Re: Barbarians vs All Blacks 1973

Walter Mitty wrote: 
On 2005-12-10, Martyn Winters <ziggy.stardust@xxxxxxxxxxxx> dropped the ball when he ventured :

Doing equations are just a matter of training and mindset. It is just as valid to ask when a mathematician last created a great work of fiction?



Oh twaddle. Thats like saying "anyone could be that good if they
practice hard enough. Most people can do basic equations but certainly
not more complicatedones : never mind formulating new theories
represented by said equations. Anyone can "understand" or "solve"
e=mc**2 but the genius was in the development of the equation.

Similarly, anyone can write; "the cat sat on the mat", or they can understand and copy something like Conrad's "Heart of Darkness", but the genius was in writing it in the first place. QED.

You are completely missing my point here, Mitty, as it seems is everyone else. My contention is simple: Mathematicians are generally held in greater esteem than Artists (the capitalisation is deliberate), and are also more readily given the accolade "genius" because they do squiggly things with equations, which are little understood by the general populace. This, I contend, is not only unfair, but inaccurate, because creating a work of fiction CAN be every bit a matter of genius as developing the framework of General Relativity. From this I draw a number of other conclusions that are incidental.

What I am not saying is: Artists=Good. Scientists=Bad.
Neither am I saying: Artists>Scientists (sic).

Capisce?

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