[MUD-Dev] Re: pet peeves

[Adam Wiggins]

On Fri, 12 Feb 1999 diablo at best.com wrote:
> On Fri, 12 Feb 1999, Caliban Tiresias Darklock wrote:
> > I would actually go so far as to say that clueful people cannot advance the
> > state of the art without the input and assistance of the clueless.
> 
> I'd have to say I disagree with this. I am going to make a generalized
> statement here which pretty much guarantees I'll think of an exception as
> soon as I send the e-mail, but in no thought-based field in the world do
> the clueless advance the state of the art, whether it be literature, hard
> sciences, social sciences, art, music, etc. Those who are not recognized
> as experts or who are not respected by the establishment in that field
> certainly make contributions, and sometimes very major ones (Einstein for
> instance), but in no cases that I can think of (and that of course is a
> fairly limited data set) do clueless people advance the state of the art.
> I don't see why it should be any different with muds, although I can see
> why it would take less experience to advance the state of the art in muds,
> as it is not a particularly well-developed field. 

I think what Caliban was getting at in a roundabout way is that those who
qualify as "experts" in a field are often very much trenched into
tried-and-true ways.  Someone that comes in and can view it with a fresh
eye frequently might come up with new twists on an old technique, or even
entirely new techniques, just because they aren't biased by preconcieved
notions of "this is how it's always been done and it works just fine."

On the other hand, 99% of time those suggestions *are* ludicrous and the
old way actually *is* better.  But on ocassion that fresh view can provide
insight that can lead to innovation.  I know that most of my crazy ideas about
how I think I can advance the state of the art were formed back when I was
a relative newbie and hadn't even begun to tackle any actual creation of my
own.

So it's not so much "clueless" and "clueful" - it's more "old timers" and
"fresh faces".  As with most things in life, a mix of both is your best bet.

Adam W.