For Day 2's blog, please review Foreign Policy magazine's 2008 list of the "Top 100 Public Intellectuals" who are "some of the world’s most introspective philosophers and rabble-rousing clerics. A few write searing works of fiction and uncover the mysteries of the human mind. Others are at the forefront of modern finance, politics, and human rights...we reveal the thinkers who are shaping the tenor of our time" (Foreign Policy).
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4314#bios
Familiarize yourself with three by googling them. In the blog tonight, list your three and share a few surprising, interesting, or remarkable findings about each. Next, is there a person or people not on the list that you think should be? Tell why.
24 comments:
E.O. Wilson - United States
Biologist - Born June 10, 1929 (79)
2 Time Pulitzer Prize Winner
Argues that human behavior can be largely explained by Biology.
Voted Time Magazine's Top 25 most influental people in 1995
Pallegrino University Professor Emeritus at Harvard
J. Craig Venter - United States
Biologist - Entreprenuer
Born Oct 14, 1946 (61)
Founded the J Craig Institute
Studies: Synthetic Genomics, DNA, Human Genome, Metagenomics and Alternative fuels using micro organisms.
Alma Mater: Univerisity of California, Sandiego
Lee Smolin - United States
Born 1955 (53)
Graduated Hampshire College and the University of Cincinnati. Also attended Harvard University graduating with Ph.D in Theoretical Physics in 1979.
Physicist /Theoretical Physicist
Specializing in Quantum Gravity, Loop Quantum Gravity, String Theory, Cosmology, Elementary Particle Theory, Quantum Mechanics and Theoretical Biology.
Pope Benedict XVI- April 16, 1927
Religious leader, Theologian
GERMANY
Leading theologian of Catholic Traditions and values.
Prolific author and commentator and cofounded a theological journal called " Communio ."
ELected Pope in 2005
Howard Gardner- July 11, 1943
Psychologist, Author
U.S
Psychologist at Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Known for his theory of Multiple Intelligences.
Awarded MacArthur Prize Fellowship.
Published more than 20 books.
Rem Koolhass- November 17, 1944
Architect
NETHERLANDS
Pritzker Prize Winning Principal at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture.
Cofounder of Volume Magazine.
Professor at Harvard University's Architecture Department of Urban DEsign.
Thomas Friedman - United States
Author and columnist
Born July 20th 1953
Writes twice weekly for the New York Times on foreign affairs. He wrote the books The World is Flat and The Lexus and the Olive Tree. Obtained a Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting.
Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Alois Ratzinger)- Germany,Vatican
Religious Leader For the Roman Catholic Church
Born April 16 1927
Has served as a cardinal longer than any pope since 1724 and was oldest person to have been elected Pope since 1730.Has a white Apple iPod with his coat of arms engraved on it.
David Petraeus-United States
Military Strategist
Born November 7th 1952
Currently serves as commanding general for the war in Iraq.Has a Ph.D from Princeton University.He also obtained a bronze star metal for his acts of merit.
Drew Gilpin Faust
Born September 18, 1947
An American historian, college administrator and the first female president of Harvard University, the former Dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and is also Harvard's first president since 1672 without an undergraduate or graduate degree from Harvard. She was born in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and she is married to Charles Rosenberg, also a historian of medicine at Harvard.
Samantha Power
Born 1970 in Ireland
She is an Irish American journalist, writer, and academic. She is currently affiliated with the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Power has been a winner of the Pulitzer Prize and was a senior adviser to U.S. Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama until resigning for controversial remarks she made about Hillary Clinton.
Thomas Lauren Friedman
Born July 20, 1953
Is an American author and columnist. He is an op-ed contributor to The New York Times, whose column appears twice weekly and mainly addresses topics on foreign affairs. Friedman is the recipient of the 2004 Overseas Press Club Award for lifetime achievement, and has been named to the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Friedman's writing focused more on the threat of terrorism and the Middle East. He was awarded the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary "for his clarity of vision, based on extensive reporting, in commenting on the worldwide impact of the terrorist threat".
V.S. Ramachandran, India
Neuroscientist
V.S. Ramachandran is best known for his work on neurological syndromes such as phantom limbs, autism, neglect, and his pioneering work on synesthesia, a condition where the subject sees numbers, letters, and symbols as colors, even when they are in black and white form. He also invented the mirror box, his contribution to fixing phantom limb symptoms. Ramachandran was referred to by Richard Dawkins as “The Marco Polo of neuroscience” and by Newsweek magazine as one of the “hundred most prominent people to watch” in the 21st century. He was also given the title of Padma Bhushan, awarded to recognize distinguished service to the nation, by the President of India in 2007.
