Being an excellent robot (Erica Goldson Graduation speech)
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Re: Being an excellent robot (Erica Goldson Graduation speech)
#2I find that hilarious.
Particularly "While others would come to class without their homework done because they were reading about an interest of theirs, I never missed an assignment", "while others sat in class and doodled..." and "while others were creating music..."
This seems remarkably naive. The doodlers did not all become artists, many were just bored or uninterested. The ones missing assignments were probably not reading books that fascinated them, they were probably playing video games or smoking/drinking somewhere out of sight. The musicians probably did have more fun than you.
But none of these people had life any more figured out than you. And if you're the sort of person that can excel at anything they put their mind to, just because they want to, then the world is yours to do with as you please.
That doesn't make you a robot, it makes you a god.
Re: Being an excellent robot (Erica Goldson Graduation speech)
#3I find that hilarious. Particularly "While others would come to class without their homework done because they were reading about an interest of theirs, I never missed an assignment", "while others sat in class and doodled..." and "while others were creating music..." This seems remarkably naive. The doodlers did not all become artists, many were just bored or uninterested. The ones missing assignments were probably…
Pretty much anyone can excel at the level of dedication shown in the speech. The question is whether you can conjure up that dedication at will, to point at a chosen goal. If yes, god, if no, robot.
Re: Being an excellent robot (Erica Goldson Graduation speech)
#4I find that hilarious. Particularly "While others would come to class without their homework done because they were reading about an interest of theirs, I never missed an assignment", "while others sat in class and doodled..." and "while others were creating music..." This seems remarkably naive. The doodlers did not all become artists, many were just bored or uninterested. The ones missing assignments were probably…
Pretty much anyone can excel at the level of dedication shown in the speech. The question is whether you can conjure up that dedication at will, to point at a chosen goal. If yes, god, if no, robot.
I suppose so. And the realisation that it is (or at least could be) you that controls that choice is probably what this is really about.
--edit-- actually I'm not 100% sure everyone can excel at anything even with that level of dedication, and I am 100% sure that not everyone has it in them to give that level of dedication to anything.
Re: Being an excellent robot (Erica Goldson Graduation speech)
#5I find that hilarious. Particularly "While others would come to class without their homework done because they were reading about an interest of theirs, I never missed an assignment", "while others sat in class and doodled..." and "while others were creating music..." This seems remarkably naive. The doodlers did not all become artists, many were just bored or uninterested. The ones missing assignments were probably…
Pretty much anyone can excel at the level of dedication shown in the speech. The question is whether you can conjure up that dedication at will, to point at a chosen goal. If yes, god, if no, robot.
My reading of the speech (full here[1]), was the opposite of your conclusion.
She makes the case that people are naturally passionate about (different) things, and should be free to follow that passion.
She makes the case that many jobs could be automated out of existence, if the objective was to free people from the need to work, rather than to perpetuate a status quo that keeps them tired and passive.
These are fairly common thoughts, on the new left. I know that in the 1970s in the UK, it was expected labor intensive manufacturing jobs would be replaced by automation, and the government had conferences to decide what to do, to give people purpose without work. As it turned out, the jobs were destroyed, by outsourcing in the 1980s, and a great bulk of service jobs that were unnecessary just a few years before were created to take up the slack.
Western economies are hugely over-weighted towards the service sector, but think - in a country where 40% of jobs are industrial, how do they get by with such a low proportion of servants? Does it not follow that those jobs are unnecessary?
Isn't it immoral to force people do do them? Shouldn't we recalibrate society so they don't have to? So they can spend more time creating, launching startups, live longer due to earlier retirement?
Personally, I'm on the fence on this one. I get a lot of purpose and enjoyment from my job, and not having one takes a huge toll on the unemployed. I find it hard to understand why unemployed friends don't just create jobs for themselves, to provide the self respect they so desperately want. Maybe people need a system that creates jobs for them so they can have a purposeful life.
But anyway, the ability conjure up dedication towards a chosen goal? Certainly that would make you a productive god, a robot even, but not (according to the author) a fully realized human. That would require passion.
