Word: complexity
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...reading in the first place. Similarly (and duly noted) the arrival of the personal computer in the lecture hall has challenged the college classroom’s traditional role as a special type of community. It is exceedingly difficult to simultaneously transcribe with precision while fully engaging with a complex and discursive argument. While boredom and distraction are certainly not unique to the 21st century, the laptop has no historical rival in its capacity as a portal to infinite distraction. Nothing quite interrupts a lecture on 18th century Romanticism like the fateful “ding?...
America will remain the world’s sole superpower for some time. Nevertheless, the geopolitical landscape is gradually becoming a multipolar environment where China will be a key player. If Beijing tries to attain hegemony in Asia, deterring it will be more complex than simply augmenting our already-enormous defense budget. A promising grand strategy to constrain China’s growing clout might couple offshore balancing—building a partnership of other powers opposed to Chinese dominance—with an effort to counter China’s unique methods of espionage. And while there is nothing...
...traditional heroic approach to leadership suggests. The “Big Man” type of leadership works well in societies based on networks of tribal cultures which rely on personal and family honor and loyalty, but are not well adapted for coping with today’s complex information based world. Institutional constraints such as constitutions and impartial legal systems circumscribe such heroic figures. Societies that rest on heroic leaders are not able to develop the civil society and broad social capital that are necessary for leading in today’s networked world. Modern leadership turns...
...growth in blended families – whether due to changing divorce patterns in the developed world or AIDS killing off parents in Africa – also has implications for the network of obligations and entitlements within families. Changing kinship systems in modern American society (with complex mixtures of remarried and cohabiting couples, half-siblings, step-siblings, and so on) are having profound implications for care giving, retirement, and bequests. Who cares for Grandma? Who gets her money when she dies...
Harvard undoubtedly has provided us with an amazing academic opportunity. Writing coherent and compelling 20 page papers 4 years ago would have been unthinkable. Those in the sciences have an understanding of complex material that they certainly did not have before. But for all the knowledge we have gained, there is much that we did not learn because we attended Harvard. Useful life skills, reasonable expectations, and the ability to accept and learn from criticism are all lessons that many learn in their college years, yet we were largely isolated from these lessons by Harvard and its focus on academics...