Monthly Archives: November 2011

Militarized Millipedes?

Thinking about the broader impacts of an “army of cyborg insects” is probably worth doing…and not just because of NSF funding criteria.  There’s some pretty wild hubris in the BBC article below – most likely a mix of sensationalistic journalism … Continue reading

Posted in Accountability, Broader Impacts, Economics & STEM Research, Open Access, Science and technology ramifications, STEM Policy, TechnoScience & Technoscientism, Transformative Research | Leave a comment

European Commission announces €80-billion Horizon 2020

European Commission announces €80-billion plan for research : Nature News & Comment.

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Times Higher Education – Value quality of research, not grant proposals, Sir Paul Nurse urges

Sir Paul Nurse is president of the Royal Society. Here is his thinking about impact: In what will be taken as a reference to the [UK] research councils’ “pathways to impact” statements, which all grant applications are obliged to complete, … Continue reading

Posted in Accountability, Broader Impacts, Future of the University, Peer Review, STEM Policy | Leave a comment

Who’s looking at you, kid?

Facebook. And all of their real clients. Here are a couple of interesting takes on the issue of Facebook privacy: a FAQ account from the Washington Post and a scary parody from the Daily Beast. I’m curious to hear your … Continue reading

Posted in Accountability, Science and technology ramifications | Leave a comment

Vandana Shiva’s eco-logic: Seeds as culture

World-renowned activist and intellectual Vandana Shiva describes in a recent video interview why she has spent practically her entire life advocating against the imperialism and colonialism of global agribusiness’ genetically modified, commodified crop strains. [@ 3:15] Interviewer: “What is the … Continue reading

Posted in Science and technology ramifications, Sustainability, Risk Management, & Long-Term Security, TechnoScience & Technoscientism | Leave a comment

The Entrepreneurial Generation – NYTimes.com

The self today is an entrepreneurial self, a self that’s packaged to be sold. I think Deresiewicz has this backward, though — the self today is packaged to be sold because we are in an entrepreneurial age. And that need … Continue reading

Posted in Occupy Wall Street | Leave a comment

Adam Briggle in the Denton Record Chronicle | News for Denton County, Texas | Local News

CSID Faculty Fellow Adam Briggle is featured in the DRC for his work on this issue of well-being and natural gas well drilling. Caution is their watchword | Denton Record Chronicle | News for Denton County, Texas | Local News.

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The African-American people and the Occupy Wall Street Movement: why are they dissonant?

Writer Stacey Patton (who has herself a past of struggles against the system) tells us a few interesting motives regarding why the African-American people are not participating (at least not en masse) in the Occupy Wall Street Movement. We could … Continue reading

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Blogging Like a Beast? – Brainstorm – The Chronicle of Higher Education

How to become what one isn’t; how not to blog like a beast; or how the medium can become the message: If some of these same sentences were tucked into a book that few people ever read, I wouldn’t have … Continue reading

Posted in Public Philosophizing | Leave a comment

The Branding of the Occupy Movement

Kalle Lasn, the longtime editor of the anticonsumerist magazine Adbusters, did not invent the anger that has been feeding the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations across the United States. But he did brand it. Last summer, as uprisings shook the Middle East and … Continue reading

Posted in Occupy Wall Street, Open Access | Leave a comment

Hitler Reacts to Pepper Spray Meme – YouTube

Hitler Reacts to Pepper Spray Meme – YouTube.

