VivianLea: The old tradition of scholarship is of asocial monasticism. Being in the office of someone who values the old ways, and looks at the new era of professionals expected to justify and share, to be out there, rather than all holed up, made you feel like you were in the company of a pederast -- and you may well have been. (Harold Bloom is old school, and you may have heard that Naomi Wolf accused the old sage of trying to feel her up while in his office for a chat.) It's about true nerdyness and fiddling, more than it is about leaving the genius alone to do his/her work. I'm all for finding ways to stop spending on all the big lectures (they're just a different version of a textbook) -- let's get all those from itunes U, and from preferred universities/professors from all over the world. (If all you're going to do is lecture, you'd best be good, because I'll otherwise turn to so-and-so from MIT and hear what s/he has to say, instead. Actually, I...