Paul Tomlinson wrote: <<My original comment stemmed mostly from the editing of our packet, where my chem bonus was replaced by a biochem bonus.>> Then Jason Paik wrote: <<5 out of 22 possible chemistry questions pertained to organic chemistry in the 11 rounds I have.>> One possibility, not knowing Paul Tomlinson's science credentials, is that there was confusion between biochem and o-chem. Also, there is a tendency for eyewitness to get things very wrong, such that eyewitness identification of criminals tend to be the least accurate forms of evidence. This begs the question, how much of the chemistry would be considered biochemistry? It also begs the question of where biochemistry belongs appropriately belongs. The traditional line of demarcation has been between physical and biological sciences. Given that I know of several quizbowlers with a background in biochem, and that some of my non-quizbowl sources in physics think that biophysics will become more prominent, one wonders if these traditional boundaries are the best way of making a science distribution. Some have claimed that biochemistry and physical chemistry fall under chemistry because it is harder to write chem questions. One could then claim that geochemistry is acceptable chemistry. I don't claim to have any answers to any questions I may pose, just awareness that such questions may exist. Having once been an engineering major as well as someone who has always been more interested in crossdisciplinary areas of study than "pure" courses, I find these questions interesting, and I find any answers to them to be potentially useful analogies for my own interests in the social sciences. Having rambled on, I am curious as to what others have to say to my suggestion that there are other paths than anal-retentive, obsessive-compulsive, Aristotelian distributions of knowledge that may be worth exploiting for the purposes of quizbowl.
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