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Hydrofracking Debate Spurs Huge Spending by Industry

I wonder to what extent the corporate impact on public policy is currently being taken into account in mainstream STS (Science, technology, and society) studies. Is attention being paid to the role of lobbying and advertising in driving innovation or … Continue reading

Posted in Climate Change, Degrowth Economics, Environmental policy, Science and technology ramifications, Sustainability, Risk Management, & Long-Term Security, TechnoScience & Technoscientism | Leave a comment

The Unbearable Lightness of Forgiveness

Rob Johnson, a former banker and former investment partner with George Soros, now heads the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET). He endorses debt reduction because social destruction is the great uncalculated cost of doing nothing. “There are so many … Continue reading

Posted in Degrowth Economics, Occupy Wall Street, Sustainability, Risk Management, & Long-Term Security, TechnoScience & Technoscientism | 1 Comment

A visit to Zuccotti Park

It was a pleasant Sunday afternoon when I went to Zuccotti Park in New York – precisely on November 13. Finally I was in the middle of this famous protest. After all, it now has a worldwide notoriety – I … Continue reading

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Rebels Without an Ideological Cause

It is clear (although perhaps not to Fox News viewers) that we are living in a moment of historic political resistance. The “Arab Spring” is convulsing the political regimes of the Middle East and the “Occupy” movement is emerging as … Continue reading

Posted in Degrowth Economics, Occupy Wall Street, Open Access, Sustainability, Risk Management, & Long-Term Security | 2 Comments

Where Do Leaders Come From? – Slate Labs

Interesting graphic on the composition of America’s elite.

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Chart Of The Day – The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan – The Daily Beast

Chart Of The Day – The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan – The Daily Beast.

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No News Better Than Fox News

Quick, were Egyptian protesters successful in their bid to overthrow longtime president Hosni Mubarak earlier this year? According to a new poll (PDF) from Fairleigh Dickinson University, if you watch Fox News you are significantly less likely to know the correct … Continue reading

Posted in Occupy Wall Street, Public Pedagogy, Sustainability, Risk Management, & Long-Term Security | Leave a comment

More seek philosophy degrees as a basis for kicking off other careers – The Denver Post

Cites an interesting trend… if trend it be. Though not a particularly in-depth article.

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Contra Global-Warming Skepticism

Over the last two years, the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature Project has looked deeply at all the issues raised above… Our work covers only land temperature—not the oceans—but that’s where warming appears to be the greatest. Robert Rohde, our chief … Continue reading

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

Media Coverage of Income Inequality Quintuples

Whatever the objectives of protesters involved in Occupy Wall Street, they have succeeded in engaging the country in a conversation about income inequality. A quick search of the news–including print articles, web stories and broadcast transcripts–via Nexis reveals a significant … Continue reading

Posted in Accountability, Degrowth Economics, Occupy Wall Street, Sustainability, Risk Management, & Long-Term Security | Leave a comment

Public Health vs. Corporate Profitability or: Why Science Cannot (And Does Not) Determine Policy

In his inaugural address, Mr. Obama promised to “restore science to its rightful place” in making government environmental policy. He also pledged to revisit environmental rules set by the administration of George W. Bush that his administration felt were too weak. The … Continue reading

Posted in Accountability, Degrowth Economics, Environmental policy, Occupy Wall Street, Sustainability, Risk Management, & Long-Term Security | Leave a comment

Bootstrapping My Way Into the Ivory Tower

Critics of higher education love to suggest that we professors are living it up. But I’m not. I have less than $100 in my checking account. I’ve been ignoring a recurring robo-call from a company trying to collect a $50 … Continue reading

Posted in Future of the University | Leave a comment

Catastrophic Drought in Texas Causes Global Economic Ripples

The drought map created by University College London shows a number of worryingly dry areas around the globe, in places including East Africa, Canada, France and Britain. But the largest area of catastrophic drought centers on Texas. It is an … Continue reading

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

Student Reaction to Future of Humanity Talk

Below is one of the most cogent student reactions we received to our Sept 07, 2011, Future of Humanity Panel with Brad Allenby, Steve Fuller, & Dan Sarewitz. Shari Esquenazi <shariesquenazi@yahoo.com> is an undergraduate at UNT and wrote this piece … Continue reading

Posted in Public Pedagogy, Public Philosophizing, Science and technology ramifications, TechnoScience & Technoscientism | Leave a comment