The capacity to do what was once only “in the movies” has transformed conversations. Instead of asking “Is this possible?” we are now asking, “When will this be possible?” The perception of ability, the bandwidth of feasibility… New technologies are emerging faster than one can say “Beam me up, Scotty.”

Calestous Juma, a professor at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, explores resistance towards new technology in his latest book, “Innovation and Its Enemies: Why People Resist New Technologies.” Juma says that much of the reluctance toward these new technologies comes from supporters of the previous product or way of doing things: “The biggest lesson from the past is if a new technology has superior properties, overwhelmingly superior to its predecessors, chances are that technology will get adopted no matter what.”

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18.218 Probabilistic Method in Combinatorics (New Course) This course is a graduate-level introduction to the probabilistic method, a fundamental and powerful technique in combinatorics and theoretical computer science. The essence of the approach is to show that some combinatorial object exists and prove that a certain random construction works with positive probability. The course focuses on methodology as well as combinatorial applications.

"It is essential because it helps me a lot in preparing my lectures. The material is very good, so sometimes I can use it straight. And also looking at the classes, it brings me new insights on how to deliver the content in different ways."
-Simone, Educator, Brazil

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