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- Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
- Path: sparky!uunet!psinntp!panix!pnh
- From: pnh@panix.com (Patrick Nielsen-Hayden)
- Subject: Re: Programmers and Libertarians (was: Re: [misc.activism.progressive] Clinton Office Requests Comments)
- Message-ID: <C0A8tJ.Dy@panix.com>
- Organization: fwa
- References: <1993Jan2.181528.12318@oracle.us.oracle.com> <bhayden.726020062@teal> <BZS.93Jan2232208@world.std.com> <1993Jan3.113435.20545@netcom.com>
- Date: Sun, 3 Jan 1993 14:41:42 GMT
- Lines: 24
-
- lachman@netcom.com (Hans Lachman) writes:
-
- >My guess is that the correlation between programmers and
- >Libertarians is due to the fact that programmers (the smart
- >ones at least) keenly understand the KISS principle (Keep
- >It Simple, Stupid). They know that the simpler a system is,
- >the more likely its effectiveness and integrity can be
- >maintained. They look at the federal government and see a
- >"Rube Goldberg" machine in all its glory. Take the deficit.
- >(Please!) The government is hemorrhaging red ink like a
- >buggy operating system with major memory leaks. If we stick
- >with a simpler design, it is less likely that we will foul
- >things up in the implementation.
-
- Analogies between engineering & politics like the above have a checkered
- history, to say the least. For much of the first part of this century it
- was widely assumed that Communism more precisely mapped onto the principles
- of design efficiency espoused by technologists; in fact, many
- anti-communists granted their antagonists the point, and anchored their
- opposition in a wider critique of technological rationalism in general.
- These days both sides of that argument seem quaint. The day will come when
- the above reads like a period piece, too.
- -----
- Patrick Nielsen Hayden * pnh@panix.com * CIS: 72701,1344 * GEnie: PNH
-