[extropy-chat] Help! I'm not ready for reality! (was the 7 cents thread)

[Samantha Atkins]

On Nov 18, 2005, at 5:29 PM, Brent Neal wrote:

> Jack,
>
> What you said here needs to be said often (and loudly.)
>
> I just heard a speaker from CSIRO who discussed some of the  
> characteristics of innovative environments.  He said something much  
> along these lines, covering everything from "aggressive civility"  
> to "utter lack of sacred cows."  Nowhere does the kind of  
> ideological attitudes that are becoming prevalent in modern  
> discourse enter into the path to progress.
>

One of the most productive teams I have ever been on was not at all  
inclined to civility.  We did not attack one another but we merciless  
attacked one another's designs and opinions until we reached mutual  
agreements.   Few new people were happy because it sounded to them  
like we were always arguing.   But the three of us accomplished the  
miraculous.   I have also seen it work with much more civility  (and  
at lower volume) of course.  But "ideological attitudes" or less  
civility are not a bar to progress per se.   Perhaps you had in mind  
that form of incivility that starts attacking persons instead of the  
ideas they express.

- samantha