[lit-ideas] Re: Rome and the Barbarians
- From: David Ritchie <profdritchie@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2014 11:51:52 -0700
On Apr 9, 2014, at 4:47 PM, Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx wrote:
>
>
> There is a section on P. Heather, whom L. Helm was mentioning in:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_of_the_Roman_Empire#Peter_Heather
What an interesting piece, at least for someone whose period is not Roman. I
particularly liked the suggestion at the end that one reason there are so many
theories is that there is so little evidence. I began work right away on
Ritchie's Law, an equation demonstrating the relationship between volume of
evidence V and number of theories N, when I realized that escaping this law's
embrace would be Theory (with a big T), that wadge of scholarship which exists
with its own particular relationship to evidence. Would Theory have to have
its own equation or equations, possibly in some manner akin to the relationship
between Newtonian and Quantum equations? And then I remembered Elizabeth
Potter's recent book suggesting links among Boyle's law and class and gender
relations in the era in which it was created. What might I be demonstrating
about my own humble existence if I went through with the project? Discouraged,
I cast about for a more manageable task, making for example small changes in
the design of the Brompton bike, which was invented by an un-related Ritchie
who, it seems to me, may have folded a Moulton.
Carry on.
David Ritchie,
not biking, but still thinking in
Portland, Oregon
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