Veneral disease as it relates to cognition... a.k.a. just say no

I slowly bulldozed my way through fifty of the densest pages I have ever read today for my class on the Social Analysis of Technology. The book was “Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact”, and it covers the epistemology of Syphilis as a concept leading up to and during the early twentieth century. Swiss publishers released the initial pressing in 1935. I have a translation. When trying to find the definition for hypertrophy on the internet, I came to understand that Joanie Laurer a.k.a. Chyna has an enlarged clitoris.

I am wondering if all of this reading and research was truly necessary to get the point across that we create scientific knowledge rather than discover it. I am tired of reading about epistemology. I am tired of looking up obscure words in medical dictionaries. I know more about syphilis and bacteriology in the 20’s than I want to. I am uncertain an academic career here at Irvine was the right choice. I am consciously avoiding the fifty-five more pages of Syphilis waiting for me.

My bag of runes is telling me to “practice the art of doing without doing”.