How Baseball, Poker, and Fermat Teach Us the Best Way to Elect the President
Alan Natapoff
Wed Jan 18, 04-05:30pm, 37-212
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
The paradox of presidential voting is that the Electoral College is more democratic than raw popular voting: It delivers massive power to individual voters in closely-contested states, but raw voting delivers none to anyone, anywhere. We can empower the 80 million impotent voters in poorly-contested states by basing a state's Electoral vote count on its total popular vote, not its population. If the opposition despises the state's dominant candidate--or greatly prefers its own--it can cast blank ballots that will not count for him: Dominant candidates must earn the acquiescence of their opposition, underdog candidates must contest states they are likely to lose, and both must campaign beyond the battleground states. We trace the paradoxes, the delicious oddities, and the resolution of Florida's deadlock in 2000 by Fermat's Rule.
Web: http://natapoff@space.mit.edu
Contact: Alan Natapoff, 37-219, 253-7757, natapoff@space.mit.edu
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Intelligence, Iraq and the War on Terror: An Insider's View
Robert Vickers
Wed Jan 11, 01-02:30pm, 4-370
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
Robert Vickers, a senior intelligence officer and visiting lecturer in the Security Studies Program, will discuss the role of intelligence in Iraq and the War on Terror, including controversial issues such as the Rove-Plame affair, the 16 words, and the use of rendition and secret prisons for captured terrorist leaders.
Contact: Robert Vickers, rvickers@mit.edu
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Learn Henna Design!
Laila Shabir
Tue Jan 24, Wed Jan 25, 03-04:00pm, 2-142
Enrollment limited: first come, first served
Signup by: 10-Jan-2006
Limited to 20 participants.
Participants requested to attend all sessions (non-series)
Henna designing is a very popular form of cultural activity in the Middle East. I've lived in the United Arab Emirates for 18 years and have been doing this for over 6 years. I would like to share it with other people! Many people love tattoos and the best thing about henna is it's elegant as well as stylish; plus, it's not permanent. To guarantee a place sign up by January 10 or just show up. Don't show up in your best clothes. Please attend both sessions.
Contact: Laila Shabir, laila@mit.edu
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MIT Washington Summer Internship Program Information Sessions
Charles Stewart, Tobie Weiner
Thu Jan 19, 11am-12:00pm, 1-135
Tue Jan 31, 01-02:00pm, 1-135
Wed Feb 1, 03-04:00pm, 1-135
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Repeating event. Participants welcome at any session
Come to an information session and find out about the MIT Washington Summer Internship Program. The program was founded in 1995 to give selected MIT undergraduates the opportunity to explore science and engineering policymaking at the national level, through study and practical experience. The interns have worked in the offices of government agencies, the private sector, and advocacy groups. Complementing the summer internships are a trip to Washington, DC, during spring break and a 12-unit HASS subject designed to give students an introduction to policymaking. All sessions are the same; come to any one.
Web: http://web.mit.edu/summerwash/www
Contact: Tobie Weiner, E53-484, x3-3649, iguanatw@mit.edu
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Mega Energy Projects
Peter Evans, Nicholas Alan McKenna
Tue Jan 10, Thu Jan 12, Tue Jan 17, Thu Jan 19, 10am-12:00pm, E51-149
Enrollment limited: first come, first served
Signup by: 09-Jan-2006
Limited to 40 participants.
Participants requested to attend all sessions (non-series)
Mega energy projects are complex, high impact projects that range from $1 to $20 billion dollars. They can yield important benefits but also generate strong resistance given their potentially large social, environmental and geopolitical impacts. This course will provide an integrated approach to understanding the growing trend toward mega energy projects worldwide. The course will draw on systems architecture, system dynamics, organizational theory and transaction cost economics to understand why these complex social and technical projects are often delayed and run over budget. It will also draw on theories of international relations, political economy, and transnational interest group politics to understand the broader forces that cause mega-energy projects to succeed or fail.
Web: http://stellar.mit.edu/S/course/17/ia06/17.917/
Contact: Peter Evans, E40-441, x4-1497, evansp@mit.edu
Cosponsor: Engineering Systems Division
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The Future of Power
Ali Wyne
Enrollment limited: first come, first served
Limited to 20 participants.
Participants welcome at individual sessions (series)
What structure of power will emerge after the United States' reign as superpower concludes? This question may appear to exhibit ignorance of the current distribution of global power, for the United States' preponderance does not appear to be immediately imperiled. However, it recognizes an outcome that may well prevail in the forthcoming centuries, if not by the conclusion of the 21st. After examining the interrelated challenges to America's exercise of power in the global theater, these sessions will discuss possible answers to the above question.
Contact: Ali Wyne, awyne@mit.edu
Cosponsor: Center for International Studies
Stephen Van Evera
This session centers on the challenges that "global issues" -- for example, the proliferation of nuclear weapons of mass destruction and the decentralization of global terrorist networks - pose to the exercise of American leadership.
Wed Jan 11, 07:30-09:00pm, 1-135
TBA
This session examines the utility and relevance of military prowess and armed force in the 21st century.
Wed Jan 18, 07:30-09:00pm, 1-135
TBA
This session documents the growing challenges that the global community pose to the United States' economic and intellectual clout.
Wed Jan 25, 07:30-09:00pm, 1-135
TBA
This final session discusses some international orders that might arise in a world in which the United States is no longer the predominant power.
Wed Feb 1, 07:30-09:00pm, 1-135
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