Richard Posner, United States
Judge, author
Richard Posner is currently a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He was named in a 2004 poll by Legal Affairs magazine as one of the top twenty legal thinkers in the U.S. and is very well known for his shocking positions on a variety of important issues. A journalist for The Washington Post wrote that he believes Posner will never sit on the Supreme court despite his “obvious brilliance”, because his positions are seen by some as “outrageous”. For example, he argued that buying and selling babies on the free market would lead to better outcomes than our present situation – government-regulated adoption. He is also known for joking about support for the legalization of marijuana and LSD.
Daniel Dennett, United States
Philosopher
Daniel Dennett is currently a professor of philosophy at Tufts University who describes himself as an autodidact, more of a self-taught person than a school-trained person. He claims to have introduced the first Frisbee to the U.K. while he was at Oxford and is an avid sailor. Much like ethologist Richard Dawkins, his views on evolution are identified as being adaptationist, a set of methods for distinguishing the products of adaptation from traits that arise through other processes. In 2006, Dennett was hospitalized due to an aortic dissection and was given a new aorta. He then wrote an essay with a firsthand account of his health problems, his gratitude toward the doctors and scientists who saved his life, and his lack of a deathbed conversion.
Charles Taylor - Canada
Philosopher - Born November 5, 1931
Has made contributions to political philosophy, philosophy of social science and the history of philosophy.
In 1995 was made Companion of the Order of Canada.
In 2000 was made a Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec.
In 2007 was awarded the Templeton Prize for his work is researching spiritual realities.
Michael Spence - United States
Economist - Born November 7, 1943
2001 won Nobel Memorial Prize for his contributing work on the dynamics of information flows and market development.
Developed signaling model from the contract theory.
Alain Finkielkraut - France
Philosopher and Essayist - Born June 30, 1949
Came to public notice when he co-authored a number of controversial essays intended to question the idea of a "new emancipation".
Written controversial work on genocide and even the internet.
Alain Finkielkraut, France
Essayist, philosopher
He was born in Paris on June 30, 1949.He currently teaches at the École polytechnique as the professor of the "history of ideas and modernity". He majored in the department of humanities and social sciences.Finkielkraut advocates what in France is known as a humanist standpoint; although his supposed humanism has been challenged at many times during his career and frequently deemed quite the opposite of humanism, especially by anti-conservative and liberal activists.
Steven Levitt, United States
Economist, author
born May 29, 1967, he is a prominent American economist best known for his work on crime, in particular on the link between legalized abortion and crime rates.Winner of the 2003 John Bates Clark Medal, he is currently the Alvin H. Baum Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago. Helped write a book called "Freakonomics".
E.O. Wilson, United States
Biologist
born June 10, 1929, he is a biologist, naturalist, researcher and theorist. Wilson is known for his career as a scientist, his advocacy for environmentalism, and his secular humanist ideas concerned with religious and ethical matters.He is a Humanist Laureate of the International Academy of Humanism.his 1998 book Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge, Wilson discusses methods that have been used to unite the sciences, and might be able to unite the sciences with the humanities.
Martin, Wolf
A well rounded man with experience as both an economist and a journalist. He served as the Leading economist of Financial Times columnist, and expert on globalization.
He is a Forum Fellow at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and he also served as the senior economist for ten years at the World Bank’s division of international trade.
In his time, Martin has seen several different prestigious awards for his journalism, including the CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 2000 "for services to financial journalism" and the Decade of Excellence Award at the 2003 Business Journalists of the Year Awards.
E.O. Wilson
Edward Osborne Wilson
Born June 10, 1929
He became the leading authority on ants and social insects and an influential theorist of the biological basis of social behavior. Wilson discovered that ants communicate primarily through pheromones.
In his latest book, The Creation, he wants to put the differences of science- and faith-based explanations aside in order to protect Earth's vanishing natural habitats and species ...; in other words, the Creation, however we believe it came into existence.
J. Craig Venter
Leading scientists of the 21st century for his visionary contributions in genomic research.
