Dwarves

From: richard <richard.develyn_at_nwpeople.com>
Date: Tue, 09 Jun 1998 11:27:57 +0100

[Last Rvcd Dig 650]

Thanks for all replies - one issue I would like to focus on:

At one extreme, non-apostate dwarves are just cogs in a machine. If this was the case throughout the machine-fixing project then:

1. organisation would probably be fully distributed, rather than hierarchical.
2. knowledge dissemination would be free flowing.

The whole thing would work like a giant brain.

At the other extreme, non-apostate dwarves are more like human technicians, with traces / threats of individualism. In this case:

1. organisation would be hierarchical
2. knowledge would be need-to-know only

The whole thing would work like the civil service (a government body - not sure what the non-UK equivalent is).

The fact that the heresies exist at all suggests that the giant brain approach is flawed. A number of replies to my previous post also seem to be suggesting a strong move away from this ideal.

The giant brain, IMO, is much more likely to get the world machine fixed. I shan't say anything about government bodies in case there are employees reading the digest ;-) However, the more you get away from perfection, the more open you are to infiltration, corruption, mis-management, inadecuacy and, ultimately, failure.

richard
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Richard Develyn                                 Tel: (UK)-1732-743591
Principal Architect / Development Manager       Fax: (UK)-1732-743597
Network People International                    http://www.nwpeople.com

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