Zimmermann explained, is "a combination of cryptographic protocols that behave the way real dollars behave but are untraceable."
In other words, they are packets of worth that have value in cyberspace, the same way dollars have value in the real world, except that they have the properties of anonymity, privacy and untraceability. Many details remain to be worked out, Mr. Zimmermann said.
For now, Mr. Brandenberger, despite his historic transaction yesterday, will be paying with plain old dollars, when he gets his credit card bill. And sometime today, the Sting CD will arrive by fairly conventional means -- shipped FedEx from the Noteworthy Music warehouse in Nashua.
Photo: A system from the Net Market Company allows credit card shopping on the Internet in total privacy. Net Market's chief executive, Daniel M. Kohn, foreground, worked at the company's office in Nashua, N.H., yesterday. Behind him, from left, were the president, Roger Lee; program developer, Mark Birmingham; senior program developer, Guy H. T. Haskin, and chief information officer, Eiji Hirai. (MacArther S. McBurney for The New York Times)
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At noon yesterday, Phil Brandenberger of Philadelphia went shopping for
a compact audio disk, paid for it with his credit card and made history.
Moments later, the champagne corks were popping in a small two-story
frame house in Nashua, N.H. There, a team of young cyberspace
entrepreneurs celebrated what was apparently the first retail
transaction on the Internet using a readily available version of
powerful data encryption software designed to guarantee privacy.
Experts have long seen such iron-clad security as a necessary first step
before commercial transactions can become common on the Internet, the
global computer network.
From his work station in Philadelphia, Mr. Brandenburger logged onto the
computer in Nashua, and used a secret code to send his Visa credit card
number to pay $12.48, plus shipping costs, for the compact disk "Ten
Summoners' Tales" by the rock musician Sting.
"Even if the N.S.A. was listening in, they couldn't get his credit card
number," said Daniel M. Kohn, the 21-year-old chief executive of the Net
Market Company of Nashua, N.H., a new venture that is the equivalent of
a shopping mall in cyberspace. Mr. Kohn was referring to the National
Security Agency, the arm of the Pentagon that develops and breaks the
complex algorithms that are used to keep the most secret electronic
secrets secret.
Even bigger organizations working on rival systems yesterday called the
achievement by the tiny Net Market a welcome first step.
"It's really clear that most companies want the security prior to doing
major commitments to significant electronic commerce on the Internet,"
said Cathy Medich, executive director of Commercenet, a Government and
industry organization based in Menlo Park, Calif., that hopes to
establish standards for commercial transactions on the Internet and
other networks.
The idea is to make such data communications immune to wiretaps,
electronic eavesdropping and theft by scrambling the transmissions with
a secret code -- a security technique known as data encryption.
While Commercenet and other organizations have been working to develop a
standard for the automated data encryption of commercial transactions,
the small band of recent college graduates who formed the Net Market
Company in New Hampshire appear to be the first to implement such
technology successfully.
Tests of Commercenet's encryption system, which is based on algorithms
-- mathematical formulas -- developed by RSA Data Security Inc. of
Redwood City, Calif., are expected to begin this fall.
Commercenet hopes to create an easy-to-use industry standard for
protecting Internet transactions.
For now, Net Market's approach is available to the limited number of
computer users who have work stations running the Unix software
operating system and a sophisticated Internet navigational program
called X-Mosaic. The data encryption program is called PGP, for Pretty
Good Privacy, which is based on the same RSA algorithms used by
Commercenet.
PGP is available free, but it requires technical expertise to download
it from the Internet. But within a few months commercial versions of PGP
are expected to be available for personal computers using the Windows
and Macintosh operating systems, which comprise the vast majority of
computers in North America. Security Breaches Reported
The widespread adoption of standard data encryption tools cannot come
too quickly for many Internet entrepreneurs, who hope to foster new
levels of commerce on the rapidly growing network.
Alarmed by increasing reports of security breaches on the Internet, many
people and businesses are reluctant to transmit sensitive information,
including credit cards numbers, sales information or private electronic
mail messages, on the network.
But the use of standard data encryption software, which scrambles
messages so they can be read only by someone with the proper software
"key," has been hindered by a combination of Government regulations and
software patent disputes.
Experts say the PGP encryption software used by Net Market is at least
as robust as the so-called Clipper encryption technology that the
Clinton Administration has been pushing as a national standard. But
unlike the Clipper system, the software keys for opening and reading
PGP-encrypted documents is not controlled by the Government.
A version of PGP for individuals is available free through the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but users must retrieve it from
an M.I.T. computer through the Internet.
Organizations wanting to use PGP for commercial purposes must obtain it
on the Internet from a company in Phoenix called Viacrypt, a maker of
computer security software and hardware tools. Prices for PGP begin at
$100 a copy. A Browsing Feature
One achievement of the young programmers at Net Market was to
incorporate PGP into X-Mosaic, the software that many Internet users
rely on for browsing through the global network.
X-Mosaic is a software tool that allows the users of Unix computers to
browse a service of the Internet called the World Wide Web, where
companies can post the electronic equivalent of a glossy color brochure
with supporting sales or marketing documents.
In the case of Noteworthy Music, the record retailer that leases a
"store front" in Net Market's Internet computer, a shopper can look at
color pictures of CD album covers.
Mr. Kohn, a 1994 honors graduate in economics from Swarthmore College,
came up with the idea for Net Market during his junior year abroad, at
the London School of Economics. There, he persuaded an American
classmate, Roger Lee, to join his venture.
Mr. Lee, who graduated from Yale this past spring with a degree in
political science, is president of the company. For technical expertise,
they recruited two other partners from Swarthmore, Guy H. T. Haskin and
Eiji Hirai.
The four men live upstairs in the house in Nashua, commuting downstairs
each morning to run the business. Because of the pressures of running
the system and debugging the software, they rarely venture outside, even
though they have a backyard swimming pool.
"We don't get much sun," Mr. Kohn said, "but we're down to a case of
Coke a day." 'An Important Step'
Although Net Market has been selling various products like CD's, flowers
and books for several months on behalf of various merchants, yesterday
was the first time they had offered digitally secure transactions.
"I think it's an important step in pioneering this work, but later on
we'll probably see more exciting things in the way of digital cash,"
said Philip R. Zimmermann, a computer security consultant in Boulder,
Colo., who created the PGP program.
Digital cash, Mr. Zimmermann explained, is "a combination of
cryptographic protocols that behave the way real dollars behave but are
untraceable."
In other words, they are packets of worth that have value in cyberspace,
the same way dollars have value in the real world, except that they have
the properties of anonymity, privacy and untraceability. Many details
remain to be worked out, Mr. Zimmermann said.
For now, Mr. Brandenberger, despite his historic transaction yesterday,
will be paying with plain old dollars, when he gets his credit card
bill. And sometime today, the Sting CD will arrive by fairly
conventional means -- shipped FedEx from the Noteworthy Music warehouse
in Nashua.
Photo: A system from the Net Market Company allows credit card shopping
on the Internet in total privacy. Net Market's chief executive, Daniel
M. Kohn, foreground, worked at the company's office in Nashua, N.H.,
yesterday. Behind him, from left, were the president, Roger Lee; program
developer, Mark Birmingham; senior program developer, Guy H. T. Haskin,
and chief information officer, Eiji Hirai. (MacArther S. McBurney for
The New York Times)

6
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[Source](http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/31896381/from_the_archives_a_revealing_interview_with_steve_jobs/print "Permalink to ")
U2 Plan Vinyl Reissues for 'Pop,' 'All That You Can't Leave Behind'
Rockers' 1985 EP 'Wide Awake in America' also remastered and pressed
onto 180-gram LP

485
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[Source](https://newrepublic.com/article/77732/grammar-puss-steven-pinker-language-william-safire "Permalink to ")
Of course, forcing modern speakers of English to not—whoops, not
to—split an infinitive because it isn't done in Latin makes about as
much sense as forcing modern residents of England to wear laurels and
togas. Julius Caesar could not have split an infinitive if he had wanted
to. In Latin the infinitive is a single word such as "facere," a
syntactic atom. But in English, which prefers to build sentences around
many simple words instead of a few complicated ones, the infinitive is
composed of two words.Words, by definition, are rearrangeable units, and
there is no conceivable reason why an adverb should not come between
them:
Space—the final frontier.... These are the voyages of the starship
Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to
seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has
gone before.
To "go boldly" where no man has gone before? Beam me up, Scotty; there's
no intelligent life down here. As for outlawing sentences that end with
a preposition (impossible in Latin for reasons irrelevant to English)—as
Winston Churchill said, "It is a rule up with which we should not put."
But once introduced, a prescriptive rule is very hard to eradicate, no
matter how ridiculous. Inside the writing establishment, the rules
survive by the same dynamic that perpetuates ritual genital mutilations
and college fraternity hazing. Anyone daring to overturn a rule by
example must always worry that readers will think he or she is ignorant
of the rule, rather than challenging it. Perhaps most importantly, since
prescriptive rules are so psychologically unnatural that only those with
access to the right schooling can abide by them, they serve as
shibboleths, differentiating the elite from the rabble.Throughout the
country people have spoken a dialect of English, some of whose features
date to the Early Modern English period, that H.L. Mencken called The
American Language. It had the misfortune of not becoming the standard of
government and education, and large parts of the "grammar" curriculum in
U.S. schools have been dedicated to stigmatizing it as sloppy speech.
Frequently the language mavens claim that nonstandard American English
is not just different, but less sophisticated and logical. The case,
they would have to admit, is hard to make for nonstandard irregular
verbs such as "drag/drug" (and even more so for conversions to
regularity such as "feeled" and "growed"). After all, in "correct"
English, Richard Lederer noted, "Today we speak, but first we spoke;
some faucets leak, but never loke. Today we write, but first we wrote;
we bite our tongues, but never bote." At first glance, the mavens would
seem to have a better argument when it comes to the loss of
conjugational distinctions in "He don't" and "We was." But then, this
has been the trend in standard English for centuries. No one gets upset
that we no longer distinguish the second person singular form of verbs,
as in "thou sayest." And by this criterion it is the nonstandard
dialects that are superior, because they provide their speakers with
second person plural pronouns like "y'all" and "youse."
At this point, defenders of the standard are likely to pull out the
notorious double negative, as in "I can't get no satisfaction."
Logically speaking, they teach, the two negatives cancel out each other;
Mr. Jagger is actually saying that he is satisfied. The song should be
titled "I Can't Get Any Satisfaction." But this reasoning is not
satisfactory. Hundreds of languages require their speakers to use a
negative element in the context of a negated verb. The so-called "double
negative," far from being a corruption, was the norm in Chaucer's Middle
English, and negation in standard French, as in "Je ne sais pas" where
"ne" and "pas" are both negative, is a familiar contemporary
example. Come to think of it, standard English is really no
different. What do "any," "even" and "at all" mean in the following
sentences?
I didn't buy any lottery tickets. I didn't eat even a single french
fry. I didn't eat junk food at all today.
Clearly, not much: you can't use them alone, as the following strange
sentences show:
I bought any lottery tickets. I ate even a single french fry. I ate junk
food at all today.
What these words are doing is exactly what "no" is doing in nonstandard
English, such as in the equivalent "I didn't buy no lottery
tickets"—agreeing with the negated verb. The slim difference is that
nonstandard English co-opted the word "no" as the agreement element,
whereas standard English co-opted the word "any."
A tin ear for stress and melody along with an obliviousness to the
principles of discourse and rhetoric are important tools of the trade
for the language maven. Consider an alleged atrocity committed by
today's youth: the expression "I could care less." The teenagers are
trying to express disdain, the adults note, in which case they should be
saying "I couldn't care less." If they could care less than they do,
that means that they really do care, the opposite of what they are
trying to say. But the argument is bogus. Listen to how the two versions
are pronounced: 
> COULDN'T care                  I
>                       LE                        CARE                  
> i                         ESS                              LE
>                                                 could          ESS
The melodies and stresses are completely different, and for a good
reason. The second version is not illogical, it's sarcastic. The point
of sarcasm is that by making an assertion that is manifestly false or
accompanied by ostentatiously mannered intonation, one deliberately
implies its opposite. A good paraphrase is, "Oh yeah, as if there were
something in the world that I care less about."
Through the ages, language mavens have deplored the way English speakers
convert nouns into verbs. The following verbs have all been denounced in
this century: to caveat, to input, to host, to nuance, to access, to
chair, to dialogue, to showcase, to progress, to parent, to intrigue, to
contact, to impact.
As you can see, they range from varying degrees of awkwardness to the
completely unexceptionable.In fact, easy conversion of nouns to verbs
has been part of English grammar for centuries. I have estimated that
about a fifth of all English verbs were originally nouns. Consider the
human body: you can "head" a committee, "scalp" the missionary, "eye" a
babe, "stomach" someone's complaints and so on—virtually every body part
can be "verbed" (including several that cannot be printed in a family
journal of opinion).
What's the problem? The concern seems to be that fuzzy-minded speakers
are eroding the distinction between nouns and verbs. But once again, the
person on the street is not getting any respect. A simple quirk of
everyday usage shows why the accusation is untrue. Take the baseball
term "to fly out," a verb that comes from the noun "pop fly." The past
form is "flied," not "flew" and "flown"; no mere mortal has ever flown
out to center field. Similarly, in using the verb-from-noun "to ring the
city" (form a ring around), people say "ringed," not "rang." Speakers'
preference for the regular form with "-ed" shows that they tacitly keep
track of the fact that the verbs came from nouns. They avoid irregular
forms like "flew out" because they sense that the baseball verb "to fly"
is different from the ordinary verb "to fly" (what birds do): the first
is a verb based on a noun root, the second, a verb with a verb root.
The most remarkable aspect of the special status of verbs-from-nouns is
that everyone feels it. I have tried out examples on hundreds of
people—college students, people without college educations, children
as young as 4. They all behave like good intuitive grammarians: they
inflect verbs that come from nouns differently than plain old verbs. So
is there anyone, anywhere, who does not grasp the principle? Yes—the
language mavens. Uniformly, the style manuals bungle their explanations
of "flied out" and similar lawful examples.
I am obliged to discuss one more example: the much vilified "hopefully."
A sentence such as "Hopefully, the treaty will pass" is said to be a
grave error. The adverb "hopefully" comes from the adjective "hopeful,"
meaning "in a manner full of hope." Therefore, the mavens say, it should
be used only when the sentence refers to a person who is doing something
in a hopeful manner. If it is the writer or reader who is hopeful, one
should say, "It is hoped that the treaty will pass," or "If hopes are
realized, the treaty will pass," or "I hope the treaty will pass."
Now consider the following:
(1) It is simply not true that an English adverb must indicate the
manner in which the actor performs the action. Adverbs come in two
kinds: "verb phrase" adverbs such as "carefully," which do refer to the
actor, and "sentence" adverbs such as "frankly," which indicate the
attitude of the speaker toward the content of the sentence. Other
examples of sentence adverbs are "accordingly," "basically,"
"confidentially," "happily," "mercifully," "roughly," "supposedly" and
"understandably." Many (such as "happily") come from verb phrase
adverbs, and they are virtually never ambiguous in context.The use of
"hopefully" as a sentence adverb, which has been around for at least
sixty years, is a perfectly sensible example.
(2) The suggested alternatives, "It is hoped that" and "If hopes are
realized," display four sins of bad writing: passive voice, needless
words, vagueness, pomposity.
(3) The suggested alternatives do not mean the same thing as
"hopefully," so the ban would leave certain thoughts
unexpressible. "Hopefully" makes a hopeful prediction, whereas "I hope
that" and "It is hoped that" merely describe certain people's mental
states. Thus you can say, "I hope the treaty will pass, but it isn't
likely," but it would be odd to say, "Hopefully, the treaty will pass,
but it isn't likely."
(4) We are supposed to use "hopefully" only as a verb phrase adverb, as
in the following:
Hopefully, Larry hurled the ball toward the basket with one second left
in the game. Hopefully, Melvin turned the record over and sat back down
on the couch eleven centimeters closer to Ellen.
Call me uncouth, call me ignorant, but these sentences do not belong to
any language that I speak.
I have taken these examples from generic schoolmarms, copy editors and
writers of irate letters to newspaper ombudsmen. The more famous
language mavens come in two temperaments: Jeremiahs and Sages.
The Jeremiahs express their bitter laments and righteous prophesies of
doom. The best-known is the film and theater critic John Simon. Here is
a representative opening to one of his language columns:
"The English language is being treated nowadays exactly as slave traders
once handled the merchandise in their slave ships, or as the inmates of
concentration camps were dealt with by their Nazi jailers."
What grammatical horror could have inspired this tasteless comparison,
you might ask? It was Tip O'Neill's redundantly referring to his "fellow
colleagues."
Speaking of the American Black English dialect, Simon says:
Why should we consider some, usually poorly educated, subculture's
notion of the relationship between sound and meaning? And how could a
grammar—any grammar—possibly describe that relationship?... As for "I
be," "you be," "he be," etc., which should give us all the
heebie-jeebies, these may indeed be comprehensible, but they go against
all accepted classical and modern grammars and are the product not of a
language with roots in history but of ignorance of how language works.
This, of course, is nonsense from beginning to end (Black English is
uncontroversially a language with its own systematic grammar), but there
is no point in refuting this malicious know-nothing, for he is not
participating in any sincere discussion. Simon has simply discovered the
trick used with great effectiveness by certain comedians, talk show
hosts and punk rock musicians: people of modest talent can attract
attention, at least for a while, by being unrelentingly offensive.
The Sages, on the other hand, typified by the late Theodore Bernstein
and by William Safire himself, take a moderate, commonsense approach to
matters of usage, and they tease their victims with wit rather than
savaging them with invective. I enjoy reading the Sages, and have
nothing but awe for a pen like Safire's that can summarize the content
of an anti-pornography statute as, "It isn't the teat, it's the
tumidity." But the sad fact is that even Safire, the closest thing we
have to an enlightened language pundit, misjudges the linguistic
sophistication of the common speaker and as a result misses the target
in most of his commentaries and advice. To prove this charge, I will
walk you through parts of one of his columns, from the October 4, 1992,
New York Times Magazine.
The first story was a nonpartisan analysis of supposed pronoun case
errors made by the two candidates in the 1992 presidential
election. George Bush had recently adopted the slogan "Who do you
trust?," alienating schoolteachers across the nation who noted that
"who" is a subject pronoun and the question is asking about the object
of "trust." One would say "You do trust him," not "You do trust he," and
so the question word should be "whom," not "who."
In reply, one might point out that the "who/whom" distinction is a relic
of the English case system, abandoned by nouns centuries ago and found
today only among pronouns in distinctions such as "he/him." Even among
pronouns, the old distinction between subject "ye" and object "you" has
vanished, leaving "you" to play both roles and "ye" as sounding
archaic. Though "whom" has outlived "ye," it is clearly moribund, and
already sounds pretentious in most spoken contexts. No one demands of
Bush that he say, "Whom do ye trust?" If the language can bear the loss
of "ye," why insist on clinging to "whom"?
Safire, with his reasonable attitude toward usage, recognizes the
problem, and proposes:
Safire's Law of Who/Whom, which forever solves the problem troubling
writers and speakers caught between the pedantic and the
incorrect: "When whom is correct, recast the sentence." Thus, instead
of changing his slogan to "Whom do you trust?"—making him sound like a
hypereducated Yalie stiff—Mr. Bush would win back the purist vote with
"Which candidate do you trust?"
Telling people to avoid a problematic construction sounds like common
sense, but in the case of object questions with "who," it demands an
intolerable sacrifice. People ask questions about the objects of verbs
and prepositions a lot. Consider the kinds of questions one might ask a
child in ordinary conversation: "Who did we see on the way home?," "Who
did you play with outside tonight?," "Who did you sound like?"
Safire's advice is to change such questions to "Which person...?" or
"Which child...?" But the advice would have people violate the most
important maxim of good prose: omit needless words. It also subverts the
supposed goal of rules of usage, which is to allow people to express
their thoughts as clearly and precisely as possible. A question such as
"Who did we see on the way home?" can embrace one person, many people or
any combination or number of adults, babies and familiar dogs.Any
specific substitution such as "Which person?" forecloses some of these
possibilities. Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Safire should
have taken his observation about "whom" to its logical conclusion and
advised the president that there is no reason to change the slogan, at
least no grammatical reason.
Turning to the Democrats, Safire gets on Bill Clinton's case, as he puts
it, for asking voters to "give Al Gore and I a chance to bring America
back." No one would say "give I a break," because the indirect object of
"give" must have objective case. So it should be "give Al Gore and me a
chance."
Probably no "grammatical error" has received as much scorn as the
"misuse" of pronoun case inside conjunctions (phrases with two parts
joined by "and" or "or"). What teenager has not been corrected for
saying "Me and Jennifer are going to the mall"? The standard story is
that the object pronoun "me" does not belong in the subject position—no
one would say "Me is going to the mall"—so it should be "Jennifer and
I." People tend to misremember the advice as, "When in doubt, say
\`so-and-so and I,' not \`so-and-so and me,'" so they unthinkingly
overapply it, resulting in hyper-corrected solecisms like "give Al Gore
and I a chance" and the even more despised "between you and I."
But if the person on the street is so good at avoiding "Me is going" and
"Give I a break," and even former Rhodes Scholars and Ivy League
professors can't seem to avoid "Me and Jennifer are going" and "Give Al
and I a chance," might it be the mavens that misunderstand English
grammar, not the speakers? The mavens' case about case rests on one
assumption: if a conjunction phrase has a grammatical feature like
subject case, every word inside that phrase has to have that grammatical
feature, too. But that is just false.
"Jennifer" is singular; you say "Jennifer is," not "Jennifer are." The
pronoun "she" is singular; you say "She is," not "She are." But the
conjunction "She and Jennifer" is not singular, it's plural; you say
"She and Jennifer are," not "She and Jennifer is." So a conjunction can
have a different grammatical number from the pronouns inside it. Why,
then, must it have the same grammatical case as the pronouns inside
it? The answer is that it need not. A conjunction is not grammatically
equivalent to any of its parts. If John and Marsha met, it does not mean
that John met and that Marsha met. If voters give Clinton and Gore a
chance, they are not giving Gore his own chance, added on to the chance
they are giving Clinton; they are giving the entire ticket a chance. So
just because "Al Gore and I" is an object that requires object case, it
does not mean that "I" is an object that requires object case. By the
logic of grammar, the pronoun is free to have any case it wants.
In his third story Safire deconstructs a breathless quote from Barbra
Streisand, describing tennis star Andre Agassi: "He's very, very
intelligent; very, very, sensitive, very evolved;... He plays like a Zen
master. It's very in the moment."
Safire speculates on Streisand's use of the word "evolved": "its change
from the active to passive voice—from \`he evolved from the Missing
Link' to \`He is evolved'—was probably influenced by the adoption of
involved as a compliment."
These kinds of derivations have been studied intensively in linguistics,
but Safire shows here that he does not appreciate how they work. He
seems to think that people change words by being reminded of rhyming
ones—"evolved" from "involved," a kind of malapropism. But in fact
people are not that literal-minded. New usages (such as "to fly out")
are based not on rhymes, but on systematic rules that change the
hundreds of words' grammatical behavior of dozens of words in the same
precise ways.
Thus Safire's suggestion that "very evolved" is based on "involved" does
not work at all. For one thing, if you're involved, it means that
something involves you (you're the object), whereas if you're evolved,
it means that you have been doing some evolving (you're the
subject). The problem is that the conversion of "evolved from" to "very
evolved" is not a switch from the active voice of a verb to the passive
voice, as in "Andre beat Boris" to "Boris was beaten by Andre." To
passivize a verb you convert the direct object into a subject, so "is
evolved" could only have been passivized from "Something evolved
Andre"—which does not exist in contemporary English. Safire's
explanation is like saying you can take "Bill bicycled from Lexington"
and change it to "Bill is bicycled" and then to "Bill is very bicycled."
This breakdown is a good illustration of one of the main scandals of the
language mavens: they show lapses in elementary problems of grammatical
analysis, like figuring out the part-of-speech category of a word. In
analyzing "very evolved," Safire refers to the active and passive voice,
two forms of a verb.But the preceding adverb "very" is an unmistakable
tipoff that "evolved" is not being used as a verb at all, but as an
adjective. Safire was misled because adjectives can look like verbs in
the passive voice, and are clearly related to them, but they are not the
same thing. This is the ambiguity behind the joke in the Bob Dylan
lyric, "They'll stone you when you're riding in your car; They'll stone
you when you're playing your guitar.... Everybody must get stoned."
This discovery steers us toward the real source of "evolved." There is a
lively rule in English that takes the participle of certain intransitive
verbs and creates a corresponding adjective:
a leaf that has fallen —\> a fallen leaf
snow that has drifted  —\> the drifted snow
a man who has traveled widely —\> a widely traveled man
Take this rule and apply it to "a tennis player that has evolved," and
you get "an evolved tennis player." This solution also allows us to make
sense of Streisand's meaning. When a verb is converted from the active
to the passive voice, the verb's meaning is conserved: "Dog bites man"
to "Man is bitten by dog." But when a verb is converted to an adjective,
the adjective can acquire idiosyncratic nuances. Not every woman who has
fallen is a fallen woman, and if someone stones you you are not
necessarily stoned. We all evolved from a missing link, but not all of
us are evolved in the sense of being more spiritually sophisticated than
our contemporaries.
Safire then goes on to rebuke Streisand for "very in the moment":
This very calls attention to the use of a preposition or a noun as a
modifier, as in "It's very in," or "It's very New York," or the ultimate
fashion compliment, "It's very you." To be very in the moment (perhaps a
variation of the moment or up to the minute) appears to be a loose
translation of the French au courant, variously translated as "up to
date, fashionable, with-it" ...
Once again, by patronizing Streisand's language, Safire has misanalyzed
its form and its meaning. He has not noticed that:
The word "very" is not connected to the preposition "in"; it's connected
to the entire prepositional phrase "in the moment."
Streisand is not using the intransitive "in," with its special sense of
"fashionable"; she is using the conventional transitive "in," with a
noun phrase object "the moment."
Her use of a prepositional phrase as if it were an adjective to describe
some mental or emotional state follows a common pattern in
English: "under the weather," "out of character," "off the wall," "in
the dumps," "out to lunch," "on the ball" and "out of his mind."
It's unlikely that Streisand was trying to say that Agassi is au
courant, or fashionable; that would be a put-down implying shallowness,
not a compliment. Her reference to Zen makes her meaning clear:that
Agassi is good at shutting out distractions and concentrating on the
game or person he is involved with at that moment.
The foibles of the language mavens, then, can be blamed on two blind
spots: a gross underestimation of the linguistic wherewithal of the
common person, and an ignorance of the science of language—not just
technical linguistics, but basic knowledge of the constructions and
idioms of English, and how people use them.
Unlike some academics in the '60s, I am not saying that concern for
grammar and composition are tools to perpetuate an oppressive status quo
and that The People should be liberated to write however they
please. Some aspects of how people express themselves in some settings
are worth trying to change. What I am calling for is a more thoughtful
discussion of language and how people use it, replacing bubbe-maises
(old wives' tales) with the best scientific knowledge available. It is
ironic that the Jeremiahs' wailing about how sloppy language leads to
sloppy thought are themselves hairballs of loosely associated factoids
and tangled non sequiturs. All the examples of verbal behavior that the
complainer takes exception to for any reason are packed together and
coughed up as proof of The Decline of the Language: teenage slang,
sophistry, regional variations in pronunciation and vocabulary,
bureaucratic bafflegab, poor spelling and punctuation, pseudo-errors
like "hopefully," government euphemism, nonstandard grammar like
"ain't," misleading advertising and so on (not to mention occasional
witticisms that go over the complainer's head).
I hope to have convinced you of two things. Many prescriptive rules are
just plain dumb and should be deleted from the handbooks. And most of
standard English is just that, standard, in the sense of standard units
of currency or household voltages. It is just common sense that people
should be encouraged to learn the dialect that has become the standard
in their society. But there is no need to use terms like "bad grammar,"
"fractured syntax" and "incorrect usage" when referring to rural, black
and other nonstandard dialects (even if you dislike "politically
correct" euphemism): the terms are not only insulting, but
scientifically inaccurate.
The aspect of language use that is most worth changing is the clarity
and style of written prose. The human language faculty was not designed
for putting esoteric thoughts on paper for the benefit of strangers, and
this makes writing a difficult craft that must be mastered through
practice, feedback and intensive exposure to good examples. There are
excellent manuals of composition that discuss these skills with great
wisdom—but note how their advice concentrates on important practical
tips like "omit needless words" and "revise extensively," not on the
trivia of split infinitives and slang.
As for slang, I'm all for it\! I don't know how I ever did without "to
flame," "to dis" and "to blow off," and there are thousands of now
unexceptionable English words such as "clever," "fun," "sham," "banter"
and "stingy" that began life as slang. It is especially hypocritical to
oppose linguistic innovations reflexively and at the same time to decry
the loss of distinctions like "lie" versus "lay" on the pretext of
preserving expressive power. Vehicles for expressing thought are being
created far more quickly than they are being abandoned.
Indeed, appreciating the linguistic genius of your ordinary Joe is the
cure for the deepest fear of the mavens: that English is steadily
deteriorating. Every component of every language changes over time, and
at any moment a language is enduring many losses. But the richness of a
language is always being replenished, because the one aspect of language
that does not change is the very thing that creates it: the human mind.
Steven Pinker is Johnstone Professor of Psychology at Harvard and the
author of The Stuff of Thought.
**For more TNR, become a fan
on [Facebook ](http://www.facebook.com/thenewrepublic)and follow us
on [Twitter](http://twitter.com/tnr).**

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[Source](https://www.geek.com/articles/chips/how-jeff-bezos-advertised-for-the-first-amazon-employees-1994-20101228/ "Permalink to ")
[](http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/jeffbezos.jpg)
In 1994 Amazon.com did not exist. The idea was still in founder Jeff
Bezos’ head, and the company he was setting up had the name Cadabra Inc.
But like any new start-up, he needed developers on staff in order to
realize what was to become the biggest online retailer in the world. How
exactly did Bezos go about finding those first few individuals that
helped create Amazon.com?
The answer comes in the form of a [job posting on
Usenet](http://groups.google.com/group/mi.jobs/msg/d81b6c1fa8f361fc?pli=1)
made in August 1994 by Bezos, asking for “extremely talented C/C++/Unix
developers”. The listing discovered by web consultant [Joe
Devon](http://twitter.com/RWW/status/19659039260549121), and has been
included below in full:
> Well-capitalized start-up seeks extremely talented C/C++/Unix
> developers to help pioneer commerce on the Internet. You must have
> experience designing and building large and complex (yet maintainable)
> systems, and you should be able to do so in about one-third the time
> that most competent people think possible. You should have a BS, MS,
> or PhD in Computer Science or the equivalent. Top-notch communication
> skills are essential. Familiarity with web servers and HTML would be
> helpful but is not necessary.
>
> Expect talented, motivated, intense, and interesting co-workers. Must
> be willing to relocate to the Seattle area (we will help cover moving
> costs).
>
> Your compensation will include meaningful equity ownership.
>
> Send resume and cover letter to Jeff Bezos:
>
> mail: be…@netcom.com
> fax: 206/828-0951
> US mail: Cadabra, Inc.
> 10704 N.E. 28th St.
> Bellevue, WA 98004
>
> We are an equal opportunity employer.
>
> ——————————————————————-
> “It’s easier to invent the future than to predict it.” — Alan Kay
> ——————————————————————-
Did the first few developers who got asked to interview and secured a
position at Cadabra have any idea what they were about to create? I
doubt it, and most would have just seen it as an interesting challenge
they couldn’t pass up. All of them, if they stayed, are probably quite
well off now with that equity ownership they got offered.
Cadabra Inc. became Amazon when it was found people sometimes confused
the original name with Cadaver. Then the site launched in 1995, and the
rest is history.
So next time you see a job listing for a new start-up, just remember
Amazon started the same way, and that new listing might just be for a
company that turns out to be the next Amazon, or Facebook, or Google.
Read more at
[ReadWriteWeb](http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/history_job_posting_for_amazoncom_before_it_launch.php)

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---
created_at: '2013-06-10T01:53:15.000Z'
title: NSA security guidelines (1994)
url: http://vserver1.cscs.lsa.umich.edu/~crshalizi/nsa.html
author: rdl
points: 48
story_text: ''
comment_text:
num_comments: 1
story_id:
story_title:
story_url:
parent_id:
created_at_i: 1370829195
_tags:
- story
- author_rdl
- story_5851820
objectID: '5851820'
---
[Source](http://vserver1.cscs.lsa.umich.edu/~crshalizi/nsa.html "Permalink to ")

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[Source](http://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/29/world/a-120-year-lease-on-life-outlasts-apartment-heir.html "Permalink to A 120-Year Lease on Life Outlasts Apartment Heir - NYTimes.com")
**PARIS, Dec. 28—** Andre-Francois Raffray thought he had a great deal
30 years ago: He would pay a 90-year-old woman 2,500 francs (about $500)
a month until she died, then move into her grand apartment in a town
Vincent van Gogh once roamed.
# A 120-Year Lease on Life Outlasts Apartment Heir - NYTimes.com
But this Christmas, Mr. Raffray died at age 77, having laid out the
equivalent of more than $184,000 for an apartment he never got to live
in.
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On the same day, Jeanne Calment, now listed in the Guinness Book of
Records as the world's oldest person at 120, dined on foie gras, duck
thighs, cheese and chocolate cake at her nursing home near the
sought-after apartment in Arles, northwest of Marseilles in the south of
France.
Edition: [U.S.][4] / [Global][8]
She need not worry about losing income. Although the amount Mr. Raffray
already paid is more than twice the apartment's current market value,
his widow is obligated to keep sending that monthly check. If Mrs.
Calment outlives her, too, then the Raffray children and grandchildren
will have to pay.
Search All NYTimes.com
![New York Times][9]
## [World][10]
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# A 120-Year Lease on Life Outlasts Apartment Heir
###### AP
###### Published: December 29, 1995
**PARIS, Dec. 28— ** Andre-Francois Raffray thought he had a great deal 30 years ago: He would pay a 90-year-old woman 2,500 francs (about $500) a month until she died, then move into her grand apartment in a town Vincent van Gogh once roamed.
But this Christmas, Mr. Raffray died at age 77, having laid out the equivalent of more than $184,000 for an apartment he never got to live in.
On the same day, Jeanne Calment, now listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's oldest person at 120, dined on foie gras, duck thighs, cheese and chocolate cake at her nursing home near the sought-after apartment in Arles, northwest of Marseilles in the south of France.
She need not worry about losing income. Although the amount Mr. Raffray already paid is more than twice the apartment's current market value, his widow is obligated to keep sending that monthly check. If Mrs. Calment outlives her, too, then the Raffray children and grandchildren will have to pay.
"In life, one sometimes makes bad deals," Mrs. Calment said on her birthday last Feb. 21.
"In life, one sometimes makes bad deals," Mrs. Calment said on her
birthday last Feb. 21.
The apartment is currently unoccupied, according to local media.
Buying apartments "en viager," or "for life," is common in France. The elderly owner gets to enjoy a monthly income from the buyer, who gambles on getting a real estate bargain -- provided the owner dies in due time.
Buying apartments "en viager," or "for life," is common in France. The
elderly owner gets to enjoy a monthly income from the buyer, who gambles
on getting a real estate bargain -- provided the owner dies in due time.
Upon the owner's death, the buyer inherits the apartment, regardless of how much was paid.
Upon the owner's death, the buyer inherits the apartment, regardless of
how much was paid.
Mrs. Calment, who has lived through the administrations of 17 French presidents, has proven the nightmare of all those who buy real estate "en viager."
Mrs. Calment, who has lived through the administrations of 17 French
presidents, has proven the nightmare of all those who buy real estate
"en viager."
Mrs. Calment, physically active all her life, rode a bicycle until she was 100, and until 1985 occupied the several large rooms of her apartment on the second floor of a classic old Provencal building in the center of Arles, where Mr. Raffray was her notary public. She moved that year into a nursing home, which is now named after her.
Mrs. Calment, physically active all her life, rode a bicycle until she
was 100, and until 1985 occupied the several large rooms of her
apartment on the second floor of a classic old Provencal building in the
center of Arles, where Mr. Raffray was her notary public. She moved that
year into a nursing home, which is now named after her.
She has outlived her husband, her daughter and her grandson, who died in a car crash, and has no direct descendants.
She has outlived her husband, her daughter and her grandson, who died in
a car crash, and has no direct descendants.
Mrs. Calment seemed to offer some consolation to the Raffrays when asked on her last birthday for her vision of the future, she replied: "Very brief."
Mrs. Calment seemed to offer some consolation to the Raffrays when asked
on her last birthday for her vision of the future, she replied: "Very
brief."
Born in Arles in 1875, Mrs. Calment recalls working in her father's shop at age 14 and selling colored pencils and canvases to Van Gogh, the Dutch impressionist who depicted Arles in several of his vibrant paintings.
Born in Arles in 1875, Mrs. Calment recalls working in her father's shop
at age 14 and selling colored pencils and canvases to Van Gogh, the
Dutch impressionist who depicted Arles in several of his vibrant
paintings.
On Oct. 18, the Guinness Book of Records listed her as the world's oldest person able to authenticate her age with official records, mostly civil and religious documents.
Photo: Thirty years ago, Andre-Francois Raffray, bottom, agreed to pay Jeanne Calment 2,500 francs a month to get her apartment when she died; she was 90 then. She has not died yet, but this week he did. (Associated Press)
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On Oct. 18, the Guinness Book of Records listed her as the world's
oldest person able to authenticate her age with official records, mostly
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Photo: Thirty years ago, Andre-Francois Raffray, bottom, agreed to pay
Jeanne Calment 2,500 francs a month to get her apartment when she died;
she was 90 then. She has not died yet, but this week he did. (Associated
Press)

116
_stories/1995/16003560.md
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@ -19,7 +19,121 @@ _tags:
objectID: '16003560'
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[Source](https://www.mediamatic.net/5909/en/electronic-loneliness "Permalink to ")
Post-sociologists disguised as trend tasters are projecting all their
reborn enthusiasm onto the home. Their concern is directed at the army
of out-of-action white- and blue-collar workers, who will be taken out
of their state of anomie and unproductivity thanks to home terminals.
Individual enthusiasm for techno-gadgetry is being transformed into the
hope of a new economic élan. It turns out that installing new media in
your own home provokes a labour situation. The combination of data
highway and enhanced television will inevitably lead to the return of
cottage industry in the form of virtual looms. The countryside will
bloom again, traffic jams disappear, the environment will be spared and
the family restored. And in all reasonableness, who wouldn't want that?
In the age of the shop floor, the open-plan office, the canteen and the
meeting room, a political work climate still existed. One could still
speak of spatially proximate and visible hierarchical relationships
within a technically integrated division of labour. Engagement in
material production fostered a compelling solidarity. This laid fertile
ground for the corporate dreams of the 20th century, from Fordism and
Taylorism to Japanese management and New Age. Labour unions ensured the
pacification of always-latent labour unrest. After World War II in the
West there thus arose a configuration which guaranteed a manageable
social dynamic. Until the perpetual restructuring finally resulted in
empty factories. Passion for socialism and communism disappeared just as
soundlessly. The social question thus shifted from the factory gates to
people's front doors. The home has thereby become the object of fantasy
for political economists and other social visionaries.
Those who take early retirement are no longer motivatible and are de
facto written off. This grey mass belongs to the industrial past, is
using up the last of the welfare state's money and is otherwise left
alone. But these were the people who consciously dedicated themselves to
home furnishing. The post-war generations discovered the home as leisure
object and mirror of the ego. Remodelling and renovation became the way
they filled their lives, and their relationship therapy (an open kitchen
in an open marriage). It all came down to the order of purchase and
correct arrangement of refrigerator, stereo, living room furniture,
floor lamp, motorcycle, lawnmower, blinds and washing machine. Means of
communication occupied a privileged place: the car for outside and the
television for inside. The house was a recovery centre where you got
what was coming to you: a sheltered space where family ideals were
practised. The fatal turn came with the delayed insight that people were
working on a realised utopia which was impossible to stand for long. The
complete collection of comforts became dead capital. The social function
of the familial reception room died out and made place for an active and
temporary arrangement of support functions geared towards the
individual. The excess of dusty knickknacks has made way for a strictly
selected mix of sterile objects. A combination of stylized and
functional ambience ensures the house is ready to be turned into a
workplace.
Visions of home tele-work are on a par with wishful imaginings about
robots, artificial intelligence and transplant organs. There is an
appeal to a coming stage of development, as yet unknown but imaginable.
Working at a home terminal creates a work situation lacking in all the
traditional attributes (physical exertion, collegiality, change of
place, noise and dirt). Everything which used to make work a nuisance
now seems to have disappeared. The work at (industrial-age) machines of
a few vouchsafes the prosperity of the many who stay home. But the
internalised urge to work cannot bear this apparent idleness, which is
scarcely discernible in unemployment statistics. A feeling of urgency
must be created, the feeling that unless we all do something about it,
everything will end posthaste in decadence, crime and entropy. There is
delight that the masses will once again have something to do and can
once again be kept on a leash. At home we are experiencing a
science-fiction invasion: the spaceship is ensconcing itself in the
living room and the feeling of being on a virtual trip through space
imposes itself.
