Monthly Archives: April 2012

Is Precautionary the New Reactionary?

In recent months, both sides of the Atlantic have witnessed renewed calls to apply the so-called Precautionary Principle to limit, if not outright, stop a variety of publicly and privately funded research and development projects around the topic of ‘synthetic … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

There Is No Invisible Hand – Jonathan Schlefer – Harvard Business Review

Political scientist Jonathan Schlefer states the obvious — and infuriates economists in the process. There Is No Invisible Hand – Jonathan Schlefer – Harvard Business Review. Read the comments to witness the not-so-invisible finger his proclamation is getting from the … Continue reading

Posted in Accountability | 1 Comment

INIT Virtual Seminar continues in April — New discussion topic

The INIT Network for Transdisciplinary and Interdisciplinary Research is continuing to host a Virtual Seminar on Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Horizons on the platform Interdisciplines (www.interdisciplines.org). You are all invited to join the discussion. In order to join the discussion, just click on … Continue reading

Posted in CSID Publications, Interdisciplinarity, Transdisciplinarity | Leave a comment

100 Reasons NOT to Go to Graduate School

Is it too much to call a blog “magisterial?” Well, I’m going to do it anyway: 100 Reasons NOT to Go to Graduate School is a magisterial effort. Nobody is going to agree with all (or even most) of what this … Continue reading

Posted in Future of the University, Graduate Studies | Leave a comment

Happiness: No longer the dismal science? | The Economist

They argue that happiness can be measured objectively; that it differs systematically across societies and over time; that happiness has predictable causes and is correlated to specific things (such as wealth, income distribution, health and political institutions); and that therefore it should be possible for … Continue reading

Posted in Degrowth Economics, Economics & STEM Research, Globalization, Metrics, Philosophy & Politics, Public Philosophizing, Science and technology ramifications | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Transformative Research: Reflections on NSF Workshop — CCC Blog

Mike Gorman weighs in on Transformative Research. CCC Blog.

Posted in Peer Review, STEM Policy, Transformative Research | Leave a comment

Frontiers | Decoupling the scholarly journal | Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience

Potentially interesting read: Frontiers | Decoupling the scholarly journal | Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience. A tease quote: The Balkanization of the scholarly literature was not planned; indeed, the journal was supposed to be a cure for just this problem. Will … Continue reading

Posted in Libraries, Metrics, Open Access, Peer Review | Leave a comment

Republican Meteorologist: Conservatism and Conservation Aren’t Mutually Exclusive

ThinkProgress posts a message from a critically endangered species: a Republican who believes climate change is occurring: I’m going to tell you something that my Republican friends are loath to admit out loud: climate change is real. I am a … Continue reading

Posted in Climate Change, Environmental policy, Sustainability, Risk Management, & Long-Term Security | Leave a comment

The meaning of ‘transformative research’ | AAAS MemberCentral

Bob Frodeman and I have another post about transformative research. Making great headway on the workshop report/white paper, too. Stay tuned! The meaning of ‘transformative research’ | AAAS MemberCentral.

Posted in Transformative Research | Leave a comment

The Disposable Professor Crisis

While top executives in college and university settings are busy voting on large pay increases and fringe benefits for themselves, the educators and workers who oversee daily operations and interact with students are increasingly being left in the cold. In … Continue reading

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Philosophical Pathologies

There are many. One of which is this: Philosophers do not keep a sufficient eye out for when a field or topic has become largely ‘emptied out’–where most of the useful work has been done. I’d argue that this is … Continue reading

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