Environmental optimism increases eco-friendly behavior
This revamped eco-version of chutes and ladders (above) encourages environmental action through fun. The people of the environmental movement are realizing that it takes more than worrisome facts about climate … Continue reading
UK solves social policy problems with human nature insights
Above: The Skinner Box, an artistic rendition of a behavioral modification experiment conducted by B.F. Skinner in the 1920s or 30s. Skinner believed that the root of most behavior was … Continue reading
My Doubt is My Innocence
Moral Laziness and Milan Kundera’s Farewell Waltz Eyes transfixed, your fingernails dance a repetitive beat on the tabletop. Reclining, but not relaxed, your mind goes through a repetitive pattern of decision … Continue reading
Guanxi and a Typhoon
The art of the interview in Taiwan In the last week of August, in the middle of typhoon season, I found myself trudging through gale force winds in an industrial … Continue reading
A social science approach to learning
Beating a Path through Your Intellectual Ambition: A Social Science Approach to Learning X –> Y In social science research, this is the most basic expression of relationship. It can loosely … Continue reading
Pessimism and Redemption? Thoughts on Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad
Good news for the jaded out there- the sighing mourners for correct comma usage, modern music naysayers, and peak oil enthusiasts: pessimism is still in style. Jennifer Egan’s 2010 Pulitzer … Continue reading
Imagine Educational Utopias: The calm before the storm in Arthur C. Clark’s Childhood’s End
[Spoiler Alert: Arthur C. Clark conceals the meaning behind his story till the end of his short book (214 pages in paperback). In my synopsis below, I chose to reveal part … Continue reading
Revenue and environmentalism: Can a carbon tax help the environment and fund social programs?
[This post was inspired by a recent New York Times article, “Carbon Taxes Make Ireland Even Greener”; published December 28, 2012] Climate change is the biggest issue in environmentalism today. … Continue reading
Some problems with pension
For most people, there are at least two significant phases in life in which you are economically dependent on others: during your childhood and during old age. Most national societies … Continue reading
Co-opting stakeholders in democratic social policy making
One way to look at a functioning democracy is to describe how different stakeholder groups, or people with a keen personal interest in an issue, get their needs addressed by … Continue reading
