Hippocrates has more than one oath

September 18, 2006

I was looking up the dictionary definition of incorrigible this morning. I wanted to use it on a list serve as a response to someone who persists in believing that there is no difference between the complex and the complicated. He believes that all can be made simple and strucutred, the economy is not a complex system etc. etc. In order to achieve this simplicity he is offering one of the most simplistic consultancy methods I have seen for some time. For an amazingly cheeky $150 a go it’s yours to use. You can also download a pop up which designates you as a knowledge person. I think maybe we should create an alternative un-knowledge logo!

I and others had made several attempts (ranging from the the gentle to the direct) to get him to read a basic text on complexity without success. He seems to have an unhealthy obsession with restricting the meaning of language to what he finds in the Collins Dictionary, so I thought I would retaliate in kind. Hence the quest for incorrigible

I was using the excellent on line Oxford and came across this wonderful quote on its home page:

An insolent reply from a polite person is a bad sign.

Hippocrates (c.460-c.370 bc), Greek physician.

After reading that I will now monitor all comments with great care!
Before anyone says anything I know I do not qualify as a polite person. Curmudgeon I can live with.

Apologies for the changes to this entry this morning, I came in and out of naming names and decided in the end it was unfair to be that direct. I have posted a comment on the person’s web site so they have freedom of choice to link back here. After all any publicity may be good publicity.

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