Ex-Harvard President - Larry Summers - www.bigthink.com - "YouTube for ideas."

1. New York Times: "Ex-Harvard President Meets a Former Student, and Intellectual Sparks Fly", January 7, 2008.

2.

Harvard alumni website blog

The Times reports today that Larry Summers has invested in a new video-centric website called Big Think, ostensibly a "YouTube for ideas."

Big Think (www.bigthink.com) mixes interviews with public intellectuals from a variety of fields, from politics, to law to business, and allows users to engage in debates on issues like global warming and the two-party system.

[Calling all editors: Spot the grammatical error in that sentence.]

The site was started by Harvard alums Peter Hopkins and Victoria Brown, both former bookers on the Charlie Rose Show.

The Times reports that Hopkins finagled a meeting with Summers by convincing his assistant to put him on the schedule, and that after a year, Summers ponied up a five-figure sum.

“I’ve had the general view that there is a hunger for people my age looking for more intellectual content,” said Mr. Summers, who resigned as Harvard president in 2006 after making controversial comments about the lack of women in science and engineering. “I saw it as president of Harvard when I saw C.E.O.’s come up to my wife and want to discuss Hawthorne.” (His wife, Elisa New, is a professor of English at Harvard).

Sounds like an interesting site, and I wish it well. But I also wish that the Times, which has rhapsodized about Larry Summers for years now, would adopt a little more skepticism when it comes to his doings.

For example:

1) Does a five-figure investment really justify putting Summers front and center in the story? Wouldn't it be nice to know, as Times reporter Tim Arango does not appear to, what the total capitalization of the site is?....

Comments

[Andrew Magliozzi]

If you like Big Think, you should check out another newly launched site, http://TheFinalClub.org. Although lacking video content of famous academics, TheFinalClub.org has a much more thorough engagement with intellectual ideas. The site includes comprehensive blogs of Harvard courses, including Social Thought in Modern America and another extraordinarily popular class, called Justice. The site also includes in-depth annotations of great works of literature, philosophy, and history with an innovative linking system.