Skip to content

Archive

Tag: Canadian-American
Chrystia Freeland the 44 year old Canadian-american writer, journalist and editor of Thomson Reuters Digital has published an article titled ‘Finding economists’ common ground’. Freeland states in the article “This is a tough time for experts. Empowered by the Internet and embittered by the sour economy, many people doubt the wisdom of expert elites. Journalism sometimes casts further doubt by seeking polarized positions that can draw an attention-grabbing debate, or by taking refuge in he-said-she-said accounts to avoid the harder job of figuring out who’s right. Now one tribe of specialists – economists – is striking back. Concerned that the great unwashed have come to see all economic proposals as being equally valid, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business has led an effort to figure out what economists agree on, where they diverge and how certain they are about their views. To do that, the Booth school called on reputable economists to join its panel of experts. Each week, the panelists are asked whether they agree or disagree with a particular economic idea. … they did pick up a clear difference between men and women. “Women,” they wrote, “tend to be more cautious in taking a stance.” For women making their way in the 21st-century world of work, that reticence is mostly a handicap – a willingness to admit to uncertainty is one reason women are paid less and can find it difficult to break through the glass ceiling. For the benefit of the community as a whole, though, more female economists may be needed. The quest for objective economic knowledge is surely a good thing, as is the Booth effort to map where economists agree and where they diverge. But, given how profoundly and unexpectedly the world economy collapsed in 2008, maybe a little more womanly humility about that conventional wisdom would be a good thing, too.”  Inspired by Chrystia Freeland, Reuters ow.ly/gT6KV Image source WEF ow.ly/gT7ka A clear difference between men and women (January 27 2013)

Chrystia Freeland the 44 year old Canadian-american writer, journalist and editor of Thomson Reuters Digital has published an article titled ‘Finding economists’ common ground’. Freeland states in the article “This is a tough time for experts. Empowered by the Internet and embittered by the sour economy, many people doubt the wisdom of expert elites. Journalism sometimes casts further doubt by seeking polarized positions that can draw an attention-grabbing debate, or by taking refuge in he-said-she-said accounts to avoid the harder job of figuring out who’s right. Now one tribe of specialists – economists – is striking back. Concerned that the great unwashed have come to see all economic proposals as being equally valid, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business has led an effort to figure out what economists agree on, where they diverge and how certain they are about their views. To do that, the Booth school called on reputable economists to join its panel of experts. Each week, the panelists are asked whether they agree or disagree with a particular economic idea. … they did pick up a clear difference between men and women. “Women,” they wrote, “tend to be more cautious in taking a stance.” For women making their way in the 21st-century world of work, that reticence is mostly a handicap – a willingness to admit to uncertainty is one reason women are paid less and can find it difficult to break through the glass ceiling. For the benefit of the community as a whole, though, more female economists may be needed. The quest for objective economic knowledge is surely a good thing, as is the Booth effort to map where economists agree and where they diverge. But, given how profoundly and unexpectedly the world economy collapsed in 2008, maybe a little more womanly humility about that conventional wisdom would be a good thing, too.”

 

Inspired by Chrystia Freeland, Reuters ow.ly/gT6KV Image source WEF ow.ly/gT7ka

Citizens aren't parasites or background noise (August 13 2012) Citizens aren’t parasites or background noise (August 13 2012)

Dahlia Lithwick the 37 year old Canadian-American editor and legal correspondent has published an article on Slate titled ‘Don’t Even Consider Talking About the Olympics’ in which she discusses the suppression of free speech at U.S. political conventions and at the London Olympic Games. Lithwick states “Remember back when large public events were also the locus of large public protest? As we stare down the barrel of the Olympic Games and the two national political conventions this summer, it’s fair to say that free speech has been reduced to a mere wheeze, both in the United Kingdom and here in the USA. What are truly interesting are the differences between the two: The British are buying up free speech and the Americans are zoning it out. The mania for treating convention protesters like veal is not a new thing. Protesters have been herded into hilariously named “free speech zones” and penned behind fences since the 2004 DNC convention in Boston. …the London Olympics, where—aside from the usual clamping down on protest or even potential protest—we’re see[n] unprecedented restrictions on speech having anything to do with the Olympics. There are creepy new restrictions on journalists, with even nonsportswriters being told they should sign up with authorities. …But these events must be more than just clean staging areas for corporate fabulosity. Protesters, participants, and citizens aren’t parasites or background noise. Addressing threats of terror or real violence is one thing. Treating all speech and protest and media as inherently dangerous and violent is something entirely different.”

 

Inspired by Slate ow.ly/cQCu9 image source Facebook ow.ly/cQCmr

Steven Arthur Pinker the 57 year old Canadian-American Professor of experimental psychology and cognitive science has argued in his recent book ‘The Better Angels of Our Nature’ that human violence has fallen drastically over thousands of years. Pinker’s investigation of human violence, one of the base primal aspects of our lives, takes consideration of homicide rates and war casualties as a percentage of national populations. Pinker is renowned for his theory of language acquisition through his research on verbs, morphology and syntax. Pinker is said to have “popularized Noam chomsky’s work on language as innate faculty of mind, with the twist that this faculty evolved by natural selection as a Darwinian adaptation for communication.” Pinker’s work on human cognition suggests that combinatorial symbol manipulation has a significant part to play in the workings of cognition, not just associations among sensory features as many connectionist models argue.

 

Inspired by Carl Zimmer http://ow.ly/7UVlm image source twitter http://ow.ly/7UVpe

Rss Feed Tweeter button Facebook button Technorati button Reddit button Myspace button Linkedin button Delicious button Digg button Flickr button Stumbleupon button Newsvine button Youtube button