Dragons, Produced and Tickled, and Other Pleasantries

[Barry Arrowsmith]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "nrenka" <nrenka at y...> wrote:
> 
> The idea that there isn't discussion and argument and the like would 
> be a strong shock to all of my friends in the sciences, who regularly 
> have rousing arguments about topic both there and at the dinner table.
> 

With the professor? Or were they disseminating their own ignorance?
There's a difference.

I once disputed with a biochemistry lecturer - got banned from the class
for 3 months. It makes passing that exam very tough indeed. Text books
never seem to cover the apparently minor but in reality very critical details.

> 
> I was thinking about what might happen in situations where shouting 
> and the appeal to emotions and authority wouldn't get anywhere--a 
> little like a moderated debate with a moderator who's actually doing 
> his job.  (I like Jim Lehrer as one, meself.)  Not quite the same 
> thing as an insult-filled argument in the kitchen.  Le yawn.
> 

Authority? In GP? It was Sirius that was claiming that he had authority,
much good that it did him, or are you speaking more generally?
You don't have moderators in fact-based lectures. You have a pen, paper
and hopefully fully-functional hearing. You assimilate, hoping that
knowledge absorption is akin to osmosis - immerse yourself deeply 
enough and some will percolate through no matter what. (Oddly enough
it was a disagreement about osmotic pressures in ionic solutions that
got me thrown out of that class.)

Kneasy