The two smartest musicians I ever met

One of them is Dubner, if his long ago rock career counts.

The other, without question, is Thomas Dolby. I sat next to him at lunch last summer at the TED conference in England. He was quite impressive. Dolby’s father was a classics professor, I think. Thomas Dolby is back with his first album in 15 years, and –what else– a blog to accompany it.

Steve Pinker was also at the table that day. (If he were a musician, he would definitely be one of the two smartest musicians I’d ever met.) Pinker taught me a semester’s worth of knowledge about language in under an hour; it was fantastic.