From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Msuck: nntp://news.gmane.io/gmane.science.mathematics.categories/5331 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Joyal=2C_Andr=E9?= Newsgroups: gmane.science.mathematics.categories Subject: Re: Dangerous knowledge Date: Sun, 6 Dec 2009 21:46:04 -0500 Message-ID: References: Reply-To: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Joyal=2C_Andr=E9?= NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1260236891 16595 80.91.229.12 (8 Dec 2009 01:48:11 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 8 Dec 2009 01:48:11 +0000 (UTC) To: "Vaughan Pratt" , Original-X-From: categories@mta.ca Tue Dec 08 02:48:04 2009 Return-path: Envelope-to: gsmc-categories@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from mailserv.mta.ca ([138.73.1.1]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1NHpBL-00011x-OZ for gsmc-categories@m.gmane.org; Tue, 08 Dec 2009 02:48:03 +0100 Original-Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.61) (envelope-from ) id 1NHods-0001nl-5g for categories-list@mta.ca; Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:13:28 -0400 Original-Sender: categories@mta.ca Precedence: bulk Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.science.mathematics.categories:5331 Archived-At: Perhaps, Paul Dirac is another example of a strange character. See his biography:=20 Strange Genius: The Life and Times of Paul Dirac=20 http://physicsworld.com/cws/home AJ -------- Message d'origine-------- De: categories@mta.ca de la part de Vaughan Pratt Date: dim. 06/12/2009 13:46 =C0: categories list Objet : categories: Re: Dangerous knowledge =20 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 [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]