Street Smartz

“Although sea fighting made complex demands on senior officers, the transmission of the professional knowledge and understanding that are the basis of war at sea, usually termed ‘doctrine’, was still on a personal basis. This reflected the fact that admirals had to be experienced seamen before they could be effective commanders. In the Royal Navy each generation learnt the art of command from their elders and the hard experience of war. In the absenc3 of formal naval education this practical teaching produced a succession of able commanders. In France a more scientific approach was adopted, and from the late seventeenth century naval tactics were analyzed and reduced to theory. However, theory was no substitute for development and transition of an effective, practical, naval doctrine.”

War at Sea in the Age of Sail, by Andrew Lambert

“How does medicine change behavior? It doesn’t. That’s right. Medicine doesn’t change behavior! Instead, a drug affects the biology of the body. If a behavior grows out of the body’s chemistry and the drug changes that chemistry, the behavior may change as a result. That’s a biological chain reaction, not a pill’s direct signal to the brain that changes one, and only one, behavior. If medicine could really change behavior, no one would be overweight, no one would have problems quitting smoking or overcoming substance abuse. We would all take drugs to improve our lives. If medicine would really change behavior, we would try ‘neat pills’ and ‘polite pills’ on typical children.”

A Parent’s Guide to Autism, by Charles A. Hart