With video games, toll numbers, interactive media and home shopping
people have been put in the mood and acquired the tactile skills to work
for money at a distance. But the decision makers still have to be warmed
up to equip the tele-sector with a technical as well as an ideological
infrastructure. They can be helped by the articulation of an act of will
that we will, together yet individually, create a positive perspective
on economic activity. An axiom of self-realisation has been slapped onto
telework in passing: you're only someone if you're in business. No
activity, no identity. Pepped up, in shape and evaluated for
performance, the individualised mass must be brought into a state of
readiness for digital piecework.
Telework is not an institution, but a constitution, a mental frame in
which the new work effort can move. Psychic, to begin with: what used to
be called immobility is now the point of departure for delivering labour
performance. Isolation must thus be conditioned. The individual is shut
up in a niche, at one with the network. One is urged to keep one's mind
on the screen, for there is nothing else. There will be no flourishing
family life, no workplace adultery. And even the promised outlet of
virtual sex has come to a dead end. All we're left with is the bill.
Since chance meetings have been banished, dating services bring us
videos and careful matching and screening techniques to line up our
wishes with a tailored selection. But once the stage of visitation
rights is reached, the all-too-human imperfections come to light, and
become acute obstacles before the adventure is even underway. By and
large, the other we choose is unbearable. The other's always-lacking
gloss and perfection create a social footing of boredom and apathy.
Communication is stifled, and the tele-beings stay invisible and
meaningless to each other. Martin Buber, where are you?
Electronic loneliness cannot be expressed in metaphysical or psychiatric
terms. It is not a melancholy depth, but an artificial surface.
Desolation is a fatal production factor, a trap people fall into through
reckless thinking and belief in mirages. Only organised tourism is still
seen as a solution. One builds up a collection of psycho-physical
experiences, of meditation, repentance, exhaustion, ecstasy, fasting,
pilgrimages for heroic assistance. But these sensations yield no answers
in the extremely personal confrontation with the machine. Pulling the
plug on the Net is suicide. There is no future without the Net;
alternative scenarios no longer circulate. Nothing seems to stand in the
way of the advance of enclosures. The age of despair is definitively
behind us. Get serious. Sentiment has landed up in the archaeological
layers of consciousness (in an age in which the history of mentality is
being written). The Net as ideal treadmill for self-styled identities
will create no revolutionary situations, nor bring the world to an end.
Cybernetic emptiness need not be filled, nor will it ever be full (of
desire, abhorrence or unrest). Until telematic energy finally disappears
into the flatland of silence in the face of blinking commands.
translation Laura Martz

910
_stories/1995/6720621.md
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@ -19,415 +19,655 @@ _tags:
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[Source](http://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/15/magazine/the-great-ivy-league-nude-posture-photo-scandal.html?pagewanted=all "Permalink to THE GREAT IVY LEAGUE NUDE POSTURE PHOTO SCANDAL - NYTimes.com")
ONE AFTERNOON IN THE LATE 1970's, deep in the labyrinthine interior of a
massive Gothic tower in New Haven, an unsuspecting employee of Yale
University opened a long-locked room in the Payne Whitney Gymnasium and
stumbled upon something shocking and disturbing.
# THE GREAT IVY LEAGUE NUDE POSTURE PHOTO SCANDAL - NYTimes.com
Shocking, because what he found was an enormous cache of nude
photographs, thousands and thousands of photographs of young men in
front, side and rear poses. Disturbing, because on closer inspection the
photos looked like the record of a bizarre body-piercing ritual:
sticking out from the spine of each and every body was a row of sharp
metal pins.
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The employee who found them was mystified. The athletic director at the
time, Frank Ryan, a former Cleveland Browns quarterback new to Yale, was
mystified. But after making some discreet inquiries, he found out what
they were -- and took swift action to burn them. He called in a
professional, a document-disposal expert, who initiated a two-step
torching procedure. First, every single one of the many thousands of
photographs was fed into a shredder, and then each of the shreds was fed
to the flames, thereby insuring that not a single intact or recognizable
image of the nude Yale students -- some of whom had gone on to assume
positions of importance in government and society -- would survive.
Edition: [U.S.][4] / [Global][8]
It was the Bonfire of the Best and the Brightest, and the assumption was
that the last embarrassing reminders of a peculiar practice, which
masqueraded as science and now looked like a kind of kinky voodoo
ritual, had gone up in smoke. The assumption was wrong. Thousands upon
thousands of photos from Yale and other elite schools survive to this
day.
Search All NYTimes.com
When I first embarked on my quest for the lost nude "posture photos," I
could not decide whether to think of the phenomenon as a scandal or as
an extreme example of academic folly -- of what happens when
well-intentioned institutions allow their reverence for the reigning
conjectures of scientific orthodoxy to persuade them to do things that
seem silly or scandalous in retrospect. And now that I've found them,
I'm still not sure whether outrage or laughter is the more appropriate
reaction. Your response, dear reader, may depend on whether your nude
photograph is among them. And if you attended Yale, Mount Holyoke,
Vassar, Smith or Princeton -- to name a few of the schools involved --
from the 1940's through the 1960's, there's a chance that yours may be.
![New York Times][9]
Your response may also depend on how you feel about the fact that some
of these schools made nude or seminude photographs of you available to
the disciples of what many now regard as a pseudo-science without asking
permission. And on how you feel about an obscure archive in Washington
making them available for researchers to study.
## [Magazine][10]
While investigating the strange odyssey of the missing nude "posture
photos," I found that the issue is, in every respect, a very touchy
matter -- indeed, a kind of touchstone for registering the uneven
evolution of attitudes toward body, race and gender in the past
half-century. UP YOUR LEGS FOR YALE
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I personally have posed nude only twice in my life. The second time --
for a John and Yoko film titled "Up Your Legs Forever," which has been
screened at the Whitney -- I was one of many, it was Art, and let's
leave it at that. But the first time was even more strange and bizarre
because of its strait-laced Ivy setting, its preliberation context --
and yes, because of the metal pins stuck on my body.
# THE GREAT IVY LEAGUE NUDE POSTURE PHOTO SCANDAL
One fall afternoon in the mid-60's, shortly after I arrived in New Haven
to begin my freshman year at Yale, I was summoned to that sooty Gothic
shrine to muscular virtue known as Payne Whitney Gym. I reported to a
windowless room on an upper floor, where men dressed in crisp white
garments instructed me to remove all of my clothes. And then -- and this
is the part I still have trouble believing -- they attached metal pins
to my spine. There was no actual piercing of skin, only of dignity, as
four-inch metal pins were affixed with adhesive to my vertebrae at
regular intervals from my neck down. I was positioned against a wall; a
floodlight illuminated my pin-spiked profile and a camera captured it.
###### By RON ROSENBAUM;
It didn't occur to me to object: I'd been told that this "posture photo"
was a routine feature of freshman orientation week. Those whose pins
described a too violent or erratic postural curve were required to
attend remedial posture classes.
###### Published: January 15, 1995
The procedure did seem strange. But I soon learned that it was a
long-established custom at most Ivy League and Seven Sisters schools.
George Bush, George Pataki, Brandon Tartikoff and Bob Woodward were
required to do it at Yale. At Vassar, Meryl Streep; at Mount Holyoke,
Wendy Wasserstein; at Wellesley, Hillary Rodham and Diane Sawyer. All of
them -- whole generations of the cultural elite -- were asked to pose.
But however much the colleges tried to make this bizarre procedure seem
routine, its undeniable strangeness engendered a scurrilous strain of
folklore. THE MISMEASURE OF MAN
ONE AFTERNOON IN THE LATE 1970's, deep in the labyrinthine interior of a massive Gothic tower in New Haven, an unsuspecting employee of Yale University opened a long-locked room in the Payne Whitney Gymnasium and stumbled upon something shocking and disturbing.
There were several salacious stories circulating at Yale back in the
60's. Most common was the report that someone had broken into a photo
lab in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and stolen the negatives of that year's
Vassar posture nudes, which were supposedly for sale on the Ivy League
black market or available to the initiates of Skull and Bones. Little
did I know how universal this myth was.
Shocking, because what he found was an enormous cache of nude photographs, thousands and thousands of photographs of young men in front, side and rear poses. Disturbing, because on closer inspection the photos looked like the record of a bizarre body-piercing ritual: sticking out from the spine of each and every body was a row of sharp metal pins.
The employee who found them was mystified. The athletic director at the time, Frank Ryan, a former Cleveland Browns quarterback new to Yale, was mystified. But after making some discreet inquiries, he found out what they were -- and took swift action to burn them. He called in a professional, a document-disposal expert, who initiated a two-step torching procedure. First, every single one of the many thousands of photographs was fed into a shredder, and then each of the shreds was fed to the flames, thereby insuring that not a single intact or recognizable image of the nude Yale students -- some of whom had gone on to assume positions of importance in government and society -- would survive.
It was the Bonfire of the Best and the Brightest, and the assumption was that the last embarrassing reminders of a peculiar practice, which masqueraded as science and now looked like a kind of kinky voodoo ritual, had gone up in smoke. The assumption was wrong. Thousands upon thousands of photos from Yale and other elite schools survive to this day.
When I first embarked on my quest for the lost nude "posture photos," I could not decide whether to think of the phenomenon as a scandal or as an extreme example of academic folly -- of what happens when well-intentioned institutions allow their reverence for the reigning conjectures of scientific orthodoxy to persuade them to do things that seem silly or scandalous in retrospect. And now that I've found them, I'm still not sure whether outrage or laughter is the more appropriate reaction. Your response, dear reader, may depend on whether your nude photograph is among them. And if you attended Yale, Mount Holyoke, Vassar, Smith or Princeton -- to name a few of the schools involved -- from the 1940's through the 1960's, there's a chance that yours may be.
Your response may also depend on how you feel about the fact that some of these schools made nude or seminude photographs of you available to the disciples of what many now regard as a pseudo-science without asking permission. And on how you feel about an obscure archive in Washington making them available for researchers to study.
While investigating the strange odyssey of the missing nude "posture photos," I found that the issue is, in every respect, a very touchy matter -- indeed, a kind of touchstone for registering the uneven evolution of attitudes toward body, race and gender in the past half-century. UP YOUR LEGS FOR YALE
I personally have posed nude only twice in my life. The second time -- for a John and Yoko film titled "Up Your Legs Forever," which has been screened at the Whitney -- I was one of many, it was Art, and let's leave it at that. But the first time was even more strange and bizarre because of its strait-laced Ivy setting, its preliberation context -- and yes, because of the metal pins stuck on my body.
One fall afternoon in the mid-60's, shortly after I arrived in New Haven to begin my freshman year at Yale, I was summoned to that sooty Gothic shrine to muscular virtue known as Payne Whitney Gym. I reported to a windowless room on an upper floor, where men dressed in crisp white garments instructed me to remove all of my clothes. And then -- and this is the part I still have trouble believing -- they attached metal pins to my spine. There was no actual piercing of skin, only of dignity, as four-inch metal pins were affixed with adhesive to my vertebrae at regular intervals from my neck down. I was positioned against a wall; a floodlight illuminated my pin-spiked profile and a camera captured it.
It didn't occur to me to object: I'd been told that this "posture photo" was a routine feature of freshman orientation week. Those whose pins described a too violent or erratic postural curve were required to attend remedial posture classes.
The procedure did seem strange. But I soon learned that it was a long-established custom at most Ivy League and Seven Sisters schools. George Bush, George Pataki, Brandon Tartikoff and Bob Woodward were required to do it at Yale. At Vassar, Meryl Streep; at Mount Holyoke, Wendy Wasserstein; at Wellesley, Hillary Rodham and Diane Sawyer. All of them -- whole generations of the cultural elite -- were asked to pose. But however much the colleges tried to make this bizarre procedure seem routine, its undeniable strangeness engendered a scurrilous strain of folklore. THE MISMEASURE OF MAN
There were several salacious stories circulating at Yale back in the 60's. Most common was the report that someone had broken into a photo lab in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and stolen the negatives of that year's Vassar posture nudes, which were supposedly for sale on the Ivy League black market or available to the initiates of Skull and Bones. Little did I know how universal this myth was.
"Ah, yes, the famous rumored stolen Vassar posture pictures," Nora Ephron (Wellesley '62) recalled when I spoke with her. "But don't forget the famous rumored stolen Wellesley posture photos."
"Ah, yes, the famous rumored stolen Vassar posture pictures," Nora
Ephron (Wellesley '62) recalled when I spoke with her. "But don't forget
the famous rumored stolen Wellesley posture photos."
"Wellesley too?"
"Oh, yes," she said. "It's one of those urban legends."
She can laugh about it now, she said, but in retrospect the whole idea that she and all her smart classmates went along with being photographed in this way dismays her. "We were idiots," she said. "Idiots!"
She can laugh about it now, she said, but in retrospect the whole idea
that she and all her smart classmates went along with being photographed
in this way dismays her. "We were idiots," she said. "Idiots\!"
Sally Quinn (Smith '63), the Washington writer, expressed alarm when I first reached her. "God, I'm relieved," she said. "I thought you were going to tell me you found mine. You always thought when you did it that one day they'd come back to haunt you. That 25 years later, when your husband was running for President, they'd show up in Penthouse."
Sally Quinn (Smith '63), the Washington writer, expressed alarm when I
first reached her. "God, I'm relieved," she said. "I thought you were
going to tell me you found mine. You always thought when you did it that
one day they'd come back to haunt you. That 25 years later, when your
husband was running for President, they'd show up in Penthouse."
Another Wellesley alumna, Judith Martin, author of the Miss Manners column, told me she's "appalled in retrospect" that the college forced this practice on their freshmen. "Why weren't we more appalled at the time?" she wondered. Nonetheless, she confessed to making a kind of good-natured extortionate use of the posture-photo specter herself.
Another Wellesley alumna, Judith Martin, author of the Miss Manners
column, told me she's "appalled in retrospect" that the college forced
this practice on their freshmen. "Why weren't we more appalled at the
time?" she wondered. Nonetheless, she confessed to making a kind of
good-natured extortionate use of the posture-photo specter herself.
"I do remember making a reunion speech in which I offered to sell them back to people for large donations. And there were a lot of people who turned pale before they realized it was a joke."
"I do remember making a reunion speech in which I offered to sell them
back to people for large donations. And there were a lot of people who
turned pale before they realized it was a joke."
Distinguishing between joke and reality is often difficult in posture-photo lore. Consider the astonishing rumor Ephron clued me in to, a story she assured me she'd heard from someone very close to the source:
Distinguishing between joke and reality is often difficult in
posture-photo lore. Consider the astonishing rumor Ephron clued me in
to, a story she assured me she'd heard from someone very close to the
source:
"There was a guy, an adjunct professor of sociology who was working on a grant for the tobacco industry. And what I heard when I was at Wellesley was that, using Harvard posture photos, he had proved conclusively that the more manly you are, the more you smoked. And I believe the criterion for manliness was the obvious one."
"There was a guy, an adjunct professor of sociology who was working on a
grant for the tobacco industry. And what I heard when I was at Wellesley
was that, using Harvard posture photos, he had proved conclusively that
the more manly you are, the more you smoked. And I believe the criterion
for manliness was the obvious one."
"The obvious one?"
"I assume -- what else could it have been?"
In fact, the study was real. I was able to track it down, although the conclusion it reached about Harvard men was somewhat different from what Ephron recalled. But, clearly, the nude-posture-photo practice engendered heated fantasies in both sexes. Perhaps in the otherwise circumspect Ivy League-Seven Sisters world, nude posture photos were the licensed exception to propriety that spawned licentious fantasies. Fantasies that were to lie unremembered, or at least unpublicized until. . . . THE RETURN OF THE REPRESSED
In fact, the study was real. I was able to track it down, although the
conclusion it reached about Harvard men was somewhat different from what
Ephron recalled. But, clearly, the nude-posture-photo practice
engendered heated fantasies in both sexes. Perhaps in the otherwise
circumspect Ivy League-Seven Sisters world, nude posture photos were the
licensed exception to propriety that spawned licentious fantasies.
Fantasies that were to lie unremembered, or at least unpublicized until.
. . . THE RETURN OF THE REPRESSED
It was Naomi Wolf, author of "The Beauty Myth," who opened the Pandora's box of posture-photo controversy. In that book and in a 1992 Op-Ed piece in The Times, Wolf (Yale '84) bitterly attacked Dick Cavett (Yale '55) for a joke he'd made at Wolf's graduation ceremonies. According to Wolf, who'd never had a posture photo taken (the practice was discontinued at Yale in 1968), Cavett took the microphone and told the following anecdote:
It was Naomi Wolf, author of "The Beauty Myth," who opened the Pandora's
box of posture-photo controversy. In that book and in a 1992 Op-Ed piece
in The Times, Wolf (Yale '84) bitterly attacked Dick Cavett (Yale '55)
for a joke he'd made at Wolf's graduation ceremonies. According to Wolf,
who'd never had a posture photo taken (the practice was discontinued at
Yale in 1968), Cavett took the microphone and told the following
anecdote:
"When I was an undergraduate . . . there were no women [ at Yale ] . The women went to Vassar. At Vassar they had nude photographs taken of women in gym class to check their posture. One year the photos were stolen and turned up for sale in New Haven's red-light district." His punchline: "The photos found no buyers."
"When I was an undergraduate . . . there were no women \[ at Yale \] .
The women went to Vassar. At Vassar they had nude photographs taken of
women in gym class to check their posture. One year the photos were
stolen and turned up for sale in New Haven's red-light district." His
punchline: "The photos found no buyers."
Wolf was horrified. Cavett, she wrote in her book, "transposed us for a moment out of the gentle quadrangle where we had been led to believe we were cherished, and into the tawdry district four blocks away, where stolen photographs of our naked bodies would find no buyers."
Wolf was horrified. Cavett, she wrote in her book, "transposed us for a
moment out of the gentle quadrangle where we had been led to believe we
were cherished, and into the tawdry district four blocks away, where
stolen photographs of our naked bodies would find no buyers."
Cavett responded, in a letter to The Times, by dismissing the joke as an innocuous "example of how my Yale years showed up in my long-forgotten nightclub act."
Cavett responded, in a letter to The Times, by dismissing the joke as an
innocuous "example of how my Yale years showed up in my long-forgotten
nightclub act."
Wolf's horrified account attests to the totemic power of the posture-photo legend. But little did she know, little did Cavett know, how potentially sinister the entire phenomenon really was. No one knew until. . . . THE NAZI-POSTURE-PHOTO ALLEGATION
Wolf's horrified account attests to the totemic power of the
posture-photo legend. But little did she know, little did Cavett know,
how potentially sinister the entire phenomenon really was. No one knew
until. . . . THE NAZI-POSTURE-PHOTO ALLEGATION
This is where things get really strange. Shortly after Cavett's reply, George Hersey, a respected art history professor at Yale, wrote a letter to The Times that ran under the headline "A Secret Lies Hidden in Vassar and Yale Nude 'Posture Photos.' " Sounding an ominous note, Hersey declared that the photos "had nothing to do with posture . . . that is only what we were told."
This is where things get really strange. Shortly after Cavett's reply,
George Hersey, a respected art history professor at Yale, wrote a letter
to The Times that ran under the headline "A Secret Lies Hidden in Vassar
and Yale Nude 'Posture Photos.' " Sounding an ominous note, Hersey
declared that the photos "had nothing to do with posture . . . that is
only what we were told."
Hersey went on to say that the pictures were actually made for anthropological research: "The reigning school of the time, presided over by E. A. Hooton of Harvard and W. H. Sheldon" -- who directed an institute for physique studies at Columbia University -- "held that a person's body, measured and analyzed, could tell much about intelligence, temperament, moral worth and probable future achievement. The inspiration came from the founder of social Darwinism, Francis Galton, who proposed such a photo archive for the British population."
Hersey went on to say that the pictures were actually made for
anthropological research: "The reigning school of the time, presided
over by E. A. Hooton of Harvard and W. H. Sheldon" -- who directed an
institute for physique studies at Columbia University -- "held that a
person's body, measured and analyzed, could tell much about
intelligence, temperament, moral worth and probable future achievement.
The inspiration came from the founder of social Darwinism, Francis
Galton, who proposed such a photo archive for the British population."
And then Hersey evoked the specter of the Third Reich:
"The Nazis compiled similar archives analyzing the photos for racial as well as characterological content (as did Hooton). . . . The Nazis often used American high school yearbook photographs for this purpose. . . . The American investigators planned an archive that could correlate each freshman's bodily configuration ('somatotype') and physiognomy with later life history. That the photos had no value as pornography is a tribute to their resolutely scientific nature."
"The Nazis compiled similar archives analyzing the photos for racial as
well as characterological content (as did Hooton). . . . The Nazis often
used American high school yearbook photographs for this purpose. . . .
The American investigators planned an archive that could correlate each
freshman's bodily configuration ('somatotype') and physiognomy with
later life history. That the photos had no value as pornography is a
tribute to their resolutely scientific nature."
