Oh, how I love Norma Cenva. And even though Tio Holtzman is not the most admirable of characters, his brilliance cannot be denied. During a "peer review" between Norma and Tio where Norma was cautioning Tio about the conclusions he had come to, Norma cautions:
"Correct calculations are not always correct - if based on faulty principles or invalid assumptions". (The Butlerian Jihad, p. 290)
As a professor of technical content, this speaks to me. I caution students not to be so blindly dedicated to a theory without knowing the assumptions made for the theory to hold true.
This conversation infuriated Tio. He could not take the criticism even though it was given to assist in further development, not to stifle his work. But adversity often makes us humans try harder and in this case, it led to Tio Holtzman developing the Holtzman Equations ... the base theory used to develop personal shields and foldspace. Holtzman's drive to develop something really innovative as he had not done for years, even if it was just to prove he still had "it", should not detract from his remarkable accomplishment.
There is a similar story in recent actual history. The brilliant mind of Shockley, the inventor of the modern transistor, came up with the remarkable theory for the transistor in what has been called "the miracle month". Two physicists working under his direction had actually invented the first transistor in the lab without Shockley and this really pissed him off. Reacting to what he saw as a betrayal, drove Shockley to new heights inevitabley affecting every single one of us with his invention. You see, his invention was the basis for the modern transistor which was much more feasible, commercially, then the "first" transistor.
Well, I think I have gotten deep enough in to this geeky topic, at least for now. I think the next entry will be about drugs ... melange ...
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