Klarinet Archive - Posting 000163.txt from 1994/05

From: "Jay Heiser, Product Manager, Govt Systems" <jayh@-----.COM>
Subj: The paraphrase of Arthur C. Clarke
Date: Fri, 6 May 1994 17:38:01 -0400

I don't remember the exact quote and don't have a reference.....
(an ambitious person would examine access Barlett's at Princeton
and confirm this -- maybe later, but its past 5pm on a Friday and
I'm leaving).

The idea is that as far as a primitive culture is concerned, modern
technology is essentially magic. What Clarke really does is
redefine magic as being 'unrecognized technology' instead of being
'supernatural'.

I want to add to that my opinion that just because something can
be quantified, doesn't mean that it can be priortized. The answer
to 'what is 60 hertz?' is much easier than the answer to the
question 'why does something have aesthetic value?'

-->From sco.sco.com!vtbit.cc.vt.edu!vccscent.bitnet!klarinet Fri May 6 17:31:24
1994
-->Date: Fri, 6 May 1994 13:14:46 -0700
-->Reply-To: leeson@-----.edu
-->Sender: Klarinet - Clarinettist's Network
<KLARINET%VCCSCENT.BITNET@-----.EDU>
-->From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
-->Subject: The paraphrase of Arthur C. Clarke
-->Comments: To: klarinet%vccscent@-----.edu
-->To: Multiple recipients of list KLARINET
<KLARINET%VCCSCENT.BITNET@-----.EDU>
-->Message-ID: <7005061424.aa18814@-----.COM>
-->
-->Since I do not know the original statement of Clarke, I am unable to
-->understand how it sheds light on the topic. Please share with me the
-->statement that Clarke made, in unparaphrased form.
-->
-->Paraphrases are not always valuable or even helpful, but before one can make
-->that distinction, one needs to know the phrase that was para-ed.
-->
-->
-->====================================
-->Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
-->(leeson@-----.edu)
-->====================================
======================================
Garden Status:
First harvest: spinach, lettuce
Beans sprouting, tomatos still under plastic