[Jim Noble]

I spent many years being put on the spot by my superiors. It’s the only way I know how to train younglings.

But it is effectively forbidden now.

[Savage Beast]

All the students in my medical school class were constantly on the spot, during rounds, in class, in conferences--everywhere. This is definitely important training.

When Martin Luther King was assassinated, back in 1968, everyone was in shock and seriously concerned, desperate to heal the nation's wounds. I was on the staff of a major US medical school. An emergency conference was called to decide whether to lower the school's admission standards to accommodate black students, as part of the desperately needed healing. The ultimate decision was that standards should not be lowered, that all applicants must rise to the highest standards. This was the right decision.

In the decadent phase of Western Civilization, all standards are lowered. Maybe this happens in the decadent phase of all civilizations. Maybe that's an inextricable part of the decay.