A truly breathtaking missive. What Hersey seemed to be saying was that entire generations of America's ruling class had been unwitting guinea pigs in a vast eugenic experiment run by scientists with a master-race hidden agenda. My classmate Steve Weisman, the Times editor who first called my attention to the letter, pointed out a fascinating corollary: The letter managed in a stroke to confer on some of the most overprivileged people in the world the one status distinction it seemed they'd forever be denied -- victim.
A truly breathtaking missive. What Hersey seemed to be saying was that
entire generations of America's ruling class had been unwitting guinea
pigs in a vast eugenic experiment run by scientists with a master-race
hidden agenda. My classmate Steve Weisman, the Times editor who first
called my attention to the letter, pointed out a fascinating corollary:
The letter managed in a stroke to confer on some of the most
overprivileged people in the world the one status distinction it seemed
they'd forever be denied -- victim.
My first stop in what would turn out to be a prolonged and eventful quest for the truth about the posture photos was Professor Hersey's office in New Haven. A thoughtful, civilized scholar, Hersey did not seem prone to sensationalism. But he showed me a draft chapter from his forthcoming book on the esthetics of racism that went even further than the allegations in his letter to The Times. I was struck by one passage in particular:
My first stop in what would turn out to be a prolonged and eventful
quest for the truth about the posture photos was Professor Hersey's
office in New Haven. A thoughtful, civilized scholar, Hersey did not
seem prone to sensationalism. But he showed me a draft chapter from his
forthcoming book on the esthetics of racism that went even further than
the allegations in his letter to The Times. I was struck by one passage
in particular:
"From the outset, the purpose of these 'posture photographs' was eugenic. The data accumulated, says Hooton, will eventually lead on to proposals to 'control and limit the production of inferior and useless organisms.' Some of the latter would be penalized for reproducing . . . or would be sterilized. But the real solution is to be enforced better breeding -- getting those Exeter and Harvard men together with their corresponding Wellesley, Vassar and Radcliffe girls."
"From the outset, the purpose of these 'posture photographs' was
eugenic. The data accumulated, says Hooton, will eventually lead on to
proposals to 'control and limit the production of inferior and useless
organisms.' Some of the latter would be penalized for reproducing . . .
or would be sterilized. But the real solution is to be enforced better
breeding -- getting those Exeter and Harvard men together with their
corresponding Wellesley, Vassar and Radcliffe girls."
In other words, a kind of eugenic dating service, "Studs" for the cultural elite. But my talk with Hersey left key questions unanswered. What was the precise relationship between theorists like Hooton and Sheldon (the man who actually took tens of thousands of those nude posture photos) and the Ivy League and Seven Sisters schools whose student bodies were photographed? Were the schools complicit or were they simply dupes? And finally: What became of the photographs?
In other words, a kind of eugenic dating service, "Studs" for the
cultural elite. But my talk with Hersey left key questions unanswered.
What was the precise relationship between theorists like Hooton and
Sheldon (the man who actually took tens of thousands of those nude
posture photos) and the Ivy League and Seven Sisters schools whose
student bodies were photographed? Were the schools complicit or were
they simply dupes? And finally: What became of the photographs?
As for the last question, Hersey thought there'd be no trouble locating the photographs. He assumed that "they can probably be found with Sheldon's research papers" in one of the several academic institutions with which he had been associated. But most of those institutions said that they had burned whatever photos they'd had. Harley P. Holden, curator of Harvard's archives, said that from the 1880's to the 1940's the university had its own posture-photo program in which some 3,500 pictures of its students were taken. Most were destroyed 15 or 20 years ago "for privacy scruples," Holden said. Nonetheless, quite a few Harvard nudes can be found illustrating Sheldon's book on body types, the "Atlas of Men." Radcliffe took posture photos from 1931 to 1961; the curator there said that most of them had been destroyed (although some might be missing) and that none were taken by Sheldon.
As for the last question, Hersey thought there'd be no trouble locating
the photographs. He assumed that "they can probably be found with
Sheldon's research papers" in one of the several academic institutions
with which he had been associated. But most of those institutions said
that they had burned whatever photos they'd had. Harley P. Holden,
curator of Harvard's archives, said that from the 1880's to the 1940's
the university had its own posture-photo program in which some 3,500
pictures of its students were taken. Most were destroyed 15 or 20 years
ago "for privacy scruples," Holden said. Nonetheless, quite a few
Harvard nudes can be found illustrating Sheldon's book on body types,
the "Atlas of Men." Radcliffe took posture photos from 1931 to 1961; the
curator there said that most of them had been destroyed (although some
might be missing) and that none were taken by Sheldon.
Hersey insisted that there was a treasure trove of Sheldon photographs out there to be found. He gave me the phone number of a man in New Mexico named Ellery Lanier, a friend of Sheldon, the posture-photo mastermind. "He might know where they ended up," Hersey told me.
Hersey insisted that there was a treasure trove of Sheldon photographs
out there to be found. He gave me the phone number of a man in New
Mexico named Ellery Lanier, a friend of Sheldon, the posture-photo
mastermind. "He might know where they ended up," Hersey told me.
Going from Hersey to Lanier meant stepping over the threshold from contemporary academic orthodoxy into the more exotic precincts of Sheldon subculture, a loose-knit network of his surviving disciples. A number of them keep the Sheldon legacy alive, hoping for a revival.
Going from Hersey to Lanier meant stepping over the threshold from
contemporary academic orthodoxy into the more exotic precincts of
Sheldon subculture, a loose-knit network of his surviving disciples. A
number of them keep the Sheldon legacy alive, hoping for a revival.
Lanier, an articulate, seventyish doctoral student at New Mexico State, told me he'd gotten to know Sheldon at Columbia in the late 1940's, when the two of them were hanging out with Aldous Huxley and Christopher Isherwood and their crew. (Sheldon had a prophetic mystical side, which revealed itself in Huxleian philosophic treatises on the "Promethean will." Sheldon was also, Lanier told me, "the world's leading expert on the history of the American penny.") At that time, Sheldon was at the apex of his now-forgotten renown. Life magazine ran a cover story in 1951 on Sheldon's theory of somatotypes.
Lanier, an articulate, seventyish doctoral student at New Mexico State,
told me he'd gotten to know Sheldon at Columbia in the late 1940's, when
the two of them were hanging out with Aldous Huxley and Christopher
Isherwood and their crew. (Sheldon had a prophetic mystical side, which
revealed itself in Huxleian philosophic treatises on the "Promethean
will." Sheldon was also, Lanier told me, "the world's leading expert on
the history of the American penny.") At that time, Sheldon was at the
apex of his now-forgotten renown. Life magazine ran a cover story in
1951 on Sheldon's theory of somatotypes.
While the popular conception of Sheldonism has it that he divided human beings into three types -- skinny, nervous "ectomorphs"; fat and jolly "endomorphs"; confident, buffed "mesomorphs" -- what he actually did was somewhat more complex. He believed that every individual harbored within him different degrees of each of the three character components. By using body measurements and ratios derived from nude photographs, Sheldon believed he could assign every individual a three-digit number representing the three components, components that Sheldon believed were inborn -- genetic -- and remained unwavering determinants of character regardless of transitory weight change. In other words, physique equals destiny.
While the popular conception of Sheldonism has it that he divided human
beings into three types -- skinny, nervous "ectomorphs"; fat and jolly
"endomorphs"; confident, buffed "mesomorphs" -- what he actually did was
somewhat more complex. He believed that every individual harbored within
him different degrees of each of the three character components. By
using body measurements and ratios derived from nude photographs,
Sheldon believed he could assign every individual a three-digit number
representing the three components, components that Sheldon believed were
inborn -- genetic -- and remained unwavering determinants of character
regardless of transitory weight change. In other words, physique equals
destiny.
It was the pop-psych flavor of the month for a while; Cosmopolitan magazine published quizzes about how to understand your husband on the basis of somatotype. Ecto-, meso- and endomorphic have entered the language, although few scientists these days give credence to Sheldon's claims. "Half the textbooks in [ his ] area fail to take [ him ] seriously," remarked one academician in a 1992 paper on Sheldon's legacy. Others, like Hans Eysenck, the British psychologist, have suggested that Sheldon wasn't really doing science at all, that he was just winging it, that there was "little theoretical foundation for the observed findings."
It was the pop-psych flavor of the month for a while; Cosmopolitan
magazine published quizzes about how to understand your husband on the
basis of somatotype. Ecto-, meso- and endomorphic have entered the
language, although few scientists these days give credence to Sheldon's
claims. "Half the textbooks in \[ his \] area fail to take \[ him \]
seriously," remarked one academician in a 1992 paper on Sheldon's
legacy. Others, like Hans Eysenck, the British psychologist, have
suggested that Sheldon wasn't really doing science at all, that he was
just winging it, that there was "little theoretical foundation for the
observed findings."
Nonetheless, in the late 40's and early 50's, Sheldonism seemed mainstream, and Sheldon took advantage of that to approach Ivy League schools. Many, like Harvard, already had a posture-photo tradition. But it was at Wellesley College in the late 1920's that concern about postural correctness metamorphosed into a cottage industry with pretensions to science. The department of hygiene circulated training films about posture measurement to other women's colleges, which took up the practice, as did some "progressive" high schools and elementary schools. (By the time Hillary Rodham arrived on the Wellesley campus, women were allowed to have their pictures taken only partly nude. Although Lanier assumes that Sheldon took the Rodham photo, Wellesley archivists believe that Sheldon didn't take posture photos at their school.)
Nonetheless, in the late 40's and early 50's, Sheldonism seemed
mainstream, and Sheldon took advantage of that to approach Ivy League
schools. Many, like Harvard, already had a posture-photo tradition. But
it was at Wellesley College in the late 1920's that concern about
postural correctness metamorphosed into a cottage industry with
pretensions to science. The department of hygiene circulated training
films about posture measurement to other women's colleges, which took up
the practice, as did some "progressive" high schools and elementary
schools. (By the time Hillary Rodham arrived on the Wellesley campus,
women were allowed to have their pictures taken only partly nude.
Although Lanier assumes that Sheldon took the Rodham photo, Wellesley
archivists believe that Sheldon didn't take posture photos at their
school.)
What Sheldon did was appropriate the ritual. Lanier confirmed that the Ivy League "posture photos" Sheldon used were "part of a facade or cover-up for what we were really doing" -- which would make the schools less complicit. But Lanier stoutly defended "what we were really doing" as valid science. As part of his Ph.D. project, he has been examining Sheldonian ecto-, meso- and endomorphic categories and the "time horizon" of the individual.
What Sheldon did was appropriate the ritual. Lanier confirmed that the
Ivy League "posture photos" Sheldon used were "part of a facade or
cover-up for what we were really doing" -- which would make the schools
less complicit. But Lanier stoutly defended "what we were really doing"
as valid science. As part of his Ph.D. project, he has been examining
Sheldonian ecto-, meso- and endomorphic categories and the "time
horizon" of the individual.
"Conflicting temporal horizon can account for all the divorce we have today," Lanier said. "The Woody Allen-Mia Farrow-type thing."
"Conflicting temporal horizon can account for all the divorce we have
today," Lanier said. "The Woody Allen-Mia Farrow-type thing."
Huh? Woody and Mia?
"I'm trying to find some clue to the breakup because of the discrepancies between their time focus," Lanier said.
"I'm trying to find some clue to the breakup because of the
discrepancies between their time focus," Lanier said.
"Well, Woody's certainly ectomorphic, but. . . . "
"No, let me correct you," Lanier said tartly. "Woody Allen creates an illusion. He puts on a big show of being ectomorphic, but this is all a cover-up because he's quite mesomorphic."
"No, let me correct you," Lanier said tartly. "Woody Allen creates an
illusion. He puts on a big show of being ectomorphic, but this is all a
cover-up because he's quite mesomorphic."
"I think he would be surprised to hear that."
"I know," Lanier said. "He wouldn't want to admit it, but the only way you can know this is by looking at photographs very carefully."
"I know," Lanier said. "He wouldn't want to admit it, but the only way
you can know this is by looking at photographs very carefully."
Lanier also filled me in on the cause of Sheldon's downfall: his never completed, partly burned "Atlas of Women." In attempting to compile what would have been the companion volume to his "Atlas of Men," which included hundreds of nude Harvard men to illustrate each of the three-digit body types, Sheldon made the strategic mistake of taking his photo show on the road.
Lanier also filled me in on the cause of Sheldon's downfall: his never
completed, partly burned "Atlas of Women." In attempting to compile what
would have been the companion volume to his "Atlas of Men," which
included hundreds of nude Harvard men to illustrate each of the
three-digit body types, Sheldon made the strategic mistake of taking his
photo show on the road.
What happened was this: In September 1950, Sheldon and his team descended on Seattle, where the University of Washington had agreed to play host to his project. He'd begun taking nude pictures of female freshmen, but something went wrong. One of them told her parents about the practice. The next morning, a battalion of lawyers and university officials stormed Sheldon's lab, seized every photo of a nude woman, convicted the images of shamefulness and sentenced them to burning. The angry crew then shoveled the incendiary film into an incinerator. A short-lived controversy broke out: Was this a book burning? A witch hunt? Was Professor Sheldon's nude photography a legitimate scientific investigation into the relationship between physique and temperament, the raw material of serious scholarship? Or just raw material -- pornography masquerading as science?
What happened was this: In September 1950, Sheldon and his team
descended on Seattle, where the University of Washington had agreed to
play host to his project. He'd begun taking nude pictures of female
freshmen, but something went wrong. One of them told her parents about
the practice. The next morning, a battalion of lawyers and university
officials stormed Sheldon's lab, seized every photo of a nude woman,
convicted the images of shamefulness and sentenced them to burning. The
angry crew then shoveled the incendiary film into an incinerator. A
short-lived controversy broke out: Was this a book burning? A witch
hunt? Was Professor Sheldon's nude photography a legitimate scientific
investigation into the relationship between physique and temperament,
the raw material of serious scholarship? Or just raw material --
pornography masquerading as science?
They burned a few thousand photos in Seattle. Thousands more were burned at Harvard, Vassar and Yale in the 60's and 70's, when the colleges phased out the posture-photo practice. But thousands more escaped the flames, tens of thousands that Sheldon took at Harvard, Vassar, Yale and elsewhere but sequestered in his own archives. And what became of the archives? Lanier didn't know, but he said they were out there somewhere. He dug up the phone number of a man who was once the lawyer for Sheldon's estate, a Mr. Joachim Weissfeld in Providence, R.I. "Maybe he'll know," Lanier said.
They burned a few thousand photos in Seattle. Thousands more were burned
at Harvard, Vassar and Yale in the 60's and 70's, when the colleges
phased out the posture-photo practice. But thousands more escaped the
flames, tens of thousands that Sheldon took at Harvard, Vassar, Yale and
elsewhere but sequestered in his own archives. And what became of the
archives? Lanier didn't know, but he said they were out there somewhere.
He dug up the phone number of a man who was once the lawyer for
Sheldon's estate, a Mr. Joachim Weissfeld in Providence, R.I. "Maybe
he'll know," Lanier said.
At this point, the posture-photo quest turned into a kind of high-speed parody of "The Aspern Papers." The lawyer in Rhode Island professed ignorance as to the whereabouts or even continued existence of the lost Sheldonian archives, but he did put me in touch with the last living leaf on the Sheldon family tree, a niece by marriage who lived in Warwick, R.I. She, too, said she didn't know what had become of the Sheldon photos, but she did give me the name of an 84-year-old man living in Columbus, Ohio, who had worked very closely with Sheldon, one Roland D. Elderkin -- a man who, in fact, had shot many of the lost photos himself and who promised to reveal their location to me. THE MYSTERY SOLVED
At this point, the posture-photo quest turned into a kind of high-speed
parody of "The Aspern Papers." The lawyer in Rhode Island professed
ignorance as to the whereabouts or even continued existence of the lost
Sheldonian archives, but he did put me in touch with the last living
leaf on the Sheldon family tree, a niece by marriage who lived in
Warwick, R.I. She, too, said she didn't know what had become of the
Sheldon photos, but she did give me the name of an 84-year-old man
living in Columbus, Ohio, who had worked very closely with Sheldon, one
Roland D. Elderkin -- a man who, in fact, had shot many of the lost
photos himself and who promised to reveal their location to me. THE
MYSTERY SOLVED
With Roland D. Elderkin, we're now this close to the late, great Sheldon himself. "There was nobody closer," Elderkin declared shortly after I reached him at his rooming house in Columbus. "I was his soul mate."
With Roland D. Elderkin, we're now this close to the late, great Sheldon
himself. "There was nobody closer," Elderkin declared shortly after I
reached him at his rooming house in Columbus. "I was his soul mate."
Elderkin described himself a bit mournfully as "just an 84-year-old man living alone in a furnished room." But he once had a brush with greatness, and you can hear it in his recollection of Sheldon and his grand project.
Elderkin described himself a bit mournfully as "just an 84-year-old man
living alone in a furnished room." But he once had a brush with
greatness, and you can hear it in his recollection of Sheldon and his
grand project.
To Elderkin, Sheldon was no mere body-typer: he was a true philosophe, "the first to introduce holistic perspective" to American science, a proto-New Ager. Elderkin became Sheldon's research associate, his trusty cameraman and a kind of private eye, compiling case histories of Sheldon's posture nudes to confirm Sheldon's theories about physique and destiny. He also witnessed Sheldon's downfall.
To Elderkin, Sheldon was no mere body-typer: he was a true philosophe,
"the first to introduce holistic perspective" to American science, a
proto-New Ager. Elderkin became Sheldon's research associate, his trusty
cameraman and a kind of private eye, compiling case histories of
Sheldon's posture nudes to confirm Sheldon's theories about physique and
destiny. He also witnessed Sheldon's downfall.
The Bonfire of the Nude Coed Photos in Seattle wasn't Sheldon's only public burning, Elderkin told me: "He went through a number of furors over women. A similar thing later happened at Pembroke, the women's college at Brown." In each case, the fact that female nudes were involved kindled the flame against Sheldon. Toward the end, Sheldon became a kind of pathetic Willy Loman-esque figure as he wandered America far from the elite Ivy halls that had once housed him, seeking a place he could complete the photography for his "Atlas of Women."
The Bonfire of the Nude Coed Photos in Seattle wasn't Sheldon's only
public burning, Elderkin told me: "He went through a number of furors
over women. A similar thing later happened at Pembroke, the women's
college at Brown." In each case, the fact that female nudes were
involved kindled the flame against Sheldon. Toward the end, Sheldon
became a kind of pathetic Willy Loman-esque figure as he wandered
America far from the elite Ivy halls that had once housed him, seeking a
place he could complete the photography for his "Atlas of Women."
Rejected and scorned, out of fashion with academic officialdom, Sheldon is still a hero to Roland D. Elderkin. And so when Sheldon died in 1977, "a lonely old man who did nothing his last years but sit in his room and read detective stories," Elderkin said, "there was nobody else to carry on." It fell to Elderkin to find a final resting place for the huge archives of Sheldon's posture nudes.
Rejected and scorned, out of fashion with academic officialdom, Sheldon
is still a hero to Roland D. Elderkin. And so when Sheldon died in 1977,
"a lonely old man who did nothing his last years but sit in his room and
read detective stories," Elderkin said, "there was nobody else to carry
on." It fell to Elderkin to find a final resting place for the huge
archives of Sheldon's posture nudes.
It wasn't easy, he said. Elderkin went "up and down the East Coast trying to peddle them" to places like Harvard and Columbia, which once welcomed Sheldon but now wanted nothing to do with nude photos and the controversy trailing them. "That's how I found out about the burning at Pembroke," Elderkin recalled. "I was trying to get someone at Brown to accept them, and he said, 'That filth? We already burned the ones we had.' "
It wasn't easy, he said. Elderkin went "up and down the East Coast
trying to peddle them" to places like Harvard and Columbia, which once
welcomed Sheldon but now wanted nothing to do with nude photos and the
controversy trailing them. "That's how I found out about the burning at
Pembroke," Elderkin recalled. "I was trying to get someone at Brown to
accept them, and he said, 'That filth? We already burned the ones we
had.' "
"And you know where they are now?" I asked incredulously. "Hersey and Lanier said they didn't know."
"And you know where they are now?" I asked incredulously. "Hersey and
Lanier said they didn't know."
"Sure I do," he said. "I was the one that finally found a home for them."
"Sure I do," he said. "I was the one that finally found a home for
them."
And then he told me where.
BEFORE WE PROCEED TO the location of the treasure itself, it might be wise to pause and ponder the wisdom of opening such a Pandora's box. With scholars like Hersey alleging eugenic motives behind Sheldon's project, with the self-images of so many of the cultural elite at stake, would exposure of the hidden hoard be defensible? Is there anyone, aside from lifelong Sheldon disciples, who will step forward to defend Sheldon's posture photos?
