NP Too Much Information

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

Now turn your Hymnals [1] to chapter 27, page 266-274 for Our Beloved author's finest parodies of the birth of America's "Intellegence" institutions. While yer at it, cruise on through for the Peabody & Sherman presentation of the father of our country and his latest crop pages 275/288.


                 David Morris:
                 What was the story you meant?

This oughta work:

                 MIND MATTERS
                 Wray Herbert
                 Less (Information) Is More

                 According to a new book, most people 
                 think too much before they make 
                 important decisions.
                 Nov 20, 2007

                 When Benjamin Franklin's nephew Joseph Priestley 
                 found himself stumped by a complex life decision, 
                 he wrote his sage uncle for advice. In his 1772 letter 
                 of reply, Franklin described his own method for 
                 reasoning out complex problems, which he called
                 "moral algebra." Divide a sheet of paper in half, 
                 he counseled his nephew, and make an exhaustive 
                 list of pros and cons. Then, over a couple days, 
                 weigh the pros and cons, and when a pro and a 
                 con seem of equal weight, strike them both out. 
                 What is left in the balance is the best answer.

                 Such "balance sheet" calculation is still taught 
                 today as the most logical and systematic method 
                 for dealing with many of life's complexities. Kids 
                 are counseled to choose colleges and careers 
                 this way, and managers similarly deliberate the 
                 pros and cons in important business decisions; 
                 some people are even methodical in matters of 
                 the heart.

                 But is moral algebra really the best method for 
                 decision making in today's dizzyingly complicated 
                 world? Or is there virtue in simplicity for many 
                 life choices? A growing number of psychologists 
                 are questioning the soundness of Franklin's 
                 method, and its modern iterations, including 
                 data-heavy calculations by increasingly powerful 
                 computers. . . .

More:
http://tinyurl.com/yt6yu2

1. Mason & Dixon, oddly enough the only Pynchon novel I've owned that didn't have the binding explode in my hands. And not through lack of Reading or any other Road-Induced Misfortunes.