Google, SourceForge, Shoulders of Giants, ...
If it's on Google, do you know it?
How many times have you had a question, and you say to yourself "I'm going to search for it on Google." You do. Google finds the answer. Then you stop. Without going to the actual pages. All the time reassuring yourself "Ah, it's on Google," with a smile.
Thus no learning takes place.
If you start a project on SourceForge, have you innovated?
Once in a while I come across a SourceForge project that's started a year and half ago, with a few CVS commits in the three weeks following, and then went silent. "This file last modified 15 months ago," SourceForge CVS announces. "This project has not released any files." SourceForge's File page announces.
Thus no innovation takes place.
Weakest Link Host: In mathematics, what is negative eight times three?
Contestant: (taking his time thinking furiously) ... Twenty-four.
Weakest Link Host: No. The correct answer is negative twenty-four.
We all laugh. But we would be laughing at ourselves, for day in and day out, we utter things just as ignorant and laughable, in the context of our lives and our work.
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." said Isaac Newton in 1676.
We all need help getting up there!