BEFORE WE PROCEED TO the location of the treasure itself, it might be
wise to pause and ponder the wisdom of opening such a Pandora's box.
With scholars like Hersey alleging eugenic motives behind Sheldon's
project, with the self-images of so many of the cultural elite at stake,
would exposure of the hidden hoard be defensible? Is there anyone, aside
from lifelong Sheldon disciples, who will step forward to defend
Sheldon's posture photos?
Of course there is: Camille Paglia.
"I'm very interested in somatotypes," she said. "I constantly use the term in my work. The word 'ectomorph' is used repeatedly in 'Sexual Personae' about Spenser's Apollonian angels. That's one of the things I'm trying to do: to reconsider these classification schemes, to rescue them from their tainting by Nazi ideology. It's always been a part of classicism. It's sort of like we've lost the old curiosity about physical characteristics, physical differences. And I maintain it's bourgeois prudery.
"See, I'm interested in looking at women's breasts! I'm interested in looking at men's penises! I maintain that at the present date, Penthouse, Playboy, Hustler, serve the same cultural functions as the posture photos."
With these words ringing in my ears, I set out to see if I could open up the Sheldon archives. THE SECRET IS BARED
Down a dimly lit back corridor of the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, far from the dinosaur displays, is a branch of the Smithsonian not well known to the public: the National Anthropological Archives.
Although it contains a rich and strange assortment of archival treasures, it's particularly notable for the number of Native Americans who travel here to investigate centuries-old anthropological records, poring over them in a cramped, windowless research room whose walls are hung with stylized illustrations of tribal rituals painted by one Chief Blue Eagle. It was here that my quest for another kind of tribal illustration -- the taboo images of the blue-blood tribe, the long-lost nude posture photos -- culminated at last.
In 1987, the curators of the National Anthropological Archives acquired the remains of Sheldon's life work, which were gathering dust in "dead storage" in a Goodwill warehouse in Boston. While there were solid archival reasons for making the acquisition, the curators are clearly aware that they harbor some potentially explosive material in their storage rooms. And they did not make it easy for me to gain access.
On my first visit, I was informed by a good-natured but wary supervisor that the restrictive grant of Sheldon's materials by his estate would permit me to review only the written materials in the Sheldon archives. The actual photographs, he said, were off-limits. To see them, I would have to petition the chief of archivists. Determined to pursue the matter to the bitter end, I began the process of applying for permission.
Meanwhile, I plunged into the written material hoping to find answers to several unresolved mysteries. Although I did not find substantiation in those files for Hersey's belief that Sheldon was actively engaged in a master-race eugenic project, I did find stunning confirmation of Hersey's charge that Sheldon held racist views.
In Box 43 I came across a document never referred to in any of the literature on Sheldon I'd seen. It was a faded offprint of a 1924 Sheldon study, "The Intelligence of Mexican Children." In it are damning assertions presented as scientific truisms that "Negro intelligence" comes to a "standstill at about the 10th year," Mexican at about age 12. To the author of such sentiments, America's elite institutions entrusted their student bodies.
Another box held clues to the truth behind Nora Ephron's tale about smoking and organ size. It turned out to be true that a research arm of the tobacco industry had sponsored studies on the relationship between masculinity and smoking, and that the studies had involved Sheldonian posture photos of Harvard men -- although there is no evidence that the criterion of masculinity was the "obvious one" referred to by Ephron. I located a fascinating report on this research in a December 1959 issue of the respected journal Science, a report titled "Masculinity and Smoking." According to the article, and contrary to the rumor, it is "not strength but weakness of the masculine component" that is "more frequent in the heavier smokers." Here, perhaps, is the most profound cultural legacy of the Sheldonian posture-photo phenomenon: the blueprint for the sexual iconography of tobacco advertising. If, in fact, heavy smokers looked more like Harvard nerds than Marlboro men, why not use advertising imagery to make Harvard nerds feel like virile cowboys when they smoked?
Finally and most telling, I found a letter nearly four decades old that did something nothing else in the files did. It gave a glimpse, a clue to the feelings of the subjects of Sheldon's research, particularly the women. I found the letter in a file of correspondence between Sheldon and various phys ed directors at women's colleges who were providing Sheldon with bodies for the ill-fated "Atlas of Women." In this letter, an official at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, was responding to Sheldon's request to rephotograph the female freshmen he had photographed the year before. Something had apparently gone wrong with the technical side of the earlier shoot. But the official refused to allow Sheldon to reshoot the women, declaring that "to require them to pose for another [ nude posture photo ] would create insurmountable psychological problems."
Insurmountable psychological problems. Suddenly the subjects of Sheldon's photography leaped into the foreground: the shy girl, the fat girl, the religiously conservative, the victim of inappropriate parental attention. Here, perhaps, Naomi Wolf has a point. In a culture that already encourages women to scrutinize their bodies critically, the first thing that happens to these women when they arrive at college is an intrusive, uncomfortable, public examination of their nude bodies.
THREE MONTHS LATER, I FINALLY SUCCEEDED IN gaining permission to study the elusive posture photos. As I sat at my desk in the reading room, under a portrait of Chief Blue Eagle, the long-sought cache materialized. A curator trundled in a library cart from the storage facility. Teetering on top of the cart were stacks of big, gray cardboard boxes. The curator handed me a pair of the white cotton gloves that researchers must use to handle archival material.
The contents of the boxes were described in an accompanying "Finder's Aid" in this fashion: BOX 90 YALE UNIVERSITY CLASS OF 1971
Negatives. Full length views of nude freshmen men, front, back and rear. Includes weight, height, previous or maximum weight, with age, name, or initials. BOX 95 MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE PHOTOGRAPHS
Negatives. Made in 1950. Full length views of nude women, front, back and rear. Includes height, weight, date and age. Includes some photographs marked S.P.C.
Among the other classes listed in the Finder's Aid were: the Yale classes of '50, '63, '64, '66 and '71; the Princeton class of '52; Smith '50 and '52; Vassar '42 and '52; Mount Holyoke '53; Swarthmore '51; University of California '61 and '67; Hotchkiss '71; Syracuse '50; University of Wisconsin '53; Purdue '53; University of Pennsylvania '51, and Brooklyn College '51 and '52. There were also undated photos from the Oregon Hospital for the Criminally Insane (which I could not distinguish in any way from the Ivy League photos). All told, there were some 20,000 photographs of men -- 9,000 from Yale -- and 7,000 of women.
In flipping through those thousands of images (which were recently transferred to Smithsonian archives in Suitland, Md.), I found surprising testimony to the "insurmountable psychological problems" that the Denison University official had referred to. It took awhile for the "problems" to become apparent, because, as it turned out, I was not permitted to see positive photographs -- only negatives (with no names attached).
A fascinating distinction was being exhibited here, a kind of light-polarity theory of prurience and privacy that absolves the negative image of the naked body of whatever transgressive power it might have in a positive print. There's an intuitive logic to the theory, although here the Sheldon posture-photo phenomenon exposes how fragile are the distinctions we make between the sanctioned and the forbidden images of the body.
As I thumbed rapidly through box after box to confirm that the entries described in the Finder's Aid were actually there, I tried to glance at only the faces. It was a decision that paid off, because it was in them that a crucial difference between the men and the women revealed itself. For the most part, the men looked diffident, oblivious. That's not surprising considering that men of that era were accustomed to undressing for draft physicals and athletic-squad weigh-ins.
But the faces of the women were another story. I was surprised at how many looked deeply unhappy, as if pained at being subjected to this procedure. On the faces of quite a few I saw what looked like grimaces, reflecting pronounced discomfort, perhaps even anger.
I was not much more comfortable myself sitting there in the midst of stacks of boxes of such images. There I was at the end of my quest. I'd tracked down the fabled photographs, but the lessons of the posture-photo ritual were elusive.
"THERE'S A TREMENDOUS LESSON HERE," MISS manners declares. "Which is that one should have sympathy and tolerance for respectable women from whose past naked pictures suddenly show up. One should think of the many times where some woman becomes prominent like Marilyn Monroe and suddenly there are nude pictures in her past. Shouldn't we be a little less condemning of someone in that position?"
A little less condemning of the victims, yes, certainly. (I speak as one myself, although it turned out that my photo was burned in the Yale bonfire of the late 70's.) But what about the perpetrators? What could have possessed so many elite institutions of higher education to turn their student bodies over to the practitioners of what now seems so dubious a science project?
It's a question that baffles the current powers that be at Ivy League schools. The response of Gary Fryer, Yale's spokesman, is representative: "We searched, but there's nobody around now who was involved with the decision." Even so, he assures me, nothing like it could happen again; concerns about privacy have heightened, and, as he puts it, "there's now a Federal law against disclosing anything in a college student's record to any outsider without written permission."
In other words, "We won't get fooled again." Though he is undoubtedly correct that nothing precisely like the posture-photo folly could happen again, it is hard to deny the possibility, the likelihood, that well-meaning people and institutions will get taken in -- are being taken in -- by those who peddle scientific conjecture as certainty. Sheldon's dream of reducing the complexity of human personality and the contingency of human fate to a single number is a recurrent one, as the continuing I.Q. controversy demonstrates. And a reminder that skepticism is still valuable in the face of scientific claims of certainty, particularly in the slippery realms of human behavior.
The rise and fall of "sciences" like Marxist history, Freudian psychology and Keynesian economics suggests that at least some of the beliefs and axioms treated as science today (Rorschach analysis, "rational choice" economics, perhaps) will turn out to have little more validity than nude stick-pin somatotyping.
In the Sheldon rituals, the student test subjects were naked -- but it was the emperors of scientific certainty who had no clothes.
Photos: W. H. Sheldon, the posture-photo guru. Wellesley student (circa 1930) with posture-measuring pins. (FROM "THE VARIETIES OF HUMAN PHYSIQUE."); Examples of Sheldon's endo-, meso- and ectomorphs, right. (RESEARCH QUARTERLY/AAHPERD, FROM NEW YORK UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES)(pg. 26-27); Sheldon believed that photos like these could yield a three-digit number to define a person's temperament. Insets: Wellesley posture technicians and their laboratories circa 1930. (SINGLE POSTURE PHOTO: FROM "ATLAS OF MEN," FROM NEW YORK UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES. TRIPTYCHS: FROM "THE VARIETIES OF HUMAN PHYSIQUE." INSETS: RESEARCH QUARTERLY/AAHPERD.)(pgh. 28-29); Whether scandal or folly, the strange phenomenon of the nude "posture photos" is also a kind of touchstone for registering attitudes toward body, race and gender in the past half-century. (SINGLE POSTURE PHOTO: FROM "ATLAS OF MEN." TRIPTYCHS, LEFT AND SECOND FROM RIGHT: FROM "ATLAS OF MEN"; OTHERS: FROM "THE VARIETIES OF HUMAN PHYSIQUE." INSETS: RESEARCH QUARTERLY/AAHPERD.)(pg. 30-31)
Ron Rosenbaum is a contributing writer for the Magazine.
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"I'm very interested in somatotypes," she said. "I constantly use the
term in my work. The word 'ectomorph' is used repeatedly in 'Sexual
Personae' about Spenser's Apollonian angels. That's one of the things
I'm trying to do: to reconsider these classification schemes, to rescue
them from their tainting by Nazi ideology. It's always been a part of
classicism. It's sort of like we've lost the old curiosity about
physical characteristics, physical differences. And I maintain it's
bourgeois prudery.
"See, I'm interested in looking at women's breasts\! I'm interested in
looking at men's penises\! I maintain that at the present date,
Penthouse, Playboy, Hustler, serve the same cultural functions as the
posture photos."
With these words ringing in my ears, I set out to see if I could open up
the Sheldon archives. THE SECRET IS BARED
Down a dimly lit back corridor of the National Museum of Natural History
in Washington, far from the dinosaur displays, is a branch of the
Smithsonian not well known to the public: the National Anthropological
Archives.
Although it contains a rich and strange assortment of archival
treasures, it's particularly notable for the number of Native Americans
who travel here to investigate centuries-old anthropological records,
poring over them in a cramped, windowless research room whose walls are
hung with stylized illustrations of tribal rituals painted by one Chief
Blue Eagle. It was here that my quest for another kind of tribal
illustration -- the taboo images of the blue-blood tribe, the long-lost
nude posture photos -- culminated at last.
In 1987, the curators of the National Anthropological Archives acquired
the remains of Sheldon's life work, which were gathering dust in "dead
storage" in a Goodwill warehouse in Boston. While there were solid
archival reasons for making the acquisition, the curators are clearly
aware that they harbor some potentially explosive material in their
storage rooms. And they did not make it easy for me to gain access.
On my first visit, I was informed by a good-natured but wary supervisor
that the restrictive grant of Sheldon's materials by his estate would
permit me to review only the written materials in the Sheldon archives.
The actual photographs, he said, were off-limits. To see them, I would
have to petition the chief of archivists. Determined to pursue the
matter to the bitter end, I began the process of applying for
permission.
Meanwhile, I plunged into the written material hoping to find answers to
several unresolved mysteries. Although I did not find substantiation in
those files for Hersey's belief that Sheldon was actively engaged in a
master-race eugenic project, I did find stunning confirmation of
Hersey's charge that Sheldon held racist views.
In Box 43 I came across a document never referred to in any of the
literature on Sheldon I'd seen. It was a faded offprint of a 1924
Sheldon study, "The Intelligence of Mexican Children." In it are damning
assertions presented as scientific truisms that "Negro intelligence"
comes to a "standstill at about the 10th year," Mexican at about age 12.
To the author of such sentiments, America's elite institutions entrusted
their student bodies.
Another box held clues to the truth behind Nora Ephron's tale about
smoking and organ size. It turned out to be true that a research arm of
the tobacco industry had sponsored studies on the relationship between
masculinity and smoking, and that the studies had involved Sheldonian
posture photos of Harvard men -- although there is no evidence that the
criterion of masculinity was the "obvious one" referred to by Ephron. I
located a fascinating report on this research in a December 1959 issue
of the respected journal Science, a report titled "Masculinity and
Smoking." According to the article, and contrary to the rumor, it is
"not strength but weakness of the masculine component" that is "more
frequent in the heavier smokers." Here, perhaps, is the most profound
cultural legacy of the Sheldonian posture-photo phenomenon: the
blueprint for the sexual iconography of tobacco advertising. If, in
fact, heavy smokers looked more like Harvard nerds than Marlboro men,
why not use advertising imagery to make Harvard nerds feel like virile
cowboys when they smoked?
Finally and most telling, I found a letter nearly four decades old that
did something nothing else in the files did. It gave a glimpse, a clue
to the feelings of the subjects of Sheldon's research, particularly the
women. I found the letter in a file of correspondence between Sheldon
and various phys ed directors at women's colleges who were providing
Sheldon with bodies for the ill-fated "Atlas of Women." In this letter,
an official at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, was responding to
Sheldon's request to rephotograph the female freshmen he had
photographed the year before. Something had apparently gone wrong with
the technical side of the earlier shoot. But the official refused to
allow Sheldon to reshoot the women, declaring that "to require them to
pose for another \[ nude posture photo \] would create insurmountable
psychological problems."
Insurmountable psychological problems. Suddenly the subjects of
Sheldon's photography leaped into the foreground: the shy girl, the fat
girl, the religiously conservative, the victim of inappropriate parental
attention. Here, perhaps, Naomi Wolf has a point. In a culture that
already encourages women to scrutinize their bodies critically, the
first thing that happens to these women when they arrive at college is
an intrusive, uncomfortable, public examination of their nude bodies.
THREE MONTHS LATER, I FINALLY SUCCEEDED IN gaining permission to study
the elusive posture photos. As I sat at my desk in the reading room,
under a portrait of Chief Blue Eagle, the long-sought cache
materialized. A curator trundled in a library cart from the storage
facility. Teetering on top of the cart were stacks of big, gray
cardboard boxes. The curator handed me a pair of the white cotton gloves
that researchers must use to handle archival material.
The contents of the boxes were described in an accompanying "Finder's
Aid" in this fashion: BOX 90 YALE UNIVERSITY CLASS OF 1971
Negatives. Full length views of nude freshmen men, front, back and rear.
Includes weight, height, previous or maximum weight, with age, name, or
initials. BOX 95 MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE PHOTOGRAPHS
Negatives. Made in 1950. Full length views of nude women, front, back
and rear. Includes height, weight, date and age. Includes some
photographs marked S.P.C.
Among the other classes listed in the Finder's Aid were: the Yale
classes of '50, '63, '64, '66 and '71; the Princeton class of '52; Smith
'50 and '52; Vassar '42 and '52; Mount Holyoke '53; Swarthmore '51;
University of California '61 and '67; Hotchkiss '71; Syracuse '50;
University of Wisconsin '53; Purdue '53; University of Pennsylvania '51,
and Brooklyn College '51 and '52. There were also undated photos from
the Oregon Hospital for the Criminally Insane (which I could not
distinguish in any way from the Ivy League photos). All told, there were
some 20,000 photographs of men -- 9,000 from Yale -- and 7,000 of women.
In flipping through those thousands of images (which were recently
transferred to Smithsonian archives in Suitland, Md.), I found
surprising testimony to the "insurmountable psychological problems" that
the Denison University official had referred to. It took awhile for the
"problems" to become apparent, because, as it turned out, I was not
permitted to see positive photographs -- only negatives (with no names
attached).
A fascinating distinction was being exhibited here, a kind of
light-polarity theory of prurience and privacy that absolves the
negative image of the naked body of whatever transgressive power it
might have in a positive print. There's an intuitive logic to the
theory, although here the Sheldon posture-photo phenomenon exposes how
fragile are the distinctions we make between the sanctioned and the
forbidden images of the body.
As I thumbed rapidly through box after box to confirm that the entries
described in the Finder's Aid were actually there, I tried to glance at
only the faces. It was a decision that paid off, because it was in them
that a crucial difference between the men and the women revealed itself.
For the most part, the men looked diffident, oblivious. That's not
surprising considering that men of that era were accustomed to
undressing for draft physicals and athletic-squad weigh-ins.
But the faces of the women were another story. I was surprised at how
many looked deeply unhappy, as if pained at being subjected to this
procedure. On the faces of quite a few I saw what looked like grimaces,
reflecting pronounced discomfort, perhaps even anger.
I was not much more comfortable myself sitting there in the midst of
stacks of boxes of such images. There I was at the end of my quest. I'd
tracked down the fabled photographs, but the lessons of the
posture-photo ritual were elusive.
"THERE'S A TREMENDOUS LESSON HERE," MISS manners declares. "Which is
that one should have sympathy and tolerance for respectable women from
whose past naked pictures suddenly show up. One should think of the many
times where some woman becomes prominent like Marilyn Monroe and
suddenly there are nude pictures in her past. Shouldn't we be a little
less condemning of someone in that position?"
A little less condemning of the victims, yes, certainly. (I speak as one
myself, although it turned out that my photo was burned in the Yale
bonfire of the late 70's.) But what about the perpetrators? What could
have possessed so many elite institutions of higher education to turn
their student bodies over to the practitioners of what now seems so
dubious a science project?
It's a question that baffles the current powers that be at Ivy League
schools. The response of Gary Fryer, Yale's spokesman, is
representative: "We searched, but there's nobody around now who was
involved with the decision." Even so, he assures me, nothing like it
could happen again; concerns about privacy have heightened, and, as he
puts it, "there's now a Federal law against disclosing anything in a
college student's record to any outsider without written permission."
In other words, "We won't get fooled again." Though he is undoubtedly
correct that nothing precisely like the posture-photo folly could happen
again, it is hard to deny the possibility, the likelihood, that
well-meaning people and institutions will get taken in -- are being
taken in -- by those who peddle scientific conjecture as certainty.
Sheldon's dream of reducing the complexity of human personality and the
contingency of human fate to a single number is a recurrent one, as the
continuing I.Q. controversy demonstrates. And a reminder that skepticism
is still valuable in the face of scientific claims of certainty,
particularly in the slippery realms of human behavior.
The rise and fall of "sciences" like Marxist history, Freudian
psychology and Keynesian economics suggests that at least some of the
beliefs and axioms treated as science today (Rorschach analysis,
"rational choice" economics, perhaps) will turn out to have little more
validity than nude stick-pin somatotyping.
In the Sheldon rituals, the student test subjects were naked -- but it
was the emperors of scientific certainty who had no clothes.
Photos: W. H. Sheldon, the posture-photo guru. Wellesley student (circa
1930) with posture-measuring pins. (FROM "THE VARIETIES OF HUMAN
PHYSIQUE."); Examples of Sheldon's endo-, meso- and ectomorphs, right.
(RESEARCH QUARTERLY/AAHPERD, FROM NEW YORK UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES)(pg.
26-27); Sheldon believed that photos like these could yield a
three-digit number to define a person's temperament. Insets: Wellesley
posture technicians and their laboratories circa 1930. (SINGLE POSTURE
PHOTO: FROM "ATLAS OF MEN," FROM NEW YORK UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES.
