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Paul Grobstein's picture

Evolving Systems Course: PGnotes10

EVD's picture

Class Notes 9/28

We started class by disussing some of the posts people made since the last class on A Field Guide to Getting Lost.

Paul Grobstein's picture

Genes, evolution, science education, and science

"One well-known path to change is a heavily favorable mutation in a single gene. But it may be well known only because it is easy to study. Another path is exploitation of mildly favorable differences that already exist in many genes ... Theorists have argued over this point for years, but researchers have been able to address it only recently." ... Natural selection cuts broad swath through fruit fly genome, New York Times, 20 September, 2010

pfischer's picture

Solnit and the unknown unknown

 

 

Our discussion of getting lost made me think of this article from the last summer’s New York Times. I believe it relates to Solnit in the way that getting lost within the bounds of the unknown is unsettling - you don’t physically know your way around the woods, you don’t know what a word means, you cannot interpret a situation or your own thoughts. Unknown unknowns cause the brief flashes of panic that occur once you are ‘found’ – the fact that you are not aware of things you do not know about (take a second to read that slowly) is such an uncomfortable idea, as you cannot prepare for them. Being lost, having an unknown location, is built on the framework of your unknown unknowns. Here’s the article.

pfischer's picture

Exit Through The Gift Shop: (Banksy) via Guetta, (Guetta) via Banksy?

 

Exit through the Gift Shop: (Guetta) via Banksy, not (Banksy) via Guetta

Trailer:

Paul Grobstein's picture

Evolving Systems Course: PGnotes9

L Cubed's picture

The Power of School Culture: Addressing the Issue of Systematic Failure for Black Males

   It can be argued that the U.S. has created and maintained a culture of black males who feel trapped in the stereotypes of society and therefore often fall into them. With no one expecting them to amount to anything but a statistic, African-American males subconsciously fulfill the roles of high school dropout, drug dealer, criminal, gangster, jock, and teen father. They continuously feed into a system that exploits rather than supports them.

rachelr's picture

"Some places speak distinctly. Certain dank gardens cry aloud for a murder; certain old houses demand to be haunted; certain coasts are set apart for shipwrecks." ~Robert Louis Stevenson

 While reading the beginning of The Ecology of Wisdom I was struck by the passages on pages 46 and 64 where Naess speaks about a distinct sense of "place" and that was can be defined by or identify with a particular place. He says, "… the development of a place in which a person feels at home and feels a sense of belonging shows exceptionally clearly some of the forces at work in the establishment of a place," and then later speaks about a physical place being lost or destroyed, saying "… choose a place that you will likely to be able to master when you are older.

kgould's picture

Getting lost and Annie Dillard

I liked Solnit's book. It speaks really strongly into my own understanding of the brain and the mind and the ways in which we learn. A lot of us feel uncomfortable when we get lost, literally or metaphorically. While I'm not going to lie and say that I enjoy wandering around strange places when I have a destination in mind, I do often go for walks into unknown areas around Bryn Mawr. I like looking at the environment around us, both the natural and cultural aspects of it, and I like snooping on the massive houses around here. 

TyL's picture

ORLY?

 I read the essay "Population Reduction: An Ecosophical View" and found it deeply disturbing to say the least, borderline fascist to say the worst. Seriously: it reminded me of some of the Nazi stuff I've read for history classes. The basic idea is that we should reduce our population so as to be more "sustainable" and "ecologically responsible" and all the usual environmental claptrap. That's all well and good, but how are we supposed to decide whose babies don't get born? Naess doesn't really give us an answer. He babbles some pseudo-economical stuff about how much it will or won't cost us, but he doesn't say WHO has to stop having children. I'll tell you who it'll be: you and me.

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