Last week was flood season for scientific conventions, conferences, symposia, and the professors attended them well.
AT NASHVILLE, TENN.
Greatest meeting was that of the American Association for the Advancement of Science at Nashville, Tenn. Thither journeyed some 3,000 scientists. They listened to nimble discussions on mathematics, physics, meteorology, zoology, geography, botony, entomology.
Physical Theories. "A physical theory does not represent what we might call a real truth. A physical theory is a collection of fundamental hypotheses and general laws, which may be used to deduce particular laws that can be applied to concrete facts. Physical theories are useful, if they explain a large number of facts in simple ways, and if they furnish definitions of terms and a nomenclature to be used in describing phenomena. Physical theories are tools and not creeds, but one is at liberty to believe they represent reality, if one wants to. The belief in a physical theory, however, is a similar process of thought to the belief in religious tenets. The greater the number of useful physical theories that are proposed, the greater the number of good tools we shall have at our disposal, to use in discovering the real truth about the way in which nature acts; for it is the way in which nature acts that is the prime object of physical research. The multiplicity of theories in physics to-day really represents a healthy growth." — Professor William Duane of Harvard.
Group Thinking. A psychological query has been: Which can think with greater swiftness and accuracy—a group of men or an individual? Applied to business affairs the query is: Can a board of directors or a president best manage a company? Professor Goodwin Barbour Watson of Columbia University sought a solution by testing smart Columbia students. To each he gave a nine-letter word (as neurotics, education, secondary, universal), and told him to write out as many three-letter words as he could devise from the letters in the long word. After ten minutes Professor Watson called time. The Poorest individual record was 18 three-letter words, the best 49, and the average 32. Then the professor offered similar words to groups, telling the members of the groups to shout out the three-letter words as they constructed them. The average group record for ten minutes community-thinking was practically 75 words, more than twice the individual record. Therefore, reasoned Profesor Watson, for at least simple problems group thinking is better than individual thinking.