So, the story goes, he decided to show them. While staring into the sky, he'd noticed some interesting correlations between meteorological events in the spring and the size of the olive harvest the following autumn. So, one year when the harvest promised to be especially large, he put all the money he could raise into olive presses, (necessary for converting harvested olives into exportable oil). When the harvest came in and the need for olive presses proved to be especially urgent, he leased them out at a very profitable rate. Then he cashed out and went back to more important things, like wondering whether magnets had souls.
This story is important for us geeks. I'm not saying that we should all set about prostituting our analytical powers for all they're worth. I'm saying that we can usefully make a demonstration, from time to time, that what we have to offer can have some bearing on stuff that other people are interested in. That stuff might be money, as in Thales' case. Alternatively, it might be sex, or it might be something else again.
If you wonder why such a demonstration is useful, I like to think that it is part of the reason why Thales was not the last of the Greek philosophers as well as the first. It may be irritating to have to resort to silly stunts to get people's attention, but if we don't get people's attention, then we're on our own, and when we're on our own, then our characteristic virtues are largely wasted. That's not because we're not getting credit for them - that doesn't matter - but because they are most effective when feeding into a social system of some kind.
- Jack Rushing 2008-02-15 13:56:28
Google is the best search engine Google
- Jim Kasem 2008-02-15 14:02:19
hi
- bBob Fred 2008-03-06 18:16:48