TRIPTYCHS: FROM "THE VARIETIES OF HUMAN PHYSIQUE." INSETS: RESEARCH
QUARTERLY/AAHPERD.)(pgh. 28-29); Whether scandal or folly, the strange
phenomenon of the nude "posture photos" is also a kind of touchstone for
registering attitudes toward body, race and gender in the past
half-century. (SINGLE POSTURE PHOTO: FROM "ATLAS OF MEN." TRIPTYCHS,
LEFT AND SECOND FROM RIGHT: FROM "ATLAS OF MEN"; OTHERS: FROM "THE
VARIETIES OF HUMAN PHYSIQUE." INSETS: RESEARCH QUARTERLY/AAHPERD.)(pg.
30-31)

13
_stories/1995/9393868.md
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@ -19,7 +19,12 @@ _tags:
objectID: '9393868'
---
[Source](https://www.duckware.com/bugfreec/index.html "Permalink to ")
**Note to this online book:** On April 29, 2002, I reacquired the
publishing rights to my book (from Prentice Hall), and have decided to
publish it online, where it is now freely available for anyone to read
(and print - provided that the printed copy is only for your personal
use). I have personally moved on to the Java programming language, and
now to HTML5. This book is showing its age, but for anyone who still
programs in C, the techniques described in this book -- **especially the
class methodology in Chapter 4** -- are still a 'little gem' worth
knowing about. Enjoy\! <jerryj@duckware.com>

25
_stories/1996/10449357.md
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@ -1,25 +0,0 @@
---
created_at: '2015-10-26T02:37:59.000Z'
title: The Log-Structured Merge-Tree (LSM-Tree) (1996) [pdf]
url: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.44.2782&rep=rep1&type=pdf
author: espeed
points: 59
story_text:
comment_text:
num_comments: 24
story_id:
story_title:
story_url:
parent_id:
created_at_i: 1445827079
_tags:
- story
- author_espeed
- story_10449357
objectID: '10449357'
---
[Source](http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.44.2782&rep=rep1&type=pdf "Permalink to ")

382
_stories/1996/10953359.md
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@ -19,95 +19,29 @@ _tags:
objectID: '10953359'
---
[Source](http://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/22/business/the-new-york-times-introduces-a-web-site.html "Permalink to The New York Times Introduces a Web Site - The New York Times")
The Web-based Times is the newest of dozens of papers available to a
global audience on the Internet's fastest-growing service, which lets
computer users see electronic publications consisting of text, pictures
and, in some cases, video and sound.
# The New York Times Introduces a Web Site - The New York Times
A selection of the day's news, discussion forums and other material from
The Times has been available through the @times service since the spring
of 1994 on America Online.
__NYTimes.com no longer supports Internet Explorer 9 or earlier. Please upgrade your browser. [LEARN MORE »][1]
The Web site's global audience means a larger potential readership than
that of @times, which is limited to America Online's subscribers,
currently more than four million. The new site also offers new products
and services.
__Sections __ Home __Search [Skip to content][2] [Skip to navigation][3] [View mobile version][4]
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### [Archives][6] | 1996
# The New York Times Introduces a Web Site
By [PETER H. LEWIS][7]
[Continue reading the main story][8] Share This Page
[Continue reading the main story][8]
[ ![The article as it originally appeared.][9]
__
##### [View page in TimesMachine][10]
, Page 00007 The New York Times Archives
The New York Times begins publishing daily on the World Wide Web today, offering readers around the world immediate access to most of the daily newspaper's contents.
The New York Times on the Web, as the electronic publication is known, contains most of the news and feature articles from the current day's printed newspaper, classified advertising, reporting that does not appear in the newspaper, and interactive features including the newspaper's crossword puzzle.
The electronic newspaper (address: http:/www.nytimes.com) is part of a strategy to extend the readership of The Times and to create opportunities for the company in the electronic media industry, said Martin Nisenholtz, president of The New York Times Electronic Media Company.
The company, formed in 1995 to develop products for the rapidly growing field of digital publishing, is a wholly owned subsidiary of The New York Times Company, and also produces the times service on America Online Inc.
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Mr. Nisenholtz reports to Russell T. Lewis, the president and general manager of The New York Times, and to Joseph Lelyveld, the newspaper's executive editor.
[Continue reading the main story][11]
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The Web-based Times is the newest of dozens of papers available to a global audience on the Internet's fastest-growing service, which lets computer users see electronic publications consisting of text, pictures and, in some cases, video and sound.
A selection of the day's news, discussion forums and other material from The Times has been available through the @times service since the spring of 1994 on America Online.
The Web site's global audience means a larger potential readership than that of @times, which is limited to America Online's subscribers, currently more than four million. The new site also offers new products and services.
"Our site is designed to take full advantage of the evolving capabilities offered by the Internet," said Arthur Sulzberger Jr., publisher of The Times. "We see our role on the Web as being similar to our traditional print role -- to act as a thoughtful, unbiased filter and to provide our customers with information they need and can trust."
"Our site is designed to take full advantage of the evolving
capabilities offered by the Internet," said Arthur Sulzberger Jr.,
publisher of The Times. "We see our role on the Web as being similar to
our traditional print role -- to act as a thoughtful, unbiased filter
and to provide our customers with information they need and can trust."
## Newsletter Sign Up
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The Web site will also offer access to much of what the newspaper has
published the previous week and access to feature articles from as far
back as 1980.
* [See Sample][15]
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Mr. Nisenholtz said that initially, at least, no subscription or access
fee would be charged for readers in the United States and that the
electronic paper would generate revenue from advertising. Readers who
connect to the electronic paper from outside the country will be offered
a 30-day trial without charge, but will eventually face a subscription
fee.
The Web site will also offer access to much of what the newspaper has published the previous week and access to feature articles from as far back as 1980.
Advertisers that have already announced participation on the Web site
include Toyota Motor Corporate Services, Chemical Bank and the Northeast
real estate concern Douglas Elliman.
Mr. Nisenholtz said that initially, at least, no subscription or access fee would be charged for readers in the United States and that the electronic paper would generate revenue from advertising. Readers who connect to the electronic paper from outside the country will be offered a 30-day trial without charge, but will eventually face a subscription fee.
Advertisers that have already announced participation on the Web site include Toyota Motor Corporate Services, Chemical Bank and the Northeast real estate concern Douglas Elliman.
Subscribers will have limited access to archives of Times articles and features dating to 1980, and will be able to copy articles to their own computers for $1.95 each, Mr. Nisenholtz said.
Subscribers will have limited access to archives of Times articles and
features dating to 1980, and will be able to copy articles to their own
computers for $1.95 each, Mr. Nisenholtz said.
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[Continue reading the main story](#story-continues-4)
The new service will also offer, for a fee, a customized clipping service that delivers to a subscriber's electronic mailbox articles gleaned from each day's editions of the newspaper, based on key words the subscriber selects.
The new service will also offer, for a fee, a customized clipping
service that delivers to a subscriber's electronic mailbox articles
gleaned from each day's editions of the newspaper, based on key words
the subscriber selects.
With its entry on the Web, The Times is hoping to become a primary information provider in the computer age and to cut costs for newsprint, delivery and labor. Companies that have established Web-based information sites include television networks, computer companies, on-line information services, magazines and even individuals creating electronic newspapers of their own.
With its entry on the Web, The Times is hoping to become a primary
information provider in the computer age and to cut costs for newsprint,
delivery and labor. Companies that have established Web-based
information sites include television networks, computer companies,
on-line information services, magazines and even individuals creating
electronic newspapers of their own.
"The New York Times name will get people to look at the product once or maybe twice, and the fact that The New York Times has the kind of reach and credibility it does may persuade people to look three or four times," said John F. Kelsey 3d, president of the Kelsey Group, a consultancy running a conference on interactive newspapers next month.
"The New York Times name will get people to look at the product once or
maybe twice, and the fact that The New York Times has the kind of reach
and credibility it does may persuade people to look three or four
times," said John F. Kelsey 3d, president of the Kelsey Group, a
consultancy running a conference on interactive newspapers next month.
"The market is booming for newspapers on the World Wide Web," Mr. Kelsey said.
We are continually improving the quality of our text archives. Please send feedback, error reports, and suggestions to archive_feedback@nytimes.com.
A version of this article appears in print on January 22, 1996, on Page D00007 of the National edition with the headline: The New York Times Introduces a Web Site. [Order Reprints][21]| [Today's Paper][22]|[Subscribe][23]
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[Continue reading the main story](#whats-next)

382
_stories/1996/1235589.md
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@ -19,95 +19,29 @@ _tags:
objectID: '1235589'
---
[Source](http://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/22/business/the-new-york-times-introduces-a-web-site.html "Permalink to The New York Times Introduces a Web Site - The New York Times")
The Web-based Times is the newest of dozens of papers available to a
global audience on the Internet's fastest-growing service, which lets
computer users see electronic publications consisting of text, pictures
and, in some cases, video and sound.
# The New York Times Introduces a Web Site - The New York Times
A selection of the day's news, discussion forums and other material from
The Times has been available through the @times service since the spring
of 1994 on America Online.
__NYTimes.com no longer supports Internet Explorer 9 or earlier. Please upgrade your browser. [LEARN MORE »][1]
The Web site's global audience means a larger potential readership than
that of @times, which is limited to America Online's subscribers,
currently more than four million. The new site also offers new products
and services.
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### [Archives][6] | 1996
# The New York Times Introduces a Web Site
By [PETER H. LEWIS][7]
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, Page 00007 The New York Times Archives
The New York Times begins publishing daily on the World Wide Web today, offering readers around the world immediate access to most of the daily newspaper's contents.
The New York Times on the Web, as the electronic publication is known, contains most of the news and feature articles from the current day's printed newspaper, classified advertising, reporting that does not appear in the newspaper, and interactive features including the newspaper's crossword puzzle.
The electronic newspaper (address: http:/www.nytimes.com) is part of a strategy to extend the readership of The Times and to create opportunities for the company in the electronic media industry, said Martin Nisenholtz, president of The New York Times Electronic Media Company.
The company, formed in 1995 to develop products for the rapidly growing field of digital publishing, is a wholly owned subsidiary of The New York Times Company, and also produces the times service on America Online Inc.
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Mr. Nisenholtz reports to Russell T. Lewis, the president and general manager of The New York Times, and to Joseph Lelyveld, the newspaper's executive editor.
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The Web-based Times is the newest of dozens of papers available to a global audience on the Internet's fastest-growing service, which lets computer users see electronic publications consisting of text, pictures and, in some cases, video and sound.
A selection of the day's news, discussion forums and other material from The Times has been available through the @times service since the spring of 1994 on America Online.
The Web site's global audience means a larger potential readership than that of @times, which is limited to America Online's subscribers, currently more than four million. The new site also offers new products and services.
"Our site is designed to take full advantage of the evolving capabilities offered by the Internet," said Arthur Sulzberger Jr., publisher of The Times. "We see our role on the Web as being similar to our traditional print role -- to act as a thoughtful, unbiased filter and to provide our customers with information they need and can trust."
"Our site is designed to take full advantage of the evolving
capabilities offered by the Internet," said Arthur Sulzberger Jr.,
publisher of The Times. "We see our role on the Web as being similar to
our traditional print role -- to act as a thoughtful, unbiased filter
and to provide our customers with information they need and can trust."
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Mr. Nisenholtz said that initially, at least, no subscription or access
fee would be charged for readers in the United States and that the
electronic paper would generate revenue from advertising. Readers who
connect to the electronic paper from outside the country will be offered
a 30-day trial without charge, but will eventually face a subscription
fee.
The Web site will also offer access to much of what the newspaper has published the previous week and access to feature articles from as far back as 1980.
Advertisers that have already announced participation on the Web site
include Toyota Motor Corporate Services, Chemical Bank and the Northeast
real estate concern Douglas Elliman.
Mr. Nisenholtz said that initially, at least, no subscription or access fee would be charged for readers in the United States and that the electronic paper would generate revenue from advertising. Readers who connect to the electronic paper from outside the country will be offered a 30-day trial without charge, but will eventually face a subscription fee.
Advertisers that have already announced participation on the Web site include Toyota Motor Corporate Services, Chemical Bank and the Northeast real estate concern Douglas Elliman.
Subscribers will have limited access to archives of Times articles and features dating to 1980, and will be able to copy articles to their own computers for $1.95 each, Mr. Nisenholtz said.
Subscribers will have limited access to archives of Times articles and
features dating to 1980, and will be able to copy articles to their own
computers for $1.95 each, Mr. Nisenholtz said.
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The new service will also offer, for a fee, a customized clipping service that delivers to a subscriber's electronic mailbox articles gleaned from each day's editions of the newspaper, based on key words the subscriber selects.
The new service will also offer, for a fee, a customized clipping
service that delivers to a subscriber's electronic mailbox articles
gleaned from each day's editions of the newspaper, based on key words
the subscriber selects.
With its entry on the Web, The Times is hoping to become a primary information provider in the computer age and to cut costs for newsprint, delivery and labor. Companies that have established Web-based information sites include television networks, computer companies, on-line information services, magazines and even individuals creating electronic newspapers of their own.
With its entry on the Web, The Times is hoping to become a primary
information provider in the computer age and to cut costs for newsprint,
delivery and labor. Companies that have established Web-based
information sites include television networks, computer companies,
on-line information services, magazines and even individuals creating
electronic newspapers of their own.
"The New York Times name will get people to look at the product once or maybe twice, and the fact that The New York Times has the kind of reach and credibility it does may persuade people to look three or four times," said John F. Kelsey 3d, president of the Kelsey Group, a consultancy running a conference on interactive newspapers next month.
"The New York Times name will get people to look at the product once or
maybe twice, and the fact that The New York Times has the kind of reach
and credibility it does may persuade people to look three or four
times," said John F. Kelsey 3d, president of the Kelsey Group, a
consultancy running a conference on interactive newspapers next month.
"The market is booming for newspapers on the World Wide Web," Mr. Kelsey said.
We are continually improving the quality of our text archives. Please send feedback, error reports, and suggestions to archive_feedback@nytimes.com.
A version of this article appears in print on January 22, 1996, on Page D00007 of the National edition with the headline: The New York Times Introduces a Web Site. [Order Reprints][21]| [Today's Paper][22]|[Subscribe][23]
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---
created_at: '2016-09-27T12:59:12.000Z'
title: Essentials of Standard ML Modules (1996) [pdf]
url: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.208.9430&rep=rep1&type=pdf
author: eatonphil
points: 92
story_text:
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[Source](https://hbr.org/1996/01/a-country-is-not-a-company&cm_sp=Article-_-Links-_-Top of Page Recirculation "Permalink to ")
![JAN15\_22](/resources/images/article_assets/1996/01/JAN15_22.jpg)
Carlo Giambarresi
College students who plan to go into business often major in economics,
but few believe that they will end up using what they hear in the
lecture hall. Those students understand a fundamental truth: What they
learn in economics courses won’t help them run a business.
The converse is also true: What people learn from running a business
won’t help them formulate economic policy. A country is not a big
corporation. The habits of mind that make a great business leader are
not, in general, those that make a great economic analyst; an executive
who has made $1 billion is rarely the right person to turn to for advice
about a $6 trillion economy.
Why should that be pointed out? After all, neither businesspeople nor
economists are usually very good poets, but so what? Yet many people
(not least successful business executives themselves) believe that
someone who has made a personal fortune will know how to make an entire
nation more prosperous. In fact, his or her advice is often disastrously
misguided.
Many people believe that someone who has made a personal fortune will
know how to make an entire nation more prosperous.
I am not claiming that business-people are stupid or that economists are
particularly smart. On the contrary, if the 100 top U.S. business
executives got together with the 100 leading economists, the least
impressive of the former group would probably outshine the most
impressive of the latter. My point is that the style of thinking
necessary for economic analysis is very different from that which leads
to success in business. By understanding that difference, we can begin
to understand what it means to do good economic analysis and perhaps
even help some businesspeople become the great economists they surely
have the intellect to be.
Let me begin with two examples of economic issues that I have found
business executives generally do not understand: first, the relationship
between exports and job creation, and, second, the relationship between
foreign investment and trade balances. Both issues involve international
trade, partly because it is the area I know best but also because it is
an area in which businesspeople seem particularly inclined to make false
analogies between countries and corporations.
## Exports and Jobs
Business executives consistently misunderstand two things about the
relationship between international trade and domestic job creation.
First, since most U.S. business-people support free trade, they
generally agree that expanded world trade is good for world employment.
Specifically, they believe that free trade agreements such as the
recently concluded General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade are good
largely because they mean more jobs around the world. Second,
businesspeople tend to believe that countries compete for those jobs.
The more the United States exports, the thinking goes, the more people
we will employ, and the more we import, the fewer jobs will be
available. According to that view, the United States must not only have
free trade but also be sufficiently competitive to get a large
proportion of the jobs that free trade creates.
Do those propositions sound reasonable? Of course they do. This sort of
rhetoric dominated the last U.S. presidential election and will likely
be heard again in the upcoming race. However, economists in general do
not believe that free trade creates more jobs worldwide (or that its
benefits should be measured in terms of job creation) or that countries
that are highly successful exporters will have lower unemployment than
those that run trade deficits.
Why don’t economists subscribe to what sounds like common sense to
businesspeople? The idea that free trade means more global jobs seems
obvious: More trade means more exports and therefore more export-related
jobs. But there is a problem with that argument. Because one country’s
exports are another country’s imports, every dollar of export sales is,
as a matter of sheer mathematical necessity, matched by a dollar of
spending shifted from some country’s domestic goods to imports. Unless
there is some reason to think that free trade will increase total world
spending—which is not a necessary outcome—overall world demand will not
change.
Moreover, beyond this indisputable point of arithmetic lies the question
of what limits the overall number of jobs available. Is it simply a
matter of insufficient demand for goods? Surely not, except in the very
short run. It is, after all, easy to increase demand. The Federal
Reserve can print as much money as it likes, and it has repeatedly
demonstrated its ability to create an economic boom when it wants to.
Why, then, doesn’t the Fed try to keep the economy booming all the time?
Because it believes, with good reason, that if it were to do so—if it
were to create too many jobs—the result would be unacceptable and
accelerating inflation. In other words, the constraint on the number of
jobs in the United States is not the U.S. economy’s ability to generate
demand, from exports or any other source, but the level of unemployment
that the Fed thinks the economy needs in order to keep inflation under
control.
That is not an abstract point. During 1994, the Fed raised interest
rates seven times and made no secret of the fact that it was doing so to
cool off an economic boom that it feared would create too many jobs,
overheat the economy, and lead to inflation. Consider what that implies
for the effect of trade on employment. Suppose that the U.S. economy
were to experience an export surge. Suppose, for example, that the
United States agreed to drop its objections to slave labor if China
agreed to buy $200 billion worth of U.S. goods. What would the Fed do?
It would offset the expansionary effect of the exports by raising
interest rates; thus any increase in export-related jobs would be more
or less matched by a loss of jobs in interest-rate-sensitive sectors of
the economy, such as construction. Conversely, the Fed would surely
respond to an import surge by lowering interest rates, so the direct
loss of jobs to import competition would be roughly matched by an
increased number of jobs elsewhere.
Even if we ignore the point that free trade always increases world
imports by exactly as much as it increases world exports, there is still
no reason to expect free trade to increase U.S. employment, nor should
we expect any other trade policy, such as export promotion, to increase
the total number of jobs in our economy. When the U.S. secretary of
commerce returns from a trip abroad with billions of dollars in new
orders for U.S. companies, he may or may not be instrumental in creating
thousands of export-related jobs. If he is, he is also instrumental in
destroying a roughly equal number of jobs elsewhere in the economy. The
ability of the U.S. economy to increase exports or roll back imports has
essentially nothing to do with its success in creating jobs.
Needless to say, this argument does not sit well with business
audiences. (When I argued on one business panel that the North American
Free Trade Agreement would have no effect, positive or negative, on the
total number of jobs in the United States, one of my fellow panelists—a
NAFTA supporter—reacted with rage: “It’s comments like that that explain
why people hate economists\!”) The job gains from increased exports or
losses from import competition are tangible: You can actually see the
people making the goods that foreigners buy, the workers whose factories
were closed in the face of import competition. The other effects that
economists talk about seem abstract. And yet if you accept the idea that
the Fed has both a jobs target and the means to achieve it, you must
conclude that changes in exports and imports have little effect on
overall employment.
## Investment and the Trade Balance
Our second example, the relationship between foreign investment and
trade balances, is equally troubling to businesspeople. Suppose that
hundreds of multinational companies decide that a country is an ideal
manufacturing site and start pouring billions of dollars a year into the
country to build new plants. What happens to the country’s trade
balance? Business executives, almost without exception, believe that the
country will start to run trade surpluses. They are generally
unconvinced by the economist’s answer that such a country will
necessarily run large trade deficits.
