--On Sunday, May 19, 2002 10:19 PM -0400 John R Levine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 
wrote:
> Call me crotchety, but I'm getting kind of tired of people positing vast
> technical edifices and then waving away the reality that they're
> unbuildable, and even if built would be uninhabitable...

In this case I will call John crotchety, because he is being uncollegial 
and unconstructive.  There is, or ought to be, a difference between healthy 
skepticism and a closed mind; or between good-humored, informed rebuttal 
and snide, reflexive swatting away.  A forum like this one brings together 
some of the better minds on the Net, and it actually is possible that 
useful ideas could be germinated here.  I wish that John would encourage 
such a possibility instead of trying to shout it down.

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