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In August of 1996, I attended a conference in Bolivia, convened to examine the
environmental impact of the Parana-Paraguay waterway on the
Pantanal of Mato Grosso.
The day before the conference, I had dinner in La Paz with an engineering colleague.
Among other topics, we discussed the subject of free-surface instability,
and I came away from the meeting greatly impressed by his grasp of the subject.
Later, we traveled to Santa Cruz de la Sierra, where the conference was to take place.
The presentation given by my colleague was highly technical
and was delivered in a monotonous voice, which caused his message to be largely lost.
When my turn came, I summarized
the findings of my work
on the hydrologic and environmental impact of the Parana-Paraguay waterway.
The last talk of the day was by a person who spoke in a very clear and engaging style.
Pleasantly surprised, and seeing that his style was quite different from what I had observed earlier,
I was curious to find out what he had majored in college.
He said: "Communications."
That explained it, but I could not help but wonder whether we had again been caught
in the age-old predicament between form and substance.
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