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Uber Gutted Carnegie Mellon’s Top Robotics Lab
May 30, 2015
This January, as much of the world was getting over its post-holiday hangovers, people began disappearing from Carnegie Mellon University's robotics center. At first it was only a few individuals, mostly software developers. Then it became an entire team, and eventually the group included the center's director. They weren't going far. Just around the corner, Uber had set up shop in a renovated building that used to be a chocolate factory. Most people at CMU's National Robotics Engineering Center...
May 30, 2015
This January, as much of the world was getting over its post-holiday hangovers, people began disappearing from Carnegie Mellon University's robotics center. At first it was only a few individuals, mostly software developers. Then it became an entire team, and eventually the group included the center's director. They weren't going far. Just around the corner, Uber had set up shop in a renovated building that used to be a chocolate factory. Most people at CMU's National Robotics Engineering Center...
Does the Science of Self-Control Diminish Our Self-Control?
May 30, 2015
In 1998, the psychologist Roy Baumeister introduced the “strength” model of self-control. It’s a slightly misleading name, since the model attempts to describe the weakness of the will, why people so easily succumb to temptation and impulse. In Baumeister’s influential paper – it’s since been cited more than 2500 times – he and colleagues describe several simple experiments that expose our mental frailties. In one trial, subjects forced to eat radishes instead of chocolate candies gave...
May 30, 2015
In 1998, the psychologist Roy Baumeister introduced the “strength” model of self-control. It’s a slightly misleading name, since the model attempts to describe the weakness of the will, why people so easily succumb to temptation and impulse. In Baumeister’s influential paper – it’s since been cited more than 2500 times – he and colleagues describe several simple experiments that expose our mental frailties. In one trial, subjects forced to eat radishes instead of chocolate candies gave...
Sunstein on Constitutional Theory & Star Wars
May 29, 2015
Cass R. Sunstein (Harvard Law School) has posted How Star Wars Illuminates Constitutional Law (Michigan Law Review, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Human beings often see coherence and planned design when neither exists. This is so in movies, literature, history, economics, and psychoanalysis – and constitutional law. Contrary to the repeated claims of George Lucas, its principal author, the Star Wars series was hardly planned in advance; it involved a great deal of improvisation and surprise,...
May 29, 2015
Cass R. Sunstein (Harvard Law School) has posted How Star Wars Illuminates Constitutional Law (Michigan Law Review, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Human beings often see coherence and planned design when neither exists. This is so in movies, literature, history, economics, and psychoanalysis – and constitutional law. Contrary to the repeated claims of George Lucas, its principal author, the Star Wars series was hardly planned in advance; it involved a great deal of improvisation and surprise,...
Epstein on Incomplete Contracts
May 29, 2015
Wendy Netter Epstein (DePaul University - College of Law) has posted Facilitating Incomplete Contracts (Case Western Reserve Law Review, Vol. 65, No. 2, 2014) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Contract law abhors incompleteness. Although no contract can be entirely complete, the idea of a purposefully incomplete or underspecified contract is antithetical to lawyers’ ideals of certainty for the parties and for the law. Indeed, contract law is designed to incentivize parties to specifically articulate...
May 29, 2015
Wendy Netter Epstein (DePaul University - College of Law) has posted Facilitating Incomplete Contracts (Case Western Reserve Law Review, Vol. 65, No. 2, 2014) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Contract law abhors incompleteness. Although no contract can be entirely complete, the idea of a purposefully incomplete or underspecified contract is antithetical to lawyers’ ideals of certainty for the parties and for the law. Indeed, contract law is designed to incentivize parties to specifically articulate...
Let’s Stop Arguing About Whether Disruption Is Good or Bad
May 29, 2015
The idea of disruption excites some people and terrifies others. Consider the recent case of The New Republic, in which a new, disruptive CEO came in and vowed to “break shit.” The company’s top journalists balked, the brand was sullied, and the business still struggles. And all that for what? That was the essence of Jill Lepore’s essay last year in The New Yorker about the “disruption machine,” in which she argued that, “disruptive innovation is competitive strategy for an age seized...
May 29, 2015
The idea of disruption excites some people and terrifies others. Consider the recent case of The New Republic, in which a new, disruptive CEO came in and vowed to “break shit.” The company’s top journalists balked, the brand was sullied, and the business still struggles. And all that for what? That was the essence of Jill Lepore’s essay last year in The New Yorker about the “disruption machine,” in which she argued that, “disruptive innovation is competitive strategy for an age seized...
Supreme Court Approves Proposed Amendments to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
May 28, 2015
On April 29, 2015, Chief Justice John G. Roberts submitted the proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure which “have been adopted by the Supreme Court of the United States” to Congress for final approval. Absent legislation to reject, modify or defer the rules, they will become effective December 1, 2015.
May 28, 2015
On April 29, 2015, Chief Justice John G. Roberts submitted the proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure which “have been adopted by the Supreme Court of the United States” to Congress for final approval. Absent legislation to reject, modify or defer the rules, they will become effective December 1, 2015.
Schweizer on Proportionality & Nudging
May 28, 2015
Mark Schweizer (Max Planck Society for the Advancement of the Sciences - Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods) has posted Nudging and the Principle of Proportionality (Klaus Mathis (ed.), Economic Analysis of Law in European Legal Scholarship, Springer (Forthcoming)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: While the ethics and politics of nudging have received a great deal of attention, the legality of non-coercive interventions aimed at changing human behavior has received less attention....
May 28, 2015
Mark Schweizer (Max Planck Society for the Advancement of the Sciences - Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods) has posted Nudging and the Principle of Proportionality (Klaus Mathis (ed.), Economic Analysis of Law in European Legal Scholarship, Springer (Forthcoming)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: While the ethics and politics of nudging have received a great deal of attention, the legality of non-coercive interventions aimed at changing human behavior has received less attention....
Understand the 4 Components of Influence
May 28, 2015
The second aspect of influence is emotion, and using it is one way to counteract positional power, and generally to dominate a conversation. When the other side has the power and you have the emotion, something closer to parity is possible. Indeed, passion can sweep away authority, when it’s well supported and the speaker is well prepared. We’ve all witnessed that happen when a young unknown performer disarms and woos the judges, devastating the competition, in one of those talent competitions. ...
May 28, 2015
The second aspect of influence is emotion, and using it is one way to counteract positional power, and generally to dominate a conversation. When the other side has the power and you have the emotion, something closer to parity is possible. Indeed, passion can sweep away authority, when it’s well supported and the speaker is well prepared. We’ve all witnessed that happen when a young unknown performer disarms and woos the judges, devastating the competition, in one of those talent competitions. ...
Supremes to Employers: No, We Won’t Make EEOC Force You To Settle
May 27, 2015
The Supreme Court in Mach Mining confirmed what EEOC has been saying all along, namely, that the courts can’t involve themselves...
May 27, 2015
The Supreme Court in Mach Mining confirmed what EEOC has been saying all along, namely, that the courts can’t involve themselves...
Duty to Conciliate by EEOC is Reviewable, but Standard Is Narrow
May 27, 2015
The Supreme Court issued its decision in Mach Mining v. EEOC this morning. The decision was unanimous and written by Justice...
May 27, 2015
The Supreme Court issued its decision in Mach Mining v. EEOC this morning. The decision was unanimous and written by Justice...
