Big History--I Mean BIG History

I finished listening to Professor David Christian's Big History course from the Teaching Company (courtesy of ICPL). When he says "big" he means from the Big Bang (now pegged about 13.7 billion years ago) to peering deep into the future (where does this story stop?). This project, and he's now one of many that are pursuing this new line of thinking, is really quite entertaining and fascinating. You may recall that I posted on his TED Talk on the subject, but in this course he gives 48 one-half hour lectures. They are organized around theme of complexity, how from the Big Bang, the simple in the universe has become more complex, entropy notwithstanding. The early science is interesting, but I'm most into the human history, and Christian does a fine job here. Of course, as human society has become more complex, so the story tends to back load. That is, since about 1700, and the oncoming of modernity, change to humanity has come fast and furious (literally furious in some arenas). In fact, one measure of how complex we have become is the density of energy use. Of course, this may prove our downfall, as well. We shall see: the story isn't over yet! If like me, you're in the car and have more than enough news, why not take a trip down memory lane! This was enjoyable and informative. Recommended. (And thank you, ICPL!)

You Go Girls!

The recent chastisement (could there be a better word for it) of American nuns by the Vatican has brought out some very interesting commentary. From my read on it, almost anyone who has any first hand experience with nuns has, on the whole, a great deal of admiration for them and the work that they perform on behalf of the Church and the Gospel. I think that nuns, rather than priests and the Vatican, are held in much greater admiration today by most folks. The opinions have certainly been strongly put. Garry Wills, in addition to advising that nuns are interested in "the powerless" and priests in "power", also writes warmly of his experience as a student for some of his years in a Catholic grade school. Nicholas Kristof and Maureen Dowd both chime in on the topic in the NYT today, both very much on the side of the nuns (both are from Catholic backgrounds, although I don't know their status as practitioners; Wills is very much a practitioner of the faith). (One reservation that Iowa Guru pointed out viz. Dowd: she couldn't resist the stereotypical comment at the end about a wrap on the knuckles, going for cute when she could have done without.) Of course, the best source on the subject are the nuns themselves and the nun (Sister Simone Campbell) who spoke on NPR. No, don't mess with those nuns! (Thanks for Africa Girl for the initial point to the NPR interview and the whole fracus.)

Fine Flick Alert: Chimpanzee

Think of some of the most enthralling, poignant, and memorable movies you've began seeing as a child, you'll probably think of a nature movie, and one probably released by Disney. Well, good news, they've done it again. Chimpanzee is a study of a young chimp in the wild of Africa (they do not specify where). The shots of life among these chimps is amazing, and these simian cousins of ours provided fascinating viewing. So close and yet so far from us. However, even as we realize the differences, we see so much of ourselves in their social interactions, bonds, cooperation, rivalries, and warfare. Understand: life is not cuddly and fun, and war (let's call it that, although one might argue that it's a bit too anthropomorphic) occurs. We see Mom and Machiavelli. Anyway, fascinating and worthwhile for almost all age groups.

Asking Questions: Effectiveness & Good Manners

Our good friends at the very useful site Farnum Street provided this post about interviewing. It's what I do for a living in large measure, so needless to say I read it. I find some interesting recommendations & more to explore. I'll bet any reader of this blog has a similar use for questions and interviews, so I think that it's potentially useful to anyone.

After reading the how/what to ask article, read this article about the etiquette of asking questions in a public forum, a sorely under appreciated skill. IMHO, some very good advice is found here. I almost always cringe @ open mike questions because of the either awful or awkward (or both) questions that get asked. This writer has obviously experienced the same things, and his reflections provide very sound observations about how to avoid the idiocy.

Nasim Taleb on Antifragility

This interview of Taleb previews his book and thoughts on Antifragility that will be coming out this fall. Taleb is both entertaining (and sometimes exasperating) and awfully enlightening, combining some very ancient ideas with some very sophisticated contemporary insights. This presentation, like my recent post of the Gergerenzer talk, comes from the Zurich Minds conference, which appears to be Swiss TED talks.



