strategic thinking
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This course explores main answers to the question "when do governments deserve our allegiance?" It starts with a survey of major political theories of the Enlightenment—Utilitarianism, Marxism, and the social contract tradition—through classical formulations, historical context, and contemporary debates relating to politics today. It then turns to the rejection of Enlightenment political thinking. Lastly, it deals with the nature of, and j...more
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Environmental Politics and Law (EVST 255) The lecture reviews the legal and economic strategies that can be used to manage coastal development. Over half of the United States population lives in coastal areas and will be affected by sea level rise and more intense storms. The lecture looks at the conflict between property rights and efforts to protect coastal ecosystems through the use of eminent domain to create national seashores. Bar...more
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In this lecture, Professor Shapiro delves into the nuances of MacIntyre's argument, focusing specifically on his Aristotelian account of human psychology. It has two features: (1) man's nature is inherently teleological or purposive, and (2) human behavior is fundamentally other-directed, in that a person's happiness is conditioned upon the experience of others as it relates to him, particularly on the feeling of being valued by someone he...more
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Edmund Burke was an English politician who wrote his Reflections on the Revolution in France to express his disdain for the destructive havoc wrought by the French Revolution. As a traditionalist-conservative, he thinks about social change in a cautious and incremental way and characterizes the social contract as binding on those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are yet to be born. Studying the anti-Enlightenment differs f...more
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This lecture addresses some final points about the CAPM. How would one test the theory? Given the theory, what's the right way to think about evaluating fund managers' performance? Should the manager of a hedge fund and the manager of a university endowment be judged by the same performance criteria? More generally, how should we think about the return differential between stocks and bonds? Lastly, looking back to the lectures on Social Se...more
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In this lecture we move from present values to dynamic present values. If interest rates evolve along the forward curve, then the present value of the remaining cash flows of any instrument will evolve in a predictable trajectory. The fastest way to compute these is by backward induction. Dynamic present values help us understand the returns of various trading strategies, and how marking-to-market can prevent some subtle abuses of the syst...more
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May 23, 2008 lecture by Ben Shneiderman for the Stanford University Human Computer Interaction Seminar (CS547). Science 2.0 focuses on the human-designed world in which the dynamics of trust, privacy, responsibility, and empathy are determinants of success. Advancing Science 2.0 will require a shift in priorities to promote intense collaboration, integrative thinking, teamwork-based education/training, and case study ethnographic research...more
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Professor Freeman offers an introduction to the course, summarizing the readings and discussing the course's main goals. She also offers five tips for studying the Revolution: 1) Avoid thinking about the Revolution as a story about facts and dates; 2) Remember that words we take for granted today, like "democracy," had very different meanings; 3) Think of the "Founders" as real people rather than mythic historic figures; 4) Remember that t...more
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Former Lotus 1-2-3 founder Mitch Kapor speaks candidly about the most valuable legacy of his wildly successful 1980's technology company: the management of free-thinking creatives. He stands by the quality of his products, but it was his huge investment in human resources, Libertarian management style, and incentives toward great job satisfaction and accountability that he's most proud of. He claims that the thousands of Lotus alumni hav...more
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Dominic Orr, CEO of Aruba Networks, argues that the unique benefit of advanced technical training is not necessarily analytical thinking--this skill can be developed in many places. Rather Orr suggests that the benefit of advanced technical training is the courage to address uncertain problems with brutal intellectual honesty. For Orr, this quality has allowed him to innovate on the technical frontier while having the courage to recognize ...more
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The applications for the Fluidigm technology may be far from being realized, says Worthington. Fluidigm is currently working on high-throughout methodologies, like genome screening and protein-protein interactions, as well as what could turn out to be breakthrough science: using rubber pumps to simulate body functions to trick cells into thinking they are inside the body, he says.
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Dominic Orr, CEO of Aruba Networks, reflects on sources of advice and guidance in his role as CEO. Orr highlights the importance of a rigorous board and advisors to challenge his thinking. However, Orr also speaks about his use of psychological counselors to help his executive team work together as effectively as possible. He suggests that this effort is vital because although there are many talented individuals in Silicon Valley, helping ...more
