Wednesday, July 22, 2009

the challenge of concession

It can be extremely difficult for those who have been awarded the accolades and laurels of higher education to come to grips with the understanding that they are not quite as smart as they could have been.

Fortunately, there are those occasional intrusions of reality: The leaks that require the invitation of plumbers to their homes. The flat tire that comes even though, through fear they buy the best tires available to avoid having to contend with physical reality. The DVD that only their 8 year old child can program despite the thorough 80 page instruction manual written in 4 languages. One of the problems people have in reading technical manuals is that each and every word actually means something. You can't just jump around and pretend you've understood.

Ah, the glories of the human hand. Use it you get smart. Forget it and become educated. Or do both and change the world.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous4:04 PM

    Well, one of the serious problems with technical manuals is that they are all too often written by engineers in places like China, and their grasp of English is somewhat theoretical.

    Mario

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