08 JUL 2011 by ideonexus
Workplaces Conducive to Raising Children
We could also immediately change workplaces to allow for part-time work that has similar benefits and pay to full-time work and to allow for flexible hours and career paths. Our own workplaces, the universities, provide both very good and very bad examples. For years professors have worked at home and determined their own schedules with no loss of productivity. On the other hand, the career structure of universities is deeply in conflict with the imperatives of evolution—the years when we e...Academia seems like it could be condusive, due to the independence and freedom; however, the long and demanding hours make it less than ideal. Telecommuting offers the ability to multitask like our ancestors.
06 APR 2011 by ideonexus
Printed Book Readers are Hermits Avoiding the Global Village
The printed, bound and paid-for book was — still is, for the moment — more exacting, more demanding, of its producer and consumer both. It is the site of an encounter, in silence, of two minds, one following in the other's steps but invited to imagine, to argue, to concur on a level of reflection beyond that of personal encounter, with all its merely social conventions, its merciful padding of blather and mutual forgiveness. Book readers and writers are approaching the condition of holdou...Updike's response to Kevin Kelly's article on digitizing library's in the New York Times.