Interesting lecture / Coctail party / On traffic signs

Harvard is getting unwanted publicity. I wonder when the first courtcase is due. Someone must have suffered extreme mental disconfort etc. Thanks to S for the link.

Interesting lecture

Mr Ed Dunn gave a lecture about ceramics. He had been designing some high-eng ceramics. The funding came from US government. The idea was to develop ceramics, which would pass through infrared light and use them in the missile heads. The advantage would be to have the good properties of ceramics (heat tolerance etc) and ability to see through the head, which would enable thermal goal seeking etc. The main problem was how to connect the ceramic to the metal structure of the missile. I will not bore you with the rather interesting details about how they went about to accomplish this. More interesting was his attitude/idea of using government/military money for funding the basic research and later trying to find commercial/nonmilitary uses of the results (in this case they would be in car engines or in golf clubs). Now, this raises the old question: does the end justify the means? The answer is not so straightforward - we really would need to go deep in ethics to get any answer. However, this example makes me think more and deeper about my commitment not to work for any company making thinks for killing humans. Furthermore, if one thinks that the end justifies the means, whatever they may be, one needs to discuss and distance oneself form some nasty dictatorships of the past century. Reading the books "Humanity" by Jonathan Glover and "Straw Dogs" by John Gray is a good start. I have my own opinion on this issue, but I won't say it here. You may be able to guess it, though.

Coctail party

SDM organized a nice coctail party (with great food) in Hotel@MIT this evening. It was nice to see alumni, older students (SDM 04s), and the faculty. I got to learn, that I have already earned a certain reputation here,even though I have been really careful and hold back as much as I have been able to. I am not sure, but this thing may be my real challenge/opportunity. Let's see. Anyway, noticing the cultural differences in great fun. One thing I have noted is the difference between the talk and the walk here. It is common here to emphasize the freedom and individualism of the local culture. At the same time, everyone makes the utmost effort to please their bosses, not to speak up in wrong situation, etc. Or this is what I have understood. I may be mistaken. Anyway, my career anchor is clearly autonomy/freedom. I do not know where it will drag me to, but I am really interested to see and experience the journey.

On traffic signs

Here is another cultural difference. In Europe, the traffic sign contain only symbols and no text. Here, in USA, most traffic signs contain both, and many only text. I wonder why. I would say that having symbols is more efficient. I can give two arguments: symbols are faster to read (in traffic one does not have too much time) and symbols are more or less universal (meaning that they are clear for foreigners/Spanish speakers/illiterate person). Just wondering.

Alun perin julkaistu kuukausikoosteessa "Blogs January 2005".