So when I spotted the leather-bound books in a State House hallway Dumpster, I climbed in and retrieved them. [More]Who would throw them out but a vandal?
I had occasion to do the same. I was working for a defense electronics firm that had been bought out by a larger company. We were closing down our facilities in preparation of being absorbed. I was assigned the task of disposing of the technical library, which the new owner did not want to spend any money transporting and providing space for.
I tried my best to find homes. I called libraries and universities and offered them free pickings. Most were uninterested.
We're talking R&D history here from a company that pioneered satellite navigation and communications, spread spectrum and GPS. Our president had been instrumental in the development of transistors, integrated circuits... Stuff beyond my ken, being but a poor policies and procedures wonk and not a Martian--I mean, did you know there even was a Molodensky formula to deal with ionospheric refraction scale errors?
The bottom line: I had no choice but to throw much out. And because I did not even understand much of what I was destroying, I felt guilty, deeply ashamed, like a stupid Eloi allowing the knowledge of the ages to crumble into dust, or worse, one of the torchers at Alexandria...
When it comes to freedom, great men have bequeathed us knowledge they worked long and hard to develop and validate. We have a duty to understand what they did, to preserve it and build on it.
Because you can never count on that being in the interests of those who would consider themselves the new owners.
You'd think someone would have David McCullough's phone number or something. :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's about money, and things get a little less efficient inside a government bureaucracy. I've dealt with this firsthand, where retention policy involves classification based solely on what is written on the outside of the box--whether it is right or not--and I've had the distinct pleasure of attempting to argue with an outside contractor on what I believed where fraudulent charges, only to discover that the office's space-saving records destruction policy included active contracts.
Nobody wants to bother reading anything unless their union contract says they have to.
Also: In reference to the linked story, it is unfortunate that the author had to make the argument in the manner described, when the legislature should be required to demonstrate where the law creates a duty and a power for the state to disarm its people.
ReplyDeleteIs there a legislature in this entire country that does not subscribe to a Euro-fascist philosophy of privileges emanating from the state?
i am in the (subsidized) business of discovering such niche knowledge, and i can tell you that 75-80% of the papers i read from contemporaries (competitors) and 100% of the papers i co-author are just advertisements geared towards winning government money to continue experimenting with what the group already has. it has everything to do with doing whatever you want, and nothing to do with meeting market demand, meeting a consumer's needs. unless that consumer is the military, and their need is to blow a quarter of their budget so that 1) it can be increased next year 2) there is no complaint from the scientific community about starting aggressive wars. although i admit you might have tossed a real gem, probably, though not definitely, you can at least relieve yourself of most of that burden. with every passing year, the giants whose shoulders we stand upon are shorter and skinnier, because the money is being distributed "fairly," instead of going to those who succeed in the market.
ReplyDeleteThis is why traditions and history MUST be destroyed. How can we ever achieve dominance over the people if they are literate and retain their ancient traditions? How? I demand you answer me...how!?
ReplyDeleteThe people do not know what is best for themselves, therefor, we must FORCE the people to be happy!
10/29/2009 4:06 PM