Dlittle30

LATEST ARTICLES ( 863 )

• Shakespeare on Tyranny

  

  Stephen Greenblatt is a literary critic and historian whose insights into philosophy and the contemporary world are genuinely and consistently profound. Read more

  Posted on 23 June 2018 SOCIETY

• Social Generativity and Complexity

  

  The idea of generativity in the realm of the social world expresses the notion that social phenomena are generated by the actions and thoughts of the individual... Read more

  Posted on 22 May 2018 SOCIETY

• What the Boss Wants to Hear ...

  

  According to David Halberstam in his outstanding history of the war in Vietnam, The Best and the Brightest, a prime cause of disastrous decision-making by... Read more

  Posted on 07 May 2018 SOCIETY

• Regulatory Failure

  

  When we think of the issues of health and safety that exist in a modern complex economy, it is impossible to imagine that these social goods will be produced... Read more

  Posted on 23 April 2018 SOCIETY

• Empowering the Safety Officer?

  

  How can industries involving processes that create large risks of harm for individuals or populations be modified so they are more capable of detecting and... Read more

  Posted on 05 April 2018 SOCIETY

• Mechanisms, Singular and General

  

  Let's think again about the semantics of causal ascriptions. Suppose that we want to know what caused a building crane to collapse during a windstorm. Read more

  Posted on 25 March 2018 SOCIETY

• Machine Learning

  

  The Center for the Study of Complex Systems at the University of Michigan hosted an intensive day-long training on some of the basics of machine learning for... Read more

  Posted on 23 March 2018 SOCIETY

• Technology Lock-in Accidents

  

  image: diagram of molten salt reactorOrganizational and regulatory features are sometimes part of the causal background of important technology failures. This i... Read more

  Posted on 10 March 2018 SOCIETY

• Consensus and Mutual Understanding

  

  Groups make decisions through processes of discussion aimed at framing a given problem, outlining the group's objectives, and arriving at a plan for how to... Read more

  Posted on 03 March 2018 SOCIETY

• Computational Social Science

  Is it possible to elucidate complex social outcomes using computational tools? Can we overcome some of the issues for social explanation posed by the fact of... Read more

  Posted on 27 February 2018 SOCIETY

• Nuclear Accidents

  

  diagrams: Chernobyl reactor before and afterNuclear fission is one of the world-changing discoveries of the mid-twentieth century. Read more

  Posted on 24 February 2018 SOCIETY

• Folk Psychology and Alexa

  Paul Churchland made a large splash in the philosophy of mind and cognitive science several decades ago when he cast doubt on the categories of "folk psychology... Read more

  Posted on 11 February 2018 SOCIETY

• Cold War History from an IR Perspective

  

  Odd Arne Westad's The Cold War: A World History is a fascinating counterpoint to Tony Judt's Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945. Read more

  Posted on 09 February 2018 SOCIETY

• Declining Industries

  

  Why is it so difficult for leaders in various industries and sectors to seriously address the existential threats that sometimes arise? Read more

  Posted on 30 January 2018 SOCIETY

• Gaining Compliance

  

  Organizations always involve numerous staff members whose behavior has the potential for creating significant risk for individuals and the organization but who... Read more

  Posted on 25 January 2018 SOCIETY

• Actors in Historical Epochs

  

  I've argued often for the idea that social science and historical explanations need to be "actor-centered" -- we need to ground our hypotheses about social and... Read more

  Posted on 20 January 2018 SOCIETY

• The Second American Revolution

  

  The first American Revolution broke the bonds of control exercised by a colonial power over the actions and aspirations of a relatively small number of people i... Read more

  Posted on 15 January 2018 SOCIETY

• Populism's Base

  

  Steve Bannon may have lost his perch in the White House and Breitbart; but the themes of white supremacy, intolerance, bigotry, and anti-government extremism... Read more

  Posted on 15 January 2018 SOCIETY

• Trust and Organizational Effectiveness

  

  It is fairly well agreed that organizations require a degree of trust among the participants in order for the organization to function at all. But what does thi... Read more

  Posted on 08 January 2018 SOCIETY

• Is History Probabilistic?

  

  Many of our intuitions about causality are driven by a background assumption of determinism: one cause, one effect, always. But it is evident in many realms --... Read more

  Posted on 30 December 2017 SOCIETY