Re: Being an excellent robot (Erica Goldson Graduation speech)
#6I think this shows incredible insight for a 18 or 19 year old. Going against the grain will certainly provide more resistance, but if she moved that way after this speech, I think she's already an 'artist', at least in the Seth Godin sense of the word.
Is the new absolute standpoint a little naive too? Sure. And a little bit of a big jump from where she was? Sure. Binary Search algorithm on figuring out her 'self', and she's got a real early start on it.
Re: Being an excellent robot (Erica Goldson Graduation speech)
#7I find that hilarious. Particularly "While others would come to class without their homework done because they were reading about an interest of theirs, I never missed an assignment", "while others sat in class and doodled..." and "while others were creating music..." This seems remarkably naive. The doodlers did not all become artists, many were just bored or uninterested. The ones missing assignments were probably…
And if you're the sort of person that can excel at anything they put their mind to, just because they want to, then the world is yours to do with as you please.
That doesn't make you a robot, it makes you a god.
There is no such "sort of person". Which is fine, because that person is a strawman of yours: that graduation speech is about people who can excel at anything others put their mind to. Being the best at following orders is like the top price from the consolation price shelf of skills. As Plutarch said, the mind is a fire to be kindled, not a vessel to be filled, and if you can't distinguish the interesting from the idiotic assignments, and fulfill them all with equal dog-like obedience, that's not very smart, and to think otherwise would be just as naive. If you don't, then that's not your graduation speech.
There is nothing wrong with learning for tests instead of coming up with your own challenges, or with learning instead of being lazy, or a mixture of both. There isn't even anything wrong with fulfilling the expectations of others even, as long as you know why you're doing it. If you don't, if you fulfill them just because they're there, not even to relieve your boredom but to because others expect you to, then you ARE on a conveyor belt without even knowing why and how you got there, rationalizations nonwithstanding.
Do you think people who blindly follow orders grow on trees, or are aware of the fact that's essentially all they're doing? Because I'd say no to both.
Re: Being an excellent robot (Erica Goldson Graduation speech)
#8What I see in this brief (I haven't seen the actual talk) is an understandable fear to get out of the education system.
Let's face it, from kindergarden to the end of college, what we have is a set of "levels", a fixed path with very very few points where you can actually decide something. The natural step is to reach the next level and keep doing roughly the same. More tests, more lessons... etc
BUT, when that system ends, there is a void. The adult world is not "a fixed system" or "the next level in the game", but a whole chaos, full of options, opportunities, uncertainties. And that freedom can intimidate, specially if someone has been focusing in excelling in the educational system and has the perception (not necessarily that's a real thing) that none of that is useful, that other people already have links (which a lot of people will form) with this new and weird "life outside academia"
I mean, it's a great thing, but I can totally understand that it's scary at first.
Re: Being an excellent robot (Erica Goldson Graduation speech)
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Pretty much anyone can excel at the level of dedication shown in the speech. The question is whether you can conjure up that dedication at will, to point at a chosen goal. If yes, god, if no, robot.
My reading of the speech (full here[1]), was the opposite of your conclusion. She makes the case that people are naturally passionate about (different) things, and should be free to follow that passion. She makes the case that many jobs could be automated out of existence, if the objective was to free people from the need to work, rather than to perpetuate a status quo that keeps them tired and passive. These are fai…
When everything is standardized and trained with specificity, as our school system is, we are turning people into automatons. The trouble with automatons is they get automated.
We have been moving, for the past 50 years, into an era where there is still a staggering amount of work that needs to be done but there is no singular defined "job" to employ a person from their early 20s until their mid-60s retirement.
Re: Being an excellent robot (Erica Goldson Graduation speech)
#10I find that hilarious. Particularly "While others would come to class without their homework done because they were reading about an interest of theirs, I never missed an assignment", "while others sat in class and doodled..." and "while others were creating music..." This seems remarkably naive. The doodlers did not all become artists, many were just bored or uninterested. The ones missing assignments were probably…
>The doodlers did not all become artists, many were just bored or uninterested.
In fact, the doodlers were likely attending to the lecture, e.g. http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1882127,00.ht...