As I write, the most emailed article from today’s New York Times is this piece, which talks about the revival of philosophy on American college campuses. The reasons for this revival are varied — Some see philosophy offering “good training for looking at larger societal questions, like globalization and technology.” Others see it building skills valued by law schools (argumentation and reasoning). Still others believe that philosophy and existential angst can be good for “good for getting girlfriends.” Meanwhile, all seem to agree that philosophical thinking is not simply for “frou-frou” intellectuals. The net result: the number of philosophy majors is up, with some schools seeing increases of 50–100% over the past 5–6 years.
Gehry’s Vision for Architecture
Frank Gehry takes you on a 50 minute tour of his landmark works. The talk, presented at TED Talks in 1990, is complete with slides and gives you a good look at his “messy creative process.” We’ve posted the video below, but you can download a zipped version to your desktop here, or watch it on iTunes here.
In Search of TV 2.0
One of the things they promised us in the heyday of the 1990s Internet boom was the end of television and a brave new world of high quality video online, on demand. Well, we’re still waiting. Youtube is great for short clips, but not designed for the technical (or legal) challenge of serving up whole TV shows or movies.
However, things are getting better. You can pay for reasonably good entertainment, and you can even watch some things for free on network websites (not to mention the many universities and other groups putting video online). But nobody has come quite as close to the original promise as Hulu.com. This promising new site seems to strike a decent balance between commercials and content. They have entire seasons of several decent television shows and a small library of movies–all available for free. So is Hulu the future of Hollywood online? Check it out and let us know what you think.
Thinking Big About John Adams
I’m watching the new HBO miniseries “John Adams” and finding it fascinating. The series is based on a book by Pulitzer Prize winning historian David McCullough (also author of 1776 and Truman). And below we have McCullough giving us, if you will, the quick elevator pitch for Adams — that is, two minutes on what made Adams a particularly noteworthy founding father. (The video, by the way, is produced by BigThink, a fairly new site that positions itself as the “thinking man’s YouTube.” They’re backed by Harvard’s ex-president, Larry Summers, and other folks with deep pockets. Whether they’ll be able to turn a profit on intellectual media, I’m sadly doubtful. But that’s not meant to take anything away from what they’re doing. And if anyone wants to throw a few million dollars our way, we’ll consider taking it.)
Einstein’s Theory of Relativity Explained
Einstein’s Theory of Relativity needs no introduction. Actually maybe it does since we’re not dealing with light concepts here.
Relativity in a Nutshell (MP3) offers a free, 30-minute introduction to Einstein’s theoretical work. The lecture was presented by Richard Wolfson of Middlebury College. And it’s coupled with a second free lecture called Einstein’s Miraculous Year. Both lectures were produced by The Teaching Company to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Einstein’s work on relativity (1905), and they tie into a larger commercial course taught by Wolfson: Einstein’s Relativity and the Quantum Revolution: Modern Physics for Non-Scientists. The Teaching Company courses are not free, but they’re well done. And if you buy the mp3 versions when they’re on sale, you can often get the courses at a good price. Also, you can frequently find DVD versions discounted on Amazon (see, for example, here). And, even better, you can sometimes rent them for free from your local library.
In the meantime, if you’re looking for a good selection of free university courses, visit our meta list of Free Online Courses from Great Universities. Also see our Science Podcast Collection.
Related Content:
Elephant Painting
The video above is fairly mind-blowing. And here you can watch the elephant from another angle. The elephant apparently resides in a safe haven in Thailand, after having been abused in Burma. For more info, see The Elephant Art & Conservation Project. (Video has been added to our YouTube playlist.)
Dith Pran on Genocide
Dith Pran, a photojournalist and political activist who survived The Killing Fields in Cambodia, and whose experience was narrated in the 1984 film by the same name, has died at 65. You can revisit his photographic work here, and watch a talk he gave in 2006. Here, Pran recounts what happened in Cambodia — how The Vietnam War spread to Cambodia, empowering the murderous Khmer Rouge — and questions whether we’re generally getting closer to making genocide a thing of the past.
Nosferatu: The Silent Adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Released in 1922, the German Expressionist film, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, offers a chilling adaption of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (get free audiobook of Stoker’s work here). The film was made by F. W. Murnau and stars Max Schreck. Watch it below, or find it in our collection of Free Movies Online.
80+ Free Courses from UCSD
Here’s a quick note for anyone looking for free online courses: The University of California — San Diego now gives you free access to more than 80 courses. (Access the full list here.) The courses, mostly rooted in the sciences, can be accessed via iTunes or rss feed. We’ve integrated some of these courses into our own meta list of Free Online Courses from Great Universities. It now includes about 215 courses, and we’d encourage you to bookmark the page and use it often.
Bush’s War
To mark the fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion, PBS’s Frontline is airing “Bush’s War,” which offers “the definitive documentary analysis of one of the most challenging periods in the nation’s history.” Drawing on an extensive archive, the program lays out the “entire narrative,” showing how “the war began and how it has been fought, both on the ground and deep inside the government.” If you can’t catch it on TV, you can watch it online. Click here and then click “Watch Online.”
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Open Culture scours the web for the best educational media. We find the free courses and audio books you need, the language lessons & educational videos you want, and plenty of enlightenment in between.
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