Mike Singer wrote:

> Gerhard Fiedler wrote:
>> If you mean "soviet" as in "citizen of the (ex) USSR"... this is a
>> politic/geographic classification, not an ideological one.
> 
> I meant it as "soviet ideology".

I'm not familiar with that. I looked up Wikipedia "Soviet"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_%28disambiguation%29 , but it didn't
help.


> An engineer has no "choice of which kind of product with which
> features to develop", and if he had, he would rather be called sort of
> "market" guy, not an engineer. That's different profession.

I'm not sure about other engineers, but it's often how I translate between
my technical knowledge and theirs and my assessment of the advantages and
disadvantages of different approaches that heavily influences what features
a product will have. In pretty much all designs I created I was
instrumentally involved in the creation of the product itself, not only in
the realization. I see this as part of engineering work -- what else would
it be? It requires engineering knowledge. Someone with /only/ marketing
knowledge can't design a product spec (the spec must be realizable).

I think the whole thinking in "engineers", "marketing guys", "politicians"
etc is fundamentally flawed. What am I in that system? I've been active in
something you could call grass-roots politics; does that make me a
politician? I've done engineering work; does that make me an engineer? I've
chosen the features of products; does that make me a "sort of 'market'
guy"? I've lead groups of engineers and programmers; does that make me a
manager? Or am I all of these (and more)? And doesn't that hold for pretty
much everybody?

> What is "MD"?

I thought that was a common abbreviation of "medical doctor"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Md . 

> [OT] world of PICList is declared as politics free too for the flame
> safety reasons, I believe. 

No and yes, I believe :)  James will correct me if I'm wrong. My
understanding is "no" to "politics free" and "yes" to "flame safety" -- the
criterion is "knowable" vs "unknowable", and sometimes the civilized
discussion about what is what happens.

> I wouldn't say I'm happy with wasting time on politics; I'm just very
> much surprised we can talk it without flame. Still, can't get it, how
> James manages to maintain the intercontinental list this way. Thanks,
> James.

Yes, is a phenomenon. IMO it takes a leader and a crew for that. The leader
has set the stage properly, and the crew has given it the necessary
support. It's not that James is our "boss"; it's just that we appreciate
what he does, nobody really wants his "throne", and that most here realize
it's better this way than any other way we can imagine. 

Now just think how this style could be expanded... it is neither democracy
(including the republican form) nor anarchy or a free market (whatever that
is). Nor is it a dictatorship. 

Gerhard

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