Wait! Actyally a better, more coherent & easy to follow presentation given @ Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School:

Fine Flick Alert! "Margin Call"

Iowa Guru & I watched this earlier tonight & discovered an outstanding flick. (Thank you, Netflicks.) This fine, ensemble cast film led by Kevin Spacey & Jeremy Irons depicts about 36 hours in a the day of a major investment house that has found its risk management formula mismatched with reality. Read: 2008.

The writer/director is the son of a Wall Street trader, and he provides a sympathetic view of the characters involved. In other words, it's not a demonization of those involved (although we're not talking saints and angels here), but they are portrayed as vulnerable, scared, greedy, and befuddled human beings (to name but a few qualities revealed in the course of events). While Spacey & Irons are the big names and provide excellent performances, the entire case works very well. (Stanley Tucci also has a small but crucial role.)

To get a sense of the human side of the Crash of 2008 from the inside, I couldn't imagine of a better film consideration. Documentaries can capture events and history, but this film, I thought, captured what I could imagine to the essence of the players involved. The documentary to watch is the one narrated by Matt Damon entitled Inside Job.

Gerd Gegerenzer on Decision-Making

A fascinating (albeit a bit wonky) talk on decision-making. But do you have any decisions with a degree (if not total) uncertainty? If you're like me, you have them in spades. If so, you may find the good herr doktor's talk worthwhile:

Better Than TED Talks? RSAnimate & The Divided Brain

Two topics here:

1. Is RSAnimate better than TED talks? Of course, it's not a contest, but this type of presentation I find very lively & engaging. The visual (a skill that I deeply admire, probably because of my lack of talent) really adds to the presentation without dumbing down the presentation.

2. Brain & neuroscience research is a fascinating topic & one that continues to grow and give us insight. The idea--a flawed one I believe--that divides Reason & Passion goes back at least to Plato in the West, with a big boost from Descartes along the way. But while it has some metaphorical value, taken too literally it's false. This view, better than the old Left Brain-Right Brain exact division of function, gives us a new view of ourselves that should prove very useful and practical. Dr. Iain McGilchrist does an excellent job here of providing a succinct talk that outlines his thought while accompanied by a delightfully entertaining and enlightening whiteboard drawing done while he's speaking (or so it appears). 

Found courtesy of a Jonathan Haidt Tweet.

Fascinating Interview with Robert Caro by Charlie Rose

This interview is about 3 years old, but on the eve of publication of Caro's latest installment, it's worth watching. In anticipation I took up Master of the Senate, volume 3 of the Years of Lyndon Johnson (winner of the Pulitzer Prize). Great pros and great scene setting mark this effort. Caro mentions some of his method in the interview. He is a masterful biographer, and whether you love Lyndon (does anyone?) or hate him (too easy a judgment), this ongoing biography is a fascinating account of his life and times.

Jonathan Haidt, Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics & Religion

This is a very fine book. It combines social science research, personal anecdote, and thoughtful observation & concern about the world in which he lives. Haidt's story, which he weaves into the book & which gives it some narrative drive to add to the insightful analytics. Jumping forward a bit, Haidt, a someone typical liberal, Democrat, non-religious academic, wonders why Bush ruled (so to speak). His research leads him into investigating the moral universes of liberals and conservatives (as understood in American politics). His conclusion: liberals have 3 areas of primary concern, but conservatives have five--authority and loyalty have an importance for conservatives that they don't have for liberals. Thus, liberals (think John Kerry), ignore the moral universe of a number of voters.

In addition to the moral universes, Haidt talks about how argumentation, not logic or computing drives our thinking. In other words, we decide what we think & then argue to justify it. Yes, I think so.

His other main insight is that human are not so much selfish as "groupish". In other words, we are very social animals.

Okay, I have to go, so I'll stop here. But this is a very insightful book. It rewards while also giving a great deal of reading pleasure. Enjoy!

