Re: THEORY: no more URs! [was: Re: Optimum number of symbols]

Tom Wier:
> Quoting And Rosta <a-rosta@...>:
>
> > > I am very sympathetic to this idea (no URs); I tried doing something
> > > like this in grad school, but I was basically "laughed off the stage"
> > > and didn't have the courage to pursue it then.
> >
> > I wonder if that indicates a cultural difference between US and
> > British academia: I can't imagine you getting laughed off the stage
> > in Britain in such a circumstance.
>
> That may well be.  In my experience (rather more limited than Dirk),
> I find that American academes tend to be very cliquish and often
> intolerant of people who present viewpoints in opposition to their
> own. Towing the line of the department is an all too common frailty,
> and is one reason I enjoy being at a rather heterodox university
> where no one theory or paradigm reigns preeminent.
>
> But, I had never before thought of this as a peculiarly American
> phenomenon.  Cynic that I am, I had assumed this was an by-product
> of human tendencies in general. I still think that's true, but it
> may be that circumstances in America exacerbate the problem.
It's not a peculiarly American phenomenon. Rather, I think it is
Britain that is peculiar, though I have a sense that (in my field,
at least) Scandinavia is also fairly liberal too.

--And.