I have arranged my stuff around here a bit and found my notes on the meeting with Cristian Tudor Popescu we had back in November 2004. I was also reminded of this meeting by a comment in my my above weblog entry (thanks simona).

I am going to put down some of the facts I’ve noted, more or less connected one with eachother, as I have written them at the meeting. I admit I don’t remember much of the talks and I will, most likely, not make extra comments on the notes I have.

CTP graduated Computer Science and Automatic Control Faculty - POLITEHNICA University Bucharest in 1981 and he was sent by the communists in the famous “Mischie’s Empire” (as he called it), in Tg. Jiu.

On some comments on the educational system in Romania, he remembered the days when he was teaching young students Mathematics. Each one of us knows the expression: “Let f(x) be …”. One of the students then asked him: “Why does f(x) have to be?”. Pretty silly question at first sight, but this really made CTP think about it. Why would a function have to be? The response to this question was given by what CTP named “functional dependencies” - connections between things in nature and mathematical objects. If functions were taught right in the first place, with this functional dependencies taken into account, confusion could have been easily avoided. Students in other countries (USA for example) learn Mathematics by manipulating objects.

CTP remembered his Mathematics teacher in University, Octavian Stanasila, my teacher also, who once said:

Think Mathematics as a science of the nature.

On discussing about career, CTP noted:

You can’t be an editor for a newspaper at 18, but you can be an editor at 23

An engineer can be a good politician.

(ro) Scoala Nationala de Studii Politice si Administrative (SNSPA) = “vrăjeala”
(en) National School of Political Studies and Public Administration = bulls*** (I admit, this might not be the best en translation)

CTP worked for 8 years before becoming a newspaper editor.

The best teacher for 14 year old kids are the 18 year old teachers.

This comment revealed the acceptance of the fact that many teachers, nowadays, are not well connected with the youth philosophy and, therefore, a big gap in mentality between generation appears.

At this point in the conversation, one of the students said what I had called the quote of the day:

I can’t call reform the fact that I learn the same courses as my father had, but in PowerPoint.

As you probably noticed, at first sight, there’s a big difference between Automatic Control and Journalism. Asked about this, CTP said that what helped him in Journalism from what he learned were the laws of thinking.

He also noted that, during various appearances on TV talkshows, he was confronted with people which were not able to address issues properly. Many of the interlocutors used petitio principae in their speaches. Petitio principae means anticipating the principle - prooving what needs to be proven using what you need to proove.

I’m not really sure about the meaning of my following note. I believe it has something to do with somebody who might have argued the fact that we are taught too much electronics, something which should be taught (actually, it already is) in the Electronics Faculty. CTP noted that any electronic circuit can be simulated pneumatically or hydraulically. That can make a person who knows electronics a pretty good engineer.

Comming back on the discussion on the teaching system in Romania, CTP said:

It is essential that the teacher should not sugest the student he (the teacher) knows.

This is one thing I personally remember Octavian Stanasila doing. He seemed to be always discovering Mathematics with us.

CTP noted that there are 2 types of intelligence:

  • analytical intelligence - problem solvers (where a well formulated problem is given - life does not offer this type of problems)
  • synthetical intelligence - where people create problems

Given this context, CTP said research means elaborating the problem right.

Talking about hobbies, CTP declared himself a passioned for Science Fiction. He wanted to add that the correct meaning for SF would be speculative fiction (= a fantastic hypothesis supported with mathematical rigour)

In the end of the meeting, he quoted one famous writer (no name given):

Anything you will do, you will regret.