Re: Light slows down in glass?

[David Dockstader <DRDOCK00@UKCC.UKY.EDU>]

On Sat, 7 Feb 1998 09:45:56 -0500 (EST) Donald E. Simanek said:
> Alistair Frasier made another comment which is worth pondering. He said
> it's easy to teach new things. What's hard, nearly impossible, is to
> correct something someone has leared which is wrong, but they are
> convinced its right. After the age of puberty, he said, it's impossible
> for someone to unlearn or correct the wrong explanations they are
> convinced are right.
I must strongly disagree with this statement.  First, as has been pointed out
many times on this list the use of the words correct and wrong is totally bogus
However, ignoring that, if one has considered a problem carefully an has any
understanding of what is going on, when one is exposed to a new idea that is
insightful, it is much easier to recognize its value than if the probem had
never been considered before.

As an example let me point out the exchange between Dave Bowman and myself
a few weeks ago over sparks.  I had a rather naive view of what happened
and another post on the effect of air pressure had demonstrated to me that
my "model" didn't fit the data.  A couple lines from Dave was all it took to
clear up my problem.  If Dave had not had my naive ideas to build on and had
had to start from scratch it would have been a long and involved process.