Reading and Writing had a link to this article about Thomas Friedman. Regarding Iraq he hit many of the same notes as Daniel Elsberg, but he was far more charitable, saying that muddle-headed policies need muddle-headed defenders. Daniel Elsberg was more brutally honest about the kind of people who got us into and support our current Iraq policies.
Both Boingboing and Slashdot referenced joey hess using cvs to manage his home directory. I saw the headlines and thought, "Hmm. Where have I seen that name before?" then realized that he's the creator of mooix, which I've been looking at. I'm currently thinking I should set up a MOO at home that the boys could use -- and maybe get their friends involved in. I would have loved something like that when I was a kid. They've enjoyed D and D, so maybe a MOO isn't too far out. At work I've been using the LambdaMOO system with JHCore, but mooix looks easier. Of course mooix isn't really done either.
Robert Reich is speaking on campus tonight. He had a great editorial in the Washington Post that was reprinted in our local paper on Sunday. Near the end, he says
We need to guard against what is already a drift away from basic research toward applied research and development -- that is, from the creation of new knowledge that can be put to many different uses versus R&D that's related to the commercialization of specific products, especially military-related aerospace, telecommunications and weapons.
Unfortunately, by reducing public funding for Universities, this is exactly what is happening. Time was when the productivity of faculty was measured in "articles written". Now the measure is "grants funded". Essentially nothing else matters.
I'm so happy!
Robert Reich gave an excellent speech. There were no real surprises: he talked about the fallacy of supply side economics and globalization, then used them to draw a justification for supporting higher education. Supply side economics has the mistaken assumption that if you give more money to people who are already spending as much as they want, they will invest it in ways that benefit the rest of us. But globalization lets people invest money anywhere -- not just in the local economy. As the job market shifts farther and farther towards knowledge work (as low-wage jobs simply vanish to automation), what determines the economic success of a region the "value-added" a region can offer to the global economy, which is determined by the number of highly educated knowledge workers. Education, and particularly higher education, is critical for maintaining the supply of these workers. It is having these well-educated workers in the region that can bring up the whole economy.
I got to ask a question. I asked
I have heard that the current recession is masking the effects of what will become a chronic labor shortage -- especially of educated workers -- as the baby boomers retire. Is there anything higher education can do to position itself to take advantage of this?
He summarized my question as "the effect of demographics on the future economy" and basically answered "yes". He said he thought higher education should be able to take advantage of this trend, but didn't have any specific suggestions on how to position ourselves now. There were other questions I would have liked to have asked too.
His basic message was that we liberals, who live in places like Amherst, Northampton, and Cambridge, need to reach out to people outside of our enclaves and try to help them see that (unlike the respondents of a recent pool) it's inconsistent to believe both (1) that the rich aren't paying their fair share and (2) that the estate tax should be cut. We need to organize more effectively and get the word out.