New subject: Science wars quote that scientists can teach English but not vice versa

22 Oct 2016

      Turing said it first, of course, albeit from the perspective of the English
home counties rather than the American frontier. The ACE would be able to
compute range tables, count butchers, solve jigsaw puzzles, play chess ...

Cheers,
Mark

On 22 Oct 2016 04:24, "Ian S. King" <isking@uw.edu> wrote:

Warning: I've been a Heinlein fan for most of my life.
"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher
a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts,
build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders,
cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure,
program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.
Specialization is for insects."  -- R. Heinlein, Time Enough For Love.  G.
Putnam's Sons, 1973.

On Fri, Oct 21, 2016 at 7:31 PM, Allan Olley <allan.olley@utoronto.ca>
wrote:
...
Hi,
        Note that "Specialization is for insects." is a Robert A. Heinlein
quote (from Time Enough for Love apparently). As Abraham Lincoln said
"There are lots of poorly attributed quotes on the internet." ;) Feynman
was notably dismissive of academic philosophy at least and so not
necessarily one of the bridge builders.
        I wanted to say the idea of an MIT humanities walk out puts me in
mind of Douglas Adams idea of a philosophers threatening to strike ("Who
would that inconvenience") in response to the construction of the super
computer Deep Thought. Where the computer's intended use raises the specter
of rendering philosophers obsolete by answering the ultimate question of
life, the universe and everything.
--
Yours Truly,
Allan Olley, PhD
http://individual.utoronto.ca/fofound/
On Fri, 21 Oct 2016, Dag Spicer wrote:
… and let us not forget the many who straddle both disciplines: MDs with
...
art history degrees; historians who are also engineers, airline pilots with
MBAs…  perhaps the whole dichotomy needs a refresh?  Whatever line you’re
on ("techies" vs "fuzzies”), Feynam’s advice is best: “Specialization is
for insects.”
:_)
Dag
On Oct 21, 2016, at 2:07 PM, Alberts, Gerard <G.Alberts@uva.nl<mailto:
G.Alberts@uva.nl>> wrote:
Dear Tom, why, no, your quote rests on an anti-Snow type of argument.
Snow's plea is for mutual understanding and dialogue. He tries to avert the
possible disdain for the humanities. His crucial point is that we should
all know the second law of thermodynamics as an assett of our cultural
baggage, just the same as we know quote from Shakespeare. Gerard
________________________________
Van: Members [members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org<mailto:members-bounces@lis
ts.sigcis.org>] namens Thomas Haigh [thomas.haigh@gmail.com<mailto:
thomas.haigh@gmail.com>]
Verzonden: vrijdag 21 oktober 2016 22:08
Aan: 'Lee Vinsel'
CC: 'sigcis'
Onderwerp: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Science wars quote that scientists can
teach English but not vice versa
It’s definitely a two cultures argument, but I think the quote was an
updated version and nastier. Though I could be conflating after all this
time.
In the bigger picture I guess the difference between Snow and the 1990s
dialog was that Snow was bemoaning the separation of science and the
humanities and limited engagement with science by non-specialists. Whereas
in the science wars, scientists were complaining that humanities people
were pretending to engage with science but messing it up or challenging its
authority.
Tom
From: Lee Vinsel [mailto:lee.vinsel@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, October 21, 2016 2:35 PM
To: Thomas Haigh <thomas.haigh@gmail.com<mailto:thomas.haigh@gmail.com>>
Cc: sigcis <members@sigcis.org<mailto:members@sigcis.org>>
Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Science wars quote that scientists can
teach English but not vice versa
Tom,
I'm fairly certain that you are paraphrasing ideas from C. P. Snow's The
Two Cultures, though the way I remember it is that scientists have some
knowledge of literature whereas people in the humanities can't tell you
what the laws of thermodynamics are.
But maybe you have something else in mind.
Best,
Lee
On Fri, Oct 21, 2016 at 3:32 PM, Thomas Haigh <thomas.haigh@gmail.com
<mailto:thomas.haigh@gmail.com>> wrote:
Hello SIGCIS,
I was looking for a quote I recall reading in the days of the “science
wars,” probably late-1990s, from a scientist saying something like: “If all
the English professors got sick and we were called in then we would so an
OK job teaching Shakespeare etc. based on what we know and the inherent
triviality of the humanities. Whereas if the physics professors got sick
then the humanities people would be completely unable to step in, because
science is hard.”
I tried constructing Google searches and doing Amazon’s search inside the
book on Sokal & Bricmont’sFashionable Nonsense and similar targets, but
didn’t locate it.
NB: I’m just looking for the source here, not for people eager to
reignite the science wars by arguing for or against the proposition.
Best wishes,
Tom
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Stevens Institute of Technology
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leevinsel.com<http://leevinsel.com/>
Twitter: @STS_News
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-- 
Ian S. King, MSIS, MSCS, Ph.D. Candidate
The Information School <http://ischool.uw.edu>
Dissertation: "Why the Conversation Mattered: Constructing a Sociotechnical
Narrative Through a Design Lens

Archivist, Voices From the Rwanda Tribunal <http://tribunalvoices.org>
Value Sensitive Design Research Lab <http://vsdesign.org>

University of Washington

There is an old Vulcan saying: "Only Nixon could go to China."

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Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Science wars quote that scientists can teach English but not vice versa

Mark Priestley

McMillan, William W

David Alan Grier

Sharon Traweek

Marc Weber

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