Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] interesting quotations

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Tue, 2 Oct 2007, Jonathan King wrote:

> On 10/2/07, Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED> wrote:
> > Below are some interesting quotations that I found on this page:
> >
> > http://www.slate.com/id/2561/
> >
> > The author of that article, Herbert Stein, died in 1999.  In
> > addition to many professional achievements, he was Ben
> > Stein's father:
>
> The most famous of these quotations is, however, Stein's Law:
>
> # If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.
>
> The thing I like about this one is that it is obviously true, and
> unexpectedly deep. So I find it intersting to see Stein's own take on
> this aphorism (there's no rush to end something that is doomed to end
> anyway), which is a deeply conservative notion. My take on it has
> always been much less about whether one should intervene or not, and
> more about _sustainability_, which I would argue is also a deeply
> conservative notion, albeit one that has fewer fans among
> conservatives these days.
>
> Really, if Herbert Stein had done nothing else in his life that was
> worthwhile, I think he would (or should) be remembered for Stein's
> Law, which is probably even more important than Little's Law, and
> that's saying a lot.

I didn't mention Stein's Law partly because it seemed trivial to me and 
not very practical.  If something cannot go on forever, we don't know that 
for certain but that is our guess, then it will stop eventually, but we 
don't know when.  If Communism "cannot go on forever" does that really 
mean that we should make no attempt to stop it because it will stop on its 
own eventually?  If it is good for something that cannot go on forever to 
end soon, and we can bring a quicker end by intervening, then we should 
intervene.

I didn't know Little's Law until you brought it up, but here is the 
Wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little's_law

I think they might have been wrong to add "over some time interval" in the 
definition because it seems to me that the Law should apply at any 
instant.  It is a mathematical statement from probability theory.  It 
looks like something I could actually use.  Why is Stein's Law more 
important than Little's Law?  I just don't see how Stein's Law can be 
used.

Mike

_______________________________________________
discussion mailing list
EMAIL:PROTECTED
http://mlug.missouri.edu/mailman/listinfo/discussion