Michael Sandel on Justice: Lecture III

≡ Category: Harvard, Philosophy | ≅ Comments

Lecture 3 of Michael Sandel’s ever popular course on Justice is now online. Here’s the summary of material covered by the newly added lecture. It’s provided by Harvard’s course web site:
Part 1 — FREE TO CHOOSE: With humorous references to Bill Gates and Michael Jordan, Sandel introduces the libertarian notion that redistributive taxation—taxing the rich [...]

Should You Give to Harvard?

≡ Category: Education, Harvard, Philosophy | ≅ Comments

That’s the question that The Ethicist asks in The New York Times. Below, I present the issue and part of the answer. Read through it all and tell us where you stand on the issue.
The Issue
The fiscal year for major university endowments ended June 30, and schools have been reporting their results: not good. In [...]

Harvard Studies Twitter

≡ Category: Harvard, Twitter | ≅ Comments

The folks who publish the Harvard Business Review have conducted a study of Twitter, surveying 300,000 Twitter users in May 2009 to see how people are using the service. And here are the top level findings:

“Although men and women follow a similar number of Twitter users, men have 15% more followers than women.” 
“An average man is [...]

Google and the Path To Enlightenment

≡ Category: Books, Google, Harvard, Web/Tech | ≅ Comments

In the latest edition of The New York Review of Books, Robert Darnton, a prominent French historian who now runs Harvard’s Library system, puts out a tantalizing idea: “Google can make the Enlightenment dream come true.” Having settled its lawsuit with publishers and authors, Google is now steaming ahead with its effort to digitize millions [...]

Solzhenitsyn Dies at 89; David Remnick Reflects

≡ Category: Harvard, History, Literature | ≅ Comments

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who chronicled the abuses of the Soviet regime and gained worldwide fame with A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, has died at 89. (Get the New York Times obit here.) Once asked what Solzhenitsyn means to literature and the history of Russia, David Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker, had [...]

J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter Author) Tells Harvard Graduates What They Need to Know

≡ Category: Harvard | ≅ Comments

Here’s J.K. Rowling speaking with eloquence at Harvard’s graduation. You’ll find a little wit (although far different than the kind on display when Sacha Baron Cohen — a.k.a. Ali G & Borat — spoke at Harvard graduation festivities several years ago). And then there’s the sage advice that she dispenses. Some good thoughts on why [...]

Harvard Law Faculty Votes to Put Articles Online

≡ Category: Harvard | ≅ Comments

The open access movement keeps rolling along. See here.

Harvard Opens Scholarship, Freeing Up Knowledge and Budgets

≡ Category: Harvard | ≅ Comments

Yesterday, Harvard University passed a motion (see proposal here) that will require its faculty members to publish their scholarly articles online. On the face of things, this marks a big victory for the open access movement, which is all about making information free and accessible to all. In reality, however, the real winner may eventually [...]

A Short History of Man, God, and Political Philosophy

≡ Category: Current Affairs, Harvard, Politics | ≅ Comments

In case you missed it, The New York Times published a lengthy article — The Politics of God — last weekend which essentially traces how the thought of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and other major political philosophers gave us secular politics, and particularly the separation of Church and State. They’re innovations with many upsides, but [...]

The Digital Encyclopedia of Life

≡ Category: Harvard, Science, Video - Science | ≅ Comments

In 2003, the Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson wrote a widely read essay that called for an “Encyclopedia of Life.” Summed up simply, Wilson had in mind “an online reference source and database” that catalogued “every one of the 1.8 million species that are named and known on this planet,” not to mention the many organisms [...]

University Podcasts: The New Video Wave on iTunes

≡ Category: Harvard, MIT | ≅ Comments

When universities first started developing their podcast collections, a good number took their audio archives — the many lectures and talks they had recorded over the years — and uploaded them onto iTunes. Now, months later, some institutions are turning to their video archives. Most notably, MIT has given users access to video podcasts taken [...]

Bill Clinton at Harvard

≡ Category: Current Affairs, Harvard | ≅ Comments

America’s 42nd president spoke this weekend at Harvard’s Class Day, a traditional event held for graduating seniors. While Class Day often features pop icons and comedians — take this speech by Ali G from a few yeas ago — Clinton’s speech was a bit more serious and idealistic, and it reminds us that there may [...]

Harvard Now on iTunes: A New Model for University Podcasts?

≡ Category: Harvard | ≅ Comments

It was only a question of when, not if. Harvard has finally carved out a space, albeit a rather small one,
on iTunes. (See yesterday’s press release.)  Established by the Harvard Extension School, the iTunes site currently features one free, full-fledged course called Understanding Computers and the Internet, which had previously been issued in other [...]

CyberLaw: Harvard Law School Opens to You

≡ Category: Harvard | ≅ Comments

Here’s another freebie for the intellectual tech junkie. Harvard Law School is offering this semester an innovative course, CyberOne: Law in the Court of Public Opinion. What it covers is how arguments/debates get played out in the media space created by the Internet and other new technologies. And, beyond that, it specifically focuses on how [...]

A Harvard Free Ride

≡ Category: Harvard | ≅ Comments

What do sleeping and computing have in common? Not a whole lot (nor really should they), except for this. We sleep and use computers a good chunk of our lives, and yet we generally have no idea how either works. Sleep is the 33% of our lives that we hardly give a thought to. And [...]