Cobb: Cruising Western Culture

December 05, 2003

Cruising Western Culture

There seem to be several thick books to get through to understand a lot of it. If you had the right mentor, it looks like a lot of fun. What am I talking about? The original writings of Faraday, Hegel and Fourier which I was perusing this morning chez Pops. Needless to say, it is Faraday who appears to be the most fun of the three.

One of the things that strikes me as fundamental to civil society is something almost always best exemplified by those people who fall deeply in love with America. It is the ability to know and experience Western society vis a vis the open knowledge that can be gotten here even in our mediocre universities.

Pops is reviewing candidated for a new departmental chair and so while I was helping him download (through a modem straw) several megabytes of print drivers, I took a peek at some of the CVs submitted. Who knows if the University of Tehran is any better than UCLA, but some of these guys are very impressive. This is also the message of Tom Friedman this evening on Charlie Rose. Be aware of people who love what can happen here. We don't, often enough, because if we did, we'd be a lot more receptive to multiculturalism.

So browsing through Faraday has once again reminded me that my garage is too full of old clothes and sporting goods and not full enough of copper wire, giant magnets and spinning metal disks. Looking forward to the time when I can bring the brats into a home laboratory, I envision sparks flying and the same sort of discovery that had minds whirring 220 years ago and since.

I can recall the days when I was an undergrad and involved in retention efforts in addition to the whole Role Monkey job. We were knocking heads to talk about the 'beauty moment' of advanced understanding. What was it that gave engineers the real kick in the pants? Consistently, EEs would tell me that it was the first moment when they actually understood Maxwell's Equations. I think in computing, one such great beauty moment is the first time you understand recursion, although back in the early 80s we got pretty jazzed about virtual memory and paging.

We all dream of driving the Mercedes or the Porsche someday when we earn it, but how often do we think about going back to learn something fundamental about chemistry or other natural philosophick? Today I got that feeling.

Although I still look forward to reading Hegel again (sorta kinda), I was somewhat disappointed by his take on Marriage. On first glance it sounds exactly like what 18 year old muslim converts talk about - opposites attracting and intrinsic meaning. Who knows, it could be the translation. Still, there was nothing in there that gave me anything to lay at the feet of certain haters of Episcopal Bishops.

What he did say on the inevitable Dissolution of Family was very interesting however. Evidently, he spent some time considering the empty nest issue. The education of children breaks up the family he says. In his day it was very likely that the sons of paupers, blacksmiths and other illiterates would go to apprentice and learn something after a couple decades that took them quite far beyond their humble beginnings. Isn't this the story of those poor immigrants who come here, attend our universities.

Anytime someone mentions Dayton Ohio, it reminds me of a city so peaceful that it would be a model in many ways to Yugoslavia. And yet we Americans don't think much of it do we? And to think that our plains states are emptying out. Who wouldn't give a rival tribal leader's head for the peace of a small town in Kansas? I'm telling you, it's the future of America, especially if I can't get my kids out to that garage of my dreams. But that's a good thing either way, and the beauty moment of modernity. We are all equal vessels of spirit, if we apply ourselves. The books are right there. We just need a little peace and quiet.

Posted by mbowen at December 5, 2003 11:50 PM

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