I have a friend that regularly sends me “funny” emails (we all have one, don’t we?).

At the bottom of his email, he has the following sig:

UNIX was not designed to stop its users from doing stupid things,
as that would also stop them from doing clever things.

I think its very clever (and true).

Then I started to think: A similar phrase can be applied to many areas.

eg:

Google won’t stop its employees from doing stupid things,
as that would also stop them from doing clever things.

Of course, some might say the opposite might be true for Microsoft… 🙂

Or with Governments (you might disagree with me on this one):

Australia won’t protect its citizens from doing stupid things (with silly laws),
as that would also stop them from doing clever things.

And I’m sure you will find many countries that push their citizens to mediocrity either via legislation (most of Europe springs to mind), or via the military, or via religious propaganda… or even all of the above.

I wonder if there is a lesson here, that we can all learn from?

Here are some examples of what I mean:

– Pencil cases banned from a primary school in Manchester, in case they hide sharp objects

– Sunscreen banned from a primary shcool in Manchester, due to allergy fears

– Dudley council banns foam floats from pools, in case they hit swimmers