Biweekly links for 12/29/2008

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2 comments

  1. That Academic Evolution link is wonderful.

    It seems to me that there is a hierarchy of revolution.

    Mathematics: no revolution … the business of mathematics has been and remains theorem-proving.

    Physical science: modest revolution … the business of physical science is to discover basic physical laws, of which we now know plenty.

    Engineering: radical revolution … advances in mathematics and physical science have made model-based engineering orders-of-magnitude more effective, both as a radically effective technical tool and as an even more radically effective social tool.

    Humanities: revolution so profound as to threaten complete academic collapse … what the heck are the academic humanities nowadays, anyway?

  2. John, thanks for your thoughts on differences in changes to education across disciplines. As I’m in the humanities, I wrestle with your final question most (though I’m trying to track other disciplines, too). See my series on changes to humanities publishing (http://tinyurl.com/7w3p3a). I’d like to know what you mean, though, by advances making “model-based engineering orders-of-magnitude more effective.”

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