You can't get permission for the wrong thing and don't need it for the right thing

I was pleasantly surprised when someone posted my story about how my life changed when I started caring about the people I don&#x27;t hire (although my ISP was not).<p>In wading through all the comments I categorize the reactions into two camps:<p>1) That&#x27;s cool. 2) You&#x27;re asking too much.<p>I am preparing an essay addressing most of the issues but I thought I&#x27;d share my thoughts on inventiveness because, after all, what happened was that my job candidates and I together invented a new process; nothing had been pre-planned.<p>My dad told me the secret to success was to not be evil (way before google). He didn&#x27;t care if I became rich but he would be ashamed of me if I were evil.<p>This story from a someone who picked me up hitchhiking really makes a point about the relationship between good, evil, and inventiveness. Hope you like it.<p>(Original HN post: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8859199" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=8859199</a>)

Don&#x27;t most of the problems come up in the excluded middle? Things where people are doing things that they think are right but then, through their ignorance or otherwise, have negative consequences that would have been foreseeable by others.<p>Maybe you have a suggestion for improving the operation of a drill-press, but you still ask for permission on improving it because maybe other people have more knowledge than you do about why things were done in a certain way, as well as seeing potential pitfalls of your new way.

I don&#x27;t get why that Bootlegger K-turn is less likely to lead to a crash. Don&#x27;t you risk a crash while backing up from A to B? But with a regular K-turn, if you make a tighter turn while backing up from A to B you can stay on the safe side of the road the entire time.<p>The primary advantage of that Bootlegger K-turn seems to be speed: by swerving across the opposite side of the road, you can make a quick turn into the side street, and then you don&#x27;t have to make a tight reverse turn to get out. Less turn -&gt; more speed. But if I&#x27;m worried about a crash, I&#x27;d rater stay on the opposite side of the street.

<i>don&#x27;t need it for the right thing</i><p>That&#x27;s presuming you have all the relevant information, which is typically not the case in a larger organization.

When I read the title I honestly thought this was an article on Unix permissions. Got pleasantly surprised by a great story instead.

Great story. Thanks for the morning inspiration.