Post a Comment On: Richard Sprague

Here are some of the podcasts I've played during the past few days: Radio OpenSource: I heard Steven Pinker host interviews asking various intellectuals about their most dangerous idea. As always, Pinker is so articulate and describes what I think (e.g. regarding the unlikelihood of intelligent life in outer space). Incidentally, I also found a page dedicated to Steven Pinker Multimedia: all known audio and video of Steven Pinker. I listened to Jennifer Burns, a professor from UC-Berkeley. Her lectures on US History are available on iTunes, including the one I listened to called "Rise of the Religious Right". Harvard professor Niall Ferguson discusses his new book War of the Worlds on Open Source.  He's a historian who claims big wars result from the three E's: economic volatility, empire descent, and ethnic tension.  All three are in place now in Iraq and portend a big WWII-style conflict.  I originally heard about this book in an NPR interview, so it was nice to get a longer version of it.  (Incidentally, the Economist thinks it's an okay book by a brilliant, if too populist, historian). Plus, I listened to several short news podcasts by The Economist, Wall Street Journal, and Scientific American.