Good Question?

Most things go wrong when people who do not have full knowledge try mistakenly to improve it. The cautionary "if it aint broke, dont fix it" has this "curiosity killed the act" syndrome built into it. It takes a really self-confident engineer who has no hassle in admitting that he doesn't know everything, to know enough not to tamper with something he doesn't know.

So...what don't you know?

"If it aint broke, dont fix it" got us the Gulf oil spill.

But, " prudential preventive maintenance", costs money.

You know what choice BP, Haliburton, et al made, and why.

A philosophical approach to engineering practice, eh?

A man is fishing a stream, and watches as an alien craft lands in the field behind. The fisherman is approached by an alien from the vessel who says:

"Greetings to you, we come in peace. As a token gesture of our good will, please accept this device. It will end the hunger amongst your people, it will provide water to the most arid parts of the earth, and it will solve your world energy shortage."

After presenting the device to the fisherman, the alien returns to his vessel and leaves. In his hands is a device that will change the world forever. What would you do?

A: Present the device to Barack Obama, the most powerful man in the world.

B: Present the device to Ban Ki-moon, the most powerful man in the world.

C: Take it apart to see how it works.

^{We can just tell everyone it was prudent preventive maintenance.}

Nice one!

Milo

Most means the summit, a pyramid cannot have 2 summits so that philosophically speaking both cannot be at same time the most powerful man in the world!

Or may be my limited knowledge of English makes me think the wrong way ?

Wikipedia says "Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language."

One fundamental problem with my story is the English language quantifier 'Most' describing two different people as the same superlative. Each of the two men are, arguably, the most powerful in the world. As you say, they both cannot be the most powerful, but which man might concede the title to the other? And if one of them were to do so, would that, in the eyes of many, actually make him the greater man?

nick name, I think you English is very good. It is the nonsensical nature of the story that makes it a little tricky.

Philosophically, very few engineering 'types' or Bricoleurs (thanks, Milo) would select options A or B from the choices. There is a proclivity amongst us to tinker with things in an attempt to discover hidden workings. This is sometimes contraindicated (as in the story); sometimes we should leave things alone, but we cannot help ourselves!

My friends son was in a wrestling match in High school.

It was a state tournament.

His bout ended in a tie.

The referee told both lads that there was a tie and they should resume.

The other booy lunged at my friends son.

My friends son took a step to avoid.

The referee gave the bout to the boy who lunged.

Moral.

WHile many cultures will tell you its the guy who could but doesn't that is the most powerful, it usually turns out in human affairs that the one who uses his power is THE most powerful.

Use it or lose it. Which is why I'm very respectful about little grass eating north korean magalomaniacs...What do they have to lose?

milo

I agree completely, cultural philosophies have many differences. A character trait that is highly regarded in one culture may be a sign of weakness in another.

Your reference to megalomania started me thinking... before I placed my story, I did not research into powerful men of the world, I simply picked a few that I knew. Now I find this Forbes Magazine's List of the World's Most Powerful People. Wow! Who woulda thunk that 39 year old Juliane Assange (founder of WikiLeaks) would make the list!

Who indeed?

But what of the private who provided the goodies?

Just before he hit "send" was he not the most powerful?

Just askin.

Milo

There is a 6th sense (experience), trust it.

Regards JD.