Discussion Questions for Gifts of Athena

Discussion Outline for September 20, 2005 Book Club Discussion re
Gifts of Athena by Joel Mokyr:

1. Discuss the application of useful knowledge to development of
successful organization (e.g., law firm, university, bank)

2. There has never been a time when the transmission of, and access
to, useful knowledge has been cheaper. Why do countries with abundant
resources continue to fall behind the economic tiger counties?

3. Discuss the problem of acceptance of new technologies based on
concern of the unknown (e.g., development of agricultural hybrids
resistant to glyphosate herbicides, so-called frankenfood). Is this a
problem in which propositional knowledge lacks "tightness"?

4. What mechanisms of technological evolution did the Lunar Society
either use or contribute?

5. Discuss how pragmatists advanced useful knowledge (e.g.,
advancement of the acceptance of useful knowledge in a society).

6. Discuss how society will think about the evolution of recent
technology with social concern (e.g., genetic testing in selection of
offspring, retinal identification of people in public spaces,
genetically-based racial identity)

Discussion Questions for The First Circle

IN THE FIRST CIRCLE

DISCUSSION OUTLINE

December 22, 2009

1. What is the better book- The First Circle (redacted for Soviet consumption) or In the First Circle (restored)? Who are the protagonists of each? Does book really make sense when the focus of the investigation is passing medical information versus passing nuclear technology?

2. Does your view of Innokenty depend on his motivation (that is whether his motivation is protecting a colleague versus protecting a society from unstable politicians)? Is your view of the Major soften when he focuses on discovering the caller rather than killing all five men who could be the caller?

3. What is Solzhenitsyn’s view on the development of Soviet technology? On the recruitment of personnel? What might Joel Mokyr say about Soviet diffusion of propositional knowledge? How about the development of a social network to diffuse such knowledge?

4. Hypothetically, would Vic Abakumov rather send James Watson to a sharashka or ask him to join the government?

5. What makes Marfino sharashka the first circle of hell? Let’s face it; doesn’t Innokenty really deserve to be in the second circle? Is hell loss of dignity? Perhaps it’s the “C” students guarding the “A” students?

6. Is First Circle existential even though the story is collective?

7. The term “Zek” derives from incarcerated canal man. According to a friend who grew up in Soviet Russia, Soviets built their canals the same way the Egyptian slaves built the pyramids. What makes the portrayal of Soviets so negative in First Circle, especially given the nuclear component of the plot? Wouldn’t the story of zeks building canals be a better indictment?

8. Was Inny’s harsh treatment by his captors de rigor for nuclear treason, or did you get the idea Al forgot to restore the chapter having to do with Molly complaining to her old man about Inny banging Italian models during his assignment in Rome?

9. Gleb comments that human history is “like an octopus, with neither back nor front.” What does such a comment imply we cannot really learn from history in any meaningful sense?

10. Does Solzhenitsyn repudiate his background in mathematics when the naive optics guy looks forward to the day when men of science rule the world?

11. Who has the power of free will? Uncle Avenir? Uncle Vanya? Gleb? Man Without Qualities? Svejk? Innokenty? Rubin? Alan Moore? Who justified his actions with “Soon there will be war. Millions will burn. Millions will perish in sickness and misery. Why does one death matter against so many?” Stalin? Beria? Rorschach?

12. Does First Circle need a narrator to add some historical gloss or moral clarity?

Discussion Questions for The Double Helix

1. In The Gifts of Athena,Moyker discussed the drivers of both "propositional knowledge" and "prescriptive knowledge," including principles of sharing information. What role did Cavendish and Wheatstone play in this? What are disadvantages of scientists working near each other? Does advancement of scientific knowledge require that individuals explore the implications of their data with other knowledgeable individuals (e.g., Franklin situation versus Watson)? Is the double helix the propositional knowledge that leads to BioBricks (see attached Economist article)?

2. Should a good history of science favor objectivity over first-hand insight into the thought process of the scientists?

3. In what sense is the development of the double helix "model" a scientific discovery? Would the development of the DNA sequence have been sufficient?

4. Tom Kuhn, in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions,suggests that scientific discovery is a process, a large part of which is the resolution of various anomalies. Discuss importance of Watson's attempt to ignore the Chartoff rule as he tried to fit his "like-to-like" theory (e.g., adenine to adenine) into the structure of DNA prior to his embrace of similarity of shape of "non-like" pairings.

