>Did the experiment then show
>Brodie to function as a magician (and for the
>"magician's" intent of encouraging a type of
>thought)? Or, did Brodie question his own mystical
>intent through proposing the experiment as a way to
>test the effect of such an intent to deceive through
>the reaction of a group who might thereby be seen to
>"think" or not to "think" in response?
It is obvious that Brodie cannot be Brett.
Richard would have, I suspect, on some level (2? 3?) weighed the
cost/benifit of such an experiment before conducting it. The cost in loss
of trust and friends would seem to easily outweigh the benifit of bringing
to light a topic that even bad local TV newscasts find trite and boring this
far into the electronic age. ("People on the web might not be who they say
they are! Could this happen to you? Tune in at 11:00 and find out!")
But then, I don't have any way of factoring his personal amusement into that
cost/benifit equation either. ;-)
Either way, both of their posts (to this list) still go into my
"Brett/Brodie?" KillFile and I remain amused that anyone finds the subject
interesting enough to consume this much bandwidth over in the least.
-Prof. Tim