Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. (Douglas Adams)

from “Monumental Propaganda” by Vladimir Voinovich

[…] I told the Admiral about my conversations with Shubkin.  I told him honestly that when I argued with Shubkin I sometimes felt that I was right, but I couldn’t prove it because he crushed me with his authority.  And the fact that he was older, and that he’d been in the camps for so long, and he knew everything.  I’d express some thought, and he’d come back with a quotation from Lenin or from Marx, or even from Hegel or Descartes.

“Tell me, the Admiral asked, breaking a single cake, “does it not seem to you that this Shubkin of yours is an absolute fool?”

“But how,” I objected in confusion, “how can I consider him a fool when he’s so learned?”

“Why, do you think learning and intelligence are the same thing?”

“Well…” I thought about it.  “Of course, if a man is learned, he has a lot of learning in his head – when he’s thinking something over, he can operate with a large quantity of data – “

“There you go!”  the Admiral broke in cheerfully.  “He can operate!  But what if he can’t?  You talk about quotations.  But has he ever told you a single idea of his own that he personally devised?”

“Why would he?” I asked.  “If he has so many good ideas invented by other people in his head, why would he need to think up his own?”

“Ah, I see, you’re also… how can I put it…?”

“You’re trying to tell me I’m a fool as well?” I put in, offended.

“No, no,” said the Admiral.  “I’m a polite person and I wouldn’t express myself so harshly in the present case, but you think it over for yourself.  The human race has already expressed so many extremely clever ideas, but does that mean we don’t need anything else?  Why are you and I sitting here thinking, and not just firing quotations at each other?  Although, believe me, I’ve got plenty of them in my head too.  And some of them are quite brilliant.  I can use some of them to corroborate my line of thought.  But it’s not possible to replace original thought with quotations.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because no thought is worth a damn unless it’s born in the head of a concrete person in concrete circumstances on the basis of his own experience as a result of is own thinking.  Perhaps,” he said with a condescending chuckle, “you should note that down as a quotation and then use it in an argument with Shubkin […]

By Portia Nelson

I

I walk down the street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I fall in.

I didn’t see it.

I am lost… I am helpless.

It takes forever to find a way out.

II

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I pretend I don’t see it.

I fall in again.

I can’t believe I am in the same place.

I just couldn’t avoid it.

It still takes a long time to get out.

III

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I see it is there.

I still fall in…It’s a habit.

My eyes are open.

I know where I am.

What was I thinking?!

I get out immediately.

IV

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I walk around it.

V

I walk down another street.