He is founder and president of the J. Craig Venter Institute and the J. Craig Venter Science Foundation.
With increased gas prices everyone is loooking for some sort of alternative. Venter himself believes he may have come across an ingenious idea. He proposes creating a designer microbe. One that will become the heart of a biological engine.He plans to then add genes culled from the sea to turn crops such as switch grass and cornstalks into ethanol.
I couldn't think of anyone else from this time that should've been on the list, but if Benjamin Franklin were alive now, then he would've definitley made the list. He was an inventor journalist, philosopher and much more.
Most of the people on this list i dont even know. I picked George Ayittey he was a economist, author and he is the president of free Africa in Washington DC. Nosm Chomsky he was and American linguist. He is known for his academic and scientific community for his work in theoretical linguistics and cognitive science. Thomas Friedman american author he is known for supporting a compromise resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Albert Arnold Gore, Jr
Born March 31, 1948
48th Vice President, Environmental Activist, Business person.
Won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change.
Academy award winner for his documentary “An Inconvenient Truth”
Fareed Zakaria
Born January 20, 1964
He was a journalist, commentator, and television host specializing in international relations and foreign affairs.
His education was profound attending Cathedral and John Connon School, Yale and received his Ph, D in government from Harvard.
General David Howell Petraeus
Born November 7, 1952
Is Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Commander of all coalition forces in Iraq. Time magazine named him one of the “100 most influential leaders and revolutionaries of the year.” He was also one four runners up for Time magazine “Person of the Year.”
This video was very touching and enlighten me on many things that I had not known before. I Sometimes wonder if I can make a change in this world at all. I myself have never had a stroke, but my father had one a couple of years ago. It was a very scary situation to see him like that. I know that by him having this stroke that it really interfered with his brain. Me myself I am very emotional and this situation change me, but change me for good. this video was very interesting and informational. I do believe myself that I am a more logical person, therefore I feel that I am left brained, however I do believe that I use my entire brain on a daily basis.
George Ayittey --> He is a prominent Ghanaian economist, author and president of the Free African Foundation. There is a website which is: http://www.freeafrica.org/. It is a nice website the little that I have viewed. He states that the primary cause of African poverty is oppression and mismanagement both by colonial powers... (info taken from wikipedia.org) I have never heard of this gentleman.
Alex de Waal --> He is a British writer that researches African issues. It's good to know and somewhat strange to know that someone of British decent that wants to know something concerning African issues. He wanted to know issues of health in Africa, the intersection of HIV/AIDS, poverty and drougth in Africa as well in 2001.
Daniel Dennett --> He is an American philosopher that incompasses the philosophy of mind, science and biology. He is also said to be a noted atheist. He involves in the Brights movement. In this movement, it defines a social movement that aims to promote public understanding and acknowledgment of the naturalistic world view. I myself wouldn't associate myself with him too much because he is said to be an atheist.
Steven Pinker - Canada/United States
Linguist, psychologist
Steven Pinker is the Johnstone family professor at Harvard University and author of seven books, including The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature.
Samantha Power - United States
Journalist
A former foreign-policy advisor to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, Power is best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning book, A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide. She is the Anna Lindh professor of practice of global leadership and public policy at Harvard University’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy.
Yan Xuetong - China
Political scientist
Yan, a forceful advocate of China’s national strength, is director of the Institute of International Studies at Tsinghua University. Yuan Ming reviewed his 1996 book, On Analysis of China's National Interests, for the Summer 1997 issue of FP.
Steven Pinker - Canada/United States
Linguist, psychologist
Steven Pinker is the Johnstone family professor at Harvard University and author of seven books, including The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature.
Samantha Power - United States
Journalist
A former foreign-policy advisor to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, Power is best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning book, A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide. She is the Anna Lindh professor of practice of global leadership and public policy at Harvard University’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy.
Yan Xuetong - China
Political scientist
Yan, a forceful advocate of China’s national strength, is director of the Institute of International Studies at Tsinghua University. Yuan Ming reviewed his 1996 book, On Analysis of China's National Interests, for the Summer 1997 issue of FP.
Charles Taylor (philosopher)
Dr. Charles Taylor to Receive Inamori Foundation's 24th Annual Kyoto Prize for Lifetime Achievement in "Arts and Philosophy"
George Ayittey
Apart of the Free Africa Foundation
Pope Benedict XVI
Born Joseph Alois Ratzinger
He is cool with the fact they changed his entire name. On March 24, 1977, Ratzinger was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising.
