Thank you Prof Wayne. I have renamed this year at Cornell to be the Year of the Cricket. That's the response I have received as a parent and alum to all of my inquiries. My favorite part is the "pro free speech" profs who post inflammatory comments on social media but block replies.
It won't be live, because we can make a better quality video if we post it the next day. It will be posted on the Alumni Free Speech Alliance YouTube channel.
A plausible theory for how Cornell has lost its way is by mistaking "complex" physical systems for "non-complex" physical systems, where a "complex" physical system exhibits one or more "emergent properties," each of which is a property of the whole system and not of the separate parts of this system. In his scientific research, the professor of clinical psychology Mattias Desmet has discovered that this mistake is a precursor to totalitarian rule. To avoid making this mistake, Cornell researchers need to learn how to build models of physical systems without making this mistake.; Detailed instructions on how to do so are provided by the late theoretical physicist Ronald Christensen in his seven volume "Entropy Minimax Sourcebook. Entropy Minimax is the solution too the ancient, previously unsolved "Problem of Induction. The problem is of how, in a logically justifiable way, to select the set of inferences about the outcomes of the events of the of the future that will be made by a model of a physical system from a larger set of possibilities. Entropy minimax reduces to Aristotle's three Laws of thought in the limit as the missing information for a deductive conclusion to be reached about the outcomes of the events of the future for a physical system reduces to nil.
As currently written, the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy's article on The Problem of Induction fails to advise its readers that the Problem of Induction has been solved and how. I have advised the editors of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy of this error of theirs and they have launched an investigation of this possibility which,, however,, is proceeding at an unacceptably slow pace given the ghastly consequences from their mistake.
The DEI movement definitely has many problems. Most importantly, their application quotas are reminiscent of nazi-like policies. Besides, I must also mention that it is embarrassing for our society that we let trans-women compete against cis-women in athletic events.
However, not everything is black and white as there are plenty shades of gray. This past Fall term, our College hosted the feminist academic Janet Hering for a seminar. She gave us various recommendations for improvements in Academia, with most of them being relevant for all academics (not just women). Indeed, I very much appreciated her seminar, and thus, I summarize some of her main suggestions here:
a. We need emphasize Quality over Quantity in judging publication records.
b. We need stop exploiting "students" in doing research for an indefinite amount of time. Many of them stay in Academia hoping that they will eventually become professors, but such a goal is only achieved by a select few.
c. We need be rather flexible in hiring faculty. For example, scientists in industry, who show that they can be effective instructors, can surely become professors as well.
d. We need promote Family Values instead of a Workaholic Culture at the University.
If you get the chance, I recommend that you invite Janet Hering for a seminar. She can definitely complement our discussions at Heterodox STEM.
My discipline is heavily populated by Jews in certain areas and topics. In some places, Jews are more than half of those working in the field. Therefore, if we really applied DEI/IED as has been demanded, most if not all of these Jews would be terminated. This is exactly what the Nazis did in the 1930s.
Let's not repeat those egregious and heinous errors.
As I slowly survey some of the essays and comments here on Heterodox STEM, I am repeatedly struck by the existence of a couple of "strange" groups:
(1) Those who fervently believe there are no problems whatsoever with free speech or DEI or wokeness or anything else on any campuses. They just conveniently ignore any presented evidence. Since they ignore it, it must not exist, at least in their minds.
(2) Those who believe STEM is complete nonsense and should be obliterated in one way or another. I do not not know what to say to people like this, or about them, since they are so clearly ridiculous.
(3) Those who believe that the signs of very small, incipient pushbacks against woke ideology that we can observe here and there mean that the problem is completely solved, and they can go back to sleep.
(4) Those that think that the problems with the current woke fads can be solved by, you guessed it, just MORE strict wokeness and DEI and CRT and hate speech codes and cancelling, etc. They believe that the only problem is that the woke have not been nearly aggressive enough, and that all opposition must be utterly destroyed and driven off-campus and even totally out of STEM. These attitudes horrify me.
