Re: Historic Scientific Instruments (Attn: Allan Adler)

Borked Pseudo Mailed <nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

Allan Adler writes:
Although we have different opinions about whether the museum staff members
would want to talk to me, these opinions can be subjected to a scientific
test as soon as we can figure out an objective measure of how badly they
would want to talk to me. This is something economists do all the time to
measure demand. For example, would the museum staff be willing to hire me as
a consultant at $500/hr, plus expenses, to be able to talk to me? If not,
we can try other figures until we have obtained a scientific measure.
My guess is that, not only would they not want to talk to me at any price,
but they have no idea who I am.

How much would YOU pay to see their instruments and ask THEM
the sorts of Qs you ask of us at sci.chem? $500? $10? A
few minutes of your time?

Let's not get moralistic and judgemental about what is a purely
scientific question of measuring their interest in talking to me.
It is irrelevant how much I would pay to talk to them. It was asserted
that they would want to talk to me. I don't believe it.

They won't pay anything to talk with you until you've submitted
a prospecus or, alternatively, spoken to them gratis for a few
minutes.

To me, this falls under the category of "metawork". I define WORK to be
work one does with the expectation of being rewarded with money. I define
METAWORK to be work one does with the expectation of being rewarded with WORK.
It is unremunerated and I'm not interested in it.

Basically, you're saying that first I have to do something to prove to them
they would be interested in talking to me. Why would I want to do that? All
you've succeeded in doing is to confirm that I am correct in my assessment
of their interest in talking to me: they don't even know who I am.

I'm just about certain that they would comp you a ticket
to the museum and show you around but I doubt that they would pay
your airfare to Philly, put you up in a fancy hotel for several
days and give you an honorarium. They MIGHT give you a free
subscription to Chem Heritage Magazine (seriously, they might).

I'm not interested.

No offense, but next time you wonder why you bother posting on this topic,
don't bother. If you really can't let go of the idea, try convincing them,
not me.
--
Ignorantly,
Allan Adler <ara@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
* Disclaimer: I am a guest and *not* a member of the MIT CSAIL. My actions and
* comments do not reflect in any way on MIT. Also, I am nowhere near Boston.
.

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