My mom is celebrating her birthday today... To my mind, I am fortunate to have been raised by a mom who could've easily opted to study Psychology at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor but chose instead to stay solidly anchored in this nearly benighted country to personally take care of her children's education. Indeed, who I am today, including my passion for scientific inquiry... I owe them all to my mom. For which reason, I am most grateful.
Unfortunately for me, I am not in the province to share with my mom her not-exactly-a-very-anticipated day. (But for us, her family, it certainly is a most anticipated day...) And that doubles the misfortune. And when doubling of misfortune increases several fold still, you really have to be ready to wrap all of decorum and roll in reason.
Several miles from where the party is, the day for me transmogrified into an unspeakably horrendous day. I thought, science deserves more respect than what it is being accorded with at the moment. Indeed, for the many years that I've toiled in the academe in pursuit of the advancement of scientific inquiry, it is only now that a real blow has mangled all prospects of reason shedding light upon the unenlightened philistines.
The Berea Idle has taken centerstage. And I don't find it cute. Ah! What monstrosity has befallen thee, fair Berea.
Indeed, the human mind has evolved to become more predisposed to addle itself down even when confronted with the legitimate option of stretching itself a bit just to see reason's frontiers. In other words, given two options for the brain: on one hand, an activity (idleness) that you have no use for any cerebral functionality and on the other hand, an activity (research) where you need to think, the natural leaning of the brain is towards that (idleness) which renders itself inutile. The events of today is proof enough to validate this claim.
So... The Berea Idle has taken centerstage. And science saw the graveyard. Woe to reason's extinction. A big blow indeed to the philhellenes of the intellectual ferment.
In retrospect, is this how we intend to design our intellectual pursuits? Is this the beginning of academic benightedness? If so, then we start calling in the clowns for the first intermission number... and let the show begin.
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