I just watched an interesting video of presentations by some of the people attempting to found the University of Austin. In particular, Niall Ferguson makes a compelling argument that those in group (3) above are totally mistaken, and that drastic changes are needed:
Niall Ferguson: After the Treason of the Intellectuals
Hear from Founding Trustee Niall Ferguson on why the time to found the University of Austin is now. “Individual freedom is the sine qua non for the pursuit of truth. This is why we won’t fail. This is why we must succeed. A hundred intrepid young people will be in the founding class. We are in the midst of hiring the world-class faculty to teach them, and to teach them to the highest possible pedagogical standard.”
I believe that only under serious pressure from various quarters, including competition from new institutions and financial distress, will the current culture start to correct itself.
I know the university well and can recall days when rigor, freedom of thought and excellence were its aims. Recent leadership has been abysmal, nothing short of cowardly.
Just for the record, I have a life size skeleton in my classroom just to remind people that we are vertebrates with backbones...and I actually think that the reminder might be effective. Last week, while we had twenty minutes to wait for acetone to evaporate from coal balls, we had a discussion on God, abortion, transgender, and antisemitism...in 20 minutes, we could not fit in evolution and climate change!
Actually some things have to give...but I am taking advantage of this theme year of free expression to highlight the hypocrisy and hopefully turn it around so that we all can have academic freedom and not just toe the line of the powers that be.
Randy, as someone who would have attended Cornell had it been financially possible, I am glad to see there is a voice of sanity at the southern end of Cayuga Lake! Thank you for your efforts!
Thank you Prof Wayne. I have renamed this year at Cornell to be the Year of the Cricket. That's the response I have received as a parent and alum to all of my inquiries. My favorite part is the "pro free speech" profs who post inflammatory comments on social media but block replies.
Dear Traci,
Perfect name. I often tell people I feel like an entomologist.
Thanks,
randy
I like that the plant scientists can help us with free speech and get to carbon conservation! Keep up the good work!
In the olden days, when Cornell was a real research university, I was a student there. May it return to that glorious status once again!
Let's work together to make it so!
By the way, is it in any way possible that the lecture of Gad Saad will be streamed live on Zoom?
It won't be live, because we can make a better quality video if we post it the next day. It will be posted on the Alumni Free Speech Alliance YouTube channel.
Thanks for your interest,
randy
A plausible theory for how Cornell has lost its way is by mistaking "complex" physical systems for "non-complex" physical systems, where a "complex" physical system exhibits one or more "emergent properties," each of which is a property of the whole system and not of the separate parts of this system. In his scientific research, the professor of clinical psychology Mattias Desmet has discovered that this mistake is a precursor to totalitarian rule. To avoid making this mistake, Cornell researchers need to learn how to build models of physical systems without making this mistake.; Detailed instructions on how to do so are provided by the late theoretical physicist Ronald Christensen in his seven volume "Entropy Minimax Sourcebook. Entropy Minimax is the solution too the ancient, previously unsolved "Problem of Induction. The problem is of how, in a logically justifiable way, to select the set of inferences about the outcomes of the events of the of the future that will be made by a model of a physical system from a larger set of possibilities. Entropy minimax reduces to Aristotle's three Laws of thought in the limit as the missing information for a deductive conclusion to be reached about the outcomes of the events of the future for a physical system reduces to nil.
As currently written, the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy's article on The Problem of Induction fails to advise its readers that the Problem of Induction has been solved and how. I have advised the editors of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy of this error of theirs and they have launched an investigation of this possibility which,, however,, is proceeding at an unacceptably slow pace given the ghastly consequences from their mistake.
Terry Oldberg
Engineer/Scientist/Public Pollicy Researcher
Pioneer in the application of Entropy Minimax
Los Altos Hills, California, USA
terry_oldberg@yahoo.com
1-650-518-6636 (mobile)
Keep on fighting the good fight. You are a voice for many of us who do not have one in academia.
Thank you for the support Brianna!
randy
The DEI movement definitely has many problems. Most importantly, their application quotas are reminiscent of nazi-like policies. Besides, I must also mention that it is embarrassing for our society that we let trans-women compete against cis-women in athletic events.
