In a World crowded with devastating Wicked Problems[how to moderate climate change worldwide, existential conflicts in Russia vs Ukraine, Israel vs Hamas, Haitian civil breakdown, rebellions and civil war across Central African countries, concentration of 80% of world wealth in less than 10% of the population], the prospect of adopting AI-Artificial Intelligence tools for the […]
This Ted Talk by Andrew Mcafee is supercalifragilisticexpialidociously optimistic about jobs: There are four existential wicked problems of increasing danger facing the World: 1)Man made climate change that demands wrenching alterations in how energy is produced and used worldwide; 2)Income inequality growing at exponential rates in both developed and developing countries. The ever more concentrated wealth concentrated
Leonard Nimoy, Mr. Spock, passed away at 83 last Friday and captured the collective conscious in unexpected ways. Marketwatch, the blog of Wall Street, published a bulletin reserved for big Bull or Bear market movements on the day. The news captured headlines at the NYTimes, Entertainment Weekly, Toronto Globe and Mail, TheGuardian, Sydney Morning Herald,
The Passing of Logic, Science, and Mr. Spock Read More »
In the NYTimes, Adam Frank, a distinguished scientist at the University of Rochester laments the decline of Science in the public – but fails to address the underlying issues and reasons for the decline of Science from the publics point of view. First and foremost, when only 26% of graduating high school students are prepared
Geoff Brandt asked the following question on Google Plus: I was having a discussion with an acquaintance of mine who is somewhat more conservative than I am. He was railing against most gov’t spending (perpetrated of course by “those Liberals in Washington”) and insisted our nation’s top priority other than defense should be to pay
On Google Plus: Austerity vs Keynesian Economic Policy Read More »
In the Coursera class Behavioral Economics taught by Duke Professor Dan Ariely, all the students had to write a mid-term essay in which they described the ideas of Behavioral Economics and how the methods of the discipline could be used to solve an economic problem. Despite the fact, that most of the methods in the
An Essay for the Coursera Class: Behavioral Economics Read More »
In an article on World oil usage, Dump the Pump, in the NewScientist, page 36, is the source of the following very interesting data: World wide use of oil now averages 90 million barrels per day, Road usage consumes 50% of that total Heat and power usage take the next 18% Non-fuel chemical usage take
Daily Facts: World Consumption of OIL Read More »
Update: Breaking on July 17. 2012 the NYTimes finally recognizes the profound impact Coursera and other free online university offerings are having on undergraduate education. Read it here or follow Takethe5th.com and get the story 3 months earlier and with live experience nuances. This blog has been an enthusiastic supporter of the Coursera University Courses
Coursera University Courses II Read More »
This Ted talk by Don Tapscott on the fundamental attributes of Openness is illuminating: Don waxes highly hopeful about an Open Future. But there are stark counter-examples right now. Spain,much of Southern Europe and the MidEast have 40% or much higher youth unemployment. The crux of the problem is also covered in the lecture. Note
Openness: 4 Principles and a Deviant Read More »
