Tag: big data
Concepts and Skills
Stephen Ambrose, in his new book describing the construction of the Transcontinental railroad, Nothing Like It In the World, suggests that trains were the primary vehicle for introducing the industrial revolution. He quotes an engineer who said, “where a mule can go, I can make a locomotive go.” The poetry of engineering requires both the imagination to conceive and the skills to execute. We use concepts to frame our imagination, we use skills to build Read More
The Wisdom of Walls
In response to public charges against his high school principle for soliciting sex from a 13 year old, Liam O’Brien, a 16-year-old student at the school, said: “I guess it’s unnerving, but at the same time I almost feel bad because it seems like the Internet creates this wall where people are separated from the reality of their decisions and so they explore things that they normally would never be OK with – that sort Read More
The Questions we Live in
It seems like we are always desperately seeking answers in our life. “If only I could be certain about this,” or “I sure wish I knew the answer to that.” Unfortunately, when the total quantity of information in the world is doubling twice a day, it’s going to be increasingly impossible to keep up with all the “answers” that are literally available at our fingertips. It doesn’t necessarily mean the answers are getting better, they are just Read More