However, not everything is black and white as there are plenty shades of gray. This past Fall term, our College hosted the feminist academic Janet Hering for a seminar. She gave us various recommendations for improvements in Academia, with most of them being relevant for all academics (not just women). Indeed, I very much appreciated her seminar, and thus, I summarize some of her main suggestions here:
a. We need emphasize Quality over Quantity in judging publication records.
b. We need stop exploiting "students" in doing research for an indefinite amount of time. Many of them stay in Academia hoping that they will eventually become professors, but such a goal is only achieved by a select few.
c. We need be rather flexible in hiring faculty. For example, scientists in industry, who show that they can be effective instructors, can surely become professors as well.
d. We need promote Family Values instead of a Workaholic Culture at the University.
If you get the chance, I recommend that you invite Janet Hering for a seminar. She can definitely complement our discussions at Heterodox STEM.
Thanks for th etip.
randy
My discipline is heavily populated by Jews in certain areas and topics. In some places, Jews are more than half of those working in the field. Therefore, if we really applied DEI/IED as has been demanded, most if not all of these Jews would be terminated. This is exactly what the Nazis did in the 1930s.
Let's not repeat those egregious and heinous errors.
Let's not!!!!!
Keep up the great work - cheers!
As I slowly survey some of the essays and comments here on Heterodox STEM, I am repeatedly struck by the existence of a couple of "strange" groups:
(1) Those who fervently believe there are no problems whatsoever with free speech or DEI or wokeness or anything else on any campuses. They just conveniently ignore any presented evidence. Since they ignore it, it must not exist, at least in their minds.
(2) Those who believe STEM is complete nonsense and should be obliterated in one way or another. I do not not know what to say to people like this, or about them, since they are so clearly ridiculous.
(3) Those who believe that the signs of very small, incipient pushbacks against woke ideology that we can observe here and there mean that the problem is completely solved, and they can go back to sleep.
(4) Those that think that the problems with the current woke fads can be solved by, you guessed it, just MORE strict wokeness and DEI and CRT and hate speech codes and cancelling, etc. They believe that the only problem is that the woke have not been nearly aggressive enough, and that all opposition must be utterly destroyed and driven off-campus and even totally out of STEM. These attitudes horrify me.
I just watched an interesting video of presentations by some of the people attempting to found the University of Austin. In particular, Niall Ferguson makes a compelling argument that those in group (3) above are totally mistaken, and that drastic changes are needed:
Niall Ferguson: After the Treason of the Intellectuals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5QID4HVUTY
Hear from Founding Trustee Niall Ferguson on why the time to found the University of Austin is now. “Individual freedom is the sine qua non for the pursuit of truth. This is why we won’t fail. This is why we must succeed. A hundred intrepid young people will be in the founding class. We are in the midst of hiring the world-class faculty to teach them, and to teach them to the highest possible pedagogical standard.”
I believe that only under serious pressure from various quarters, including competition from new institutions and financial distress, will the current culture start to correct itself.
What an absolute embarrassment they have become. A once great university is now accelerating toward ignorance and irrelevance.
I think Cornell can be salvaged!
I know the university well and can recall days when rigor, freedom of thought and excellence were its aims. Recent leadership has been abysmal, nothing short of cowardly.
Just for the record, I have a life size skeleton in my classroom just to remind people that we are vertebrates with backbones...and I actually think that the reminder might be effective. Last week, while we had twenty minutes to wait for acetone to evaporate from coal balls, we had a discussion on God, abortion, transgender, and antisemitism...in 20 minutes, we could not fit in evolution and climate change!
That's an excellent roundup of events and speakers. I hope your commitment to academic freedom isn't distracting you from your own research.
Actually some things have to give...but I am taking advantage of this theme year of free expression to highlight the hypocrisy and hopefully turn it around so that we all can have academic freedom and not just toe the line of the powers that be.
Randy, as someone who would have attended Cornell had it been financially possible, I am glad to see there is a voice of sanity at the southern end of Cayuga Lake! Thank you for your efforts!
Thanks Dean. I also appreciate your fight for bringing sanity back to the educational enterprise!