Shirin Ebadi, Iran/lawyer, human rights activist
This woman, through all odds, perservered. She is the first female to serve as a judge in Iran. When the Islamic Revolution took power in 1979, she was demoted to a clerk and she protested. I just can’t imagine what it would be like to be subject to that level of prejudice because of gender. She was highly educated, very driven and successful, but because she was a woman, she lost her position and ultimately her ability to practice law.
She is cofounder of the Association of Support of Children’s Rights and after serving as president, still provides legal assistance as needed. Not only does she stand up and give for women’s rights but for children’s rights also.
Samantha Power, United States/journalist
Best known for her remark calling Hilary Clinton “a monster” while working on the Barack Obama campaign. She resigned shortly thereafter. Is a leader is the fight against genocide around the world. I thought it was great that George Cloney could confirm she has “a mean jumpshot.”
Amr Khaled, Egypt/muslim televangelist
When I saw a Muslim televangelist, I just had to read about it. While I have faith, I don’t believe in congregating or televangelisms. It just seemed funny to me that there would be a Muslim televangelist. The most interesting point was that he preaches peace to the Muslim world. Tells them that Osama is not speaking for them, they need to speak for themselves.
I can’t think of anyone to add to the list.
Yegor Gaidar, Russia
Born March 19th, 1956
Economist, politician
Gaidar was Boris Yeltsin’s acting prime minister from June 15 to December 14, 1992 and a proponent of “shock therapy” for the Russian economy.According to Gaidar, it is wrong to rely only on oil and gas, as it creates only a false impression of prosperity and stability in the country.
Wole Soyinka, Nigeria
Born July 13th, 1934
Playwright, activist
Winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, Soyinka is one of Africa’s most distinguished playwrights. Soyinka was imprisoned during the Nigerian civil war and became a fierce critic of subsequent Nigerian regimes. He is formerly the Elias Ghanem professor of creative writing at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. In April 2007 Wole Soyinka called for the cancellation of the Presidential elections held two weeks earlier in his native Nigeria because of the widespread fraud and violence that characterised the process.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Somalia/Netherlands
Born Nov. 13th, 1969
Activist, politician
A former member of the Dutch parliament and a fierce critic of the role of women in Islam, Ali has feared for her life since writing the screenplay for Submission, the provocative short film that led to Theo van Gogh’s murder.In early 2007, she stated that the Dutch state spent about 3.5 million euros providing armed guards for her, and the threats made her live "in fear and looking over my shoulder", but she was willing to endure this for the sake of speaking her mind.
in this assignment we are supposed to list 3 politicos whom we find "interesting" and while i could care less what they think (im an advocate of isolation, i mean how can you help anyone else when your own house is in disorder...ja naa?) it is what is assigned and so it is what i shall do.
1 .George Ayitty - this is exactly what africa needs someone who can bootstrap them into a modern era, he is the president of the Free Africa Association (funnily enough thats in america you would think a free africa association would be centralized in africa...) and he has written a few books on the subject of economy which is africas biggest stumbling block (the worlds largest supply of diamonds and precious metals and they cant work together and capitalize on it to save their lives...figures) he is helping but then again there is a saying "you can lead a horse to water but you cant make him drink" if they dont want an end to the civil war, famine and plague ravaging their country then it wont stop, period.
2.Paul Collier- another economist (yeah yeah i know money isnt everything but in the game of nations imho it accounts for much) this one worked for the world bank...yeah yeah he is the pinnicle of evil and whatnot but still anyone who can write a book on helping third world countries repair their economies cant be all that bad, well i suppose he can if its deliberately bad advice... (the book is called "the bottom billion")
3. Gang Fan - dont seem to have any wiki articles on this guy but hey a chinese economist from china.
What could ever go wrong with that eh?
al gore: 2007 nobel peace prize winner.
also academy award winner for an inconvenient truth a documentary on global warming.
senior advisor to google.
member board of directors for apple inc.
david petracus person of the year 2007 time.
commanding general multi-national force-iraq.
MPA- international relations Princeton.
PHd-international relation Princeton.
nickname: peaches.
noam chomsky: linguist,philosopher
taught at MIT since 1955.
has had an impact in the fields of psychology, and computers.
established the chomsky hierarchy a classification of formal languages.
