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Show DAILY THE THE CHRONICLE'S y w I 11 I 1 Solutions Abo 11 Fid CHRONICLE UTAH is MY -- I n HH.MU tuToPt ThHE. i 'A 1 . . . V Consider the ramifications cf such a policy being implemented At the U; Conceivably; it would not oi:y address the inadequate salaries afforded to our top profes- s ors that ail too often force them out of academia and ir.f o the pri- - t is no secret that professors at Utah's public institutions cf .highs? education are. on aver- age. grossly underpaid In relation to the wages of their peers througfcout the nation. The problem has reached such epldemic proportions that, just days ago, the Utah Stats legiste- ture mandated that state college? and universities shift portions of their budgets away from financial aid and the Americans with Dis- abilities Act to more adequately compensate faculty members. "That the optimistic gol is to get Utah's protestors earning 90 percent of what their colleagues throughout the country make is a - sad and telling statement of Utah's cormtitment to higher education. T!ist is what makes the proposal of a Vanderbilr University professor all the mors fascinating. John Lscbs, who teacher philos- ophy at the Tennessee school is- isow advocating a i&m Us whteh r.ts tswid dedicate 5 to to of ihek tuition. perct-a- t tion they dole cut to their stu- dents, the reality 13 that it would turn the process into little more tha?, a poptiknty contest, emour-agin- g professors not to challenge and educsfe those they teach, but priformnce-'i- , Forcing professors to ester, to thewhitasadcskesot'thetrsiu-scudable f d?r& as motivaSoa fox a fjdf wage Is inherent!?' Vrcspgl In fart, the iwopKal wogtd i s " , bdg wind p gersetting fee opposite ' : e1W ;if what its proponent V 1 in addtdoata a ctsndaj-- d J would be salary set frliprofessc-xs..- ; ' Lacb' Jde is ihss far bong bandied Jibiut sokly ftt'isisWhBV general '. - , v - Chronicle Opinion Columnist can't clone a soul, Susan Reed said the Feb. 19 issue of Time magazine. was something about this awkward interposition of domains that raised a question in my mind. Why can't you clone a soul? Considering that scientists can theoretically clone any organism, why not souls? I think I know. Ytou Vt mm Look: The best way to this summarize is by using puzzle a group-therap- cf th-- t About x hex - , - - : professes n . Utah Hcwvr. tinsj - , are taeir-- ' y technique invent ed by psychologist Richard Franklin and masterfully utilized by Carl Sagan. Imagine I tell you I have a dragon in my garage. You probably think I'm crazy, but, after much insistence on my part, you give me the benefit of the doubt. After all, I'm talking about a dragon! People have written about these things for centuries! What if I am right? So you follow me to my garage where I triumphantly open the door and ask you to peek inside. You do, and you see...no dragon. Some sand, some paint buckets. Nothing else. When you ask me why there's no dragon, I tell you it is invisible. Fine, you say, and suggest we then pour paint on the dragon so we , - , Editor. 1 have a bit to say to Chris Yeates concerning his opinion article on Feb. 23. Yes Chris, sometimes people (those you place below yaks in intelligence) have good intentions that you may not agree with or that you may find somewhat childish. I can understand your feelings. I fail to see, however, what good your criticism is doing anyone or any legitimate cause. The real waste in American society is not those who make imperfect attempts at changing the world. The real waste (the yaks) are those who feel they are too good to change the world, or too smart to participate in noble causes. These members of the peanut gallery waste their time by making fun of those who are earnestly trying to do what can see its profile. "Sorry," I reply. "This dragon is intangible, too." When you propose using the sand to track its footsteps, I say it is a flying dragon; when you suggest using infrared goggles to see its heat, I say the dragon is heatless. For every physical test you put forward, I claim a fantastic theory of why it will not work. Reasonably, you ask yourself whether there is an invisible dragon at all in my garage. Maybe I'm just making it up, maybe not. Who knows? Eventually, other people in the local area begin claiming they have invisible dragons too. Every now and then, someone with a burnt finger will claim the dragon manifested its beat momentarily. You know the finger burn might be explained as a match accident, but the person is genuinely honest, even emotional. He cries, you see, that it is true, that we should believe him, because he knows it in his heart of hearts. In the end, the dragon people have postulated a part of reality that can only be accepted on the absence of evidence. The theory of the dragon depends on their words alone. Books get written about the dragon and his relationship to the origin of the universe and the human species. The dragon people grow in number, sheltered by a sense of community and emotional comfort; they build dragon houses and pledge to live by the rules of the dragon. And there you stand, perplexed and unburnt, with infrared goggles and carbon dioxide sensors that detect nothing. You can't clone a soul, Ms. Reed says. No, you cannot. You cannot clone dragons either. CHRONICLE OPINION EDITOR TO THE EDITOR Getting a Little Sick and Tired - salajt to what aojorixats to Miss Ccas?n?Ut nt?