It’s easy to see where the business-people’s answer comes from. They
think of their own companies and ask what would happen if capacity in
their industries suddenly expanded. Clearly their companies would import
less and export more. If the same story is played out in many
industries, surely this would mean a shift toward a trade surplus for
the economy as a whole.
The economist knows that just the opposite is true. Why? Because the
balance of trade is part of the balance of payments, and the overall
balance of payments of any country—the difference between its total
sales to foreigners and its purchases from foreigners—must always be
zero.1 Of course, a country can run a trade deficit or surplus. That is,
it can buy more goods from foreigners than it sells or vice versa. But
that imbalance must always be matched by a corresponding imbalance in
the capital account. A country that runs a trade deficit must be selling
foreigners more assets than it buys; a country that runs a surplus must
be a net investor abroad. When the United States buys Japanese
automobiles, it must be selling something in return; it might be Boeing
jets, but it could also be Rockefeller Center or, for that matter,
Treasury bills. That is not just an opinion that economists hold; it is
an unavoidable accounting truism.
So what happens when a country attracts a lot of foreign investment?
With the inflow of capital, foreigners are acquiring more assets in that
country than the country’s residents are acquiring abroad. But that
means, as a matter of sheer accounting, that the country’s imports must,
at the same time, exceed its exports. A country that attracts large
capital inflows will necessarily run a trade deficit.
A country that attracts a lot of foreign investment will necessarily run
a trade deficit.
But that is just accounting. How does it happen in practice? When
companies build plants, they will purchase some imported equipment. The
investment inflow may spark a domestic boom, which leads to surging
import demand. If the country has a floating exchange rate, the
investment inflow may drive up the currency’s value; if the country’s
exchange rate is fixed, the result may be inflation. Either scenario
will tend to price the country’s goods out of export markets and
increase its imports. Whatever the channel, the outcome for the trade
balance is not in doubt: Capital inflows must lead to trade deficits.
Consider, for example, Mexico’s recent history. During the 1980s, nobody
would invest in Mexico and the country ran a trade surplus. After 1989,
foreign investment poured in amid new optimism about Mexico’s prospects.
Some of that money was spent on imported equipment for Mexico’s new
factories. The rest fueled a domestic boom, which sucked in imports and
caused the peso to become increasingly overvalued. That, in turn,
discouraged exports and prompted many Mexican consumers to purchase
imported goods. The result: Massive capital inflows were matched by
equally massive trade deficits.
Then came the peso crisis of December 1994. Once again, investors were
trying to get out of Mexico, not in, and the scenario ran in reverse. A
slumping economy reduced the demand for imports, as did a newly devalued
peso. Meanwhile, Mexican exports surged, helped by a weak currency. As
any economist could have predicted, the collapse of foreign investment
in Mexico has been matched by an equal and opposite move of Mexican
trade into surplus.
But like the proposition that expanded exports do not mean more
employment, the necessary conclusion that countries attracting foreign
investment typically run trade deficits sits poorly with business
audiences. The specific ways in which foreign investment might worsen
the trade balance seem questionable to them. Will investors really spend
that much on imported equipment? How do we know that the currency will
appreciate or that, if it does, exports will decrease and imports will
increase? At the root of the businessperson’s skepticism is the failure
to understand the force of the accounting, which says that an inflow of
capital must—not might—be accompanied by a trade deficit.
In each of the above examples, there is no question that the economists
are right and the business-people are wrong. But why do the arguments
that economists find compelling seem deeply implausible and even
counterintuitive to businesspeople?
There are two answers to that question. The shallow answer is that the
experiences of business life do not generally teach practitioners to
look for the principles that underlie economists’ arguments. The deeper
answer is that the kinds of feedback that typically arise in an
individual business are both weaker than and different from the kinds of
feedback that typically arise in the economy as a whole. Let me analyze
each of these answers in turn.
## The Parable of the Paralyzed Centipede
Every once in a while, a highly successful businessperson writes a book
about what he or she has learned. Some of these books are memoirs: They
tell the story of a career through anecdotes. Others are ambitious
efforts to describe the principles on which the great person’s success
was based.
Almost without exception, the first kind of book is far more successful
than the second, not only in terms of sales but also in terms of its
reception among serious thinkers. Why? Because a corporate leader
succeeds not by developing a general theory of the corporation but by
finding the particular product strategies or organizational innovations
that work. There have been some business greats who have attempted to
codify what they know, but such attempts have almost always been
disappointing. George Soros’s book told readers very little about how to
be another George Soros; and many people have pointed out that Warren
Buffett does not, in practice, invest the Warren Buffett Way. After all,
a financial wizard makes a fortune not by enunciating general principles
of financial markets but by perceiving particular, highly specific
opportunities a bit faster than anyone else.
A corporate leader succeeds by finding the right strategies, not by
developing a theory of the corporation.
Indeed, great business executives often seem to do themselves harm when
they try to formalize what they do, to write it down as a set of
principles. They begin to behave as they think they are supposed to,
whereas their previous success was based on intuition and a willingness
to innovate. One is reminded of the old joke about the centipede who was
asked how he managed to coordinate his 100 legs: He started thinking
about it and could never walk properly again.
Yet even if a business leader may not be very good at formulating
general theories or at explaining what he or she does, there are still
those who believe that the businessperson’s ability to spot
opportunities and solve problems in his or her own business can be
applied to the national economy. After all, what the president of the
United States needs from his economic advisers is not learned tracts but
sound advice about what to do next. Why isn’t someone who has shown
consistently good judgment in running a business likely to give the
president good advice about running the country? Because, in short, a
country is not a large company.
Many people have trouble grasping the difference in complexity between
even the largest business and a national economy. The U.S. economy
employs 120 million people, about 200 times as many as General Motors,
the largest employer in the United States. Yet even this 200-to-1 ratio
vastly understates the difference in complexity between the largest
business organization and the national economy. A mathematician will
tell us that the number of potential interactions among a large group of
people is proportional to the square of their number. Without getting
too mystical, it is likely that the U.S. economy is in some sense not
hundreds but tens of thousands of times more complex than the biggest
corporation.
Moreover, there is a sense in which even very large corporations are not
all that diverse. Most corporations are built around a core competence:
a particular technology or an approach to a particular type of market.
As a result, even a huge corporation that seems to be in many different
businesses tends to be unified by a central theme.
The U.S. economy, in contrast, is the ultimate nightmare conglomerate,
with tens of thousands of utterly distinct lines of business, unified
only because they happen to be within the nation’s borders. The
experience of a successful wheat farmer offers little insight into what
works in the computer industry, which, in turn, is probably not a very
good guide to successful strategies for a chain of restaurants.
The U.S. economy is the ultimate conglomerate, with tens of thousands of
distinct lines of business.
How, then, can such a complex entity be managed? A national economy must
be run on the basis of general principles, not particular strategies.
Consider, for example, the question of tax policy. Responsible
governments do not impose taxes targeted at particular individuals or
corporations or offer them special tax breaks. In fact, it is rarely a
good idea for governments even to design tax policy to encourage or
discourage particular industries. Instead, a good tax system obeys the
broad principles developed by fiscal experts over the years—for example,
neutrality between alternative investments, low marginal rates, and
minimal discrimination between current and future consumption.
Why is that a problem for businesspeople? After all, there are many
general principles that also underlie the sound management of a
corporation: consistent accounting, clear lines of responsibility, and
so on. But many businesspeople have trouble accepting the relatively
hands-off role of a wise economic policy-maker. Business executives must
be proactive. It is hard for someone used to that role to realize how
much more difficult—and less necessary—this approach is for national
economic policy.
Consider, for example, the question of promoting key business areas.
Only an irresponsible CEO would not try to determine which new areas
were essential to the company’s future; a CEO who left investment
decisions entirely to individual managers running independent profit
centers would not be doing the job. But should a government decide on a
list of key industries and then actively promote them? Quite aside from
economists’ theoretical arguments against industrial targeting, the
simple fact is that governments have a terrible track record at judging
which industries are likely to be important. At various times,
governments have been convinced that steel, nuclear power, synthetic
fuels, semiconductor memories, and fifth-generation computers were the
wave of the future. Of course, businesses make mistakes, too, but they
do not have the extraordinarily low batting average of government
because great business leaders have a detailed knowledge of and feel for
their industries that nobody—no matter how smart—can have for a system
as complex as a national economy.
Still, the idea that the best economic management almost always consists
of setting up a good framework and then leaving it alone doesn’t make
sense to businesspeople, whose instinct is, as Ross Perot put it, to
“lift up the hood and get to work on the engine.”
## Going Back to School
In the scientific world, the syndrome known as “great man’s disease”
happens when a famous researcher in one field develops strong opinions
about another field that he or she does not understand, such as a
chemist who decides that he is an expert in medicine or a physicist who
decides that he is an expert in cognitive science. The same syndrome is
apparent in some business leaders who have been promoted to economic
advisers: They have trouble accepting that they must go back to school
before they can make pronouncements in a new field.
The general principles on which an economy must be run are different—not
harder to understand, but different—from those that apply to a business.
An executive who is thoroughly comfortable with business accounting does
not automatically know how to read national income accounts, which
measure different things and use different concepts. Personnel
management and labor law are not the same thing; neither are corporate
financial control and monetary policy. A business leader who wants to
become an economic manager or expert must learn a new vocabulary and set
of concepts, some of them unavoidably mathematical.
That is hard for a business leader, especially one who has been very
successful, to accept. Imagine a person who has mastered the
complexities of a huge industry, who has run a multibillion-dollar
enterprise. Is such a person, whose advice on economic policy may well
be sought, likely to respond by deciding to spend time reviewing the
kind of material that is covered in freshman economics courses? Or is he
or she more likely to assume that business experience is more than
enough and that the unfamiliar words and concepts economists use are
nothing but pretentious jargon?
Will a business leader want to review material taught in freshman
economics courses?
Of course, in spite of the examples I gave earlier, many readers may
still believe that the second response is the more sensible one. Why
does economic analysis require different concepts, a completely
different way of thinking, than running a business? To answer that
question, I must turn to the deeper difference between good business
thinking and good economic analysis.
The fundamental difference between business strategy and economic
analysis is this: Even the largest business is a very open system;
despite growing world trade, the U.S. economy is largely a closed
system. Businesspeople are not used to thinking about closed systems;
economists are.
Even the largest business is a very open system; a national economy is a
closed system.
Let me offer some noneconomic examples to illustrate the difference
between closed and open systems. Consider solid waste. Every year, the
average American generates about half a ton of solid waste that cannot
be recycled or burned. What happens to it? In many communities, it is
sent somewhere else. My town requires that every resident subscribe to a
private disposal service but provides no landfill site; the disposal
service pays a fee to some other community for the right to dump our
garbage. This means that the garbage pickup fees are higher than they
would be if the town set aside a landfill site, but the town government
has made that choice: It is willing to pay so that it won’t have an
unsightly dump within its borders.
For an individual town, that choice is feasible. But could every town
and county in the United States make the same choice? Could we all
decide to send our garbage somewhere else? Of course not (leaving aside
the possibility of exporting garbage to the Third World). For the United
States as a whole, the principle “garbage in, garbage out” applies
literally. The country can make choices about where to bury its solid
waste but not about whether to bury it at all. That is, in terms of
solid waste disposal, the United States is more or less a closed system,
even though each town is an open system.
That’s a fairly obvious example. Here is another, perhaps less obvious
one. At one point in my life, I was a “park-and-ride” commuter: Every
morning, I would drive to a large parking garage and then take public
transportation downtown. Unfortunately, the garage was not large enough.
It consistently filled up, forcing late commuters to continue driving
all the way to work. I soon learned, however, that I could always find a
parking space if I arrived by about 8:15.
In this case, each individual commuter constituted an open system: He or
she could find a parking space by arriving early. But the group of
commuters as a whole could not do the same. If everyone tried to get a
space by arriving earlier, the garage would only fill up sooner\!
Commuters as a group constituted a closed system, at least as far as
parking was concerned.
What does this have to do with business versus economics?
Businesses—even very large corporations—are generally open systems.
They can, for example, increase employment in all their divisions
simultaneously; they can increase investment across the board; they can
seek a higher share of all their markets. Admittedly, the borders of the
organization are not wide open. A company may find it difficult to
expand rapidly because it cannot attract suitable workers fast enough or
because it is unable to raise enough capital. An organization may find
it even more difficult to contract, because it is reluctant to fire good
employees. But we find nothing remarkable in a corporation whose market
share doubles or halves in just a few years.
By contrast, a national economy—especially that of a very large country
like the United States—is a closed system. Could all U.S. companies
double their market shares over the next ten years?2 Certainly not, no
matter how much their managements improved. For one thing, in spite of
growing world trade, more than 70% of U.S. employment and value-added is
in industries, such as retail trade, that neither export nor face import
competition. In those industries, one U.S. company can increase its
market share only at the expense of another.
In industries that do enter into world trade, U.S. companies as a group
can increase their market share, but they must do so by either
increasing exports or driving down imports. Any increase in their market
share would therefore mean a move into trade surplus; and, as we have
already seen, a country that runs a trade surplus is necessarily a
country that exports capital. A little arithmetic tells us that if the
average U.S. company were to expand its share of the world market by as
little as five percentage points, the United States, which is currently
a net importer of capital from the rest of the world, would have to
become a net exporter of capital on a scale never before seen. If you
think this is an implausible scenario, you must also believe that U.S.
companies cannot increase their combined share of the market by more
than a percentage point or two, no matter how well run they are.
Businesspeople have trouble with economic analysis because they are
accustomed to thinking about open systems. To return to our two
examples, a businessperson looks at the jobs directly created by exports
and sees those as the most important part of the story. He or she may
acknowledge that higher employment leads to higher interest rates, but
this seems an iffy, marginal concern. What the economist sees, however,
is that employment is a closed system: Workers who gain jobs from
increased exports, like park-and-ride commuters who secure parking
spaces by arriving at the garage early, must gain those positions at
someone else’s expense.
And what about the effect of foreign investment on the trade balance?
Again, the business executive looks at the direct effects of investment
on competition in a particular industry; the effects of capital flows on
exchange rates, prices, and so on do not seem particularly reliable or
important. The economist knows, however, that the balance of payments is
a closed system: The inflow of capital is always matched by the trade
deficit, so any increase in that inflow must lead to an increase in that
deficit.
## Feedbacks in Business and Economics
Another way of looking at the difference between companies and economies
may help explain why great business executives are often wrong about
economics and why certain economic ideas are more popular with
businesspeople than others: Open systems like companies typically
experience a different kind of feedback than closed systems like
economies.
This concept is best explained by hypothetical example. Imagine a
company that has two main lines of business: widgets and gizmos. Suppose
that this company experiences unexpected growth in its sales of widgets.
How will that growth affect the sales of the company as a whole? Will
increased widget sales end up helping or hurting the gizmo business? The
answer in many cases will be that there is not much effect either way.
The widget division will simply hire more workers, the company will
raise more capital, and that will be that.
The story does not necessarily end here, of course. Expanded widget
sales could either help or hurt the gizmo business in several ways. On
one hand, a profitable widget business could help provide the cash flow
that finances expansion in gizmos; or the experience gained from success
in widgets may be transferable to gizmos; or the growth of the company
may allow R\&D efforts that benefit both divisions. On the other hand,
rapid expansion may strain the company’s resources, so that the growth
of widgets may come to some extent at the gizmo division’s expense. But
such indirect effects of the growth of one part of the company on the
success of the other are both ambiguous in principle and hard to judge
in practice; feedbacks among different lines of business, whether they
involve synergy or competition for resources, are often elusive.
By contrast, consider a national economy that finds one of its major
exports growing rapidly. If that industry increases employment, it will
typically do so at the expense of other industries. If the country does
not at the same time reduce its inflows of capital, the increase in one
export must be matched by a reduction in other exports or by an increase
in imports because of the balance of payments accounting discussed
earlier. That is, there will most likely be strong negative feedbacks
from the growth of that export to employment and exports in other
industries. Indeed, those negative feedbacks will ordinarily be so
strong that they will more or less completely eliminate any improvements
in overall employment or the trade balance. Why? Because employment and
the balance of payments are closed systems.
In the open-system world of business, feedbacks are often weak and
almost always uncertain. In the closed-system world of economics,
feedbacks are often very strong and very certain. But that is not the
whole difference. The feedbacks in the business world are often
positive; those in the world of economic policy are usually, though not
always, negative.
Again, compare the effects of an expanding line of business in a
corporation and in a national economy. Success in one line of business,
which expands the company’s financial, technological, or marketing base,
often helps a company expand in other lines. That is, a company that
does well in one area may end up hiring more people in other areas. But
an economy that produces and sells many goods will normally find
negative feedbacks among economic sectors: Expansion of one industry
pulls resources of capital and labor away from other industries.
There are, in fact, examples of positive feedbacks in economics. They
are often evident within a particular industry or group of related
industries, especially if those industries are geographically
concentrated. For example, the emergence of London as a financial center
and of Hollywood as an entertainment center are clearly cases of
positive feedback at work. However, such examples are usually limited to
particular regions or industries; at the level of the national economy,
negative feedback generally prevails. The reason should be obvious: An
individual region or industry is a far more open system than the economy
of the United States as a whole, let alone the world economy. An
individual industry or group of industries can attract workers from
other sectors of the economy; so if an individual industry does well,
employment may increase not only in that industry but also in related
industries, which may further reinforce the success of the first
industry, and so on. Thus if one looks at a particular industrial
complex, one may well see positive feedback at work. But for the economy
as a whole, those localized positive feedbacks must be more than matched
by negative feedbacks elsewhere. Extra resources pulled into any one
industry or cluster of industries must come from somewhere, which means
from other industries.
Businesspeople are not accustomed to or comfortable with the idea of a
system in which there are strong negative feedbacks. In particular, they
are not at all comfortable with the way in which effects that seem weak
and uncertain from the point of view of an individual company or
industry—such as the effect of reduced hiring on average wages or of
increased foreign investment on the exchange rate—become crucially
important when one adds up the impact of policies on the national
economy as a whole.
## What’s a President to Do?
In a society that respects business success, political leaders will
inevitably—and rightly—seek the advice of business leaders on many
issues, particularly those that involve money. All we can ask is that
both the advisers and the advisees have a proper sense of what business
success does and does not teach about economic policy.
In 1930, as the world slid into depression, John Maynard Keynes called
for a massive monetary expansion to alleviate the crisis and pleaded for
a policy based on economic analysis rather than on the advice of bankers
committed to the gold standard or manufacturers who wanted to raise
prices by restricting output. “For—though no one will believe
it—economics is a technical and difficult subject.”3 Had his advice
been followed, the worst ravages of the Depression might have been
avoided.
Keynes was right: Economics is a difficult and technical subject. It is
no harder to be a good economist than it is to be a good business
executive. (In fact, it is probably easier, because the competition is
less intense.) However, economics and business are not the same subject,
and mastery of one does not ensure comprehension, let alone mastery, of
the other. A successful business leader is no more likely to be an
expert on economics than on military strategy.
The next time you hear business-people propounding their views about the
economy, ask yourself, Have they taken the time to study this subject?
Have they read what the experts write? If not, never mind how successful
they have been in business. Ignore them, because they probably have no
idea what they are talking about.
A version of this article appeared in the [January–February
1996](/archive-toc/3961) issue of Harvard Business Review.

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[Source](http://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/05/magazine/why-the-best-doesn-t-always-win.html "Permalink to Why the Best Doesn't Always Win - The New York Times")
The most familiar example of path dependence is the triumph of
Matsushita's VHS standard for videocassette recorders over Sony's
Betamax. Betamax was first and, by most accounts, better. But Sony made
two strategic marketing errors. To get the product out the door faster,
it initially sold Betamax machines that played one-hour tapes -- too
short for an entire movie. And to sell more Sony machines, the company
chose not to license Betamax to competitors.
# Why the Best Doesn't Always Win - The New York Times
VHS, introduced a year later, in 1976, played two-hour tapes. And since
Matsushita freely licensed the technology, half a dozen other brand-name
VHS players hit the stores in a matter of months. Sony soon countered
with a two-hour machine, but it was too late.
__NYTimes.com no longer supports Internet Explorer 9 or earlier. Please upgrade your browser. [LEARN MORE »][1]
While VHS versus Betamax makes great fodder for business school
seminars, the outcome hardly made the earth move. The stakes have been
much higher in technologies that are now so entrenched it's hard to
imagine the world without them. Take the automobile engine. At the turn
of the century, gasoline was locked in a three-way race with steam and
electric power. The Stanley Steamer was a technological marvel, setting
a world speed record of 122 miles an hour in 1909. But the manufacturer
priced the car as a luxury, never trying to achieve the economies of
mass production and of "learning by doing" that might have made it the
people's car.
