Re: how to judge creative ideas

[Chris Horton <ChrisAHorton2@HOTMAIL.COM>]

Ludwik asks:

> Are the issues of managing taxpayers' money substantially
> different from the issues of managing stock-holders' money?

Clearly, yes.  There are many values we hold as a society which cannot be
reduced to the bottom line.  But for many stockholders there is only the
bottom line.  Laws are instituted so that corporations will have to
negotiate their way around these other societal interests (public health,
social security, cleanliness of our environment, safety, pride, the moral
character of our children, etc., etc.) in order to preserve their bottom
line.

Among these societal interests are the intellectual curiosity and adventure
of discovering the unknown, and the fascination of learning about who we are
and how we got here.  These last is in fact powerfully important, and for
growing numbers of people it increasingly becomes an underpinning of the
fundamental personal philosophies with which we guide our lives.  But it is
very hard to measure its value in dollars.

Chris Horton