political science at Brave New Films

Idea Framing, Metaphors, and Your Brain - George Lakoff

2008-11-05T01:55:31Z

Complete video at: fora.tv

UC-Berkeley Linguistics Professor George Lakoff discusses how idea framing and metaphors contribute to shaping the way we think.

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UC Berkeley Professor George Lakoff discusses concepts from his new book, The Political Mind: Why You Can't Understand 21st-Century American Politics with an 18th-Century Brain.

George P. Lakoff is a professor of linguistics (in particular, cognitive linguistics) at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 1972.
Although some of his research involves questions traditionally pursued by linguists, such as the conditions under which a certain linguistic construction is grammatically viable, he is most famous for his ideas about the centrality of metaphor to human thinking, political behavior and society.

He is particularly famous for his concept of the "embodied mind" which he has written about in relation to mathematics. In recent years he has applied his work to the realm of politics, and founded a progressive think tank, the Rockridge Institute.

Joe Epstein is the former President of The Commonwealth Club's Board of Governors.

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Spinning David

2008-12-03T00:24:52Z

the crazy prof circa 2003

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President Carter 1st US TV address 2Feb1977 Energy Policy

2008-12-03T00:50:29Z

Some Excerpts Below
Tomorrow will be two weeks since I became President. I have spent a lot of time deciding how I can be a good President. This talk, which the broadcast networks have agreed to bring to you, is one of several steps that I will take to keep in close touch with the people of our country, and to let you know informally about our plans for the coming months.
One of our most urgent projects is to develop a national energy policy. As I pointed out during the campaign, the United States is the only major industrial country without a comprehensive, long-range energy policy. Our program will emphasize conservation. The amount of energy being wasted which could be saved is greater than the total energy that we are importing from foreign countries. We will also stress development of our rich coal reserves in an environmentally sound way; we will emphasize research on solar energy and other renewable energy sources; and we will maintain strict safeguards on necessary atomic energy production. We must face the fact that the energy shortage is permanent. There is no way we can solve it quickly. But if we all cooperate and make modest sacrifices, if we learn to live thriftily and remember the importance of helping our neighbors, then we can find ways to adjust and to make our society more efficient and our own lives more enjoyable and productive. Utility companies must promote conservation and not consumption. Oil and natural gas companies must be honest with all of us about their reserves and profits. We will find out the difference between real shortages and artificial ones. We will ask private companies to sacrifice, just as private citizens must do. Our Nation was built on the principle of work and not welfare; productivity and not stagnation. But I took office a couple of weeks ago in the middle of the worst economic slowdown of the last 40 years. More than 7 1/2 million people who want to work cannot find it according to the latest statistics. Because of high unemployment and idle factories the average American family like yours has been losing $1,800 a year in income, and many billions of dollars have been added to the Federal deficit. Also, inflation hurts us all. In every part of the country, whether we have a job or whether we are looking for a job, we must race just to keep up with the constant rise in prices. Inflation has hit us hardest, not in luxuries, but in the essentials—food, energy, health, housing. You see it every time you go shopping. The top priority in our job training programs will go to young veterans of the Vietnam war. Unemployment is much higher among veterans than among others of the same age who did not serve in the military. I hope that putting many thousands of veterans back to work will be one more step toward binding up the wounds of the war years and toward helping those who have helped our country in the past. I have also made commitments about our Nation's foreign policy. As Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, I am determined to have a strong, lean, efficient fighting force. Our policy should be based on close cooperation with our allies and worldwide respect for human rights, a reduction in world armaments, and it must always reflect our own moral values. I want our Nation's actions to make you proud. I would like to tell you now about one of the things that I have already learned in my brief time in office. I have learned that there are many things that a President cannot do. There is no energy policy that we can develop that would do more good than voluntary conservation. There is no economic policy that will do as much as shared faith in hard work, efficiency, and in the future of our system.

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Notes from Underground 1.4 – Breaking stereotypes: I do not want to be yet another Indian engineer

2008-02-26T15:50:30Z

My parents stared at me hard when I broke the news to them: I wanted to study Political Science, instead of following the cultural norm of obtaining a BS in a computer-related field. They were unable to understand why I would give up the financial security and familiarity of computers to vie for a place in an insecure field. I shrugged and stated that I found it fascinating, unable to articulate my thoughts properly at the time.

Looking back, I realize that my overwhelming sense of otherness as a racial, gender, religious and un-naturalized minority led me to seek out an education that would ‘tolerate’ and ‘accept’ me. Politics is the site for the regimentation of Otherness. While it may not create difference, our politics of difference—border politics, immigration politics, racial politics and all kinds of identity politics—certainly sustain boundaries. I wrestled with the notion of a society that dehumanizes, marginalizes and forces me to live in the shadows while normatively dictating my most intimate relationships. I realized then that the existence of our multiple sites of enclaves hinged on the alienation of the individual and society. I was not about to live in a shell, protected and entitled to benefits given to particular social groups. I could not allow the underground life I led to render me voiceless and powerless; I had to take control of my destiny and help pave the way for change.

Thus, I am here blogging away. Sharing my thoughts and experiences with those reading these pieces is only a tiny step and a small part of the many ways I actively work to make a difference. Staring at numbers flitting across the screen in a tiny cubicle would probably secure my future, but living the stereotype would only add to the many boundaries between us. And I want to build bridges.

Moira Gunn - How U.S. Laws Affect Stem Cell Research

2008-10-14T11:26:40Z

Complete video at: fora.tv

Host of NPR's Tech Nation and BioTech Nation Dr. Moira Gunn discusses ways in which current U.S. law presents challenges for American stem cell researchers.

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"The Five Biggest Biotech Challenges Facing America" with Moira Gunn.

Biotech is coming of age. It's time to incorporate it into national public health policies, says Gunn, and to re-examine policies on genetically modified foods and revisit the economics of biofuels. Drawing on extensive research and hundreds of her own radio interviews, Gunn presents Five for the Future that show biotech is here and on a roll.

Moira Gunn is host of the radio programs Tech Nation and BioTech Nation, aired by National Public Radio. Tech Nation episodes are normally based on an interview with the author of a science or technology book. BioTech Nation is based on interviews with significant people in the field of bio-technology, as well as regular discussions with science journalist David Ewing Duncan.

Tech Nation and BioTech Nation programs are also published as podcasts by IT Conversations.

Gunn's early career included work at NASA on large-scale scientific computation and global communications, with special emphasis in infrared satellite image processing, computational fluid dynamics, and global climate and weather modeling. She also did work in robotics engineering at IBM, Morton Thiokol, United Technologies/Pratt and Whitney, Lockheed-Martin, Rolls-Royce, and the US Navy.

Gunn has a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Purdue University and an M.A. in computer science.

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