5. Watson and Crick read everything related to DNA research, brainstormed various ideas and models of DNA, attended a multitude of cocktail parties and conferences where DNA was discussed, synthesized the data of others, thought up a solution to the molecular structure of DNA and actually sat down and published the solution. Others, particularly Pauling and Franklin, did a lot of the hypothesizing and data legwork. Who are the real geniuses in this story? Should Rosy have had a piece of the Nobel?

5. What qualities of Watson remind you of:

a. A lunar man

b. Augie March

c. Ulrich?

d. Wittgenstein (similarity of hairstyle too easy)

e. Lincoln

f. Popper

g. Chuck Pierce

6. In what sense is the double helix an "elegant" solution to a scientific problem?

7. Watson notes that Wilkens showed some interest in his sister during their visit to the temples at Paestrum. Vitruvius noted that the Paestrum temples (third century B.C.) had elements of both Etruscan and Greek design. Any similarities to Watson's methodology?

8. Does the DNA model have "significant form" pursuant to Bell's definition? To what extent is Watson's embrace of symmetry important to his solution?

9. Is it fair to say that Watson follows in the tradition of other Cambridge scientist/authors of compelling subject matter trumping dull writing? Discuss the implication of the structure of DNA on Rees' caution concerning biotech in The Final Hour.

Discussion Questons for Einstein Biography

1. Einstein was committed to the idea that imagination (or creative theorizing), as important as or more important than knowledge to the scientist. How did imagination play a role in special relativity? How did imagination play a role in Einstein’s criticism of quantum mechanics?

2. From the texts, it appears that Einstein and Poincare met only once at the 1911 Solvay Conference. Apparently Einstein was not particularly impressed with ole Henri, but Poincare thought Albert had a "most original mind". How did they view the world? How did they view the world of theoretical physics?

3. For Popper, verification and falsifiability were at the heart of science. For that reason, he considered psychoanalysis and Marxism to be flawed theories. How would he view the work of Einstein? Of Bohr? (He may have commented on these guys, but I could not find it discussed in the text).

4. I read that Proust wrote that "the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes but in having new eyes." Would Proust have approved of Einstein's approach to theoretical physics? Would Proust have understood even a small portion of his work?

5. What are your mechanics?

6. How did Einstein view reality? How did those views evolve over time? How did his love of simplicity mesh with his view of reality?

7. Einstein had issues with how Kant bifurcated knowledge. How would Einstein view the work of Ernie Mach and our old friend Wittgenstein? Would Mach and Wittgenstein agree with respect to their philosophies?

8. Compare Watson's and Einstein's use of models to explain theory? Would the Solvay physicists agree that Einstein theories are tight (or became tight) to use Mokyr's terminology?

Discussion Question for Virginia Woolf

1) It seems that the club has explored two main themes in most of our selections. First, is the nature of America and American thought (not particularly relevant for Woolf) and the other is the nature of modernism. While we have explored other themes, we seem to have returned to one or both of the larger themes in many of the selections. What do Woolf’s books contribute to our understanding of the nature of modernism?

2) How does Woolf compare to our other authors who wrote in the modernist tradition or about modernism such as Scott Fitzgerald, Clive Bell, Muesil, Mann, Marcel Proust and Alfred Appel?

3) How is gender and male and female roles explored throughout the novel? Are these issues approached differently in the two books?

4) Time is a major theme in this novel. How does Woolf and her characters approach the passage of time? Was her stretching and speeding up of time effective? How did her use of time compare to other authors we have read?

5) Would you agree that Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey are each tyrants of roughly similar rank in their own ways?

6) What does the Lighthouse, and going to the lighthouse, represent? How does this compare to The Castle in Kafka?

7) What of the two books appeared more fictional in nature?

8) I hope you found Woolf’s writing as beautiful as I did. Are there any passages that particularly stand out for you? Any real clunkers? Hint, the professor’s musing about the power of the intellect and the alphabet have always struck home with me.

9) If To the Lighthouse is a novel about the search for meaning in life, how do the characters conduct their search? Are any of them successful in finding an answer?

10 Do you buy the basic thesis of Room of One’s Own?

1) What has changed since the publication of the book that has enabled more woman to write about the broad range of issues that Woolf argued was their due?

12) What is the modern equivalent of a room of one’s own and 500 pounds a year?

13) Woolf mentions in both books many writers and other cultural figures who are largely unknown today. Many of other selections similarly have assumed a high level of cultural literary that isn’t present in contemporary times. When, how and why did we get this way?

Why would anyone be afraid Virginia Woolf?

Do