The Raft Debate

Have you ever heard of this phenomenon ? Apparently it's kind of a thing. This American Life did a story on it once.

Anyhoo, we went to the debate tonight on campus. From the website:

During the event, three survivors of an imaginary shipwreck -- a scientist, a social scientist, and a humanist -- achieve a delicate balance between comedy and lecture as they debate the value of their respective disciplines for the rest of humanity.

Only one of these professors can return to civilization in the life raft. A fourth faculty member -- a devil's advocate -- joins the survivors and argues sarcastically that none of the academic disciplines is worth saving. The winner of the debate is chosen by a judge based on audience reaction.

It was pretty entertaining, what with including a rendition of American Pie, hand puppets, and a judge's wig. The girl next to me kept snapping rather than clapping... is this a law school student thing?! Super weird.

The Devil's Advocate won, by the by. The aforementioned 1970s song probably helped.