Last
revised: March 27, 2008.Controversy Corner
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Some while back, there was a report on the news claiming that a science student had disproved Julius Sumner Miller's answer to the following problem:
You are making yourself a cup of tea/coffee. You pour the hot water into the cup, and then some-one rings your door bell. You want the drink to stay hot while you are away. Is it better to put the other ingredients into the cup now or to wait until you come back ?
The answer I would expect
to this is "put the other ingredients in first".
However, the news report claimed that this had been disproved.....
Just at the point where
the Professor might have challenged us
to do the experiment for ourselves, a complication arose...
The reporter asked the
question: "Where do you think the
Professor went wrong ?"
Answer: "He did the experiment. He
should have just done it from theory."
Well, here is an issue
that overshadows the original problem of hot tea.
Is this type of logic what passes for proof these days ?
As predicted by Jacob Bronowski, this goes to the heart of the chasm that exists between science as a philosophy as opposed to what seems the common practice in the world. That is to say, when issues arise, the basic scientific method is frequently ignored in favour of debating technique.
Some would argue (recently on ABC's Lateline program), that the long term solution is teach logic more in schools. (You won't be surprised too much if I agree. Of course, the long term effect would be that politicaians would have to reskill !)
However, there are some who feel that teaching people is a bad thing, which brings us to the next controversy.
| Antithesis | ||
| .................. | or: "It's Better to Light a Candle Than To Curse The Darkness." | |
| or: "If I See Far, It's Because I Stand On The Shoulders of Giants !" |
Back in May 2000, the public radio program Einstein-A-Go-Go raised the argument of whether students should be taught or conversely just left to educate themselves.
Apparently, there is a considerable body of opinion that believes students should just be told what to read, and then left to their own devices to teach themselves. This way, the students find their own level. The best will thrive, and the rest should fall by the wayside. (I have heard this technique referred to as "Immersion" on one occasion.) This is probably in the best traditions of Economic Rationalism.
This troubles me. Since I was a young nipper, getting up early in the morning to watch Julius Sumner Miller on The International Summer Science School, the value of a teacher that teaches seemed to be self-evident. But now I find myself unable to provide a scientific rationale for my belief.
Is there a way to show scientifically whether the Law of the Jungle should be applied to the most important part of civilization ? ..... I am open to suggestions !
(Q: Spot the internal inconsistency between my arguments above !)
And now on a lighter note...
Viewers of the Australian "Sale of The Century" program will have heard Julius Sumner Miller referred to as Canadian.
However, according to JSM's autobiography "The Days of My Life" , he was born and raised in Billerica, Massachusetts, in the New England region of the USA. (See also the books "Millergrams" and "Light and Modern Physics".)
BUT, there is
an unusual link here.
JSM was "The Professor" in the Canadian TV series: "The Hilarious House of
Frightenstein"
The show was something vaguely similar to "Deadly
Earnest", for those who remember the
1960s.
Go Up to:
my email-id is rj4oz-web at yahoo.com.au
A: The deliberate
inconsistency...
....After pontificating on why Logic is better than debating
technique,
I used the"Call To Authority" debating trick
by quoting some famous people.
This goes against the principle of logic that an idea should be
weighed on its own merits,
regardless of the source of the idea. (Thus the statue of
Justicia).
NLP practioners out there should have picked this easily !
Apologies to Eleanor and Albert.
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Last
revised: March 27, 2008.