Office Hours

AKABAS | Podcast with Psychology Professor David Pizarro

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David Pizarro has taught Introduction to Psychology and a number of other seminars since becoming an associate professor in 2012, and his research on moral judgement and emotion has been published in countless places, including an article for The Guardian that he co-wrote last month. He was nice enough to be the guest for my first Cornell Daily Sun podcast, during which he discussed his research, shared his thoughts on robots, and answered ten “Speed Round” questions. Listen to the full podcast and check out the complete list of topics below. Moral Judgement
1:30 – “The Trolley Problem” and its relation to robots making moral judgements
10:55 – Why humans don’t trust others who make calculating moral decisions
15:00 – A fun variant of “The Trolley Problem”
19:10 – How close are robots to taking over decision-making roles in society? 23:10 – Robots replacing referees in sports
Disgust and Political Orientation
28:15 – The relationship between disgust sensitivity and political orientation
35:00 – Could political orientation be biological?

Office Hours

OFFICE HOURS | 10 Questions with PMA Professor Bruce Levitt

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For our second installment of “Office Hours,” a series of interviews with prominent personalities on Cornell’s campus, Sunspots writer Andrew Shi talked with with Performing and Media Arts Professor Bruce Levitt, who has taught at Cornell since 1986 and is involved with Phoenix Players Theatre Group (PPTG), a prison theatre group at Auburn Correctional Facility.  

You’ve worked with PPTG since 2010. How has the group evolved over time? Since the group is inmate-led, that dynamic shifts and we shift with it. The makeup of the group changes over time as some men get transferred out and new men come into the group.

Campus

OUTSIDE THE MAINSTREAM | The Legacy of Cornell’s Campus

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People know Ithaca for its beauty. When I first visited Cornell in the summer of 2014, I was struck by the seemingly endless verdant grass on the Arts Quad and the sea of trees that surround the school. Unless you grew up around waterfalls, nothing really prepares you for walking to class amongst the sight of our monstrous gorges, where thousands of gallons of water tumble down every second. The natural beauty of Cornell’s campus probably affected my decision to apply; when it’s not freezing cold, the bright greens and blossoming bushes express warmth and exuberance all over the landscape. While looking at this nature, we only think of it in terms of wilderness—of untouched beauty, far from the civilization of Cornell.

Office Hours

OFFICE HOURS | Professor Walker White Discusses eSports and Gaming (Part 2)

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For our first installment of “Office Hours,” a series of interviews with prominent personalities on Cornell’s campus, Sunspots writer Bruno Avritzer sat down for a chat with Computer Science Professor Walker White, Director of the Cornell Game Design Initiative. In the interview below, which has been edited for clarity, White shares his thoughts on why gaming may or may not be viable as a college sport. Part 1 of this interview can be read here.  

One thing I want to touch on a little bit is how collegiate sports is developing. Blizzard is really pushing TESPA (Collegiate eSports) pretty hard.

Campus

SUNSPOTS | How Would You Spend 300 BRBs in 3 Weeks?

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You did it. After countless, grueling months spent slogging uphill (physically, intellectually and emotionally) in sleet and snow, you’ve finally made it to spring—and oh my god that summer internship is so close you can practically taste it. In fact, the only things standing between you and the sweet release of death graduation/commencement are Slope Day, a few pesky finals… oh, and the fat wad of unused Big Red Bucks sitting in your Cornell dining account. Forget finals, what the hell are you going to do about that? Given that this hypothetical scenario isn’t so hypothetical for lots of Cornell students, we asked our writers and our readers to devise their own “meal plans” based on a simple premise:

If you had three weeks to spend $300 in BRB’s, how would you do it?

Office Hours

OFFICE HOURS | Professor Walker White Discusses eSports and Gaming (Part 1)

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For our first installment of “Office Hours,” a series of interviews with prominent personalities on Cornell’s campus, Sunspots writer Bruno Avritzer sat down for a chat with Computer Science Professor Walker White, Director of the Cornell Game Design Initiative. In the interview below, which has been edited for clarity, White shares his thoughts on the global popularity of eSports, their potential as spectator sports and comparisons between certain video games and sports like football.  

So the first thing I wanted to ask you is about your opinions on eSports, the phenomenon. Why is it sort of limited in the USA, compared to Europe or Korea? I think some of it is just the cultural acceptability of it.

Campus

ENTER THE DRAGON | A Look Inside Dragon Day 2017

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With Dragon Day fast approaching, we recently asked a few members of the team behind the beast to share their thoughts and experiences on the process of creating the famed Dragon, from the initial E-board elections to the mad-dash of Dragon Week. Here’s what they said:
Yueer Niu, E-Board: Fundraising and T-shirts Chair
When Cornell students first hear the words “Dragon Day,” their usual reaction is not excitement or anticipation but confusion. Although for most student on campus, Dragon Day is nothing more than a day when architecture students go crazy (and a day when people actually see us outside the studio); for the AAP (Art, Architecture, and Planning) community, it’s a powerful and transformative experience. Dragon Day, for us, starts two months before the day of the parade with a meeting conducted by second-year architecture students. E-board is chosen at this meeting in a democratic process; leaders are not only delegated the work involved with planning, but the huge amounts of stress and frustration that are side effects to that work.

Campus

TRAVELIN’ WITH JACQUELINE | 7 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Cornell

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This week I’ve decided to compile a list of interesting facts (or secrets!) that I’ve gradually discovered about Cornell this year. On their own, each of these locations would not constitute a complete blog post, which is why this one contains seven. Some of these revelations are intriguing, some are quirky and one is chilling… so let’s get started!  

1) Underground Tunnels

It wasn’t until perusing Reddit that I found out that there exists under Cornell a network of underground tunnels. There’s (a) Ezra’s Tunnel, which runs between Risley and Rand Hall; (b) a tunnel connecting Olin and Uris Libraries; and (c) a tunnel running from the Plant Science Building to Weill Hall, beneath Tower Road.

Campus

SUNSPOTS | Immediate Reactions To This Year’s Slope Day Artists

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If you haven’t read the news yet, this year’s Slope Day headliners will be MisterWives and Big Gigantic, with Brasstracks and S’Natra also performing. Our writers share their immediate reactions to finding out the lineup.  

Gabe Ares ‘19

When I heard that the Slope Day headliners were about to be announced, I, much like the squirrel awakened from hibernation, dug into my stash of memes I had been hoarding since last Slope Day. I looked through my musical meme folder, from Andre 3000 to the Zac Brown band, only to realize I had no idea who these people were. At first, I felt short-changed by the fact that we didn’t get a superstar, but listening to the groups tells me they’re nothing to cry about.