10 or so people sitting around on various tables, scene is basically a crowded restaurant. A couple, Tim and Alice, in the foreground eating dinner.
Tim: *insert conversation - I don’t know what normal people say in normal social situations, but this should be an example of that, or some gag/reference, anyway, he just needs to say something for a bit to set the scene*, so anyway *chokes* Alice: Tim? Tim are you okay. TIM! IS ANYONE HERE A DOCTOR? D: I am! Alice: Thank G-d! D: yeah, I get that a lot.*walking over to Tim* Alice: Is he alright? D: Personally, I don’t think any of us can be ALL right. Furthermore, What is right is defined as much by our intention as it's outward manifestation, and from my own perspective I - Alice: what are you on about? D: I'm trying to answer your question, it's a complex one and I won't get any kind of profound analysis out if you keep interrupting me. Now, on to how we understand what it is to be right Alice: WHAT? Are you even a doctor? D: of course I am PhD in continental philosophy at Cambridge, top of my class thankyou very much A: that's all very well and good, but I don't think my boyfriend can breathe! It's hardly the time to ruminate on the human condition. D: I suppose I could start CPR then *starts doing something that looks like CPR* A: thankyou! That was such a waste of time! D:Airway clear, beginning rescue breaths A: you could have just said you knew CPR! D: *pauses just before breathing* Well, I wouldn’t go as far as to say I 'know' it. There's an awful lot to the word 'know' A: WHAT?! Do you know CPR or not! D: well, I've done a first aid course, so in a strictly pragmatic sense, I suppose I do, but according to Rene Descartes, we cannot truly- A: *pushes him aside* Are there any REAL doctors here? Everyone from D's table begin to stand up A: NOT PHILOSOPHERS, someone who actually knows...something One woman, S gets up S: I'm a doctor of Physics from MIT. A: I don't need a physicists I need someone who actually knows what's happening here! S: but I do! Physics knows everything. I have an equation that models the entire universe, it can solve literally ANY problem! A: whatever, you'll have to do, what can we do to help tim? *points at him, now convulsing* S: Hmmmm, well the maths gets pretty tricky with anything bigger than a hydrogen atom...If you get me a computer and I make some good estimates, I can run some models, should be able to tell us what to do within... a few months A: How is that going to help?! We don’t have a few months S: but we need to be rigourous! A: how does nobody get that this is an emergency?! Does anyone here actually have a medical degree? Woman, P who
has just entered answers P: yes, Harvard medicine. A: finally, a real doctor! We're running out of time! P: what's the problem? Alice: My boyfriend is dying! *Tim stops moving altogether* P: *ignores time and looks straight at alice* I'm sorry to hear that. *Pulls out pen and pad, scribbles something* And how does that make you feel? |