As an engineer, I enjoy this show but feel too much emphasis is placed on a tight schedule. Edison tried many versions of the incandescent bulb until he hit on the working design. The show ought to give the teams time to work out the bugs in their designs. The duck float would have worked if the float material had been changed to closed-cell foam. It was not a "total failure" as the judges called it. I was disappointed in the judges, especially the welding engineer (from MIT no less) that faulted Gui for kicking Dan out when Dan attempted an aluminum TIG weld with no experience. Gui made the right choice. The woman's weld (which Dan smashed) was only a tack weld, and for Dan to compare that to a full weld is wrong, and the judge let it go. If Dan had been more cooperative, the team might have had time to fix the float. Faulting Gui for firing Dan and saying he has to work out the best in people was unjustified. Sometimes, you're better off without someone. Dan's abilities are not so outstanding, either, that it's worth putting up with him. I'm glad he became more agreeable. He must or he'll be totally ineffective.
Review of The Big Brain Theory
