On Thu, 4 Dec 2003, Chris Olson - SunPS wrote: > rone wrote: > > Tradition is only useful if a) we understand its genesis, and b) the > > context in which it originated is still pertinent. Otherwise, it's > > just doing things "because we've always done it this way." This is where the Lord Falkland quote really shines, see. When it really IS necessary to change, once the circumstances are different enough that doing things the old way don't make sense, then yes. By all means, try something new. What I tend to argue against is the idea of change for change's sake, the notion that 'new' implies 'improved'. The extreme viewpoint (which I'm not imputing to anyone here, mind) that of COURSE we can design an ideal society by throwing out all that crufty old legacy code and crafting new rules anew is one that I find extremely pernicious -- more so than the opposing extreme of never changing anything. Our social code is a hideous glob of kludges, yes -- but each kludge was patched in to address a problem, and worked, more or less, at the time. In general, I like evaluating each situation on a case-by-case to see if it passes the 'necessary to change' test rather than advocate wholesale 'this sux, throw it out' actions.' pe