This course revisits and updates favorite topics from OLLI classes of yesteryear: It’s About Time explores physical and psychological aspect of time; It’s All in your Head is on the nature of consciousness and tricks of the mind; Complexity and Emergence reveals how complex patterns can emerge from simple rules; and Big History focuses on the origin of Earth, life and especially mammals leading to H. Sapiens. A new topic on human civilization, called Peak Human, examines how humans have organized themselves over millennia and the special conditions that created and destroyed historical golden ages. Each class is accompanied by warm-up readings and videos found on the instructor’s website: https://johnlasala.net/
John LaSala is a graduate of the United States Military Academy and holds a doctorate in applied physics from Stanford University. He served as an Army Corps of Engineers Officer and had an extended assignment as a professor of physics at West Point. He retired from Corning, Inc, where he led the development of new technical glass products. He also served as an endowed physics chair at West Point, where he developed a new course on renewable energy.
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