Stardate 20011202.2042 (On Screen): People see the world through different eyes. I look at the world through the eyes of an engineer: I see systems and mechanisms, feedback and loops, sources and sinks and flows. Someone with an art background will see the world much differently. I can only speculate, of course: perhaps they see shapes and conceptual relationships. A character in a book by Jack Chalker said, "A bureaucrat does not believe in Heaven or Hell, Church or Government. A bureaucrat only believes in paper." I was reminded of this when I saw the following:
Security concerns have intensified in the wake of the fort revolt, but the ICRC says it is vital to register detainees and assess the conditions they are being held in.
And ICRC spokesman in Geneva Kim Gordon-Bates says registering is a key issue.
"Once a person exists, they can't disappear," he said.
In other words, no-one exists until this bureaucrat writes their name down in a book. Once that's happened, they do exist and cannot be harmed. Let's hope that the book is never destroyed -- they'd all vanish instantly. (discuss)
