Speaking at the National Academy of Sciences 2 days ago, the President reinforced the need for a sustained national commitment to science. His firm stance that “science is more essential for our prosperity, our security, our health and our environment and our quality of life” is an important step in shifting the national consciousness to build a strong culture of innovation. I particularly appreciated this explanation of why the public sector needs to commit to research:
“Basic scientific research is scientific capital. The fact is, an investigation into a particular physical, chemical or biological process might not pay off for a year or a decade or at all. And when it does, the rewards are often broadly shared, enjoyed by those who bore its costs, but also by those who did not. And that’s why the private sector generally underinvests in basic science, and why the public sector must invest in this kindof research. Because while the risks may be large, so are the rewards for our economy and our society.”
Right on, Mr. President.
According to Jonathan Haidt, there’s one key personality trait (more than any other) that predicts who becomes liberal and and who becomes conservative. In this lecture, Haidt draws on the latest from developmental and moral psychology and makes a very persuasive argument why “openness to experience” – that craving for novelty, diversity, variety, travel and new ideas – tells us a lot about our political affiliations. Whether you’re currently on the fence about where to cast your vote this year, or you’ve been certain from day one, I urge you to take the 20 minutes to watch this lecture, because it’s got some pretty sweet mind-grenade moments, and it may just change the way that you think about your own morality, and change the way you engage others with differing opinions. Here’s one of my favorite quotes:
“You can’t just go charging in saying “I’m wrong and you’re right”…because everybody thinks that they’re right. A lot of the problems that we have to solve are problems that require us to change other people. And if you want to change other people, a much better way to do it is to first understand who we are, understand our moral psychology, understand that we all think that we’re right, and then step out…even if it’s just for a moment…and try to see it as a struggle that’s playing out in which everybody does think that they’re right and everybody has some reasons (even if you disagree with them) for doing what they’re doing…and if you can do that, that’s the essential move to cultivate moral humility, and get yourself out of this self-righteousness which is the normal human condition”
Mark Penn, worldwide CEO of Burson-Marsteller and chief adviser to Senator Clinton's presidential campaign, offers an excellent, concise explanation for exactly why swing voting, as he puts it, is king, as well as ideas on why the voting bases of the traditional red and blue camps are splintering into niches of independent thinkers. I offer just a few ideas/questions on what the rise of independent thinking and the increased importance of the swing vote could imply.
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