This is one of my favourites, not only because it came from our namesake, Isambard Kingdom Brunel (who you should really read more about).
Isambard was commenting in reaction to a move to establish regulations for bridge design (a field in which he was the leading innovator):
“In other words embarrass and shackle the progress of improvements of tomorrow by recording and registering as law the prejudices and errors of today.”
Pretty much sums up a lot of current endeavours around copyright, media piracy/usage and anything from the RIAA or MPAA, don’t you think?
May 26th, 2009 at 7:54 am
Could equally apply to finance reregulation, health and safety rules, and so many other aspects of life. I’ll have to use it myself.
PS We use the same company name, but in different fields in different countries, so that’s cool.