The Theory of Relativity

The other day I was driving down the road with this guy I know when he saw a VW Rabbit driving along. He said, “I love those little cars”. I said, “Little? What if an ant was that size? Would it be little?” He was quiet for a few seconds (probably because he knew he couldn’t defend his position). Then he said, dryly, “Well, that would be a huge ant, obviously.”

I would have continued to pursue the point, but he had a change of plans and asked me to drop him off right there in the middle of town.

Another example: It took me two hours to write a one page document that a woman I work with needed. When I gave it to her she said, “What took so long?” I said, “Long? What if World War Two lasted for 2 hours?” She mumbled something about me being a jerk and about how someone should be fired – or maybe it was “tired”, I don’t know. I didn’t catch all of it. But my point is, people just don't want to discuss high level intellectual concepts, like the theory of relativity, anymore.