Parable of the boiled frog LO21105

AM de Lange (amdelange@gold.up.ac.za)
Thu, 1 Apr 1999 11:41:37 +0200

Replying to LO21063 --

Dear Organlearners,

>[Host's Note: The msg below is unusual... There is a long
>segment, a private msg to At with details about the systems
>involved in diabetes. Skip it if you like, but at the end are At's
>comments about learning, his difficulties in learning about this
>disease, and the "tyranny of the experts," etc. I enjoyed reading
>the msg. ...Rick]

Greetings Rick,

Perhaps I am sticking out my neck with the phrase "tyranny of the experts"
-- shut up and let us control your life -- but I had to write it.

As I began reading a more about people like Max Planck and Albert Einstein
who helped to change physical science radically in the beginning of this
century, I noticed how they stressed the following. A scientist
contributing to the most advanced developments in science have to explain
(and thus must be able to explain those) those developments to ordinary
folk before those contributions acquire everlasting value. This was
contrary to most of my experiences at university, first as a student and
later as a lecturer. I often wondered why they were so keen on stressing
this. Perhaps it was because they also suffered the "tyranny of the
experts"?

Later on, I wrote:

>I also wrote that I had a severe loss of sight for three weeks,
>making reading very, very difficult.

Rachel Paterson sent me the following URL of the
Royal National Institute for the Blind
United Kingdom
< http://www.rnib.org.uk >
Go to
< http://www.rnib.org.uk/info/eyeimpoi/welcome.htm >
on "eye condition". It is full of jewels.
Thank you very much Rachel.

Best wishes

-- 

At de Lange <amdelange@gold.up.ac.za> Snailmail: A M de Lange Gold Fields Computer Centre Faculty of Science - University of Pretoria Pretoria 0001 - Rep of South Africa

Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>