Page 12: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 2023)

Back to the Drawing Board

Only One Stupid T ing at a Time

By Rik van Hemmen his story spans for modern day en- a long period of gineering, although

T time, but begins “you shall not steal with a note I received and not bearing recently on an earlier false witness” cer- column from a reader tainly should ap- named Allan Berger. ply to Government

He commented on the Shipbuilding (and I

OODA loop concept in mean that in all di- my “Pondering Truths in rections).

Design” column in the Many decades

September MREN issue. ago, in my more

He provided his ap- idealistic days, at proach that closely fol- the suggestion of a lows the OODA loop friend who told me concept, which follows that when he was the principle of always young he got kicked gathering all the facts out of church for before speaking. suggesting that it

That led to a discus- was time for an up- sion on decision mak- date of the Bible, © Cartoon Resource/AdobeStock ing. Decision making is I tried my hand at an extremely important a decalogue that concept that sets the course of human development, and is would be a universal decision making tool and after a deep central to effective engineering. think came up with the following:

There have been many efforts at developing decision mak- ing tools, some quite ancient like the Decalogue: 1. Things are always changing (change is constant) 2. First do no irreversible harm 1. You shall have no other gods before Me. 3. Consider the cost of action through the entire chain 2. You shall make no idols. 4. Look for ef? ciencies 3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. 5. Moderation 4. Keep the Sabbath day holy. 6. Communicate 5. Honor your father and your mother. 7. Fairness from both points of view 6. You shall not murder. 8. Cooperate 7. You shall not commit adultery. 9. Allow individual freedoms to an extreme if they 8. You shall not steal. do not harm others 9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 10. One is personally responsible for actions on 10. You shall not covet. public knowledge

The whole story of the Decalogue is fascinating and just I was proud of my hard work and even introduced my kids reading the Wikipedia article on the subject will undoubtedly to it. They never memorized them (that is genetic, I can’t do shed some new light on anybody’s understanding of this list, rote memorization either), but as a parent I will venture to but just a single read makes it apparent that it is a decision state that in general they are good at making complex deci- making tool. What is clear though is that it not terribly useful sions and appear to follow my decalogue. However, that is as 12 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • February 2023

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