Oh I am sad… Ray Bradbury has passed away and I remember reading Fahrenheit 451 when I was a tweeny and being incredibly moved. And it made me think about a quote I always loved from that book which still resonates:
“Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. Cram them full of non-combustible data, chock them so damned full of ‘facts’ they feel stuffed, but absolutely ‘brilliant’ with information. Then they’ll feel they’re thinking, they’ll get a sense of motion without moving. And they’ll be happy, because facts of that sort don’t change. Don’t give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy.”
Which reminds me – us – that it is human, wonderfully human, to be complicated.
And before you measure, gather data, populate spreadsheets, and churn your statistics please, please take the time to talk to the people you work with… and don’t be afraid of the slippery stuff.
