In 1989, The Columbia University Seminars on Media and Society (later called the '
Fred Friendly Seminars') produced a ten-part series entitled
Ethics in America, hosted by
Fred W. Friendly [obit]. The show, which aired on PBS, featured prominent American thinkers of the time -- including psychologists, philosophers, doctors, lawyers, theologians, professors, business leaders, district attorneys, politicians, journalists, and a supreme court justice -- engaged in round-table debate concerning hypothetical ethical dilemmas. It was reprised in 2007 as Ethics in America II. Both incarnations [
I;
II] are viewable for free at
Lerner.org, which describes the original version thus:
This series uses the Socratic method to build analytical skills and examine ethical questions. The programs aim to sharpen moral reasoning without favoring a particular position by exploring ethical dilemmas in legal, political, medical, corporate, and military arenas. Panelists include Antonin Scalia, Faye Wattleton, and Peter Jennings. [more inside]
posted by troll
on Sep 7, 2011 -
15 comments
Social consensus through the influence of committed minorities: We show how the prevailing majority opinion in a population can be rapidly reversed by a small fraction
p of randomly distributed
committed agents who consistently proselytize the opposing opinion and are immune to influence. Specifically, we show that when the committed fraction grows beyond a critical value
pc ≈ 10%, there is a dramatic decrease in the time,
Tc, taken for the entire population to adopt the committed opinion.
[.pdf] [more inside]
posted by troll
on Jul 26, 2011 -
56 comments
