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Shawn Lawrence Otto

Shawn Lawrence Otto is the author of the blog Neorenaissance. Follow Shawn on Twitter: @shawnotto.

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Articles by this author:

Minnesota Blog Cabin

Neorenaissance: The future of real news?

By Shawn Lawrence Otto | 07/22/11
By forcing news organizations to compete in the marketplace with entertainment, we force them to use tools of entertainment. But a better model is emerging.
Minnesota Blog Cabin

Don't Let Satan Fool You

By Shawn Lawrence Otto | 07/06/11
GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann has made a career out of waging the values battle in the culture wars.  A major part of that battle early on in Bachmann's career was the battle over teaching creationism in public school science classe
Community Voices

Tim Pawlenty: The manufactured candidate

By Shawn Lawrence Otto | 06/28/11
The issue of integrity doesn't seem to bother Pawlenty. He's wanted to be president for as long as I've known him, and ambition can cause principles to take a back seat.
Community Voices

It's a mistake to use market economics as the sole arbiter of value in public broadcasting

By Shawn Lawrence Otto | 03/22/11
I happen to be casual friends with National Public Radio's Scott Simon, through my admiration for his eloquence and heart, and via some past writing affiliations.
Scientific Agenda

Science and politics in the birthplace of the Enlightenment

By Shawn Lawrence Otto | 07/16/10
PADOVA, Italy — I came to Italy to talk about science and politics — but as I leave Padova, I am struck by how each generation from Galileo’s to my own must defend science, democracy and freedom of thought, as a moral imperative.
Scientific Agenda

Leonardo da Vinci, knowledge engineering, Debate 2.0 and summer on the Adriatic

By Shawn Lawrence Otto | 07/16/10
VENICE, Itay — It Italy, when crowds get excited they sing in unison. I’m in Venice, the New Orleans of Europe, but here the flooding is planned.
Scientific Agenda

Italian trains, superconductors, the wonders of deodorant and rocks on strings

By Shawn Lawrence Otto | 07/15/10
TORINO, Italy — The thing about Italy is that it teaches you to go with the flow.
Scientific Agenda

'Angels and Demons' journey: Traveling to see the Large Hadron Collider

By Shawn Lawrence Otto | 07/14/10
GENEVA, Switzerland — In the movie "Angels and Demons," bad guys bent on blowing up the Vatican steal antimatter from the Large Hadron Collider.
Scientific Agenda

Lost luggage, science debates and 'green porn' in Italy's former capital

By Shawn Lawrence Otto | 07/13/10
Screenwriter Shawn Lawrence Otto of Marine on St. Croix is as well known for promoting public dialogue over science and technology.
Community Voices

Running on fumes: U.S. must invest in new economies through support for education, research

By Shawn Lawrence Otto | 10/24/08
In an effort to shore up the failing economy we've now seen the government pump hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars into corporations in what is either the largest socialization of the free market or the largest raiding of the public trust in h