[Mike O'Dell]

I haven't heard the prof's explanation, but given that
it's a core course for, i believe, freshmen, I think
it's a great idea to rattle their cage. It sounded
like it was supposed to be a one or two lecture
flash-overview of quantum mechanics (the course is
named "Frontiers of Science"), so what is he going
to say with any real content anyway? I'd argue
that he *did* say something about quantum mechanics:

     Quantum mechanics does an astonishing job of
     describing WHAT happens, but it makes not the
     slightest attempt to explain WHY something
     happens. 

That was the point, I think. Everyone in the class
could describe WHAT happened in the presentation,
but nobody knew any more about WHY than before they
had the description.

Frankly, for my money, that's about as good a description
of the most important idea in Quantum Mechanics that
I've ever heard, and that's after spending 9 years
hanging out with physicists, enjoying fine beverages,
and arguing over the finer points of natural philosophy,
like whether the Laws of Nature are or must be absolutely 
invariant no matter what the time or distance from
our point of observation. 

My professor, a classical electrodynamicist retreaded
into a computer scientist, would have been mightily
entertained by that lecture. Once, when confronted
with a class of EEs who recoiled in horror when in 
the senior Electromagetism course on the first day
he wrote Maxwell's equations on the board and 
then said "From these, we will derive it *all*!",
he pounded on the desk and proclaimed, "This is 
a UNIVERSITY, not a %#%%@^(#*@^! High School with Ashtrays!"

The sooner the kiddies figure out they aren't
in Kansas any more, the sooner they can get on
with getting a genuine education.

My first semester freshman composition instructor
disrobed completely in front of class to read poetry 
her husband had written. Yes, she was unfortunately
fired over it, but given the skimpitude of what
she wore the rest of the time, those of us present
for the event didn't really see a material difference.

     -mo