This ties in with the 'why do we do it?' meme that's been bugging me recently.
Suz needs a hug, but she's written a very droll piece on scientists as, um, lab rats. Or mice, as she has it. The question is what happens when we apply the same criteria to ourselves as we do to our experimental models.
Her conclusion, that her experimental model (which I think by this stage is herself but I could be losing the plot myself at this point),
either has a learning defect or is masochisticis incomplete.
There is one other possibility that springs to mind. I would like to put forward the hypothesis that the mouse takes all the pain as a sign that there must be some really good shitcheese at the end of it all. Otherwise, why would the experimenter (or Experimenter) go to so much effort to stop the mouse going that way?
Nil spurius carborundum, eh?
Comments
Your hypothesis is contrary to our philosophical murine pundit, bobby (aka mr burns). -He lamented his human nature (and it is globally lamentalbe at times) that anticipates future gains and pains while envying the little rodent's blissful ignorance of things to come. Mayhap ignorance isn't so blissful - which would go some ways to explain our perpetual state of something less than hunky dory. Why do we do it? Apparently we think we will see ourselves reflected in the pained rodent running blind - and reach some kind of self-actualization.
The best to dear Suz - empathy is a rare commodity.
Posted by: shirin | August 30, 2006 06:58 PM