FOM: Agreeing on a hypothetical interlocutor

[JSHIPMAN@bloomberg.net]

In order to forestall further unproductive discussion about
the general intellectual interests of barbers and college
freshmen, I propose that we agree on a standard
non-mathematician who is to be cited in discussions of the
"general interest".  It is too high a standard to demand that
the typical man on the street find something interesting, but
too low a standard to require simply that someone who has taken
college math courses (beyond calculus) finds it interesting.
How about if we assume that she reads the Science Times section
of the NYTimes and the Scientific American and has had the math
and computer courses commonly taught in high school?--J Shipman