* People programming *

Do not develop a program for people that same way you would
develop for computers.  Unlike computers, people can help you
avoid mistakes.  If you think you never make mistakes, then you
will only see people as buggy computers.  And your program will
crash.

Only recently has it seemed necessary to say this explicitly.

* Do not buy an espresso machine *

The only reason to own an espresso machine is because you need
to make your coffee in one minute or less.  If you can wait ten
minutes, then buy an espresso moka pot.  Cafes use machines
because they have many customers.  At home you will waste more
time than you save cleaning and maintaining a machine.  A pot
comes in all sizes for single and multiple shots.  The classic
model from Bialetti is hour-glass aluminum or stainless steel,
with two halves that screw together in the middle.  These are
found in practically every Italian home.  Water goes in the
bottom and coffee in a metal basket in the middle.  The coffee
is forced by steam to the top, where you pour.  You will
discover over time how much heat to use and how quickly or
slowly you prefer the coffee to be made.  You will make better
coffee than a machine because you have more control, and tastes
differ.  It is best to rinse only with water, because soap
might leave a residue.

* On Layoffs *

Layoffs are a disturbing reminder that everyone's career is at
the mercy of arbitrary forces.  Not everyone has equal
membership in the organization.  Some members can have other
members ejected at any time.  Only integrity and respect allow
them to work together productively after such events.  Rational
employees are as honest and as loyal to their company as their
company is to them.

* What is ownership?  *

Ownership is a fetish.  Ultimately you only need access to
material things.  You need ownership when your access must be
exclusive.  If your access is already unlimited, then you do
not need ownership.  Naturally you want to own your toothbrush,
so you do not have to share with anyone.  But there is no need
to own a private park, when you can share a bigger public park
with everyone else in town.  Ownership allows you to deny
access to others.  Of course, we do not want anyone else
walking in our home and trying on our clothes.  But too often
ownership becomes neurotic.  Someone who likes a movie feels a
need to "own" a digital copy.  Someone buys a boat when it
would be vastly cheaper, and more convenient, to rent one a few
times a year.  They are victims of an abstraction.

--- 1998

* Futile arguments about generalities *

I find the most futile arguments arise from attempts to apply
convenient general categories to specific unambiguous cases.

Does country X have a Y political system?  Well, if we know
exactly what kind of political system X has, then we no longer
need the general term of Y.

So is it misrepresentation to describe X as Y?  Or an omission
not to?  No, we use the art of successive approximations.
There is no need to deliberately reintroduce error once you
have narrowed the scope of your search.

Yes, clarifying categories like Y with X might help us
understand other instances of Y. Too often you find the real
argument is implicit.  Being a Y is better or worse than not
being a Y. Categories become ideology, and the comparisons
become invidious.

There is a good reason we do not get in arguments about the
definition of a stick, for example.  There is no implicit
praise or denigration of other sticks.

I encountered this idea first while reading Bertrand Russell's
discussion of Alfred Ayer's "Language, Truth, and Logic."