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In the Context of Infinite Contexts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2020

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Around the time I realized that I would be spending the better part of my twenties in graduate school, I saw an episode of the Simpsons that had an embarrassingly profound effect on me. The episode's conceit was alluringly simple: What would happen if the city of Springfield was entrusted to its smartest citizens rather than to politicians or bureaucrats? Or, in the blunt diagnosis of Julius Hibbert, a Springfield physician (and one of the city's smartest citizens), “Why do we live in a town where the smartest have no power and the stupidest run everything?” Why couldn't things be different?

Information

Type
The Changing Profession
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 2015