(44)    Mon 27 Oct 97 10:07
By: Caroline Evans
To: David Ragland
Re: Think
St:
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@PID: ViaMAIL! v1.30  97-0512
David,


    When I was in 7th grade I entered a school science fair with a
little computer that I designed. It was a simple thing involving the
addition of voltages to get a result. I designed a little electromagnetic
device to light up different bulbs to represent the numbers instead of
using a standard analog voltage meter. I was only 11 and thought that
I had invented a digital computer because digits would be lit up.

    My father pointed out to me that it was an analog computer because
it used voltages rather than pulses to do arithmetic.  "No," I
childishly insisted, "it's digital because digits light up." My father
did not suffer fools gladly and he let it go at that. He wasn't going
to argue electronics with an 11 year old.

    Do you know what my father did for a living? He was an instructor
at a Navy Electronics School where he taught advanced transistor theory.
Who do you suppose was right me or my father? Yet I insisted that I
was right, so I continued to call it a digital computer. I billboarded
it on my display. "Digital Electronic Computer" it said in huge
unmistakable letters for all to see.

    I won an award at the local science fair which meant that I had
won a spot in the state science fair. When I went to the state science
fair I was quizzed by an engineer/judge about the difference between
analog and digital computers. The engineer politely told me the
difference. I won no awards and felt quite silly. It was a lesson I
never forgot.

           The "theology" you offer is neither original nor
convincing. That you imagine empty, tired platitudes to be profound
only serves to highlight your ignorance. You offer illogic and call it
logic. You envision delusions and proclaim them truth. You embrace
superstition and imagine yourself religious.

   Apparently, you have yet to experience the insight that I
had achieved by age 11. You spout religious speculations as though
they were facts... affecting a wise demeanor that only fools the
foolish. You refuse to learn from those who know more than you do,
steadfastly insisting, like an 11 year old, that you are right.

    I stand before you as my father stood before me, pointing you away
from error... go quietly and learn more... you are not there yet. The
journey is long and you have hardly begun.


    Sincerely,
    Caroline


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