We provide a theoretical explanation, based on Schumpeterian growth theory, for the divergence in per-capita income that has taken place between countries since the mid 19th Century, as well as for the convergence that took place between the richest countries during the second half of the 20th Century. The argument is based on the premise that technological change underwent a fundamental transformation in the 19th Century, associated with new scientific ideas and the increasingly scientific content of new technologies. We model this transformation as the introduction of a new method for producing innovations, which we call “modern R&D”. In order to use this method a country’s entrepreneurs must have at least some minimum level of skills, which depends on the technological frontier. Countries not fulfilling this requirement can only create new technologies through an older method, which we call “implementation”. A multi-country Schumpeterian growth model incorporating these ideas implies that countries will sort themselves into three groups. Those in the highest group will converge to an “R&D steady state”, while those in the intermediate group converge to an “implementation steady state”. Countries in both of these groups will grow at the same rate in the long run, as a result of technology transfer, but inequality of per-capita income between the two groups will increase during the transition to the

this paper is the paradox that the utter unpredictibility of language is nevertheless governed by laws.

ion in itself is not the goal: for Whitehead [117]"it is the large generalisation, limited by a happy particularity, which is the fruitful conception." As an example consider the theorem in ring theory, which states that if R is a ring, f(x) is a polynomial over R and f(r) = 0 for every element of r of R then R is commutative. Special cases of this, for example f(x) is x 2 \Gamma x or x 3 \Gamma x, can be given a first order proof in a few lines of symbol manipulation. The usual proof of the general result [20] (which takes a semester's postgraduate course to develop from scratch) is a corollary of other results: we prove that rings satisfying the condition are semi-simple artinian, apply a theorem which shows that all such rings are matrix rings over division rings, and eventually obtain the result by showing that all finite division rings are fields, and hence commutative. This displays von Neumann's architectural qualities: it is "deep" in a way in which the symbol manipulati...

We argue that traditional approaches to natural language suffer from the `fallacy of misplaced concreteness'. Because `language' is a noun, and nouns usually refer to `things', it is often assumed that language is some `thing' with a certain immutable structure and properties. This problem of language modelling is also witnessed by the limited success of phrase structure-based parsers in natural language processing. One reason for this lies in the rigidity of hierarchical structure on the one hand, as opposed to the high flexibility of language use on the other. It will be argued that language is in the first place a process, and that this assumption puts the task of an analysis of language in a different perspective. A model supporting this view is Natural Language Concept Analysis (NLCA). In NLCA, hierarchical structure is found as the result of the interaction of different, inherent combinatorial properties of linguistic units. The purpose of the paper is to show that NLCA is consis...

This paper, theoretically, examines concepts, propositions, and establishes the need for and develops an extension to Concept Maps (CMaps) called Cyclic Concept Maps (Cyclic CMaps). The Cyclic CMap is considered to be an appropriate tool for representing knowledge of functional or dynamic relationships between concepts. The Concept Map (CMap), on the other hand, is viewed as an appropriate tool for representing hierarchical or static knowledge. The two maps complement each other and collectively they capture a larger domain of knowledge, thus forming a more effective knowledge representation tool.

The reason why we are on a higher imaginative level is not because we have a finer imagination, but because we have better instruments…. The gain is more than mere additions; it is a transformation. Alfred North Whitehead, 1963, p. 107. Designing educational experiences is an imaginative art. As designers, we anticipate and fabricate activities, resources, and conversations that will bring learners ’ inquiry to fulfillment, enabling their growth toward desirable skills, intuitions, and understandings. As Whitehead suggests, success in this art requires highly developed tools, and the computer, in its protean flexibility, is the most evolved tool of educational imagination. The tools for our imagination have grown extremely quickly in the past decades. Logo, which is only twenty-five years old, inspired Seymour Papert and his followers to imagine “gears of the mind, ” powerful tools that allowed learners to make sense of complex phenomena (Papert, 1980). Multimedia enabled Howard Gardner’s readers to imagine tools that leverage the “multiple intelligences ” for learning, and reduce the influence of formal symbol systems in excluding learners (Gardner, 1993). Powerful visualization, simulation, and animation capabilities led scientists to imagine a new “third path ” for learning, that is neither empirical or theoretical, but merges these two through the art of modeling (Horwitz & Barowy,

Dancing is surely the most basic and relevant of all forms of expression. Nothing else can so effectively give outward form to an inner experience. Poetry and music exist in time. Painting and architecture are a part of space But only the dance lives at once in both space and time In it the creator and the thing created, the artist and the expression, are one. Each participant is completely in the other. There could be no better metaphor for an understanding of the...cosmos. We begin to realize that our universe is in a sense brought into being by the participation of those involved in it. It is a dance, for participation is its organizing principle. This is the important new concept of quantum mechanics. It takes the place in our understanding of the old notion of observation, of watching without getting involved. Quantum theory says it can’t be done. That

www.csiic.ca Innovation is everywhere. In the world of goods (technology) certainly, but also in the realm of words. Innovation is discussed in scientific and technical literature, in social sciences such as sociology, management and economics, and in the humanities and arts. Innovation is also a central idea in the popular imaginary, in the media and in public policy. How has innovation acquired such a central place in our society? This paper looks at innovation as category, and suggests an outline for a genealogical history. It identifies the concepts that have defined innovation through history, from its very first meaning as novelty in the Middle Ages to the most recent interpretations in sociology and economics. The paper suggests a genealogical history of innovation through the following three concepts: Imitation → Invention → Innovation. 3 We have a “violent Fondness for change, and

A respected marine biologist at the University of Jena, Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919) was the most visible proponent of Darwin’s theory of evolution in Germany around the turn of the twentieth century. Alongside his natural-scientific research activities, he attempted to popularise a philosophy that he dubbed ‘Monism ’ – which consisted essentially of mid-nineteenth-century mechanistic materialism permeated with elements derived from early-nineteenth-century German Romantic pantheism – and to use this outlook as the basis for a worldwide anticlerical movement. His popular science books were an outstanding success, selling hundreds of thousands of copies throughout the world, but his organisation attracted far fewer adherents. By examining Haeckel’s popular science writings and contemporary reactions to them, especially among lesser-known contemporaries who have received relatively little attention in previous studies, this thesis explores the subjective appeal of Haeckel’s monistic philosophy. Specifically, it investigates the way in which he employed metaphors and visual images to communicate scientific and philosophical concepts, and in so doing seemed to provide his readers with

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