As many of you know I like to celebrate major accomplishments of friends. This time I'll offer previews from two good friends as well as another that could have an impact on education.
The first is Juliette Powell's second book. The A.I. Dilemma: 7 Principles for Responsible Technology is the working title and it's a further development of her dissertation at Columbia. I've been fortunate enough to have read the nearly-final draft. Well balanced and accessible to non-specialists, it's going to be an excellent resource for people trying to sort out promises and pitfalls that can impact much of the future. One person who had an advance look will be using it as required reading for a college course. Be on the lookout!
The second is from Sarah Pavan. One of the best beach volleyball players in the world, she's also a clear and deep thinker. As I've aged I've learned to learn from those outside my area. She's been a source of ideas. At the elite level women's beach volleyball is a mental game with communication being one of the defining aspects. A few months ago her teammate of five years decided to quit the team. Sarah was faced with finding someone with the necessary complementary skill set as well as the drive, passion, ability to communicate and chemistry. Canada only has a few candidates, but Sarah found the right one in Sophie Bukovec. I expect to see them developing as a team over the next year as they focus on the Paris Olympics in 2024.
And finally potential news from what I consider the most important college course in the country. Sense & Sensibility & Science is a course at Berkeley developed and taught by faculty from Physics, Philosophy, and Psychology departments. Here's an overview:
This is a course on the ideas from science that are most widely useful for everyone. Many insights and conceptual tools from scientific thinking are of great utility for all kinds of reasoning, from reading the news critically to making decisions under conditions of uncertainty. The focus in this course is on the errors humans tend to make, and the approaches scientific methodology has developed (and continues to develop) to minimize those errors. The course includes a discussion of the nature of science, what makes science such an effective way of knowing, how both non-scientific thinking and scientific thinking can go awry, and how we can reason more clearly and successfully as individuals, as members of groups, and as citizens of a democracy.
Every day we make decisions that can and should be informed by science. We make decisions as individuals, as voters, and as members of our various communities. We make decisions as students and parents and policy makers. The problem is, we don’t do it so well—a fact sadly apparent in political debates. It’s easy to blame poor decision-making on the greed, irresponsibility, ignorance, or incompetence of other people. But the problem seems to be more basic than that. It seems we face a paradox. Living in a democracy means that everyone’s view counts the same as everyone else’s. But to make decisions informed by science, we often need to defer to those with relevant expertise. Therefore, we shouldn't rely on a democratic system to make the best decisions. Or should we? This basic tension between science and democratic decision-making serves as a unifying theme for Sense & Sensibility & Science (SSS), a course that aims to equip students with basic tools to be better thinkers. We will explore key aspects of scientific thinking that everyone should know, especially the many ways that we humans tend to fool ourselves, and how to avoid them—including how to differentiate signal from noise, evaluate causal claims, and avoid reasoning biases. We’ll then look at the best models for using science to guide decisions, since the rational and arational (e.g., values, fears, and goals) then have to be combined. We will explore these themes experientially, often with in-class activities and discussions, and we will culminate in two open-ended projects to design better methods of deliberation and decision making, first as groups, and then as individuals. Co-taught by faculty from Physics, Philosophy, and Psychology, S&S&S fosters intellectual advancement for interdisciplinary knowledge seekers.
Browse through the topics and resources section. You'll get something reading the recommended materials and thinking about the topics. It's one of the few places outside the community where I've seen scientific optimism discussed. A book is being developed aimed at college students, although it should be widely applicable. There's a serious need to put together something like this at the high school level even though many states would probably label thinking about the process of science as 'woke'..
feel free to comment!
My best course ever was as an undergrad at Notre Dame. The title of the course was Ways of Knowing, it had 12 students and was taught by Ernan McMulin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernan_McMullin . It was fantastic and one of the few courses I would anticipate each week. Ernan went through various disciplines History, Science, ... even Comedy. What I learned in that course still influences me at 71 years of age. More scientist should take courses like that and more lawyers should take science. 'Nuff said. I appreciate that you always celebrate friends accomplishments and we celebrate being your friend every day.
Posted by: Gregg Vesonder | 10/28/2022 at 12:40 PM
+1 and thank you Gregg!
A course of sorts for me last year was reading 'How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question' by Michael Schur with four other people. It’s a great version of philosophy 101 and terribly funny. I *strongly* recommend the audiobook over the printed copy even if you don't like audiobooks. That as well as putting together a discussion group.
I had a lot of exciting classes as an undergrad, but they were too focused.. nothing like what you describe. The problem of a too focused eduction.
Posted by: steve crandall | 10/28/2022 at 01:00 PM