I'm a huge fan of Holmes but taking him out of his court-mind is unfair to him and to us.
Also, nothing is less appealing intellectually than foolish -- boring -- comments about the world going to hell in a handbasket. Has there ever been a moment in the history of civilization when that was not the popular viewpoint? No. Did it ever happen? Yes. Did civilization end? No. The thinking person can live with paradox and be creatively energized by it. So if the world wasn't always on the doorstep of hell there would be no quest for heaven. We'd all still be worms in some muddy pond. wc ----- Original Message ---- From: joseph berg <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tue, November 13, 2012 4:05:55 PM Subject: Re: Error and quality On Tue, Nov 13, 2012 at 11:35 AM, joseph berg <[email protected]> wrote: > On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 7:44 PM, joseph berg <[email protected]> wrote: > >> On Sun, Nov 11, 2012 at 5:57 AM, Michael Brady < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> >>> I've been preoccupied lately by two ideas that I believe are related: >>> >>> Error >>> Quality >>> >>> >> As far as I am concerned, once there is no such thing as error, there can >> be no such thing as quality. >> > > Let me rephrase what I previously said: > > - ...Once people start believing that there is no such thing as error, > then that's the beginning of the end of quality. > The 21st-century has lost sight of the notion of deviation and transgression. In fact, they seem to have become the what is now euphemistically called "the new normal": - *It is perfectly easy to be original* by violating the laws of decency and the canons of good taste. Oliver Wendell *Holmes*
