Exponential knowledge growth
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From: Mish-she-gan
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From: The Middle of Nowhere
Edited for spelling:
emmm Okay, couple of comments.
Firstly the bit about China is the ususal jingoistic knee jerk re-action ..."arrgh the Chinese are coming!!!" The Chinese have been a civilisation for longer than most of us, one day they might turn it around and if they do .. so what.
The bit about England in the 1900s I just didn't understand the implication of? You could say the same about Greece between 500 and 300 BC and then laterally Rome.
Empires Rise and Empires fall , that's just the way it goes. Worrying about it is no more sensible than worrying about growing old.
As for all the technobabble about education and technological progress, again so what? When I was at school the industry I currently work in didn't exist. I suspect a lot of people here could say the same.
It is hard to predict 3 years in to the future, it is impossible to even imagine 15 years in the future. Computers that will process the same information as a sentient being already exist to some extent. I wouldn't feel threatened by that.
I would also question some the source material of the "facts" that were printed on the screen. Statistics are notoriously open to interpretation. And if Al Gore has taught me anything, it is that people will beleive anything without question if you use enough slides
My main issue with it though is the slightly scaremongering tone of thething. Maybe I am reading in to it but I found it portrayed a worrying view of the future. It was subtly done but it was still there. (america is 20th in the world for Broadband penetration behind Luxemborg.) Anyone been to Luxemborg? You could wire that entire country with
emmm Okay, couple of comments.
Firstly the bit about China is the ususal jingoistic knee jerk re-action ..."arrgh the Chinese are coming!!!" The Chinese have been a civilisation for longer than most of us, one day they might turn it around and if they do .. so what.
The bit about England in the 1900s I just didn't understand the implication of? You could say the same about Greece between 500 and 300 BC and then laterally Rome.
Empires Rise and Empires fall , that's just the way it goes. Worrying about it is no more sensible than worrying about growing old.
As for all the technobabble about education and technological progress, again so what? When I was at school the industry I currently work in didn't exist. I suspect a lot of people here could say the same.
It is hard to predict 3 years in to the future, it is impossible to even imagine 15 years in the future. Computers that will process the same information as a sentient being already exist to some extent. I wouldn't feel threatened by that.
I would also question some the source material of the "facts" that were printed on the screen. Statistics are notoriously open to interpretation. And if Al Gore has taught me anything, it is that people will beleive anything without question if you use enough slides
My main issue with it though is the slightly scaremongering tone of thething. Maybe I am reading in to it but I found it portrayed a worrying view of the future. It was subtly done but it was still there. (america is 20th in the world for Broadband penetration behind Luxemborg.) Anyone been to Luxemborg? You could wire that entire country with
Joined: Apr 2007
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From: Long Beach, MS
Well, that was a little overblown, what with the dramatic music and the breathless tone of the slide show.
The slides on past and current "facts" were interesting. But the predictive slides were not really very useful. Certainly nothing I will lose any sleep over.
The slides on past and current "facts" were interesting. But the predictive slides were not really very useful. Certainly nothing I will lose any sleep over.
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From: bolton
(load and launch soapbox 1.0)
about 30 years ago my alma mater Worcestor Polytechnic Institute launched a program to revise the learning process.
WPI recognized that learning starts in college and they had to transform there program from learning specifics to focus on the learning process. i.e. learning how to learn.
focus on the fundamentals of theory, they haven't changed much while their application has evolved remarkably.
I think freshmen students focus on todays hot job when selecting a major.
this thinking fails them in two ways. The is easy, while they were making their choice so was 100,000 others students chasing a rainbow. This is why we see boom glut cycles over and over in various fields.
The second is by chasing a 'job' they cheat themselves out of discovering what they truly will love. Work becomes a drudge and when times finally tighten up when the market gets saturated they are in self-made hell.
(close soapbox 1.0)
about 30 years ago my alma mater Worcestor Polytechnic Institute launched a program to revise the learning process.
WPI recognized that learning starts in college and they had to transform there program from learning specifics to focus on the learning process. i.e. learning how to learn.
focus on the fundamentals of theory, they haven't changed much while their application has evolved remarkably.
I think freshmen students focus on todays hot job when selecting a major.
this thinking fails them in two ways. The is easy, while they were making their choice so was 100,000 others students chasing a rainbow. This is why we see boom glut cycles over and over in various fields.
The second is by chasing a 'job' they cheat themselves out of discovering what they truly will love. Work becomes a drudge and when times finally tighten up when the market gets saturated they are in self-made hell.
(close soapbox 1.0)
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