Word: purcelle
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"The ideas that history consists of patterns, broad sweeps, and repetitions is all nonsense," Edward M. Purcell, Gerhard Gade University Professor said yesterday. Speaking to the Hillel World Affairs Round Table, Purcell noted that the study of history has not progressed to the point where the social and physical sciences...
To assume that history has a pattern would imply that future history could be predicted. The day when this will be possible is almost "indescribably remote," Purcell said. When it does come, most of our present conceptions about history's pattern will probably be proven wrong.
In discussing physical laws misapplied to social situations, Purcell found the Law of Averages most frequently misused. "We unconsciously apply it, if only to derive a little comfort from it. People think of it as a stabalizing force, something that evens things out in the end, when actually this is...
"The most gross misinterpreters are sportscasters. The idea of 'being due for a hit' is completely invalid scientifically. A 200 hitter who does not get a hit in eight attempts does not have a better chance of getting a hit on his ninth, according to the Law of Averages," Purcell...
EDWARD M. PURCELL, Gerard Gade University Professor, will discuss "False Analogies and Misunderstood Models" at the Hillel Round Table of World Affairs in PBH at 4 p.m.