Science, Technology and our
Globalized Culture
Nathaniel J. C. Libatique, Ph.D.
The Scientific Culture
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Body of knowledge
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Internally consistent
Logical interrelationship, coherent whole
Predictive power, verifiable results, empirical observation
Questions have more value than the answers:
Paradigms vs Anomalies
Community of researchers, peer review, system of
journals and publication: Verification by experiment
Key assumption: nature has an inherent order, a logical
structure often akin to mathematics; tools = logical
inference, inductive reasoning, analogies, math, luck
Peer Review, Citations & Connected Networks
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http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=authoritative+sources+in
+a+hyperlinked+environment&hl=en&btnG=Search&as_sdt=
2001&as_sdtp=on
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=1076954582481036036
7&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=2000&hl=en
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=newman+and+girvan&hl
=en&btnG=Search&as_sdt=2001&as_sdtp=on
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=n+libatique&hl=en&btn
G=Search&as_sdt=2001&as_sdtp=on
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=2969005127078361715
&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=2000&hl=en
Kekule’s Dream
Structure of the Benzene molecule
In 1865 the German chemist Friedrich August Kekulé published a paper
in French (for he was then teaching in Francophone Belgium)
suggesting that the structure contained a six-membered ring of carbon
atoms with alternating single and double bonds. The next year he
published a much longer paper in German on the same subject.[5][6]
Kekulé used evidence that had accumulated in the intervening years—
namely, that there always appeared to be only one isomer of any
monoderivative of benzene, and that there always appeared to be
exactly three isomers of every derivative—to argue in support of his
proposed structure. Kekulé's symmetrical ring could explain these
curious facts, as well as benzene's 1:1 carbon-hydrogen ratio.
http://leegass.com/gallery/leessculptures/nature/kekules-dream/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzene
Future Shock
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First Wave: Agriculture
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Second Wave: Industrial Revolution
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Nomads settled
Surplus produce, stability
Newtonian physics, mechanistic world view
Internal combustion engine, mass production,
communications
Third Wave: Knowledge Driven Technology
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DNA
Quantum engineering, nanotech
Information technology
Service driven economy
Catch Up Game:
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nd
2
Wave
2nd Wave: economies of scale
Portugal and Spain were left behind during the
Industrial Revolution by Northern Europe
(Japan too…)
70’s: Japan; Currently: China and the rest of
BRIC
Globalization
It's a Flat World, After All
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
April 3, 2005, New York Times
In 1492 Christopher Columbus set sail for India, going
west. He had the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. He
never did find India, but he called the people he met
''Indians'' and came home and reported to his king and
queen: ''The world is round.'' I set off for India 512 years
later. I knew just which direction I was going. I went east. I
had Lufthansa business class, and I came home and
reported only to my wife and only in a whisper: ''The
world is flat.'' ……
Globalization 1.0: Nation States
Globalization 2.0: Multinational Corporations
Globalization 3.0: The Individual!
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/03/magazine/03DOMINANCE.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Ten Flatteners
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1. destruction of the berlin wall and the creation of microsoft
windows (universal OS platform)
2. creation of Netscape -- universal communications platform which triggered massive investment by companies like Global
Crossing in fiber optics -- think railroads -- but railroads to india
3. workflow to make use of the these fiber optic railroads
4. outsourcing
5. offshoring
6. open-sourcing -- think perl, linux, etc
7. insourcing -- letting UPS handle your internal logistics
8. supply-chaining -- think walmart's chain from china to here
9. informing -- Google
10. “steroids” -- taking everything before and improving it thinks VOIP, WIRELESS, etc
Tell me it isn’t flat…
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Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook
Linus Torvalds, Linux
Apache vs. IBM
S. Brin, L Page, Google vs. Yahoo
Blake Ross, Firefox
Wikipedia vs. Brittanica Encyclopedia
SMART: Pasaload
Jollibee, McCurry
Lord of The Rings
Larry Qua, Ionics EMS
Linus Torvalds
From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds)
Subject: What would you like to see most in minix?
Date: 25 Aug 91 20:57:08 GMT
Organization: University of Helsinki
Hello everybody out there using minix I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for
386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing since april, and is starting to get ready. I'd like any
feedback on things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat (same physical
layout of the file-system (due to practical reasons) among other things). I've currently ported
bash(1.08) and gcc(1.40), and things seem to work. This implies that I'll get something practical
within a few months, and I'd like to know what features most people would want. Any suggestions
are welcome, but I won't promise I'll implement them :-)
Linus (torvalds@kruuna.helsinki.fi)
PS. Yes - it's free of any minix code, and it has a multi-threaded fs.
It is NOT protable (uses 386 task switching etc), and it probably never
will support anything other than AT-harddisks, as that's all I have :-(.
Chief Yahoos
Jerry Yang was born in Taiwan in 1968. David Filo was
born in Louisiana in 1966. Yang earned his
bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical
engineering at Stanford University and then
continued to work toward his doctorate. Filo earned
his bachelor's degree in computer engineering at
Tulane University and his master's degree in
electrical engineering at Stanford. He then
continued to work toward his doctorate in electrical
engineering at Stanford, which is how Yang and Filo
met in the early 1990s. They became bored with
their classes and increasingly attracted to the
growing interest in the Internet. They realized the
need for and began creating a small index of web
addresses, which more and more people began to
use. Eventually, in 1994, Yahoo! was born. From
there, the trials of financial backing and big business
were just beginning for Yang and Filo.
Jerry Yang and David Filo:
Chief Yahoos of Yahoo!
(Techies) (Powell’s Books)
by Josepha Sherman
http://www.powells.com/biblio?isb
n=9780761319610
Sergey Brin and Larry Page
Facebook
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2004-07: $38M pumped into
FB from Greylock Partners,
Meritech partners and Accel
Partners
March 2006: Facebook on the
block for upwards of $0.7B
hwww.businessweek.com/technology/content/
mar2006/tc20060327_215976.htm
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May 20, 2007: Yahoo offers to
buy FB for $1.6B
Wikipedia
Jimmy Wales
http://www.ted.com/talks/jimmy_wales_on_the_birth_of_wikipedia.html
Video Clips
Please watch the following video on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcE2ufqtzyk&featur
e=related; MIT Milestone Celebration Keynote
Address by Thomas Friedman).
Other video:
* Rob MacEwen of GoldCorp 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQca_xH3BVI