Alain, I'll have to look through my files for the listings of my late father's articles at Bell Labs and then The Rockefeller Institute (it was that before it became University).
Your comments on the musical brain are well taken, and of interest, but I have a bit of a quarrel with the question of the funding of science. One doesn't have to be a Bible Belching Fundamentalist to have a problem with massive funding of every scientific inquiry - one can be an atheistic conservative of scientific background (and the Fundies are also looking for funding to prove their views - it isn't left or right). Let's pick embryonic stem cell research as an example (as it is a bugaboo for the Christian right and a shibboleth for the secular left). California has passed a bond issue to provide 10 billion for it, I'm not sure of the time frame or details. This is silly, in the 1968 Presidential campaign one candidate said "you don't cure a problem by throwing money at it". Humphrey said that, not Nixon. In this day of immediate gratification we seem to think that anything can be cured by funding it. (And this relates to your comments on science education). But basic research can't be done that way. Basic research must be funded, the deep understanding of the principles of biology and the physical universe (including Arthropod's familial relationships <g>) are the groundwork for future practical cures. But the idea that massive funding will produce results is merely a "job program" for mediocre scientists. We did massively fund the Kennedy challenge (a political one) for a "man on the moon" - but that wasn't basic science, it was engineering. The principles were already known and the massive effort provided a solution (but not necessarily the best one). If I want a grant for research I should have to show some theory, and some intended method. The NSF shouldn't be funding a thousand monkeys on typwriters trying to write Shakespeare's works. But the advocates of clinical cures, as well intentioned as they may be, corrupt the progress by demanding instant funding. (The AIDS activists are an example). The lack of future American scientists is a serious problem, I agree with you there. But so is the lack of knowledge in general. (A poll the other day on our "greatest Presidents" had side questions, a minority knew that Geo. Washington had be the commanding general in the Revolution). This is not the fault of the narrow minded Christian right in the Bible Belt (who deny Evolution, even though I can justify it with their scripture with a single question - "how long is a day to a universal god?"), nor is it the fault of the "politically correct" left who won't treat historical issues if they "might reduce the self esteem" of a student. It is the fault of a culture that has lost the value of learning and become one where everything is taught. (And nothing is taught). We have calls for more money for higher education, the colleges. Everyone should have the right to go to college. Bull! Everyone should have the right to a primary education, and a good one. We have continually bumped the responsibility for education to higher levels over the years. When I entered college in 1953 I had to have a reading knowledge of two modern languages (other than English) and one ancient one - and my public high school offered that. I had to have a grounding in physics and chemistry - and my public high school offered that. And an ability to write the English language, and a modicum of history, and whatever. The SATs tested all that. But now I see college graduates who know less of the learning outside their speciality than I needed to get in. Funding isn't the answer, if it is blind funding. The NEA was rightly de-funded (no pun intended) when it supported such arts as chocolate painting (not sure if they did that, but the "experts" did fund a number of rather off the wall artists). I come back to my comment in a previous message. I'm sure Duchamp is laughing "his wings off" at his urinal being pronounced the seminal art work of the century. Even artists get to make a joke at times, particularly when it is at the expense of the critics. Best, Jon To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
