Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

That reminds me of a fiction-quote by one of my favorite authors, where a welding-instructor has just finished sharing a (somewhat literal) post-mortem anecdote of falsified safety inspections.

> He gathered his breath. “This is the most important thing I will ever say to you. The human mind is the ultimate testing device. You can take all the notes you want on the technical data, anything you forget you can look up again, but this must be engraved on your hearts in letters of fire.

> “There is nothing, nothing, nothing more important to me in the men and women I train than their absolute personal integrity. Whether you function as welders or inspectors, the laws of physics are implacable lie-detectors. You may fool men. You will never fool the metal. That’s all.”

> He let his breath out, and regained his good humor, looking around. The quaddie students were taking it with proper seriousness, good, no class cut-ups making sick jokes in the back row. In fact, they were looking rather shocked, staring at him with terrified awe.

-- Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold



Aside: I recognised 'quaddies' from your quote ... there was some very distinctive cover art on the Analog magazine for that story: https://www.abebooks.co.uk/Analog-Science-Fact-Fiction-Febru...




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: