When The Bough Breaks

Not too long ago I published a post titled "Academic Inflation and New Education Paradigms", it had a cool short video featuring Ken Robinson and also referenced his book - "Out of our Minds: Learning to be Creative" (I am happy to report that I have finished reading it, but a more detailed coverage will be a subject of another post, stay tuned). The basic premise of the video as well as the book - a major overhaul of our education system is urgently needed. It was designed at a different time, in a different world, and for a different purpose; thus, it can not meet the demands of today or the future.

So, while Ken Robinson takes a poke or two at our current system's bias towards academicism and science at the expense of arts and creativity, there are others who feel we are not biased enough at the time when the rate of acceleration in the field of science and technology is arguably the highest in recorded history.

A few month ago I've read a very interesting article in IEEE's Computer magazine - "Mental Discipline" by David Alan Grier of George Washington University. It talks about the following dynamic - world’s increasing complexity paired with decreasing standards of scientific education; and a general tendency towards black-boxing (an activity that hides expertise by taking a body of knowledge and incorporating some of its ideas in a machine, then hiding the inner operation of that machine behind an opaque facade). IEEE's Computer Society made the podcast of the article available online:

I hope we are not going to find ourselves in a situation that resembles many science fiction novels, being a Star Trek fan I will have to reference ST:TNG:17 - "When The Bough Breaks" (Stardate: 41509.1) and thanks to YouTube here's the visual aid:

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Inscription On The Bell

What can I say, I am a huge sucker for catchy quotes. So, I could not let this one pass me by: "All truth is one in this light: may science and religion endeavor here for the steady evolution of mankind from darkness to light, from narrowness to broadmindedness, from prejudice to tolerance. It is the voice of life which calls us to come and learn." Inscribed on the bell in Hayes Hall Bell Tower at SUNY (State University of New York) Buffalo.

What Motivates Us?

Update (04/10/2013) Came across another interesting video on the same subject (thanks to Stanislav Glozman ) Original Post (12/13/2010) Very interesting video that I found via a reference in one of the Information Technology (IT) online publications that I read on a pretty much daily basis: I liked many things about it - the format, in my opinion, is awesome; the presentation is dynamic; and, of course, the content is quite interesting. This "new theory of motivation" departs sharply from the established practice of monetary incentives and instead emphasizes the following three intrinsic human motivators: Autonomy Mastery Purpose I have first discovered these ideas in the book called "Cognitive Surplus" by Clay Shirky. The format was not as animated, but the ideas about these intrinsic motivators (and how they sometimes can be canceled by an addition of a monetary incentive) were interesting nonetheless. The book was a good read, though I mus...

Omar Khayyám, The Rubaiyat #1

I am a big fan of poetry and "The Rubaiyat" of Omar Khayyám is one of my favorites. Naturally, I have first discovered him in Russian translation and I still enjoy it the most (by far), but recently I have been exploring English translation of his work as well; and some things are not bad at all. So, I decided to do a few posts of my favorites in both languages to showcase the differences and the similarities. This is a first one (hopefully, of many): You know, my Friends, with what a brave Carouse I made a Second Marriage in my house; Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed, And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse. *** Мы чашей весом в ман печаль сердец убьем, Обогатим себя кувшинами с вином. Трикраты дав развод сознанью, званью, вере, На дочери лозы мы женимся потом.

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