Peter Denning, Internet Time Out
Despite our best intentions after employing these … practices, many of us still cannot say no. It seems as if saying no to a boss is inappropriate, or saying no to a friend will injure the relationship, or saying no to something interesting will leave us with only uninteresting activities. Yet if we cannot learn to say no, we cannot long avoid being overwhelmed. In some cases, such as responding to the boss, saying no may not be an option; then we must coutneroffer with helpful actions within our capacity. Some people find it helpful to train themselves to say no by a role-playing game with a colleague: one person makes the same request over and over and the other repeatedly declines. The requestor can try seductin, persuasion, threats, and intimidation to get the other to say yes. The other continues to say no and thereby develops the capacity for doing so despite all the allurements and incentives.
Rest of the issue was mainly about robots. However, robots haven't ever really interested me much.