Why blog?!
There are much better ways of communicating, in fact I don't even know if anyone will read this. I have been using the internet for a long while. As the Internet developed what I have seen is a wonderfully terrifying propagation of information from all sources, walks of life, and personalities. I have not borrowed a single book from the library for the purpose of studying since Google came to existence (back then it was Yahoo! powered by Google). As the world community has embraced the web I have also began seeing two disturbing trends. The first one is that society, and in particular, western democratic societies, are getting dumber and dumber every day. The second trend is how easily people will accept what is on the Internet as the truth.
“The speed of communications is wondrous to behold. It is also true that speed can multiply the distribution of information that we know to be untrue.”
– Edward R. Murrow
– Edward R. Murrow
An 18 year old today, on average, knows more total information than an 18 year old 20 years ago. However our ability to critically think about what is presented to us is far behind the amount of information available. So by writing my opinions and my research here I hope to present side you may have not considered before, and open the floor to a discussion that will not end up in a flame war and the eventual enactment of the Godwin Law.
So what do I bring to the table?
I will not make claims that I have all the answers, or 'the' answer. I will not 'open your eyes' and I am not a 'thruther'. This blog will not focus on some particular topic but will cover many areas that interest me from political critique to pop culture (our counter-culture).
The underlying principle I am exploring now is this. As technology advances, the necessity for manual labor will diminish essentially making blue collar work virtually non existent. However how the system is currently set up I cannot see what will the uneducated and unskilled labour will do other than depend on welfare or other social programs. I am not proposing some socialist or communist approaches. What I am talking about is a total reinvention of our institutions. With the very first step being our public school system. Our school system has barely changed in centuries. It has become unable to prepare young men and women to face the world and make rational decisions. The system must be built from the foundation of providing equal education and opportunity to all, regardless of socioeconomic class, race, faith, sex, or sexuality. A system where every child born is provided the same chance at life. I am not going to say all people are equal, rather that all people are created equal. It is not meant to eliminate people the working class, but create enough tax paying upper middle class and elite class to be able to support the much smaller non working class, allowing those who cannot contribute with a product (either intellectual, artistic or trade goods), contribute through building a stronger community. However such a system will ensure 100% high school graduation. Subject such as critical thinking, formal logic, economics, social sciences will complement the traditional classes to enhance the scope covered. While many students will be encouraged to go to university, a strong and fully accredited college system and trade school system must be existent in order to encourage people to gain specialization upon graduation (rather than tell you that if you want a good job you have to go to university). Further more the system needs to focus on the ability to interpret and analyze multiple sources of information rather than mechanical memorization of facts and formulae. So this is my half baked start of an idea. I am not saying that being educated makes you necessarily better than not. However how long before computer systems are doing every imaginable job that currently requires no education or specialized skills. Graphs and trends maybe for another time, but the point is we need to revamp our education system to ensure that those jobs are replaced not just with new jobs in another field, but that the workforce is able to make the transition. Of course this is also not the only step other government institutions must be redone as well, but the children is where we must start.
Still here?
OK so overall I just want to fight stupidity. Stupidity is not a measure of education, but its own thing. A person with little to no education can have the most profound wisdom, and a PhD or a leader of a nation may be the most stupid person you know.
