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-Geologist quote: "The energy required to create a rampart crater at the equator is obviously much greater."-

Nothing particularly memorable on the dream front, again. I plan to get more sleep next week, however, which may help.

I wonder what children would be like if we didn't build unrealistic expectations into them about good deeds -- if we told them that doing the right thing would occasionally result in lack of gratitude (on the part of the person helped), loneliness, and other negative states WITHOUT some sort of compensation in the long run -- very much unlike every children's book, which will sometimes include the short term alienation, but always sneaks in some sort of reward if the kid is just patient enough.

What kind of ethos is this? Do good, because if you wait long enough, you'll get stuff? Yes, often there is a reward eventually for this sort of thing, but I don't think it's a good idea to frame this as the reason for doing the deed, which is how it generally comes across, if only in an implied fashion. Children learn quickly -- even if the main character has pure motives, all the kid notices is Aha, this is why I do good things! It's like a trade where I put something in, then get something back eventually. As soon as I help someone out, they or humanity at large owes me.

Reality check. This is also the reason I dislike the current trend of requiring students to do community service to graduate -- the motivation shifts from "I'm volunteering" to "I do this BECAUSE I'm required to."