From Albert-Lásló Barabási’s Linked (a fascinating book on network theory that I probably shouldn’t be reading…but it’s still vacation, and I can’t seem to help myself), a quote from the Hungarian mathematician and early network theorist Paul Erdös (quoting fellow Hungarian network theorist Alfréd Rényi):”A mathematician is a machine that turns coffee into theorems.”
So finish this sentence: “A philosopher is a machine that turns _____ into _____.”
January 3, 2008 at 7:41 pm
billiards into doubt
doubt into a profession
cigarettes into (bad) plays
soul into an object
movies into class tools
And if its vacation, while are you reading serious literature. Where’s the fiction?
January 3, 2008 at 7:42 pm
oh how about:
other people’s quotes into quizzes
January 7, 2008 at 1:11 am
OK, the last one made me laugh out loud. Well played, sir.
January 16, 2008 at 5:47 pm
First, curiosity into wisdom, then wisdom into text; eventually, just text into text, but since committees can convert text into tenure, I suppose that will do.
February 3, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Correct.
You win a frogurt.