[Foundation-l] They do make or break reputations

[Thomas Morton]

>
> I'll go further-- provided we can do so cheaply, I want new projects
> that are like the ridiculous early failures of flight.
> [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7OJvv4LG9M].  I want to hear about a
> new WMF project and it's policy, think "That's crazy-- that's never
> gonna get off the ground", and indeed, learn something from whether it
> crashes or whether it actually takes off.
>
>
The thing is (and I am somewhat of an enthusiast on the early attempts at
flight :) so you picked a good metaphor) that tose early attempts were
dangerous, mostly impractical and basically barking up the wrong trees.

What did it take ot make successful flight?

It took a couple of quiet brothers who realised that mad and dedicated
vision had to be metered with scientific observation, personal sacrifice and
critical thinking to succeed.

So, yeh, I agree largely with your theory of "lets throw resources at all
those mad but clever people out there". But I think we need to learn the
lesson of Chanute [1] and keep a careful watch for the many hacks,
egotistical and mad individuals that such an enterprise would encourage.

(of course, another school of thought might suggest we need to encourage all
the mad schemes, and let someone smart and clever take the failures and turn
them into reality).

Tom
*1. *http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octave_Chanute