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Moreover, steam's economic problems were compounded by an outbreak of
hoof-and-mouth disease in 1914 that briefly closed public horse troughs
and denied steam cars a convenient source of water for their perpetually
thirsty boilers. With better technology or simply many more steam cars
on the road, this liability would have evaporated. But car buyers had
little incentive to make a leap of faith when plausible alternatives
were available. One of those alternatives was the electric car, whose
weakness was a driving range limited by the storage capacity of its
batteries. That problem seemed well on its way to solution around 1915.
But innovators in the battery industry were distracted by the more
immediate need to perfect a high-amperage battery to crank the new
electric starters in cars with gasoline engines.
## [ The New York Times ][5]
Apparently all the gasoline engine needed to triumph was a brief period
in which its technological and price edge led to rapidly expanding
sales. This cut production costs, which expanded sales even more -- and
made it more convenient to fuel and service gasoline vehicles.
###### [Magazine][6]|Why the Best Doesn't Always Win
Today, of course, dependence on gasoline engines is a fact of life.
While electric or steam vehicles would reduce air pollution and
dependence on imported oil, it would take an investment of tens or even
hundreds of billions of dollars to leap the technological chasm. Indeed,
California, which has mandated the use of electric cars, is just now
facing the reality that the existing technology is wretchedly inadequate
to the task.
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# Why the Best Doesn't Always Win
By PETER PASSELLMAY 5, 1996
[Continue reading the main story][7] Share This Page
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APPLE COMPUTER, THE COMPANY THAT BROUGHT YOU THE idiot-friendly Macintosh, is staring at bankruptcy. Meanwhile, the great army of technocrats at Microsoft, which only last year managed to reproduce the look and feel of a 1980's Mac, lumbers on, invincible.
A bad break for Apple? A rare exception to the Darwinian rules in which the best products win the hearts and dollars of consumers? No. Economists are finally beginning to acknowledge what others have long suspected: the best doesn't always win. Just as biologists are challenging the idea that natural selection drives evolution along "efficient" and predictable paths, economists are discovering the disorder that lurks in the shadows of their simple, elegant models of capitalist progress. Adam Smith's invisible hand, it seems, does not always assure that superior technology will survive the rough-and-tumble of the free market.
Recent wisdom on this subject dates back to 1985. That's the year Paul David, an economic historian at Stanford University, published an article about QWERTY in The American Economic Review. Q-W-E-R-T-Y, of course, are the first six letters on the upper left of the typewriter keyboard -- the universal standard since the 1890's. But why these? Why not one of half a dozen other keyboard layouts that are said to permit faster typing?
David's answer is that QWERTY was the solution to a fleeting technological problem, an arrangement that would minimize the jamming of keys in primitive typewriters. While this explanation has since been challenged, what matters is that one keyboard, chosen for reasons long irrelevant, remains the standard. For all their ingenuity, competing designs have made about as much headway against QWERTY as Esperanto has made against English. That's because a standardized layout allows typists to learn just one keyboard in order to use all. Once thousands of people had learned to type using QWERTY's merely adequate layout, the technology was effectively locked in. Keyboard design is thus the classic example of "path dependence," the idea that small, random events at critical moments can determine choices in technology that are extremely difficult and expensive to change.
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In the typical path-dependence scenario, producers or consumers see one technology as slightly superior. This edge quickly snowballs into clear economic advantage: production costs fall with greater experience in manufacturing, and consumer acceptance grows with greater familiarity. And along the way, the weight of numbers makes the leading product more valuable than one based on competing technologies. With more MS-DOS computers around, it pays to write software to the Microsoft standard, which in turn makes it more useful to own an MS-DOS computer.
[Continue reading the main story][8]
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[Continue reading the main story][9]
The most familiar example of path dependence is the triumph of Matsushita's VHS standard for videocassette recorders over Sony's Betamax. Betamax was first and, by most accounts, better. But Sony made two strategic marketing errors. To get the product out the door faster, it initially sold Betamax machines that played one-hour tapes -- too short for an entire movie. And to sell more Sony machines, the company chose not to license Betamax to competitors.
VHS, introduced a year later, in 1976, played two-hour tapes. And since Matsushita freely licensed the technology, half a dozen other brand-name VHS players hit the stores in a matter of months. Sony soon countered with a two-hour machine, but it was too late.
While VHS versus Betamax makes great fodder for business school seminars, the outcome hardly made the earth move. The stakes have been much higher in technologies that are now so entrenched it's hard to imagine the world without them. Take the automobile engine. At the turn of the century, gasoline was locked in a three-way race with steam and electric power. The Stanley Steamer was a technological marvel, setting a world speed record of 122 miles an hour in 1909. But the manufacturer priced the car as a luxury, never trying to achieve the economies of mass production and of "learning by doing" that might have made it the people's car.
Moreover, steam's economic problems were compounded by an outbreak of hoof-and-mouth disease in 1914 that briefly closed public horse troughs and denied steam cars a convenient source of water for their perpetually thirsty boilers. With better technology or simply many more steam cars on the road, this liability would have evaporated. But car buyers had little incentive to make a leap of faith when plausible alternatives were available. One of those alternatives was the electric car, whose weakness was a driving range limited by the storage capacity of its batteries. That problem seemed well on its way to solution around 1915. But innovators in the battery industry were distracted by the more immediate need to perfect a high-amperage battery to crank the new electric starters in cars with gasoline engines.
Apparently all the gasoline engine needed to triumph was a brief period in which its technological and price edge led to rapidly expanding sales. This cut production costs, which expanded sales even more -- and made it more convenient to fuel and service gasoline vehicles.
Today, of course, dependence on gasoline engines is a fact of life. While electric or steam vehicles would reduce air pollution and dependence on imported oil, it would take an investment of tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars to leap the technological chasm. Indeed, California, which has mandated the use of electric cars, is just now facing the reality that the existing technology is wretchedly inadequate to the task.
Robin Cowan of the University of Western Ontario offers a second cautionary tale of path dependence. The world is stuck with another functional, but environmentally problematic, technology: the "light water" nuclear reactor, whose momentary superiority over reactors that use inert gases led to the virtual abandonment of alternatives.
Robin Cowan of the University of Western Ontario offers a second
cautionary tale of path dependence. The world is stuck with another
functional, but environmentally problematic, technology: the "light
water" nuclear reactor, whose momentary superiority over reactors that
use inert gases led to the virtual abandonment of alternatives.
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In the mid-1950's there was no particular reason to believe that light-water reactors were the cheapest to build and operate. But the Navy invested heavily in light water, which was seen as the most compact and reliable design for submarines and aircraft carriers. When Washington pressed for a quick scale-up to commercial nuclear power after the Soviet Union exploded a nuclear weapon, American manufacturers took the route of least technological resistance.
In the mid-1950's there was no particular reason to believe that
light-water reactors were the cheapest to build and operate. But the
Navy invested heavily in light water, which was seen as the most compact
and reliable design for submarines and aircraft carriers. When
Washington pressed for a quick scale-up to commercial nuclear power
after the Soviet Union exploded a nuclear weapon, American manufacturers
took the route of least technological resistance.
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[Continue reading the main story][17]
[Continue reading the main story](#story-continues-4)
Later, Washington used subsidies for design and manufacturing to persuade the Europeans to switch to a light-water standard. And once light-water reactors were produced in quantity, the manufacturers learned-by-doing, cutting costs well below those of competing designs.
Later, Washington used subsidies for design and manufacturing to
persuade the Europeans to switch to a light-water standard. And once
light-water reactors were produced in quantity, the manufacturers
learned-by-doing, cutting costs well below those of competing designs.
Perhaps light-water reactors would have prevailed in any event. But there is little doubt that a competing gas-graphite system was safer because it offered greater protection against catastrophic loss of coolant. With global warming now looming, the "lock-in" to atmospherically benign -- but widely feared -- light-water nuclear technology must count as an opportunity lost.
Perhaps light-water reactors would have prevailed in any event. But
there is little doubt that a competing gas-graphite system was safer
because it offered greater protection against catastrophic loss of
coolant. With global warming now looming, the "lock-in" to
atmospherically benign -- but widely feared -- light-water nuclear
technology must count as an opportunity lost.
If path dependence is such a big deal, why are college freshmen unlikely to encounter the idea in Econ. 101? Brian Arthur, a pioneer in the field at Stanford in the early 1980's who now does research at the Santa Fe Institute, blames tradition-bound economists. Put it another way: the "technology" of modern economics is itself path dependent, because economists have so much invested elsewhere.
If path dependence is such a big deal, why are college freshmen unlikely
to encounter the idea in Econ. 101? Brian Arthur, a pioneer in the field
at Stanford in the early 1980's who now does research at the Santa Fe
Institute, blames tradition-bound economists. Put it another way: the
"technology" of modern economics is itself path dependent, because
economists have so much invested elsewhere.
More important, free marketeers fear that path dependence will become a rationale for bigger government -- and is thus the Devil's work. If competitive markets do not guarantee that the best technologies survive, the thinking goes, surely sometime-liberals like Bill Clinton will be more tempted to try to pick winners.
More important, free marketeers fear that path dependence will become a
rationale for bigger government -- and is thus the Devil's work. If
competitive markets do not guarantee that the best technologies survive,
the thinking goes, surely sometime-liberals like Bill Clinton will be
more tempted to try to pick winners.
The twist here is that the perspective of path dependence offers no succor to industrial-policy enthusiasts. It was Washington, after all, that locked in light-water nuclear reactor technology. And it was Tokyo that cursed its manufacturers with a high-definition television that was obsolete before the first receiver was sold.
The twist here is that the perspective of path dependence offers no
succor to industrial-policy enthusiasts. It was Washington, after all,
that locked in light-water nuclear reactor technology. And it was Tokyo
that cursed its manufacturers with a high-definition television that was
obsolete before the first receiver was sold.
But a world haunted by path dependence does cry out for a different sort of intervention. Government as the referee who makes everyone play by the same impartial rules is not quite enough.
But a world haunted by path dependence does cry out for a different sort
of intervention. Government as the referee who makes everyone play by
the same impartial rules is not quite enough.
The first goal is to get government to slow down and think twice before setting hard-to-reverse technological standards. The Federal Communications Commission was criticized for dragging its feet on setting standards for the new high-definition television. Because it dawdled, however, digital technology had a chance to prove itself before the F.C.C. got around to writing the final rules. But the lesson also applies to cases that everyone would rather forget, like Washington's premature decision to back recyclable space shuttles over throwaway rocket launchers.
The first goal is to get government to slow down and think twice before
setting hard-to-reverse technological standards. The Federal
Communications Commission was criticized for dragging its feet on
setting standards for the new high-definition television. Because it
dawdled, however, digital technology had a chance to prove itself before
the F.C.C. got around to writing the final rules. But the lesson also
applies to cases that everyone would rather forget, like Washington's
premature decision to back recyclable space shuttles over throwaway
rocket launchers.
The more controversial issue is antitrust -- think Microsoft. It often pays an individual company to set a standard by flexing its own marketing muscle long before a clear winner has emerged. And the risks of path dependence suggest that Washington would do well to slow such private standard-setting until competitors had a chance to strut their stuff.
The more controversial issue is antitrust -- think Microsoft. It often
pays an individual company to set a standard by flexing its own
marketing muscle long before a clear winner has emerged. And the risks
of path dependence suggest that Washington would do well to slow such
private standard-setting until competitors had a chance to strut their
stuff.
The Government will no doubt be called on to take a stand on some looming path-dependence battles: all-purpose personal computers versus cheaper, appliance-like "network computers" that do one thing well; wireless personal communications versus high-capacity cable; Internet software built around Netscape's browser versus software that piggy-backs on the Microsoft Network.
The Government will no doubt be called on to take a stand on some
looming path-dependence battles: all-purpose personal computers versus
cheaper, appliance-like "network computers" that do one thing well;
wireless personal communications versus high-capacity cable; Internet
software built around Netscape's browser versus software that
piggy-backs on the Microsoft Network.
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[Continue reading the main story](#story-continues-5)
Would Adam Smith approve of venturing where the invisible hand doesn't have a clue? Perhaps not. But then the old guy never had to worry about Microsoft's clumsy software chewing up a chapter of "The Wealth of Nations."
Peter Passell writes about economics for The Times. His last article for the Magazine
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Would Adam Smith approve of venturing where the invisible hand doesn't
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Nations."
[Continue reading the main story](#whats-next)

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[Source](http://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/14/magazine/the-net-is-a-waste-of-time.html "Permalink to The Net Is a Waste of Time - The New York Times")
In the age of wooden television in the South where I grew up, leisure
involved sitting on screened porches, smoking cigarettes, drinking iced
tea, engaging in conversation and staring into space. It might also
involve fishing.
# The Net Is a Waste of Time - The New York Times
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# The Net Is a Waste of Time
By WILLIAM GIBSONJULY 14, 1996
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I COINED THE WORD "CYBERSPACE" IN 1981 IN ONE OF MY first science fiction stories and subsequently used it to describe something that people insist on seeing as a sort of literary forerunner of the Internet. This being so, some think it remarkable that I do not use E-mail. In all truth, I have avoided it because I am lazy and enjoy staring blankly into space (which is also the space where novels come from) and because unanswered mail, E- or otherwise, is a source of discomfort.
But I have recently become an avid browser of the World Wide Web. Some people find this odd. My wife finds it positively perverse. I, however, scent big changes afoot, possibilities that were never quite as manifest in earlier incarnations of the Net.
I was born in 1948. I can't recall a world before television, but I know I must have experienced one. I do, dimly, recall the arrival of a piece of brown wooden furniture with sturdy Bakelite knobs and a screen no larger than the screen on this Powerbook.
Initially there was nothing on it but "snow," and then the nightly advent of a targetlike device called "the test pattern," which people actually gathered to watch.
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Today I think about the test pattern as I surf the Web. I imagine that the World Wide Web and its modest wonders are no more than the test pattern for whatever the 21st century will regard as its equivalent medium. Not that I can even remotely imagine what that medium might actually be.
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In the age of wooden television in the South where I grew up, leisure involved sitting on screened porches, smoking cigarettes, drinking iced tea, engaging in conversation and staring into space. It might also involve fishing.
Sometimes the Web does remind me of fishing. It never reminds me of conversation, although it can feel a lot like staring into space. "Surfing the Web" (as dubious a metaphor as "the information highway") is, as a friend of mind has it, "like reading magazines with the pages stuck together." My wife shakes her head in dismay as I patiently await the downloading of some Japanese Beatles fan's personal catalogue of bootlegs. "But it's from Japan!" She isn't moved. She goes out to enjoy the flowers in her garden.
Sometimes the Web does remind me of fishing. It never reminds me of
conversation, although it can feel a lot like staring into space.
"Surfing the Web" (as dubious a metaphor as "the information highway")
is, as a friend of mind has it, "like reading magazines with the pages
stuck together." My wife shakes her head in dismay as I patiently await
the downloading of some Japanese Beatles fan's personal catalogue of
bootlegs. "But it's from Japan\!" She isn't moved. She goes out to enjoy
the flowers in her garden.
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I stay in. Hooked. Is this leisure -- this browsing, randomly linking my
way through these small patches of virtual real-estate -- or do I
somehow imagine that I am performing some more dynamic function? The
content of the Web aspires to absolute variety. One might find anything
there. It is like rummaging in the forefront of the collective global
mind. Somewhere, surely, there is a site that contains . . . everything
we have lost?
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The finest and most secret pleasure afforded new users of the Web rests
in submitting to the search engine of Alta Vista the names of people we
may not have spoken aloud in years. Will she be here? Has he survived
unto this age? (She isn't there. Someone with his name has recently
posted to a news group concerned with gossip about soap stars.) What is
this casting of the nets of identity? Do we engage here in something of
a tragic seriousness?
I stay in. Hooked. Is this leisure -- this browsing, randomly linking my way through these small patches of virtual real-estate -- or do I somehow imagine that I am performing some more dynamic function? The content of the Web aspires to absolute variety. One might find anything there. It is like rummaging in the forefront of the collective global mind. Somewhere, surely, there is a site that contains . . . everything we have lost?
In the age of wooden television, media were there to entertain, to sell
an advertiser's product, perhaps to inform. Watching television, then,
could indeed be considered a leisure activity. In our hypermediated age,
we have come to suspect that watching television constitutes a species
of work. Post-industrial creatures of an information economy, we
increasingly sense that accessing media is what we do. We have become
terminally self-conscious. There is no such thing as simple
entertainment. We watch ourselves watching. We watch ourselves watching
Beavis and Butt-head, who are watching rock videos. Simply to watch,
without the buffer of irony in place, might reveal a fatal naivete.
The finest and most secret pleasure afforded new users of the Web rests in submitting to the search engine of Alta Vista the names of people we may not have spoken aloud in years. Will she be here? Has he survived unto this age? (She isn't there. Someone with his name has recently posted to a news group concerned with gossip about soap stars.) What is this casting of the nets of identity? Do we engage here in something of a tragic seriousness?
But that is our response to aging media like film and television,
survivors from the age of wood. The Web is new, and our response to it
has not yet hardened. That is a large part of its appeal. It is
something half-formed, growing. Larval. It is not what it was six months
ago; in another six months it will be something else again. It was not
planned; it simply happened, is happening. It is happening the way
cities happened. It is a city.
In the age of wooden television, media were there to entertain, to sell an advertiser's product, perhaps to inform. Watching television, then, could indeed be considered a leisure activity. In our hypermediated age, we have come to suspect that watching television constitutes a species of work. Post-industrial creatures of an information economy, we increasingly sense that accessing media is what we do. We have become terminally self-conscious. There is no such thing as simple entertainment. We watch ourselves watching. We watch ourselves watching Beavis and Butt-head, who are watching rock videos. Simply to watch, without the buffer of irony in place, might reveal a fatal naivete.
Toward the end of the age of wooden televisions the futurists of the
Sunday supplements announced the advent of the "leisure society."
Technology would leave us less and less to do in the Marxian sense of
yanking the levers of production. The challenge, then, would be to fill
our days with meaningful, healthful, satisfying activity. As with most
products of an earlier era's futurism, we find it difficult today to
imagine the exact coordinates from which this vision came. In any case,
our world does not offer us a surplus of leisure. The word itself has
grown somehow suspect, as quaint and vaguely melancholy as the battered
leather valise in a Ralph Lauren window display. Only the very old or
the economically disadvantaged (provided they are not chained to the
schedules of their environment's more demanding addictions) have a great
deal of time on their hands. To be successful, apparently, is to be
chronically busy. As new technologies search out and lace over every
interstice in the net of global communication, we find ourselves with
increasingly less excuse for . . . slack.
But that is our response to aging media like film and television, survivors from the age of wood. The Web is new, and our response to it has not yet hardened. That is a large part of its appeal. It is something half-formed, growing. Larval. It is not what it was six months ago; in another six months it will be something else again. It was not planned; it simply happened, is happening. It is happening the way cities happened. It is a city.
Toward the end of the age of wooden televisions the futurists of the Sunday supplements announced the advent of the "leisure society." Technology would leave us less and less to do in the Marxian sense of yanking the levers of production. The challenge, then, would be to fill our days with meaningful, healthful, satisfying activity. As with most products of an earlier era's futurism, we find it difficult today to imagine the exact coordinates from which this vision came. In any case, our world does not offer us a surplus of leisure. The word itself has grown somehow suspect, as quaint and vaguely melancholy as the battered leather valise in a Ralph Lauren window display. Only the very old or the economically disadvantaged (provided they are not chained to the schedules of their environment's more demanding addictions) have a great deal of time on their hands. To be successful, apparently, is to be chronically busy. As new technologies search out and lace over every interstice in the net of global communication, we find ourselves with increasingly less excuse for . . . slack.
And that, I would argue, is what the World Wide Web, the test pattern for whatever will become the dominant global medium, offers us. Today, in its clumsy, larval, curiously innocent way, it offers us the opportunity to waste time, to wander aimlessly, to daydream about the countless other lives, the other people, on the far sides of however many monitors in that postgeographical meta-country we increasingly call home. It will probably evolve into something considerably less random, and less fun -- we seem to have a knack for that -- but in the meantime, in its gloriously unsorted Global Ham Television Postcard Universes phase, surfing the Web is a procrastinator's dream. And people who see you doing it might even imagine you're working.
William Gibson's latest novel
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And that, I would argue, is what the World Wide Web, the test pattern
for whatever will become the dominant global medium, offers us. Today,
in its clumsy, larval, curiously innocent way, it offers us the
opportunity to waste time, to wander aimlessly, to daydream about the
countless other lives, the other people, on the far sides of however
many monitors in that postgeographical meta-country we increasingly call
home. It will probably evolve into something considerably less random,
and less fun -- we seem to have a knack for that -- but in the meantime,
in its gloriously unsorted Global Ham Television Postcard Universes
phase, surfing the Web is a procrastinator's dream. And people who see
you doing it might even imagine you're working.
[Continue reading the main story](#whats-next)

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