|
For a new generation of USMA listserv readers, here
is my four-point plan for US metrication, first posted here in 1998 or 1999. I
shall post it again, then I shall duck:
US metrication must be:
1. Inspirational. In his
1971 book Future Shock, Alvin Toffler talked about the
"politics of overchoice". The book was even published in different jacket covers
to emphasize his point on the effect of increasing social and technological
complexity on the rest of us. Interesting that, the very same year, the
momentous US Department of Commerce report, A Metric America: A
Decision Whose Time Has Come, would dispense a great deal of fuel to
that future shock. It called for the US to convert to SI within ten years (the
original time frame of a draft of the Metric Conversion Act of 1975, which was
deleted from the legislation that survived the Congress). I do not believe
that any approach to making the US an SI nation can ignore the revulsion of the
average American (even this writer sometimes) to wave upon wave of acceleration
of change, and this change we seek, a change in our system of measurement, could
be perceived as the unkindest cut of all, especially if it is seen as some kind
of assault on America perpetrated by the world beyond our shores. Therefore, US
metrication must be dramatic, purposeful, and uplifting, extolling the virtues
of decimal arithmetic and of having a true standard of measurement which is in
practical concert with the rest of humanity. The suggestion was made to me that
one kind of "metric star" should bicycle around the country carrying a 20-kg
cake. Well, that's the kind of inspiration I envision. We have the spirit
to do it:---postage stamps, public service announcements, statements of support
from the President and Congressional leaders, celebrity endorsements---all will
move to popularize SI in the public's mind.
Paul Trusten, R.Ph.
3609 Caldera Boulevard, Apartment 122 Midland TX 79707-2872 USA 432-694-6208 [EMAIL PROTECTED] "There are two cardinal sins, from
which all the others spring: impatience and laziness." ---Franz Kafka |
- [USMA:25960] Re: a four-point plan for US metrication Paul Trusten, R.Ph.
