Re: Dangerous knowledge

[Vaughan Pratt <pratt@cs.stanford.edu>]

Aren't artistic types alleged to be more prone to mental illness than
say sales clerks, real estate agents, auto mechanics, farmers,
lumberjacks, etc?   More generally, creative people?  On that basis
would one expect a higher prevalence of mental disorders among
theoretical physicists (Boltzmann) than experimental ones (Rutherford),
or among mathematicians than engineers, or among top chefs than short
order cooks?

Everyone seems to be a mental health expert today, just as everyone is
an expert on evolution and global warming (but not quantum mechanics or
ecology or anesthesiology, funny how that works).  I'd be uncomfortable
with any innuendos of this kind about theoreticians vs. practitioners,
or creatives vs servants, or prima donnas vs. choristers, without some
solid independent evaluation of this question by professionals with a
substantial track record in mental health.  Has any such evaluation been
made?

Vaughan Pratt


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