People (and Other Work): If It Don't Compute, Reexamine the Premise

I recall a conversation I had with my Dad when I was about 11 or 12. The topic of the conversation has long been forgotten, but what I remember clearly is the remark I made in response to my father's, "I don't know why couples fight so much." I think the reason I still remember what I said is the look on my father's face when I responded, "Maybe they like it." My Dad was astounded to hear this from his young son.

Prowess and perversity are not mutually exclusive human traits, and that most certainly extends to intellectual pursuits. Though I do relate to the aphorism, "Never attribute to malice what adequately can be explained by ignorance," I have more faith in, "Never say never." Especially in intellectual discourse, where it might not be inappropriate to discount the predominance of ignorance, the latter aphorism may be more applicable than the former.

I am frequently frustrated to encounter "intellectual" positions adhered to by those I know to be intelligent (at least there is much evidence to support it), but who fail to be moved by what, to me, seems overwhelming logical reasoning to the contrary. I must try to remember, in such circumstances, that which occurred to me more than half a century before.

Good life is just a bowl of Cheerios.™ People are work.