Outerspace man

One day I was sitting in a class on the peripheral nervous system. It was one of the driest courses I ever took. It wasn't the material that was dry. The instructor was notorious for his monotone lectures and curt answers to questions from class members. Your took your life in your hands if you asked a question. The old adage that there are no dumb questions did not apply in that class. The assumption that exuded from the podium was that any question indicated a lack of preparation prior to taking the course, a failure to study during the course, that you're an idiot, or that it's a dumb question.

This was another humdrum day in class. Everyone was assembled when Dr. X appeared. There were over 150 people in the class. Most people had a set of printed notes that had been transcribed from a recorded lecture four years earlier. It was uncanny how the lectures, now four years later, corresponded to the notes. For example, the notes from four years ago might say, "Last time we met, we discussed the otic ganglion." When Dr. X began his lecture this day, he would say, "Last time we met, we discussed the otic ganglion." And that was the way each day of the course proceeded.

One day we're all sitting there as Dr. X droned on and on. A student raises his hand to ask a question. Dr. X eventually recognizes the student who then asks, "Dr. X, are you aware of literature that suggests that deep sulci in the cortex are related to increased intelligence?" (Sulci, the plural of 'sulcus', are the little valleys, or grooves, in the gray matter that makes up the outer part of the brain.)

Dr. X looks up over the top of his glasses and surveys the room. There is what seems to be a long pause. Then, Dr. X begins his response, "well, smooth brain,..." That was all anyone heard as the classroom erupted in laughter. It would not, however, be the last time this particular student asked a question out of nowhere.

On another occasion in the following term during renal-pulmonary physiology class, this same student again raised his hand. The instructor was from India and was difficult to understand as a result of her accent. Students had to concentrate to get anything out of the lecture. In the middle of class a hand goes up; it's him (Outerspace man again). The lecturer recognizes the student, who proceeds to ask, "Dr. Y, where do you buy your Indian condiments." She was talking about partial oxygen levels in the blood; and he wants to know about her cooking!

All heads turn in the direction of the questioner as Dr. Y is looking at him with that "What the @%$#?" look on her face. The class is waiting for her answer. We have a standard that was set a quarter ago by Dr. X; Dr. Y must say something good. She must do something like getting angry or something! Instead, she deflects the question as one would a four-year-old whose attention has wandered at a preschool...what a let down.

It is interesting to think about the variety of ways people think and live out their lives. To us, some of the things they say sounds nuts, but their lives seem to be working for them.

Outerspace man lived to see another day. This, however, was not his last performance. There was this question about mitochondria from outer space...