Liberal arts needed in the tech world: why having a facility for languages, of all sorts, enhances the richness of software development. From the editorial: Most liberal arts degrees encourage a well-rounded curriculum that can give students exposure to programming alongside the humanities. Philosophy, literature, art, history and language give students a thorough understanding of how [...]
Of books to books: Geoffrey Crayon speaks to volumes in the library of Westminster Abbey, and ponders the ways time and technology transform our knowledge. “Language gradually varies, and with it fade away the writings of authors who flourished their allotted time…. Formerly there were some restraints on this excessive multiplication. Works had to be transcribed by [...]
AI is coming, and it's our boon: how working with computers and technology can, in fact, aid the inquiry into ourselves. From the editorial: Making artificial intelligence easy for regular people to use and love depends on a field of research called human-computer interaction, or HCI. And for Ben Shneiderman, a computer science professor at the University of Maryland, [...]
Reading philosophy and economic theory, Charles Koch turns his business acumen and ambition to the spread of research ideas. From the article and interview: Polanyi’s “The Republic of Science: Its Political and Economic Theory,” published in 1962, is the text that best illustrates what Koch is trying to do with his massive personal fortune — and [...]
The Humanities Code: how literature helps to write software. The author talks about the creative process required to compose ideas in all languages, including the technological. From the article: I’ve worked in software for years and, time and again, I’ve seen someone apply the arts to solve a problem of systems. The reason for this [...]
Can the humanities provide the skills that employers find missing? A survey of employers shows that college graduates lack both the "hard" and "soft" skills they are seeking, from writing to problem solving. From the article. Among ‘hard skills’ – unambiguous proficiencies useful on the job – managers said new grads were most lacking in [...]
Free speech and the humanities: do the humanities foster, or inhibit, freedom of expression? The author decries the "identity politics" and "improper advocacy" among the humanities, which undermine open, rigorous inquiry. From the article: The problem of political correctness is intensified by the increasing fixation of humanities and even history departments on “presentism,” that is, a preoccupation [...]
How liberal arts can be, despite conventional thinking, the pathway to economic success. From the article: Employers' demand for professionals with a liberal arts background might actually be greater than generally perceived, largely because their broader scope of knowledge and skills learned can differentiate themselves from the pool of candidates.
Scholars bulldozing history. How Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study will demolish an important site of the American Revolution: the Battle of Princeton. From the article: In today’s academia there are many scholars against scholarship, including historians hostile to history — postmodernists who think the past is merely a social construct reflecting the present’s preoccupations, or [...]
A classics major adds value for engineering and STEM: a profile of Tim O'Reilly, who brings classical ethics and eloquence to the world of technology. From the article: O’Reilly has a deep understanding of how knowledge should disseminate in a society, and how best to make that happen.... Building a knowledge community is an art, [...]
