history
If openssl says it's should be installed in /usr/local/ssl for historical reasons, what does 'for historical reasons' actually mean? It means there's a mountain of some sort out there in the world and we don't want to shift that mountain. The explanation for the mountain is a story (history) of "how the mountain got its hump", something like 'it was done like this in the past when the world was small, and then the world inflated, and so now everyone does it this way' (note that everyone is the mountain).
Routinely told stories that appear to point into the past can also be read as saying something different (possibly more subtle) about the present. I tell myself stories about the origin of life, the human brain, religion, science, the american revolution. What do I mean by those about the present world?
Origin of life: "Life happened to happen" becomes "New life could happen at any time." (and also "God does not exist.") "Life destroyed the sky with oxygen." becomes "Selfdestructive shortsightedness is endemic."
Origin of the human brain: "Our ancestors were apes who lived in tribes and needed brains to handle tribal politics, including violence, sex, food-sharing." becomes something like "Everyone constantly thinks about the world in terms of politics of small tribes, including violence, sex and food-sharing". "Due to a coevolutionary red-queen race, brain size exploded." becomes something like "In some circumstances, constantly-increasing intelligence is important and inevitable.".
Routinely told stories that appear to point into the past can also be read as saying something different (possibly more subtle) about the present. I tell myself stories about the origin of life, the human brain, religion, science, the american revolution. What do I mean by those about the present world?
Origin of life: "Life happened to happen" becomes "New life could happen at any time." (and also "God does not exist.") "Life destroyed the sky with oxygen." becomes "Selfdestructive shortsightedness is endemic."
Origin of the human brain: "Our ancestors were apes who lived in tribes and needed brains to handle tribal politics, including violence, sex, food-sharing." becomes something like "Everyone constantly thinks about the world in terms of politics of small tribes, including violence, sex and food-sharing". "Due to a coevolutionary red-queen race, brain size exploded." becomes something like "In some circumstances, constantly-increasing intelligence is important and inevitable.".