&f is Jrodly she '.solatia- 5n CARLOS PONCE 3 . Vw will d?ny thiat Jun"i?rp4id- for hjKfee? 'educatsoA th Uaiversjrr Utah in particiiAat, - especially: - owa'4Jssr.iUrHan IKfSsifciEty au?Utv ' lo wjrirsff education i1b.ee thsa increasing 4 , LETTER to become wellOiked. ' the classroom, tThifi ier!bas;4 Wey Nor PCCi- - Mo?& - the toats n If" jK'St vate sector; it would also ibeorcti- caiiy lend some weight to the instructor evaluations that U stu- d?nts fill out at the end of each semester.' That being said, while Lachs proposal is indeed an, interesting one, it is also a bad one. ' While its intent is to inspire professors toward the objective or improving the quality of educa- - m prfesors &?? feel tamt W3ur?ssst f. salary increase: bred upon thli 1 SCOTT LEWIS they think is good and right The Associated Students of the University of Utah is not a perfect organization. As a member of ASUU, however, I can guarantee you that the people involved are doing incredible things. Saints is much The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-da- y the same way. Members of the "Church of Jesus Christ" work extremely hard to better the lives of people throughout the world, whether they are members or not. What is wrong with that? The service and beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ are what make it a good organization. They should not be And this is the conundrum: a person, cognizant of the methods of cloning, who can also embrace the theory of the soul without missing a beat. In science, a theory must pass a few requirements before being embraced. One, it must be theoretically disprovable; there must be an experiment or set of observations that can prove its validity, or lack see DECENCY, page 6 Three, your theory should make concrete predictions. For example, the theory that our theory must be sound no skipping If a rock falls off a mountain and I postulate my dragon did it, it would be unreasonable to derive a theory based on this assumption because it is not yet proven. This is a brief picture of science, of the method that has changed our world so dramatically. It works great. It works so great, in fact, that many of us cannot resist taking this tool outside the laboratory. Wc think it applies to daily life, to the politician's statements and the historian's book, to the daily news and, inevitably, to the cultural traditions wc have inherited. The traditions that make claims about the origin and development of the universe and humankind become particularly serious suspects. I am curious about the folks out. there' who work in science and yet easily believe in the dragons. How do they do it? How can they practice the method of science or as Carl Sagan called it, the marriage of wonder and skepticismduring the weekdays and then turn off the skepticism part on the weekend? Is it comfortable? Is it a nagging itch in your prefrontal cortex? Or is it as pleasant as universe is an atom in a much larger universe is very interesting, sure, but what experimental predictions docs that theory make? If I say our universe is not an atom in a larger universe, and you say it is, what differences can we expect? If there are no measurable differences, then all you have is a philosophy party. In addition, the scientific method includes a few warning signs: a) appeals to authority do not prove anything, because authorities are notorious for being wrong, and b) every opium? Do let me know. Right, you can't clone a soul, but the issue has less to do with our cloning talents and more with the statement itself. By the way, did you know I have a dragon in my lab? For a more complete view on the subject, check out Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunte- d World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. welcomes Carlos at: feedback cponccchronicle.utah.edu or send a letter to the editor to: letterschronicle.utah.edu. thereof. am curious about the folks out there who work in science and yet easily believe in the I dragons. Two, it must be independently confirmed; the knowledge and evidence should be accessible to any person with the same tools and protocols my negative results in the dragon quest are not good news for the dragon theory. LETTERSCHRONICLE.UTAH.EDU step in a is allowed. 581-704- 1 |
