In my early
days at UCSF, a bright and industrious young man named Scott joined our
lab. He worked as a technician for a
year before continuing as a medical student and conducting his thesis research with
me. Scott was about to present his work
at a meeting in San Antonio and we flew there together, sitting side-by-side. He was studying for an exam, deep
into memorization when I opined that it seemed likely that for every new fact
that came in, an old one had to be dislodged.
He looked up at me seriously and said, “Turns out that’s not true.”
I’ve been
reminded of this conversation during the past week as I’ve been trying to stuff
my old brain with new information. What
a lot is getting shoved in there! From
Powhatan to Pontiac in Native American studies, from Timur to Taj in one
architectural history class and Beaux Arts to Beardsley in another, who knows
how much will stick, not to mention how much other stuff may fall out. But I am indeed convinced that the net is
still on the plus side. Perhaps Scott was
right.
