Re: The Bright Stuff

From: Damien Broderick (damienb@unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Sat Jul 12 2003 - 20:44:27 MDT

  • Next message: Damien Broderick: "Re: Evolutionary fix of mosquitos"

    >An Op-Ed piece by Daniel Dennett today in the New York times is worth
    >sharing on this list.

    >The term "bright" is a recent coinage by two brights in Sacramento, Calif.

    HAHAHAHAHA! Actually the term "bright" is a half-century old coinage by the
    late Mark Clifton, in a story I have cited a number of times on this list,
    `Star, Bright' (Galaxy, 1952). In that story, admittedly, the brights were
    considerably brighter than Dan Dennett or any of the rest of us. In the
    sense he's using it, I [re]coined it myself (probably many others did so at
    various times) in my novel of the same name, in about 1986; frustratingly,
    that novel, about >Mensa-oids, hasn't yet made it into print. My usage was
    ironical; sadly, Dennett's is dead serious.

    Damien Broderick



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Jul 12 2003 - 20:51:56 MDT