Apple Revolutionizes Education?

As you may or may not know, Apple announced last week three initiatives designed to revolutionize education: fully interactive and affordable digital iBook textbooks for the iPad, iBooks Author (for those of you interested in creating your own interactive textbooks) and their new iTunesU app.

Obviously, one would have to purchase an iPad, which is exactly what Apple is banking on, but whatever their economic scheme, it's hard to argue that the educational value one gets in return isn't worth the investment

Now, I'm not usually one to blog about technology and gadgets, but the following presentation is about education, a topic quite dear to my heart, and it will blow your mind:

If you can be kind enough to get my poor ass an iPad, I'll be your bff! :)

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Alain de Botton - Atheism 2.0

Traditionally, religion has been associated with a number of different concepts: explanation, revelation, salvation and consolation. The so-called New Atheists have made a strong case that when it comes to explanation, religion is no better than child fantasies. Revelation, as a corollary of explanation turns out to be another silly concept, as is salvation... whatever that might mean.

One of the few areas in which religion does seem to thrive (regardless of whether its premises are true or not), that current secularism doesn't quite know how to deal with yet is consolation in its various forms: community, identity, tradition, reverence.

In the following fascinating TEDTalk presentation, atheist philosopher Alain de Botton (narrator of the documentary series Philosophy: A Guide to Happiness) argues that there is much in this area that a more advanced and nuanced and less reactionary atheism can actually learn, and steal, from the lessons developed by religions for thousands of years.

And for more, there is a short Q&A in the TED Blog.

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Hitler reacts to SOPA

I'm having a hard time concentrating on work today, so instead of simply procrastinating, I've decided to raise some awareness about SOPA and PIPA without getting too technical or boring... and so I present to you Hitler!

You know that there is something fundamentally wrong with the above-mentioned legislation when the voice of reason comes from one of the worst and most brutally violent and despotic tyrants of all time... Say hello to major cognitive dissonance :)

"Don't cry. Disney owns the rights to that emotion" :)

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Stop SOPA and PIPA

Via The Oatmeal

Should copyrighted material be protected? Definitely.

But SOPA and PIPA are not the way to do it. Learn more about it, and then do something about it...

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Fear Factory

Economists use the concept of externalities (or external costs) to refer to those costs that that are paid (usually against their will) by parties other than those who engage directly in a purchasing contract.

You know how you love a good bargain? Well, those low prices are not something borne out of the generosity and kindness of corporations. The costs are transferred, and ultimately paid for by the horrible working conditions of workers in some remote corner of the world, by the low wages such workers receive, by their deteriorating health, by their inability to form unions who might protect them, by the depletion of their natural resources, you get the picture.

The money you don't pay a corporation is the same money that corporation takes away from some kid in a dark and damp factory who doesn't have a choice, a voice or a say. So, as Jon Stewart shows in the following clip, you might want to think about all those unnecessary gadgets you carry around, and the real costs that producing them and giving you a lower price ultimately represent.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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And when it comes to food, external costs are also paid by the poor animals who must endure nightmarish living conditions on a daily basis until they are cruelly slaughtered... all so you can enjoy some steak or a hamburger that will eventually give you diabetes...

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Dangerous Knowledge

Beneath the surface of the world are the rules of science, but beneath them there is a far deeper set of rules, a matrix of pure mathematics, which explains the nature of the rules of science...

So begins this David Malone tour-de-force tribute to four geniuses who dared to confront the nature of the rules underlying all mathematics, logic and science, and saw in their various ways that the certainty with which we had become so familiar and comfortable was but an illusion.

Their stories are both inspiring and tragic. These men, Georg Cantor, Ludwig Boltzmann, Kurt Gödel and Alan Turing, were all destined for intellectual fame and greatness, if only posthumously, but because of the nature of their research, because of the intense dedication that their academic problems demanded of them, because of the great resistance they had to overcome from detractors, and because of the major threat they posed to our most foundational beliefs, they came to the brink of madness, and their ends were all tragic, lonely and regrettable. For all of that, however, and however briefly, they each got a glimpse of a reality few, if any of us, will ever get to experience.

This is, quite possibly, the best thing you may do for your brain this week...

And for another masterpiece on Alan Turing's intellectual contributions, check out Jim Al-Khalili's The Secret Life of Chaos.

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Circular Tip of the Hat / Wag of the Finger

One of the mantras underlying conservatism is the idea of radical freedom and personal responsibility: in America, you have the freedom to become anything you want. So, when you succeed, you should be able to keep your earnings (this is one reason they hate taxes). But when you fail, don't come crying and asking for handouts: it's your own damn fault.

Never mind that the system is rigged to perpetuate social and class differences: it's always easier to point fingers and blame those we trample instead of getting our feet off their heads.

Freedom and responsibility are important values to uphold, but the world is full of complexity and nuance. Simplistic false dilemmas and sound bites may sound good to unsophisticated ears, but they do a disservice to the kind of discourse that's necessary for our nation to move forward.

Unfortunately, things are getting so bad that, as Stephen Colbert shows, presidential hopefuls like Rick Santorum are blaming sick, poor, unemployed people who can't afford health insurance for being sick, poor and unemployed...

The Colbert Report
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Rick Santorum is a douchebag because Rick Santorum is a douchebag :)

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