dynamics of first-order networks
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Rick Wallace shares the history of KLA-Tencor to show that it is important to follow one's business model. KLA revolutionized the industry by starting to charge for service instead of just offering it up for free. In order to enforce this, the founder had to risk losing IBM as a client. However, his bet paid off, and IBM finally agreed to pay for service. This has led to a large and profitable annuity stream for KLA-Tencor....more
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Hobbes' most famous metaphor, that of "the state of nature," is explained. It can be understood as the condition of human life in the absence of authority or anyone to impose rules, laws, and order. The concept of the individual is also discussed on Hobbesian terms, according to which the fundamental characteristics of the human beings are the capacity to exercise will and the ability to choose. Hobbes, as a moralist, concludes that the la...more
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After a brief introduction to Plato's Phaedo, more arguments are offered in this lecture in defense of the existence of an immaterial soul. The emphasis here is on the fact that we need to believe in the existence of a soul in order to explain the claim that we possess free will. This is an argument dualists use as an objection to the physicalists: since no merely physical entity could have free will, there must be more to us than just bei...more
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The visual system has developed to allow us to navigate in a complex and dangerous world in order to find food and to avoid danger. This survival system works by building a complex three-dimensional model based on two-dimensional data from the retina. This model is tested against "reality" and checked with information from other senses and updated if needed. The brain suppresses the complexity of this processing and we believe that visi...more
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Ramdas's father was in the military, and her mother was a social activist. The family was a middle-class Indian family, yet privileged to be in such a position. As a result of her upbringing, Ramdas has a combination of seeking structure/order and an urge to constantly question authority. The family moved often, and she developed a strong sense of what it meant to be a global citizen.
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Historically, thousands of people have given their lives to explore new frontiers on land and sea. And space entrepreneur and X PRIZE founder Peter Diamandis deeply believes that the world today is risk-adversive to its own detriment. True breakthroughs that expand scientific capability and history always take a tremendous amount of adventurous spirit, and real mavericks need to be audacious in order to discover greatness. Capitalize on th...more
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This lecture explores issues and ideas related to the branch of psychology known as cognitive development. It begins with an introduction of Piaget who, interested in the emergence of knowledge in general, studied children and the way they learn about the world in order to formulate his theories of cognitive development. This is followed by an introduction to the modern science of infant cognition. Finally, the question of the relationship...more
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The Gospels of the New Testament are not biographies, and, in this class, they are read through a historical critical lens. This means that the events they narrate are not taken at face value as historical. The Gospel of Mark illustrates how the gospel writer skillfully crafts a narrative in order to deliver a message. It is a message that emphasizes a suffering messiah, and the necessity of suffering before glory. The gospel's apocalyptic...more
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The focus of the lecture is simple harmonic motion. Professor Shankar gives several examples of physical systems, such as a mass M attached to a spring, and explains what happens when such systems are disturbed. Amplitude, frequency and period of simple harmonic motion are also defined in the course of the lecture. Several problems are solved in order to demonstrate various cases of oscillation.
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The Apostle Paul's description of the Jewish Law in his letter to the Galatians demotes from being an expression of Jewish faith to an object of idolatry and one that imprisons those who follow it. Paul is careful to nuance this position, however, in his letter to the Romans. In Romans, it seems that Paul is defending himself against charges of being antinomian. Perhaps Paul treads carefully in order to ensure that his deliverance of a don...more
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We have known of the existence of the Gospel of Thomas from ancient writers, but it was only after the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Codices that the actual text became available. The Gospel of Thomas is basically a collection of sayings, or logia, that sometimes seem similar, perhaps more primitive than sayings found in the canonical Gospels. Sometimes, however, the sayings seem better explained as reflecting a "Gnostic" understanding of t...more
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Komisar relates some of the advice that George Lucas, acclaimed director of the Star Wars series, gave him in order to create compelling and visionary ideas: It is difficult to paint on a blank canvas, but it is easier to do so when there are few dots already splashed on. The notion of innovating around inchoate concepts are applicable to the entrepreneurship business, Komisar notes.
