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Scientists abandoning the list

I have written to several prominent posters to this list in the
past lamenting that there was so little scientific discussion.

I have been educating myself in this regards by reading the literature,
some of it easy, some not. When I find something interesting or
exciting, I pass it on. When someone asks a technical question
that goes unanswered for long I find it challenging to find out
for myself.

I don't think it a right attitude that those with the knowledge
abandon one of their implicit duties, to pass it on - 
they owe this debt to past teachers of which they have benefited (as do
we all).

One of the most difficult aspects of our daily existence involves
dealing with all those peculiar individuals surrounding us, but we
can't retreat into isolationism without incurring the consequences -
narrowness of vision, dearth of new insight, and lack of individual personal
growth.

In particular, the money aspect that goes along with the uniqueness
and rarity of the meteorite 'business' is something that needs to be 
dealt with and not avoided.

In my professional life of almost 30 years as a software engineer, I have often 
been pained by a marketing attitude that couches every quantifiable in terms of 
money and doesn't address the unquantifiable. I would think to myself - 
'If they would just spend another nickel on more memory or a faster CPU I could 
solve this problem in a more elegant fashion instead of racking my brains to come 
up with a disgusting hack and a maintenance nightmare'.

It is with some embarassment that I need to admit that I have taken a leave of absence
from my job and am planning a career change. I can understand the constant banging
of one's head against what one imagines is a flaw in human nature.

But, I think we are getting wiser as a society, and eventually the majority will
not be so easily swayed by the power of money, or power, or personal influence.

All it takes for me to get back my perspective it to feel grateful for the fortunate
time I live in.

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