The WSJ has a great piece today on how Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway, set out to change America's declining culture of innovation and so its future. The result? Robowars courtsey of Kamen's US FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) foundation. Snip:
"Two decades ago, Mr. Kamen was alarmed by American youth culture's obsession with entertainment and athletics. "If their role models come from Hollywood and sports," he told me, "what do you think they're going to work hardest at? In a free society, you get what you celebrate."
Robert Crease, the piece's author and a self-described robo-parent, just wrote a book called "The Great Equations" which explores the top 10 "most beautiful equations" from Pythagoris to Schrodinger. Snip from Publishers Weekly:
"Crease explains the significance of each of these formulas for science and, in brief interludes between chapters, explores the journeys these scientists took from ignorance to knowledge, and the social lives of their theories—their impact on the larger culture."