Re:50 Fascinating Things I've Read Lately
by TomOfTTB on Sunday April 17, 2011 @12:01PM
(#2456356)
"In school they give you a question and ask you to find an answer. In the real world the answers are everywhere -- the Internet, calculators, history books, reference manuals. The trick is asking the right questions."
--Adapted from speech by Conrad Wolfram
There's something really profound here. Teaching fact memorization was necessary in the past because people didn't have those facts readily available to them where ever they went. Now that they do we should really examine the way we teach and adjust accordingly
Re:50 Fascinating Things I've Read Lately
by pragmatic on Sunday April 17, 2011 @12:27PM
(#2456392)
Agreed. I think synthesis of many facts/ideas/etc is the major advantage of the knowledge worker.
When I was getting into programming in the early 00's, most people had stacks of books that they would refer to. I was using Google (and google groups was really useful back then) and just blowing by my co-workers in knowledge and productivity. I became the go-to person simply because I could research a problem and synthesize a solution quickly.
Rainbow's End http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbows_End by Computer Science prof Vernor Vinge tells of a future where synthesis of data is the major skillset. Interesting read.
Re:50 Fascinating Things I've Read Lately
by splat on Sunday April 17, 2011 @11:49AM
(#2456338)
>"So [government] spending [in 2010] was $186 billion higher than if we'd stuck to the [2000-2007] trend, and revenue was $681 billion lower. In other words, the giant deficit is mainly the result of the collapse in tax receipts brought on by the recession, not the increase in spending. Nice to know, huh?"
--Justin Fox
This one seems a little misleading. Fox is comparing 2010 spending vs. revenue to the 2000-2007 trend, but spending far outpaced revenue in this period. When revenue dropped in the recession, he points to that and says, "see, it's a revenue problem." But even if revenues somehow hadn't dropped dramatically during the recession and the trend continued, the federal government would still be spending much more than it is taking in. That seems to me more indicative of a spending problem.
Re:50 Fascinating Things I've Read Lately
by vinhboy on Sunday April 17, 2011 @12:01PM
(#2456357)
Matt Ridley seems to be mis-attributing advances in medicine and technology to economic equality. In his world, I can only be truly poor if I rode a horse drawn carriage to work.
There's something really profound here. Teaching fact memorization was necessary in the past because people didn't have those facts readily available to them where ever they went. Now that they do we should really examine the way we teach and adjust accordingly
When I was getting into programming in the early 00's, most people had stacks of books that they would refer to. I was using Google (and google groups was really useful back then) and just blowing by my co-workers in knowledge and productivity. I became the go-to person simply because I could research a problem and synthesize a solution quickly.
Rainbow's End http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbows_End by Computer Science prof Vernor Vinge tells of a future where synthesis of data is the major skillset. Interesting read.
This one seems a little misleading. Fox is comparing 2010 spending vs. revenue to the 2000-2007 trend, but spending far outpaced revenue in this period. When revenue dropped in the recession, he points to that and says, "see, it's a revenue problem." But even if revenues somehow hadn't dropped dramatically during the recession and the trend continued, the federal government would still be spending much more than it is taking in. That seems to me more indicative of a spending problem.