I've been debating writing a reply to this all day. I guess I'll take the plunge.

I think you're trying to find something good out of this unspeakably horrible act by having a positive regard for the coordination behind it. I think I understand your motivations, and I believe they're good ones. But the fact that this was all in the service of evil and mayhem cheapens it beyond redemption. I can't come away with a positive regard for these individuals -- the degree of thought and planning they put into it makes it more awful for me, not less. I can't imagine someone with enough hatred, enough venom in their soul, to spend months, possibly years, planning a disaster of this magnitude with such precision. I can't reconcile it with my belief that deep in the core of any human is a kernel of good.

But I would suggest you turn it around. If you want to carry away something positive for the future, think about some of the positive things that happened, miniscule though they may be against the backdrop of the disaster. To me the biggest wonder was the fact that the towers failed safely. They collapsed on themselves rather than leaning over and demolishing the rest of Manhattan. Think about that when you build your next system: if it fails, what will come down with it?

Better still, think about the incredible effort that went into raising those towers. As a matter of fact, any major construction -- a skyscraper, a bridge, an airport -- needs planning and coordination on a much vaster scale than what's needed to implement a software project. Think about what lessons you could learn from those.

As I said, I think I understand your motivations. I apologize if I've misunderstood you. But to me, the horror of what those plans brought about taints them irremediably. I can't marvel at them; all I feel is contempt for the planners -- and amazement at what humans are capable of wreaking against their own kind.

In reply to Re: Learning from any source by VSarkiss
in thread Learning from any source by dragonchild

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