Presentation Date:
Location:
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, 2016-2017 Fellows' Presentation Series
Files: (key, 814 MB ), (pdf, 134 MB)
Abstract: Making predictions based on theory and on data has only been the scientific way for the past 400 years or so; before that, there was much more reliance on what we would call philosophy. Alyssa A. Goodman is currently leading the creation of the most modular HarvardX online course yet created, called PredictionX. Twenty-five faculty members are participating in conversations with Goodman about the history of how humanity has predicted its own future, from ancient Mesopotamians reading signs in sheep entrails to modern computer simulation of climate change. At Radcliffe, Goodman is working on a companion book for PredictionX, currently titled “The Past and Present of the Future.”