Just an ordinary Thursday. Discovered that Noam Chomsky was on campus to give a talk. I went, of course, and so did many others. Remarkably, most of them students, who had come to listen to an 83 year old philosopher. A big conference room was packed to the extent that the event had to be canceled if a significant number of people would not leave or migrate to a side room. It worked. From the side room I watched Chomsky en profil while I listened to his mumbling coming through the loudspeaker. Chomsky talked about grammar, body and mind. (It was a linguistics seminar.) He did that in a astoundingly clear, yet intelligent way, which probably explains his star status. It may be the same thing that makes young people flock around someone like Ron Paul. Chomsky's speech is much science - physics, chemistry, biology, philosophy, history - and a little opinion.
That is one thing I love about America: its size and culture allow an amazing collection of excellence to thrive. And sometimes, quite regularly actually, you get the chance to enjoy that.
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