Smart Question

Read this on the dilbert Blog recently . Give it a try !!

Here’s a question that I like to ask: What is more important to the function of a car – having an engine or having wheels?

After I ask the question, I close my eyes and cross my fingers and hope I don’t hear an answer that is either “the engine” or “the wheels.” Sometimes it seems to me that all of our problems in the world are caused by people who think that everything can be sorted into neat categories.

The correct answer – in the sense that the person giving it demonstrates reasoning ability – is something along the lines of, “They are equally important if you need to get someplace far, and either the wheels or the engine is unavailable.” I would also give partial credit for the answer, “It depends which one you can get replaced faster and more economically, and the degree to which time or money is a constraint.”

But my experience has been that people say something like, “The engine. No, the wheels. Is that right? No, the engine. I mean, the wheels.” And then I silently weep.

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