Garry Wills, The Font of Life: Ambrose, Augustine & the Mystery of Baptism

In this small book, Garry Wills comes back around to the most recurring subject of his varied writings, St. Augustine. Sharing stage with Augustine is Ambrose, the man who baptized him, and who, along with Jerome and Augustine, serves as one of the Fathers of the Western Church. Wills does an excellent job of bringing to life not only the ecclesiastical and religious issues of the day, but he also gives some sense of the political, especially as Ambrose dueled with the emperors who then resided in Milan. Wills also focuses on the meaning and significance of baptism as practiced by Ambrose, which consisted in an elaborate ritual during Holy Week, and he compares it with Augustine's later, more spare style of sacramental ritual.

One comes away from the book with a greater appreciation of what the world looked like at that time as far as religion and politics stood, and, of course, some of the interaction between them. Great intellectual debates were waged and the course of history took a different (how different?) turn because of them. Wills also does an excellent job of bringing to light the sacramental meaning and symbolism of baptism. And he highlight's Augustine's adoption of Ambrose's typology for use of the Old Testament in a New Testament context, a form of Biblical scholarship that has survived for centuries.

An outstanding book.

Body by Science by Doug McGuff, M.D. & John LIttle

An excellent work on fitness through strength training. McGuff is an ER doc & runs a gym. His message (with co-author little): five basic exercises done very intensely (5-10" for each concentric & eccentric rep (at one set), heavy weight, to failure for a total of about 12' duration of actual exercise time, can give you high-level fitness. Does it work? I'm giving it a try. So what to do with the rest of your time? Have fun! A very well-written, argued, and laid-out book. I think that they're on to something, and well worth a trial. My preliminary work that way (finding the right weight to keep the adequate time under tension (key concept) takes a bit of experiment, but it seems to work.

Gary Taubes on Food Studies: Digest Carefully!

A bit technical, but as usual with Taubes, this article from the NY Times is carefully researched and argued. In short, most nutritional studies are full or correlations and can generate interesting possibilities, but they don't prove causation. Another case of lies, damned lies, and statistics. Statistics gone wild, you might say. As causation is the crucial knowledge we need for understanding our environment, we can't give it too much careful consideration.

Public Enemy No. 1? Sugar, Baby

I've referred to Dr. Robert Lustig before a couple of times courtesy of Gary Taubes. Put simply, sugar is as addictive as cocaine & as evil (in more than minimal quantities) as tobacco & alcohol. Wow. Nasty. It's enough to ruin my cup of ice cream! This 60 Minutes segment really brings the point home!

BTW, I learned of this via the site War on Insulin. Good stuff there.

Recipe for The Hunger Games Movie

Mix the following ingredients:

1. A serving of Shirley Jackson's The Lottery;
2. Add a hint of Richard Connell's The Most Dangerous Game
3. Season with some Wizard of Oz (an Emerald City and those city folk in their funky dress;
4. Add some Spartacus: Roman names and a Roman-style spectacle in a bread & circuses atmosphere;
5. Throw in a Harry Potter train ride;
6. Mix in some Last of the Mohicans (Daniel Day-Lewis version with the American woodlands & a mercy killing to save a rival from cruel and lingering slow death);
7. A healthy dose of the faux-reality of American "reality" television;
8. A equal amount of talk show faux-intimacy;
9. Some Walker Evans scenes of Appalachian poverty;
10. A Twilight love-triangle (I've not seen any of them, but the previews sure suggest it);
11.Some old Western gun-slinger life;
11. And just a hint of Acemegulu & Robinson's Why Nations Fail (an the extractive elite and the exploited, politically weak majority).

Did I forget anything? Well, probably. This was quite a mash-up, almost a never-ending homage. Yet, despite the mulligan stew of elements, I really rather enjoyed it. Predictable, indeed familiar in many senses, but nevertheless compelling. The acting didn't go over the top. Ms. Lawrence presented a pleasant but not overwhelming presence (she is not knock-out gorgeous, which was actually refreshing).