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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tejek who wrote (359129)	11/17/2007 4:21:58 PM
From: combjelly	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1571939

"Rather, we seem divided between those who feel alienated toward -- or enthusiastic for -- a 21st Century filled with change." Brin is a vocal enthusiast of the idea that we are currently living in a Golden Age. And things will only get better. He has an exit page for his site. Here it is. I believe it's good that we have a rambunctious society, filled with individualistic and opinionated people. Serenity is nice -- we all need some -- but to hold it up above all other values has become a cheap cliché. Serenity alone never brought progress. Hermits on hilltops never solved a problem. The adversarial process -- the tug and push of contrary views -- helps us to improve, both as individuals and as a culture. Criticism is the only known antidote to error -- elites shunned it, and their evasion spread ruin across history. We do each other a great favor (though it's not always appreciated) when we help find each others' mistakes. And yet... And yet, it also seems to me that we'd all be a lot happier, and better off, and more capable of dealing with criticism if each of us were to remember, now and then, to say the following phrase: "I am a member of a civilization." (IAAMOAC) This is more true now than ever, as we enter an edgy century of transition. Our society has many flaws, but if you ponder history and cantankerous human nature, it's astonishing how far we've come. (Wouldn't our ancestors have wanted us to be better?) We don't say IAAMOAC often enough.