Dear Randall, (01)
You ask:
> Let me know when medical science reaches a level that you consider the
> point of diminishing returns, OK? (02)
Health is important to happiness. Medical science can improve health
if the
the nation's system of health care delivers its benefits to citizens;
in many
cases it serves only a small minority. Water supply and sanitation,
enough
food of good quality, abstaining from drugs, including tobacco and too
much
alcohol, exercise, support of family and friends probably contribute
more to
general levels of health in a population than most medical science. (03)
All these factors are influenced by
the kinds of information that people receive and the knowledge made
available to them. We should not ignore in our discussions the
information
systems in which our technology will be employed. Are we giving to the
purveyors of tobacco and alcohol better data mining tools for targeting
suscepable sections of the population? Does that matter? (04)
I did not intend to be drawn into this off-target discussion by
drawing attention
to the fact that we professionals probably benefit from our interesting,
civilized debates, thus deriving another kind of wealth from science and
engineering. (05)
While apologizing, I'd like to point out the importance of the ethical
aspects of
our work. The IT profession is so focused on selling more hardware,
software
and computer-related consulting services that we too often forget that
mere
sign-tokens do not qualify as information until people assign meanings
and
intentions to them so that they have effects felt by people and
communities. (06)
Ronald Stamper (07)
PS what I might have said is: (08)
"material advancement" is a key qualifier. Empirically, more material
wealth
contributes to human happiness only up to a modest point. Beyond that
several
other sources of happiness play a far greater role; relationships
with other
people head the list, with health and the satisfactions of work that
is not drudgery close
behind. I guess that working in science and engineering probably
contributes significantly
to the happiness of ontologgers. Why else would we devote so much time
to this site? (09)
On 12 Oct 2009, at 18:04, Randall R Schulz wrote: (010)
> On Monday October 12 2009, Ronald Stamper wrote:
>> Dear Randall,
>>
>> As you say:
>>> A minority of people do either science or engineering and these are
>>> the things that create material advancement in the quality of human
>>> life.
>>
>> "material advancement" is a key qualifier. Empirically, more
>> material wealth contributes to human happiness only up to a modest
>> point.
>
> Let me know when medical science reaches a level that you consider the
> point of diminishing returns, OK?
>
>
>> ...
>>
>> Ronald Stamper
>
>
> Randall Schulz
>
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