The Straight Dope 08/15/2003

The Straight Dope -- By Cecil Adams
http://www.straightdope.com

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THE STRAIGHT DOPE 08/15/2003

Dear Cecil:

Your recent column on Marshall McLuhan was terrific,
and it led me to wonder about another darling of the
60s, in the field of psychology: Whatever became of
B.F. Skinner? I recall all the fun we had torturing
rats in "Skinner boxes" and thinking that we were
all just messes of "operant conditioning." Like your
previous questioner about McLuhan, I haven't followed
the field since, so how is Skinner regarded today?
--Greg Durand, Phoenix, Oregon 

PS: Unabashed suck-up: When I discovered the Straight
Dope last year, I had to go out and get copies of all
your books. There's an incredible education in each
one, and I look forward to the next.

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Cecil replies:

Your letter is a good example of operant conditioning:
(a) Suck up to columnist; (b) columnist answers your
question. Next level: (c) Accompany letter with modest
donation via PayPal; (d) see columnist answer your
question really fast. The best part is, you think you're
conditioning me.

Although he was certainly an icon of the 60s, Burrhus
Frederic Skinner (1904-1990) did some of his most
provocative work long before then. Walden Two, the
utopian novel that endeared him to a generation of
undergraduates, was first published in 1948, which readers
will recognize as the year George Orwell wrote the
dystopian classic Nineteen Eighty-four. (He came up
with the title by reversing the last two digits of the
year of composition.) In contrast to Orwell's book,
Walden Two offered an optimistic vision of the future,
which no doubt explained its appeal to 18-year-old
middle-class peace marchers. Unfortunately, like a lot
of authors popular at the time (Robert Heinlein comes 
to mind, and don't even get me started on Hermann Hesse),
Skinner was more monologuist than novelist, and the
book's value as literature is slight. It did, however,
inspire a commune, Twin Oaks, which survives in rural
Virginia to this day.

Skinner made a more enduring contribution as an
experimenter and psychological theorist.

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030815.html

STAFF REPORT

Dear Straight Dope:

So what's the deal with dry ice? I know it's used to
make a cool fog effect for movies, but fill me in a
little more. Who invented it and why, and what
exactly is it? --Brett Bitsko 

SDSTAFF Karen replies:

I don't know who "invented" dry ice. But the Dry Ice
Corporation trademarked the term "Dry Ice" in 1925.
Dry Ice was made available to the general public circa
1930 for the purpose of keeping foods like ice cream
cold. My dictionary says "dry ice" is now a generic
term, but my search for the Dry Ice Corporation
resulted in lots of litigation documents, so I'm 
sticking with "Dry Ice." In this business you can't
be too careful. 

For more, see: 
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mdryice.html

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC - 02/09/1979

Dear Cecil: 

Something has puzzled me for years. Suppose I worked
on the 110th floor of the Sears Tower. Nature has
reminded me it's time to relieve myself of last
evening's supper. Now, I can't imagine the pileup of
poop that would splatter all over the Wacker Drive
sewer system if the stuff went straight down the
tube. Do they have some kind of diversionary piping
system, or does it indeed drop 1,450 feet to street
level? --T.J. Crapper, Chicago 

Cecil replies:  When you look at modern architecture,
T., you're supposed to think about the glories of
civilization, not toilets. Although now that you
mention it, one does wonder about the plumbing 
arrangements. Well, wonder no more. Having made my
usual discreet inquiries . . .I figure you definitely
want to avoid saying things like "splatter" . . .

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_252.html

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