Welcome to "The Future of Progress" Tumblr page! An extension of the research blog where I will post some interesting tidbits I find on the relevant topics. Just one other medium to continue the discourse.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
"Bridging the Divide"
“New study shows how integrated institutions can lead diverse populations to cooperate in rebuilding countries.”
Here is a link from MIT’s research website. The article is over a study done on cooperation between institutions, and is set in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The findings are fascinating if not unexpected - that integration between institutions in a culturally diverse society establishes strong cooperation and fosters nation building. As one of the discourse foci (and one of my interests) is on governance, I felt it would speak to the over arching concept of developing resolute institutional frameworks in promoting progress. Hope you enjoy!
Environmental gap widens in Phoenix
Most people are aware of the growing economic inequality in this country, but fewer are aware of environmental inequality, a worrying trend revealed in a new study of the foliage of Phoenix, Arizona. It’s rather intuitive to think that having more money buys you more open space, shade, and land with cleaner air, but the authors of this study were concerned about the change over time towards greater inequality. Since 1970, Phoenix has grown from 580,000 to near 1.3 million now. Several decades ago, there was no correlation between income and vegetation. But on a scale of 0 to 1, with 0 being no correlation between greenery and wealth and 1 being a perfect correlation, Phoenix now stands at 0.4. And this isn’t just a quibble over nice scenery; in the blistering hot Valley, a tree’s shade can lower the temperature 40 degrees and more vegetation provides fresher air. This hits close to home, as Phoenix is my hometown, and I hope local science and governmental officials work to address this disappointing trend.
A fascinating talk by Dr. Lee Smolin on the overlap between scientific and democratic political thought.
President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology
So, I’m a big fan of science and technology studies, and indeed anything remotely related or with science in the title. Being interested in policy as well, naturally the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology is a group I try to regularly keep up with. During the summer when I was interning at NSF I had the opportunity to attend their July meeting. It was incredible to be in the same room with these people! I’m no groupie, but it was pretty cool to listen in on these discussions.
Even though the council just makes recommendations to the President, which may or may not be acted on, it is still a worthy source of information regarding some of the current legislative/policy issues on science and tech.
