listen soon science

Today, more people live in cities than in rural areas and, by 2050, this ratio is predicted to rise to 7 out of every 10 people. Can we rethink how we design and live in cities? What will the impact of increasing numbers of people living in cities be on society, or biodiversity, or on food, water and energy security? A panel of distinguished speakers focuses on some of these most pressing challenges faced by our cities. 

Sustainable Cities

I do enough writing about technology, so here's something a little different.

This is the audio version of a post, which you can find here - http://techsupportrich.com/post/91089158201/fine-tuning

Original Post

Fine Tuning

In March astronomers in the BICEP2 collaboration announced they had found gravitational waves from the Big Bang.  But now the evidence is being questioned.  Dr Lucie Green reports. Published on July 9, 2014.

Frontiers: Inflation and Cosmology

A Public Lecture by Conspiracy & Democracy Visiting Fellow Stef Aupers (Erasmus University of Rotterdam).

In the social sciences, a conspiracy theory is often disqualified as ‘irrational’ superstition or religious belief. In defense, conspiracy theorists present their methods of inquiry as utterly rational – often even more scientific than ‘dogmatic’ institutionalized science. In this lecture, it is argued that both definitions of conspiracy theories are inadequate: they are basically moral labels and informed by a power struggle over ‘true’ knowledge. At closer empirical inspection, conspiracy theorists combine aspects of science and religion to find the ‘truth out there’. On the one hand, they embrace modern skepticism about contemporary institutions, experts and the knowledge they produce. On the other, they are motivated by a desire to believe in a progressively ‘disenchanted world’: by making claims about invisible, yet powerful forces operating beyond the empirical surface of everyday life, they attribute ultimate meaning to a modern, rationalized and globalized society. Conspiracy culture is a complex constellation of skepticism and belief – a rational form of re-enchantment. 

Conspiracy theories between secular scepticism and religious salvation

A public talk by Professor Joseph Parent (University of Miami) & Professor Joseph Uscinski (University of Miami).

Are conspiracy theories overtaking deliberative societies, inflaming discourse and degrading democracy? How much more prone to violence are conspiracy theorists? Which political party is more likely to traffic in conspiratorial talk? Has the Internet ushered in a new era of conspiracy-fueled paranoia? Using original data sources spanning more than a century, Joseph E. Uscinski and Joseph M. Parent provide surprising answers. In taking stock of American conspiracy theories, Uscinski and Parent argue that much of what we thought we knew about conspiracy theories needs amending.

Joseph E. Uscinski is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami. He earned his Ph.D. in American Politics at the University of Arizona. Professor Uscinski teaches and studies mass media, public opinion, and campaigns.

Joseph M. Parent is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami. He received his bachelors from the University of Chicago and doctorate from Columbia University. Professor Parent teaches international relations theory, foreign policy, and security studies. 

American Conspiracy Theories

"Is Democracy Conspiratorial?: Koselleck, Furet, and the Debate on the French Revolution"

Since the time of the abbé Barruel, the French Revolution - the source of democratic claims eventually the world over - has been unmasked as the outcome of a dark conspiracy. This talk will examine some of the contemporary legacies of this claim about the secret agenda of democratic self-rule, with a focus on some famous main twentieth-century commentators like Reinhart Koselleck and François Furet who were insufficiently critical of the old allegation even in renovating our sense of where the Revolution fits in modern politics. Dwelling on some of the intellectual origins of Furet's "Interpreting the French Revolution," in which the conspiracy claim figured, the talk will distinguish that strand of the book from other and more valuable impulses, which had other sources, notably the view that democracy is the rule of no one, so that it is very hard to justify or even securely locate its legitimate authorities at any given time.

Samuel Moyn is James Bryce Professor of European Legal History at Columbia University, where he has been teaching since 2001. He is author of "The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History" (2010) and a new collection of essays entitled "Human Rights and the Uses of History" (2014). From July 1, 2014, he will take up a new position as professor of law and history at Harvard University. 

Is Democracy Conspiratorial?

I've been writing music most of my life. Songs have always been the place where I've sorted out the events of day. If you trace these songs back far enough they tell a story of where I've been and what I've seen along the way. That said, most people don't have the time to sort through the hundreds of songs that have collected in the wake of my 20 plus years behind a piano, and that's why I love "Cecilia and the Satellite". As a song it encapsulate so much living against the back drop of a new life. Cecilia was written with the knowledge that my wife and I would soon meet our first child. With the hope of avoiding territory this type of song often treads, I tried to create a road map of the life I had lived leading up to that moment. One my daughter might look back on some day. A strange life of constant motion, spent traveling in the pursuit of music. A life I’ve nearly lost on more than one occasion and one which I am thankful for, now more than ever. Deep down this song is about more than me and where I’ve been, it’s about more than my daughter and what I want for her. It’s about being proud of where you come from and wanting the most for the people you share your world with.

Keep an eye out for tour dates on Monday!

LYRICS
I’ve locked myself in a hotel room
Then waited all night for the walls to move
I've loved some girls that I barely knew
I’ve made some friends, and I’ve lost some too
 
Crashed my car, I was seventeen
My mother in the seat riding next to me
The things I’ve learned from a broken mirror
How a face can change when a heart knows fear
 
For all the things my eyes have seen, the best by far is you
 
If I could fly, then I would know
What life looks like from up above and down below
I’d keep you safe, I’d keep you dry
Don’t be afraid, Cecilia, I’m the satellite
And you’re the sky
 
Oh, Oh
 
I've café crawled through Amsterdam
Been around the world with a punk rock band
And I’ve seen London, and I’ve played Japan
I’ve been knocked down, I got up again
 
For all the places I have been, I’m no place without you
 
If I could fly, then I would know
What life looks like from up above and down below
I’d keep you safe, I’d keep you dry
Don’t be afraid, Cecilia, I’m the satellite
And you’re the sky
 
Oh, Oh
I’m the satellite
And you’re the sky
 
For all the things my hands have held, the best by far is you
 
If I could fly, then I would know
What life looks like from up above and down below
I’d keep you safe, I’d keep you dry
Don’t be afraid, Cecilia, I’m the satellite
And you’re the sky
And you’re the sky
I’m the satellite
And you’re the sky
And you’re the sky


Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness

Cecilia And The Satellite

Matt Daggett, Greenpeace International's global campaign leader for forests, visits with Amy Mount, Yale F&ES '15, about the organization's theory of change and climate policy in the US. 

listen soon science

Mikelzap