Re: PRISM/AP kerfluffle, etc

Posted by glen ropella on
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/The-AP-kerfuffle-tp7583146p7583487.html

[hidden email] wrote at 07/16/2013 09:21 AM:
> A contrary view is that only young people have a clear enough view of
> things to act this way.

That's possible.  It takes a certain _lack_ of general intelligence to jump
ahead, willy nilly, into some series of actions.  The lulzsec guys come to mind,
here.  Yet, there is definitely a specific intelligence at work.  If Snowden's
focus was limited as I assert, then, on the one hand, I laud him in his
achievement.  I wasn't that conscious, purposeful, or even that conscientious
when I was his age.  And there's no way I could have been that _fast_, even had
I wanted to do what he did.  I'm not smart enough (generally or specifically).

On the other hand, if what they say about his life is true, he shows a
remarkable _inability_ to complete anything he starts.  He seems to be a serial
quitter, to me.  Now, I admit, that's my drill sergeant dad yapping through me
from the grave.  But, taken together with the other information, it seems more
likely that he simply acts rashly and impulsively, rather than according to some
kind of "clear view of things".  I suspect that had he not seen a clear and easy
path to the PRISM evidence, or had some difficult hurdles been placed in front
of him, he would have simply moved on to whatever next sparkly object caught his
eye.

--
⇒⇐ glen e. p. ropella
International Business Machine


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