NC State

Sep 26, 2022

How the Nobel Prize Fails Humanity

Oftentimes, we get so wrapped up in proving ourselves to institutions that we never stop to consider if those institutions are just in the first place. Recent class discussion on the merits of the Nobel Prize really got me to consider a number of things. I became curious about the people in history who have… 

Sep 14, 2022

Vostok, the other Apollo

I noticed in our class discussion that we asked a lot of what if questions, about what might have happened differently if certain people or events in the apollo program where changed. Then I realized that we have something to compare apollo to, the Soviet space program, Vostok. The Soviets had a completely separate socio-technological… 

Sep 14, 2022

Algorithms Gone Wild: Deterministic Doesn’t Mean Predictable

Out of all the readings I’ve come across on artificial intelligence and automation, I have found few as insightful and entertaining as this 2-page table created by one of McGill University’s economics professors. Though it is no longer hosted at its original URL (Dr. Davidson updated his webpage for the 2022 Fall semester), I have… 

Sep 12, 2022

Innovation and Gender Diversity in Research Teams

We have noticed in Apollo that this is largely a story of white guys (although we will talk more about this on Wednesday).  At the same time we will talk about how the diversity of their backgrounds was important in how they conceived of the program.  We will see in the weeks to come that… 

Sep 8, 2022

The Annoying Gap Between Theory…and Practice

My favorite podcast is This American Life, a weekly radio show where they choose a theme and then find a handful of stories from anyone around the country that fit under that theme. I cannot recommend this podcast enough – it’s streamable on any podcast app, or if that doesn’t work for you they have…