This is now the seventh time this conference has been held; my oldest child is also seven, so I have a few thoughts about what that age means for our common field of endeavor. For much of the past seven years we have mostly focused on physical growth, marveling at the sheer persistence in time of this new organism and enchanted when others get to know of its existence. But at seven years, it becomes necessary to consider a few questions that go beyond “how big?” or “how tall?” We feel that some philosophizing might be in order, some rumination Read more