The Nature of a Summer Research Institute
It's an extraordinary privilege to be around such a mix of scholars. Whether I'm talking to Kent Emery of Notre Dame on the classics, or Phillip Hamilton of Christopher Newport University, I feel like I am constantly learning something new.
A stimulating discussion over breakfast this morning with Wolfgang Müller and Gabriel Calzada Álvarez, who have founded their own "Free Enterprise Institutes" (sort of libertarian think-tanks, I think) in Germany and Spain respectively. I knew almost nothing about Paul Ehrlich or Julian Simon before this discussion.
Not being a libertarian, I cannot agree with everything they're saying, and I wish I knew more about economics, so could counter their points better, but I'm sure they'd have problems arguing Bede's theology with me, so I consider us even!
In 1980 Paul Ehrlich made a bet with Julian Simon that the price of five key metals would go up by 1990, thereby proving his thesis that the earth's resources were finite and dwindling. The prices actually fell, supposedly proving Simon's thesis that the earth's resources are infinite, and Ehrlich was forced to pay Simon $570 - the value that $1000 of these commodities had lost over the ten years.
I'm afraid I'm with Ehrlich in my belief that the earth's resources are limited, but maybe I am just being brainwashed by the liberal media!
Anyway, a very stimulating discussion.
Picture: Some of the Institute's members having a drink on the lawn before dinner. That's Rev. Dr. Ralph Waller on the far left, the college Principal.
posted by sacsanua @ 2:55 AM
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