Posted on 08/19/2007 6:06:46 AM PDT by tpaine
Pinging you both. I can’t remember which of you is the Heinlein fan. :^)
I credit Heinlein for helping my mush-filled college brain transform into an adult.
Heinlein’s one weakness was that he wrote poor endings. His message was in the story more than any author I ever read. How do you bring that to a conclusion?
The more powerful the story the more difficult it was to bring it to a finalizing climax. “And they lived happily ever after.” did not work for his story lines. It was a flaw I was more than willing to accept in his case.
Beat that.
A doctor who is able to, would, in an emergency situation.
They won’t in non-emergency situations because of the contractual agreement they and their patients have entered into both with the regulatory agencies and with the insurance companies.
This helps to prevent the “dabbler” or “jack of all trades” trying to do something he can’t do as well as a specialist and causing even worse problems.
Starship Troopers was required reading when I was an infantry officer.
Unlike a lot of other libertarians, Heinlein understood that freedom and responsibility were two sides of the same coin.
These days, of course, no matter what you do, you will find someone to complain that it is damaging them.
Do you want a surgeon operating on your brain that has never changed his child’s diaper? Or couldn’t make a home-cooked meal? Or perform simple first-aid on someone until an ambulance arrived?
I specialize in the sciences (engineering to be specific) but that doesn’t mean I can forgo other things. For example, I’m a licensed private and glider pilot and glider instructor. I enjoy cooking, construction (and demolition). The point of the quote is that some people get so focused into what they do that they forget the other things and could be useless unless in a specific situation.
he is still alive???
“no possible act, nor mode of conduct, was forbidden to you, as long as your action did not damage another.”
There is short term (immediate) physical harm resulting from one’s actions. But there is also long term, social and cultural harm of one’s actions. The latter is tough to prove and can only be measured over generations. Gay marriage is one example. When gays started to marry in MA, the sun still rose in the morning and things were still the same as yesterday. But the effect of it 20, 50, 100 years hence is still unknown (and I suspect negative). Of course, the current generation may be so twisted, that they refuse to recognize the rot until it is too late.
I’d rather be operated on by someone who is an expert at brain surgery who may not be able to do these things than someone who can do these things but is not an expert at brain surgery.
My point was that Heinlien’s quote is typical of many maxims and epithets. They sound good at first, but when you analyze them, they usually don’t make complete sense.
I’m glad you’ve made so many accomplishments. I agree with you that we ought to study and excel at all those things we love to do. But we also have to admit that some people are better than others at certain things. Relatively, like it or not, they are experts or specialists, and they are the ones we depend upon in critical situations.
Same here - only, I have never flown a glider. I find that when things get that quiet, I break out in sweat, for some reason...
There is literally no emergency declaration in your hand being broken in three places, it just means you can’t use it, and that is not life threatening, hence contrary to your point, it will not be set period, until you locate such a doctor and get seen.
Of course the fact that your hand will be crippled for life due to loss of function is not an “emergency” either.
Even the fact that you believe that such inaction is okay-fine shows that the system is not only broken, but is the very epitome of absurdity.
*Heinlein ping*
Thankya sir.
““The justification for free enterprise is not that its more efficient, but that its free.”’
Er, yes. But if it were inefficient, only idiots would cling to it.
I just reread ‘The Cat That Walked Through Walls’. It is also very disappointing. The thing to remember is that Heinlein wrote for money. If we’re foolish enough to pay him for junk, that’s our problem.
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