🚀 go-pugleaf

All this splitting of hairs completely misses what I consider
the most important point: even if we had a closed-loop
feedback from the recipient's eyeballs (showing me the exact
retina image of their CRT with my text), I still do not have
any proof my message was indeed received and acted upon!

I am *serious* here.  For every time any channel of
communication (snail mail, email, voice mail, Fedex,
or whatever) has failed in the technical sense without
giving its equivalent of a bounce, I have experienced
many more cases where a *human* misunderstanding took
place!

The *only* way, regardless of the technical scheme used,
that I can have anything resembling assurance that my
message *really* got through is if the *human* at the
other end replies to me.

Many of the computer companies with which I deal have
voicemail systems.  The machines themselves work just
fine, but the people there sometimes take forever to
reply.  No amount of technology is going to solve
this problem!

Of course I *always* reply promptly to any communication
even when my desktop is 6 inches deep in paper!  (And if
you believe that last sentence I have a great deal in
Florida real estate for you :-) )

Matt Healy
"I pretend to be a network administrator; the lab
 net pretends to work!"

matt@wardsgi.med.yale.edu