ON BEAUTY (ZADIE SMITH) AND DISAGREETMENT BETWEEN SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES

On his other side, a shy, plain girl visiting from M.I.T. was attempting to explain to him the kind of experimental physics she did. As he ate, Howard tried to listen. He made a point of asking her many interested questions; he hoped this would lessen the effect of Victoria’s frank disinterest. But after ten minutes he ran out of viable questions. Physicist and Art Historian met their match in technical terms that could not be translated, in two worlds that would not coalesce. Howard drank down his second glass of wine and excused himself to go to the toilet.

Howard´s good will is apreciated, but it seems not to be enough. I think there are annoying people in both fields, Sciece and Humanities; more or less like the Stones used tO sing: ‘it´s the singer, not the song’

What I think is true is that you are more likely to be annoyig when you talk about something that is not your field, something you have already discovered, not you job but your hobby.

For instance, a scientist who writes poetry or a humanities man who has read an article about clonation in a magazine. One should be sick of his own specialty.

So the scientist is bothersome and ridiculous when he talks about Humanities and The man of letters becomes delirious when he is talking about Science

Anyway, before you give it up with your table partner it is convenient to use up all the plausible questions