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Let's End Adolescence

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Re: Let's End Adolescence

#141

Post by frisco »

shard wrote: post #118
frisco wrote: post #15

One thing that continually throws me is the whole, "more school, especially more college!" idea. The skills that have actually put me in interesting situations, like serious brain machine interface research or a startup doing quantitative methods for human resources, had nothing to do with school. At least for me, I'd have been much better suited for an "apprenticeship" rather than having just having to tolerate clas…

Sure, American hackers will be just as knowledgeable as Chinese hackers, but if in general the Chinese population becomes more learned (which is happening at a rapid pace as China gets closer to being a first world nation), we would have disadvantages that they don't have, such as the anti-intellectual attitude that exists in many parts of the US.

Yeah, this is true. It's a problem, and I think it stems in no small part from how deeply rooted religion is in this country. I don't think it has a lot to do with the lack or presence of an adolescence, though, or really much in general to do with childhood altogether.

Re: Let's End Adolescence

#142

Post by Retric »

krschultz wrote: post #64
mynameishere wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and as such cannot fathom why kids need to be learning things like calculus and biology I'm pretty sure that Gingrich who is a professor, and every other republican who has ever considered the question in any way, recognizes the use and purpose of calculus and biology. But don't let reason get in the way of your mindless contempt. The real purpose of education is to turn people into intellectuals No, it isn't, unless…

The real purpose of education is to turn people into intellectuals No, it isn't, unless you are talking about highly selective liberal arts colleges. And even then, the best you are going to get are 3rd generation photocopies of Susan Sontag. It would seem to me that that IS the purpose of education, especially a technical one. To me the definition of intellectual is a person who is always seeking to learn new things…

I went to a cheep, public, liberal arts school. Granted I know Harvard accepts our English credits, but check out shepherd.edu to see a good education for a reasonable price.

PS: And yes the English department was insanely hard for a public school, but I still got a CS degree while taking 4 English classes, 2 history classes, art, music, horseback riding etc. They even force philosophy majors to take take a single collage level math class.

Re: Let's End Adolescence

#143

Post by dpatru »

crabapple wrote: post #128

pure claptrap. if newt was less career-minded like he is proposing, he could have taken a history class and looked at mortality rates in the eighteenth century to realize why benjamin franklin was working at 13. oh and aren't these alvin-tofler-acolytes the ones telling us we will change careers three times? that flexibility requires intellectual flexibility...you aren't going to have that if you mainline people into…

Why should working people be forced to finance this?

Re: Let's End Adolescence

#144

Post by rsheridan6 »

bokonist wrote: post #120
rsheridan6 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>My preferred solution then, would be to get rid of electoral democracy. To be replaced with...?

One option: Abolish Congress and the presidency. I mean, what have they done for you lately? Can you name a single good deed they've done in the past 30 years? Use some sort of board of trustees to select the Supreme Court justices and the Joint Chiefs. Perhaps this board of trustees would be selected by existing trustees, or perhaps we could use something like the Venetian lottery system ( http://unenumerated.blogsp…

You could do worse than emulate the Republic of Venice, which lasted about 1000 years and only went down because a big empire (Austria) took them down. I would bet money that the US won't last that long, except that I don't expect to live long enough to collect.

But you could also do a lot worse than US-style democracy. See any number of lunatic 20th century dictators - and lots of monarchs. The disaster of WWI, for example, can largely be blamed on the monarchs of Germany, Austria, and Russia.

Re: Let's End Adolescence

#145

Post by hugh »

justindz wrote: post #140
bokonist wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would welcome a government that did absolutely nothing except stop bad guys from getting into power. Unfortunately, Congress thinks its job is to pass "legislation" and it does so in vast quantities. This has piled up over the decades covering the entire country in a gray legislative goo. If abolishing Congress is too big of step, how about changing the rules so that any new law requires a 70% majority? Or maybe ev…

Where could I find a list of terrible tyrants that came to power in a representative democratic system? That ought to be interesting. Or are you saying that all systems with parties are abominable because of parties, regardless of the details of how the systems work?

Where could I find a list of terrible tyrants that came to power in a representative democratic system? That ought to be interesting.

Well, that list mostly goes:

1. Hitler

2. A few others

But, y'know, Hitler counts for something.

Re: Let's End Adolescence

#146

Post by grhino »

justindz wrote: post #139
nazgulnarsil wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It goes a lot deeper than a few mismanaged lives. The disregard for personal responsibility and the subsequent politics that result will get much worse as generation x then y come of age.

Every generation thinks the next generation is lazy, shiftless, immoral and will destroy the world. It's been happening for a while. The worrying, not the destroying.

Yeah, it's tough to filter out anything insightful from these kind of arguments. Pessimists and optimists have said the same things about the next generations over and over again. Skip the silly arguments with just anecdotal evidence and persuasive tones. Just state the suggestion you think would improve society.

Re: Let's End Adolescence

#147

Post by thras »

dgabriel wrote: post #126
dpatru wrote: post #23

A long time ago I listened to "The Bell Curve" on tape. One of valuable ideas I got from the book was that we should strive to create a valuable place for everyone in society. Everyone, whether young or old, intelligent or not, should feel that they are contributing something of value. No one should feel that they have nothing to give and that society would be better off without them. Furthermore, we should encourage…

The Bell Curve is incredibly controversial. I recommend reading some criticism of the book. Here's a good start: http://goinside.com/98/3/postmod.html

That's a terrible start. I don't think that "William J. Matthews, Ph.D." got beyond the introduction. The statement that "Herrnstein and Murray's assessment of race and class differences...rest on 4 very questionable premises which they simply do not discuss much less defend [which are then listed]" is simply false. The book goes into massive detail on each. Matthews is not simply mistaken, he has flat-out lied.

Well, perhaps that review is a good introduction to the criticism of The Bell Curve after all.

Re: Let's End Adolescence

#148

Post by bokonist »

justindz wrote: post #140
bokonist wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would welcome a government that did absolutely nothing except stop bad guys from getting into power. Unfortunately, Congress thinks its job is to pass "legislation" and it does so in vast quantities. This has piled up over the decades covering the entire country in a gray legislative goo. If abolishing Congress is too big of step, how about changing the rules so that any new law requires a 70% majority? Or maybe ev…

Where could I find a list of terrible tyrants that came to power in a representative democratic system? That ought to be interesting. Or are you saying that all systems with parties are abominable because of parties, regardless of the details of how the systems work?

Off the top of my head: Sulla, Cromwell, Robespierre, Napolean, Hitler, Mugabe. There are many more, but I'd have to verify.

Re: Let's End Adolescence

#149

Post by danielhodgins »

It's all about responsibility. The guy/girl who has been working and starting companies is bound to be more responsible and accountable than their peers who are busy getting laid and partying. I totally agree that making adolescents more accountable would bring out the best in people and reduce social problems in that age group.

Re: Let's End Adolescence

#150

Post by [deleted] »

jimbokun wrote: post #90
tomjen wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't believe that a low birth rate says anything about when people grow up. If it did, teenage mothers would be the most responsible people in society.

You know, a teenage mother raised a man who was just elected to the most powerful position on Earth. Anecdotal, yes. But your comment relies on a stereotype. How do we know that teenage mothers do not quickly start maturing from the point they become teenage mothers, relative to their peers? They almost have no choice. (I say that knowing of some concrete counter-examples to what I just argued. But that's just anecdo…

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