• found one answer – when editing, mark "new revision." I think it ought to be marked by default. -- AndrewGradman - 18 Jan 2008

Kate suggests an anonymous discussion board because "people are afraid of saying something that the professor will not like ... the responses elicited are likely to be urbane expositions for the professor's eye, rather than genuine engagement."

The professor believes in open information, and he's reading my response, so I can't take Kate's side. Rather, "in my opinion," (i.e. in his likely opinion), we should write what we think, not what he'd like us to think!

This class is, after all, about challenging authority. I grant that Eben presents a difficult classroom environment for that. But I theorize that he asserts his opinions so strongly in class to force us to absorb them ("listen"), so that we can only critique them later -- i.e., after thinking -- i.e., intelligently. He reserved the TWiki as our forum for that critique.

My model predicts that the prof will be more tolerant of dissent on the TWiki. I'm gambling that this sort of disrespectful post, while inappropriate to say to Eben's face, won't even get me a slap on the wrist.

-- AndrewGradman - 18 Jan 2008

Actually what I found most interesting about the vegging out discussion was the preface. I feel somewhat totally ignorrant but I have always thought of memory as something more innate or biological. As a kid, I often remarked on how unfair k-12 education was because it was all about memory. I was wondering if anyone who did psych undergrad took any classes on it. I have heard of speed reading classes, but is it just common knowledge that memory is something we all can master? Does everyone agree with the proposition? In tutoring many kids over time and just growing up it would seem that this has not been my experience. In addition, I have never tried to work at my memory. So after a brief wikipedia check I figured I would just ask the class for your thoughts.

-- MichaelBrown - 18 Jan 2008

The TV discussion reminded me of this great Simpsons line:

Lisa: It's not out fault our generation has short attention spans, Dad. We watch an appalling amount of TV.

Homer: Don't you ever, EVER talk that way about television.

Here's a video of another funny Simpsons moment that is somewhat on-point: http://video.aol.com/video-detail/simpsons-halloween-shining-episode/1093522388

-- TedKreit - 18 Jan 2008

I can't speak for Eben but to me engaging with film (or with TV, though I've not watched much in a while) wouldn't seem to be a problem as much as sitting back completely mindlessly and letting TV flow over one. I think it would be hard for most of us to get to that point, but maybe it's a little harmful even when engaging with some programming. Does it harm memory to "take up space" with remembering the characters and storylines from a TV drama, and does it harm it any more than remembering the equivalents from [example of the day] Shakespeare's works? Is either or both a "waste?"

-- DanielHarris - 18 Jan 2008