To me, the take home message from David Brooks’ article “What You’ll Do Next” and Tyler Cowen’s follow-on comment is that “Big Data” is a potentially useful tool, but alone it is not a coherent or inspiring approach to life.
Category: Follies of the Human Condition
Sunday Poem outsourced to The New York Review of Books
I’m traveling with limited internet access, but it’s National Poetry Month. That means it’s not hard to find good poetry on the internet. For this week, let me direct you to The New York Review of Books’ feature on John Ashbury.
[S]omething irrevocably and personally fastidious does emerge from the industrial process which digests his love of art deco and old B movies, and—to quote Webster’s dictionary on the term—shows “the progress of materials through various stages by means of a manufacturing process.” That “schematic diagram,” claims the jacket copy, is “nothing less than the entire poem itself.”
Industry is now old hat in poetry, but perhaps not quite in this sense. Ashbery’s total and seemingly effortless absorption in the dense technology of modern living is a million years away from the days of the Thirties, when poets self-consciously made pylons stride across the uplands like nude giant girls. And yet Ashbery begins with “an emptiness / so sudden it leaves the girders whanging in the absence of wind.” His “newness” has a long history behind it, a history of poetic properties broken down for recycling but suddenly reconstituted in unexpected and effective ways, to lie around like the stranded monster rotting in the reeds of Rimbaud’s Bateau Ivre.
Science “Fair?”
As a science-y spouse of a secondary school biology teacher, I’ve judged my share of science fairs. I have routinely struggled with the judging criteria. In one case, my wife rewrote the judging rubric being used to focus on how well the student implemented the scientific method, not superficial elements. I often struggled with being asked to give points for “importance” or “novel research”. These are high school/middle school science fairs. You want curiosity. And screw “novel”. Reproducibility and retesting are part of science too. I would leave glowing notes complimenting students even though the judging criteria wouldn’t let me give them top scores because, for example, parts of their board presentation were hand written.
The previous paragraph was an incoherent ramble. For a very coherent discussion of Science Fair issues, especially reinforcing privilege and excluding disadvantaged students, you need to read Erin Salter’s “Science fairs: rewarding talent or privilege?” at PLoS’s Sci-Ed blog.
The nominal purpose of science fairs is to promote student-led inquiry and give kids hands-on experience with the scientific method. Much of our science education centers on the “product” of science – established laws, facts, and theories…Student-led projects (like those done for the science fair) are one way to incorporate open-ended inquiry into education.
However, the rewards system of the science fair is flawed. There is no equity of access to lab facilities and equipment or access to scientific mentors, meaning some students are disadvantaged from the start…the students who win these science fairs will often be the ones with the best access. – Erin Salter
Economic Regions
Physicist Dirk Brockman used data on dollar bill movements to identify economic regions.
While the physical transfer of cash may no longer represent our economic activity as well as it once did, it is still interesting stuff. I do quibble with the concept that the economic activity regions correspond to “states” (Brockman is German). I also think information on direction of flow is extremely important. I am happy to see that the concept of “The Carolinas” is apparently real and that Ohio State fans express their dislike of Michigan with their wallets too.
*Hat tip to Jennifer Ouellette.
Boston
There are many things that can be said about yesterday’s events in Boston. It is hard to imagine saying any of them better than Dave Munger’s “In praise of Boston”. Dave is an editor for Science Seeker and ran the Boston Marathon yesterday.
Marathon day in Boston is one of the warmest and most heartfelt holidays and events that I have ever been a part of. Someone tried to take that away from the people of Boston yesterday, but I don’t think they succeeded. They only gave Boston another chance to show how generous and brave its people are. While I am horrified by the events that occurred yesterday, I’m glad to have had the chance to see so many people at their best.
Boston’s people showed us their true colors yesterday. They gave the rest of us something to aspire to. – Dave Munger
He doesn’t dwell on the evil that was done. He doesn’t even spend a lot of time on the amazing quirk of human nature that makes people run toward a tragedy and danger to help. Dave movingly shows us that we shouldn’t be surprised, because yesterday’s Boston Marathon, both before and after the bombs, demonstrated that we are there for each other.
Tragic events highlight the light and the dark in the human soul, but they are always there. Thankfully, there is a lot more light.
The Finch and Pea 