Growing up Pope Benedict XVI saw the harshness of the Nazi regime which they pursued a hostile attitude against the Catholic Church. He saw some of the Nazis beat one of the Parish Priest before the celebration of Mass, at that point in time he discovered the beauty and truth of faith in Christ.
Al Gore has become well known more so for his campaign to ended global warming more then his term has being one of the Vice Presidents of the United States. He has brought more concern to the people around the world on how and what to do for global warming. He is challenging the next President of the United States to embrace an ambitious energy plan that would help make the country’s electricity carbon-free with the next 10 years.
Samantha Power is a Pulitzer Prize winning author. She was honored on June 6, 2008 with an honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University College Cork.
Jacques Attali - (born November 1, 1943 in Algiers, Algeria) is a French economist and scholar. From 1981 to 1991, he was an advisor to President François Mitterand.
In 1998 Attali founded the French non-profit organization PlaNet Finance which focuses on microfinance.
In April 1991 he became the first President of the London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the financial institution established by western governments to assist the countries of eastern and central Europe and the former Soviet Union in their transition to democratic market economies.
Was the first person to head the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (created in 1990 to assist the former Soviet Union); was the president of A & A, an international consulting firm based in Paris; and has been one of Foreign Policy magazine's contributing editors.
He was a distinguished scholar and the author of a dozen books whose subjects range from political economy to euthanasia." In other words, Jacques Attali is a prominent financial capitalist, a "socialist," a technocrat, and a close personal friend of the President of one of the G-7 nations.
William Easterly - professor of economics at New York University, author of The White Man’s Burden, and former research economist at the World Bank.
He is a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is also a non-resident Fellow of the Center for Global Development in Washington DC and Visiting Fellow at Brookings during the academic year 2007-2008. William Easterly received his Ph.D. in Economics at MIT.
His work has been discussed in media outlets like the Lehrer Newshour, National Public Radio, the BBC, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, the Economist, the New Yorker, Forbes, Business Week, the Financial Times, the Times of London, the Guardian, and the Christian Science Monitor. Foreign Policy magazine inexplicably named him one of the world’s Top 100 Public Intellectuals in 2008.
Easterly's areas of expertise are the determinants of long-run economic growth, the political economy of development, and the effectiveness of foreign aid.
PROF NEIL GERSHENFELD -
He’s the Director for the Center for Bits and Atoms
His unique laboratory is breaking down boundaries between the digital and physical worlds, from creating molecular quantum computers to virtuosic musical instruments. Technology from his lab has been seen and used in settings including New York's Museum of Modern Art and rural Indian villages, the White House and the World Economic Forum, inner-city community centers and automobile safety systems, Las Vegas shows and Sami herds. He is the author of numerous technical publications, patents, and books including Fab, When Things Start To Think, The Nature of Mathematical Modeling, and The Physics of Information Technology, and has been featured in media such as The New York Times, The Economist, and the McNeil/Lehrer News Hour.
ALL THREE OF THESE MEN WANTS TO BETTER THE WORLD NOT JUST ONE NATION.
Noam Chomsky-celebrated linguist, political activist.
I have always admired Chomsky by way of interviews or articles chronicling his life but never actually read any works themselves. What I found surprising is a book titled 9-11 where he
attributes the events leading to the tragedy were those devised by our own government. Not shocking in the sense that he is known as an outspoken critic, but surprising in the sense that this is written not by conspiracy chaser but by a well-educated and well-respected MIT professor.
Noam Chomsky- linguist, philosopher.
Chomsky rejects notions that language should be studied in the
Umberto Eco
Miedevilist , author
Umberto Eco is a celebrated author of works such as In the Name of the Rose and Foucault's Pendulum.
His background in medieval studies lends itself to accurate portraits of the eras presented in his novels.
from Duane
Jurgen Habermas - Germany
Philosopher - 1929-
Professor Univ. of Frankfurt
Criticized modern industrial societies for excessive emphasis on instrumental action.
Sir Salman Rushdie - British novelist
Was sentenced to death by Ayatollah Khomeini for the novel "Satanic Verses" in 1988
Was knighted in 2007.
Gary Becker - American Economist
Professor at the Univ. of Chicago
was awarded the Noble Memorial Prize for extending the scope of microeconomics analysis in 1992.
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