Tony Duell wrote:
>
> > Like my father-in-law (an attorney) has always said, we may live in a
> > rather litigious society here in the U.S., but it's the safest country in
> > the world as a result.
>
> Yes, but there's safety and safety, and I am not at all convinced that
> all safety is a Good Thing.
I think most of us here would agree with you. The notion that safety
can be legislated or that massive awards will somehow result in
"better" corporate behavior is silly. All that happens is that
innovation is stifled.
Aerospace is a great place to see the effects of this. In the
'50s and 60's the US fielded new aircraft technology at a
(comparatively) staggering rate; today we're so risk adverse that
it takes decades to crank out a new design, and those designs are
hardly the latest-and-greatest technology. Both of the JSF
candidates have accurately been described as "ten year old
technology". It's sad, really.
There were a few references to the Hitchhiker's Guide in this
thread, but I'd offer that they're haven't been the best
choices. I nominate "When they start putting instructions
on toothpicks it's time to leave the planet".
--
Chris Kennedy
chris_at_mainecoon.com
http://www.mainecoon.com
PGP fingerprint: 4E99 10B6 7253 B048 6685 6CBC 55E1 20A3 108D AB97
Received on Tue Jun 13 2000 - 20:02:27 BST