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Re: how to judge creative ideas



The way I remember seeing this quote the very first time, it ended with
"but they also laughed at a lot of damned fools." I suspect that Carl
cleaned it up, but I can't find an attribution for the form I remember. In
fact, Carl's version really isn't very good since you are SUPPOSED to laugh
at Bozo!

The problem is how do you separate the Wrights from the fools? JD seems to
put his faith in whether or not they have a practical application in mind,
which works well for engineering but not so well for basic science. His
dismissal of the Hubble and Apollo will probably not resonate real well with
this group, but of course he is entitled to his opinion. The question
remains, how _should_ a society decide what basic science to fund. I would
suggest that, for the most part, the current system seems to work
well--certainly in the U.S. and Europe (don't know much about anyplace
else). Of course one can always cite examples of 'damned fools' but
suffering fools is the price that must be paid in order to maximize the
opportunities for real discovery--IMO.

Rick

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Richard W. Tarara
Professor of Physics
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN 46556
rtarara@saintmarys.edu

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www.saintmarys.edu/~rtarara/software.html
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----- Original Message -----
From: "John S. Denker" <jsd@MONMOUTH.COM>
To: <PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, June 11, 2002 10:33 AM
Subject: Re: how to judge creative ideas


But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does
not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses.
They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton,
they laughed at the Wright Brothers. But they also
laughed at Bozo the Clown.
- Carl Sagan