The Ottawa '88 meeting of the International Society for Oxygen Transport to Tissue attracted a record number of participants and presentations. We were able to avoid simultaneous sessions and still keep the scientific program to four days by using poster sessions followed by plenary debate on each poster. To paraphrase the British physicist David Bohm, we tried to avoid an ordinary discussion, in which people usually stick to a relatively fixed position and try to convince others to change. This situation does not give rise to anything creative. So, we attempted instead to establish a true...