Edge 288: Don Tapscott - The Impending Demise of the University

Edge 288 - June 4, 2009

(11,675 words)

http://www.edge.org/

This online EDGE edition with streaming video is available at:
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge288.html

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THE THIRD CULTURE
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THE IMPENDING DEMISE OF THE UNIVERSITY
By Don Tapscott

In the industrial model of student mass production, the teacher is the broadcaster. A broadcast is by definition the transmission of information from transmitter to receiver in a one-way, linear fashion. The teacher is the transmitter and student is a receptor in the learning process. The formula goes like this: "I'm a professor and I have knowledge. You're a student, you're an empty vessel and you don't. Get ready, here it comes. Your goal is to take this data into your short-term memory and through practice and repetition build deeper cognitive structures so you can recall it to me when I test you."... The definition of a lecture has become the process in which the notes of the teacher go to the notes of the student without going through the brains of either.

DON TAPSCOTT is the author of 13 books on new technology in society, most recently Grown Up Digital. He recently completed a $4 million dollar investigation of the Net Generation. He is Chairman of the think tank nGenera Insight and an Adjunct Professor at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.

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THE REALITY CLUB
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Stewart Brand, Alun Anderson and Laurence Smith on "Will We Decamp for the Northern Rim?

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ARTICLES OF NOTE
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ESSAY

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The movie "Angels & Demons" offers a chance to join an ancient discussion on religion and science.

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To address the future of the Middle East, Obama must look to the past.

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RETROSPECTIVE:

John Maddox (1925–2009)

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THE NEW YORK TIMES
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A Human Language Gene Changes the Sound of Mouse Squeaks
NICHOLAS WADE

People have a deep desire to communicate with animals, as is evident from the way they converse with their dogs, enjoy myths about talking animals or devote lifetimes to teaching chimpanzees how to speak. A delicate, if tiny, step has now been taken toward the real thing: the creation of a mouse with a human gene for language.

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NEWSWEEK
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A new book redefines the faith debate.

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THE NEW YORK TIMES
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OP-ED COLUMNIST

Would You Slap Your Father? If So, You're a Liberal
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...This came up after I wrote a column earlier this year called "The Daily Me." I argued that most of us employ the Internet not to seek the best information, but rather to select information that confirms our prejudices. To overcome that tendency, I argued, we should set aside time for a daily mental workout with an ideological sparring partner. Afterward, I heard from Jonathan Haidt, a psychology professor at the University of Virginia. "You got the problem right, but the prescription wrong," he said.

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NEW YORK TIMES
May 26, 2009

THE WILD SIDE

Guest Column: Loves Me, Loves Me Not (Do the Math)
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"In the spring," wrote Tennyson, "a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love." And so in keeping with the spirit of the season, this week's column looks at love affairs — mathematically.

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THE NEW YORK TIMES
May 27, 2009

BOOKS OF THE TIMES

Why Are Humans Different From All Other Apes? It's the Cooking, Stupid
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BOOKS FROM EDGE
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NOW AVAILABLE IN BOOKSTORES AND ONLINE

WHAT'S NEXT?
DISPATCHES ON THE FUTURE OF SCIENCE
Edited By Max Brockman

Vintage Books
http://www.amazon.com/Whats-Next-Dispatches-Future-Science/dp/0307389316

If these authors are the future of science, then the science of the future will be one exciting ride! Find out what the best minds of the new generation are thinking before the Nobel Committee does. A fascinating chronicle of the big, new ideas that are keeping young scientists up at night.
-- Daniel Gilbert, author of STUMBLING ON NHAPPINESS

"A preview of the ideas you're going to be reading about in ten years."
- Steven Pinker, author of THE STUFF OF THOUGHT

"Brockman has a nose for talent."
- Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author THE BLACK SWAN

"Capaciously accessible, these writings project a curiosity to which followers of science news will gravitate." - BOOKLIST

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WHAT HAVE YOU CHANGED YOUR MIND ABOUT
Edited by John Brockman
With An Introduction By BRIAN ENO

Harper Perennial
http://www.amazon.com/What-Have-Changed-Your-About/dp/0061686549

Praise for WHAT HAVE YOU CHANGED YOUR MIND ABOUT?

The world's finest minds have responded with some of the most insightful, humbling, fascinating confessions and anecdotes, an intellectual treasure trove. ... Best three or four hours of intense, enlightening reading you can do for the new year. Read it now."
San Francisco Chronicle

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"They are the intellectual elite, the brains the rest of us rely on to make sense of the universe and answer the big questions. But in a refreshing show of new year humility, the world's best thinkers have admitted that from time to time even they are forced to change their minds." THE GUARDIAN

"Even the world's best brains have to admit to being wrong sometimes: here, leading scientists respond to a new year challenge." THE TIMES

"Provocative ideas put forward today by leading figures." THE TELEGRAPH

The world's finest minds have responded with some of the most insightful, humbling, fascinating confessions and anecdotes, an intellectual treasure trove. ... Best three or four hours of intense, enlightening reading you can do for the new year. Read it now." SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

"As in the past, these world-class thinkers have responded to impossibly open-ended questions with erudition, imagination and clarity." THE NEWS & OBSERVER

"A jolt of fresh thinking...The answers address a fabulous array of issues. This is the intellectual equivalent of a New Year's dip in the lake - bracing, possibly shriek-inducing, and bound to wake you up." THE GLOBE & MAIL

"Answers ring like scientific odes to uncertainty, humility and doubt; passionate pleas for critical thought in a world threatened by blind convictions." THE TORONTO STAR

"For an exceptionally high quotient of interesting ideas to words, this is hard to beat. ...What a feast of egg-head opinionating!" NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE

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This online EDGE edition with streaming video is available at:
http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge288.html

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