How has doubt effected culture?

Gus- I doubt everything................Is that what you wanted to hear???

Not quite, but if you feel good saying it, well, that's good enough for me.

All kidding aside, I think that doubt has done much to enable civilization to evolve. When people doubt, they think through issues. When they think through issues, they draw new conclusions, which enhances progress. When people embrace the status quo, a civilization stagnates. I would go into this further, but my pot roast is burning!

i doubt there's such a thing as the civilized world, let alone culture

I doubt gus exists. I think he's H20_Man in disguise.

Au contraire! I think that Gus not only exists, but he sees all and knows all.

Be afraid. Be very very afraid!

He's pretty scary, alright :wink:


Man, he's even out there quoting the bible tonight, and rappin with the rappers, and causing all kinds of mayhem.

Gus is alive and well, all right. I remember him telling me he left a message on one of the lions in front of the Art Institute in Chicago. I looked high and low, but couldn't find it, but blamed it on my poor eyes at my age.

I agree with Phoenix. Also, doubt would help humans fine tune their risk-taking. While it has been important that we take risks, it is also important that we weigh those risks against possible outcomes.

Introduction to Basic Culture Methods

Once you have sterile agar plates poured, cooled, and hardened, what do you do with them? This depends on what goals you have in mind. To start out with I would like to caution those working with bacteria against the very shiny colonies. These are generally encapsulated bacteria. They have a thick gelatinous coating on them that helps protect their cell walls from attacking antibodies. As a result they are much better suited for living within the human body than are unencapsulated bacteria. Essentially what this means is that the encapsulated bacteria tend to be pathogenic more often than unencapsulated bacteria. Be ware of colonies of bacteria with a thick glossy look to them. When in doubt, destroy them. It isn't worth the risk. Also refrain from taking cultures from ill people. It makes no sense for amateurs to try cultivating dangerous species.
Tool Building

The first thing to do is build a few tools to help you work with your agar. Depending on what you want to do, you may need an innoculation loupe, an innoculating needle, a good set of tweezers, hook, and perhaps a scapel. Tweezers are probably best bought at any store with a cosmetics department. Any sort that feels comfortable to the hand should be fine. Tweezers are the least useful tool on this list anyway.

Now, getting back to Gus's question. Doubt is healthy for most things human, even culture.

I think doubt has also given rise to faith which has influenced culture in innumerable ways.

It explains internal auditing, too.

Absolutely. The ancients did not understand the workings of the world. Therefore they created the concept of forces that controlled the universe. Since there was no rational basis for these beliefs, early people had to make the conceptual leap, and ascribe their beliefs to faith.