The Floating University

Glossary

  • Demography: the study of populations (human, non-human lifeforms, and certain objects, like cars or light bulbs) 
     
  • Quantitative data: information that can be expressed numerically, often represented visually with graphs, tables, charts, and histograms 
     
  • Mathematical models: computational models based on various quantitative data inputs that generate predictions about future events
     
  • Exponential growth: development at an increasingly rapid rate in proportion to the growing total number or size
     
  • Columbian Exchange: the exchange of diseases, ideas, food crops, and populations between the New World and the Old World following the voyage to the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492
     
  • Replacement level fertility: when the population replaces itself 1:1 from one generation to the next (2.1 children per woman for humans)
     
  • Fertility rate: the average amount of children had by women in a given population
     
  • Population pyramid: a graphical illustration used by demographers to show the age distribution in a population  
     
  • Urbanization: the trend for human populations to increase disproportionately in cities 
     
  • Arable land: land suitable for the cultivation of crops  

Lecture 1

Malthus Miffed: Are People the Problem, the Solution, or Both? An Introduction to Demography and Populations Study Through an Examination of the World's Population.

JOEL COHEN, Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of Populations, Rockefeller University, Mathematical Biologist, Columbia University

Lecture 2

The Universe in a Nutshell: The Physics of Everything.

MICHIO KAKU, Henry Semat Professor of Theoretical Physics at CUNY

Lecture 3

Of the People, by the People, for the People? The Rawls-Nozick Debates as an Introduction to the Philosophy of Politics and Economics.

TAMAR GENDLER, Department of Philosophy Chair at Yale University, Cognitive Scientist

Lecture 4

Say What? Linguistics as a Window to Understanding the Brain.

STEVEN PINKER, Psychologist, Cognitive Scientist, Linguist, Johnstone Family and HC Professor at Harvard University 

Lecture 5

Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200: Monopolies as an Introduction to Economics

SAUL LEVMORE, William B. Graham Distinguished Professor of Law at The University of Chicago

Lecture 6

The Psychology of Everything: What Compassion, Racism, and Sex tell us about Human Nature.

PAUL BLOOM, Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science at Yale University

Lecture 7

If You're So Free, Why Do You Follow Others? The Sociological Science Behind Social Networks and Social Influence.

NICHOLAS CHRISTAKIS, Professor of Medical Sociology, Medicine, and Sociology at Harvard University

Lecture 8

If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?

WILLIAM ACKMAN, Activist Investor and Hedge-Fund Manager

Lecture 9

What's Up, Doc? Is Biomedical Research Really Close to Curing Anything?

DOUGLAS MELTON, Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences at Harvard University

Lecture 10

Art Now: Aesthetics Across Music, Painting, Architecture, Movies, and More.

LEON BOTSTEIN, Conductor, President and Leon Levy Professor of Bard College

Lecture 11

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: The Essential Value of a Classic Education

JEFFREY BRENZEL, Philosopher, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions at Yale University

Lecture 12

The Authority of Ideas: Decoding the DNA of Education in Search of Actual Knowledge.

LAWRENCE SUMMERS, Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard University, Economist, Former President of Harvard