They May Be Professors But...

[poliphilo]

Over Christmas they've been running a special season of University Challenge in which the mentors of the nation- writers, professors, broadcasters-  get to show that outside their particular spheres of expertise they're as ignorant as the rest of us. It's oddly reassuring to find, for exampe, that Professor Susan Blackmore- the celebrity parapsychologist- doesn't know her McGonagall from her Burns and that not a single egghead in a box of eight can place Leonardo's Last Supper in Milan. 

Comments

They may be professors, but...

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, the original answer to Leonardo's Last Supper's location was ...Salisbury! I think Adam Hart-Davis gave this as an answer! He he!
Jenny x

Re: They may be professors, but...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Unbelievable!

And the woman who eventually got it admitted she was guessing.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

I have nothing against guessing, which is often the word we use to describe what happens when memory provides us with information we didn't know we knew.

But Burns was such a *bad* guess - wrong century entirely.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, it indicated a complete ignorance of 18th and 19th century cultural history.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Specialists specialise- they may be broad as the dung of the porcine on other matters! :o)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

So it seems...

[artkouros.livejournal.com]

We have a radio show called "Wait, wait, don't tell me" that does a similar thing, inviting a famous and accomplished person to answer questions about things they no nothing about. It's enlightening.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's good to see idols totter a little.

[wyrmwwd.livejournal.com]

Yes. I have spent a lot of time around PhDs in academia. Most of them know squat about anything except their personal area of expertise.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'm always a little surprised at how incurious people are.

[ingenious76.livejournal.com]

And yet somehow think they can sneer at those who aren't in academia. Give me someone with street smart common sense than someone with a PhD in an obscurity any day.

[wyrmwwd.livejournal.com]

My ex-partner has a PhD in Astronomy, but works as a seismologist. She was always totally amazed when I would do something like fix the toilet or change a door nob. I always felt like she appreciated my very practical skills.

[ingenious76.livejournal.com]

She probably did, as it would likely never occur to her that she could learn to do it herself.

[wyrmwwd.livejournal.com]

She probably actually has. She's been living alone for years now, although, I have heard her talk about calling plumbers and the like. So, I don't know.