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From: gls@odyssey.ATT.COM (g.l.sicherman)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Flawed human minds
Message-ID: <331@odyssey.ATT.COM>
Date: Wed, 14-Oct-87 11:47:09 EDT
Article-I.D.: odyssey.331
Posted: Wed Oct 14 11:47:09 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 16-Oct-87 04:25:37 EDT
References: <270@uwslh.UUCP> <15196@topaz.rutgers.edu> <1368@houdi.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Middletown, NJ
Lines: 25

> Let's draw an analogy.  You are driving an X-Brand car from Pittsburgh to
> Atlanta and halfway there it bursts into flame.  Without knowing how the
> car works you can conclude it was flawed.
> 
> Mr X. goes to an employment interview and gets angry or flustered and
> says something that causes him to be rejected.  Without knowing how his
> mind works you can conclude it was flawed.

And you could be wrong.  Most likely Mr. X. didn't want the job after
all.  He only wanted you to think he wanted the job.  Give him credit
for some intelligence!

Of course Mr. X. is flawed from the company's point of view.  But he's
flawed from his own point of view only if he can get what he wants and
doesn't.  When this happens, the problem is not emotions but habits.

> Factually, we know the mind is flawed because we observe that it does
> not do what we expect of it.

By this criterion, we are all flawed.  It brings to mind the one and only
law in J. B. Cabell's land of Philistia: "Do what seems to be expected of
you."
-- 
Col. G. L. Sicherman
...!ihnp4!odyssey!gls