Winter 2021 LC Thread—I Want Sous Vide

Space tourism is such a slap in the face to anyone who ever worked on space exploration. Just a fucking stunt for billionaires and Boomer celebrities, can we just not do this?

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at oeast half the people working in space watched star trek. shatner in space is easily the best thing of this entire publicity stunt.

the worst part is that it’s shilling and creating a cover for jeff bezos at the same time as credible reports that blue origin apparently cultivated a misogynist environment.

fresh of recall election, california is set to rustle some conservative jimmies.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2021/10/12/california-newsom-law-equipment-pollution/

California set to become first state to ban gasoline-powered lawn equipment

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill that would phase out the sale of new gas-powered lawn equipment in the state by 2024

I actually don’t think it is. Part of getting into a “great college” is having other really intelligent people around you. I think that kind of environment fosters intellectual development. Having a lot of other smart people around you can be challenging and inspiring. Obviously this does depend on the individual. I’m also completely ignoring the effect of building connections/networking which is nothing to sneeze at.

I’m sad to say that I’ve done that. I’d like to think I’ve been fairly restrained, but I’m sure to many my minor fussing would seem excessive.

True. Unfortunately, it seems like you want it to be one way, but it’s the other way.

Couple of points:

  1. Anyone taking Calc 101 at Yale is probably one of the poorer math students at Yale. All the good ones did it in high school and crushed it.

  2. As Sklanskyish as it sounds I’d still take the average Yale admit AP calculus score over the average community college student’s score on that test. I don’t think it would be close. And it is not because of the material being taught much differently. It’s just that the smarter kids are the ones that go to Yale. And the reason they do is the selective pressures that start with the “fussing about…elementary school” stage. Yes, it is unfortunate that is the way the system is, but that’s is the one my kids live in. Not playing the game even a little can still lead to a great outcome, but it’s higher risk, imo.

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I believe that’s the joke.

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You can already do this for most any subject. So, I’d say there has already been some disruption. Maybe we’ll get to total disruption eventually (or at least a lot closer to it). I doubt it, but maybe there is a chance.

I agree and a similar factor is having direct access to top-tier scholars and professors. Obviously great scholars are not always great teachers, but for the small percentage of students who actually care about scholarship and perhaps have aspirations to become scholars themselves, being exposed to people at the absolute top of their fields, Nobel winners, etc can be life-changing.

For the majority of students this probably doesn’t matter all that much. I’m not even saying an Ivy League education is “worth it” - it probably isn’t even for many who can get admitted. But the factors on the plus side of the ledger are significant.

Gonna be a lot of gas powered lawn mowers in orbit.

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I always thought the biggest value of top colleges is as a heuerstic: the kind of person able to get into one is probably smart and hard working.

You aren’t paying or working for the knowledge. It’s for the social network and class signaling. Those are scarce by design.

I had a dream that Roger Stone replaced his Nixon tattoo with a Fauci tattoo, but done in the style of the Obama Hope poster. So basically this:

Thinking of getting one myself now tbh.

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While that is true, I think there is still some value beyond those things.

Knowledge is good, don’t get me wrong. And people do tend to learn better when working with peers rather than independently.

It’s more than just the knowledge that is taught.

I think that if we put a smart kid in a class of smart, motivated people that is a better learning environment (most of the time) than a class of average or below average students. Even if you are teaching the same stuff and even if you set aside all the networking/signaling benefits.

Edit: Just saw your edit. That too.

My parents paid for my college and didn’t pressure me to do anything and now I play poker for a living, I kinda wish they would have smacked some sense into me

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My parents did pressure me, but it was extremely ineffective and our relationship improved once they truly accepted that I was gonna do what I want.

I’m one of the very rare cases where playing cards for a living actually makes sense though.

Eh I was happy with it, but now that I’m mid 30’s it’s just kinda depressing. Of course I’m downswinging super hard at the moment.

But I’ve traveled to like 70 countries, and only work 7-8 months out of the year, so I’m not gonna complain too much. But I am looking for a way out and I still have no clue what that is

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the cost of education in soviet schools wasn’t nothing. it was the best available education and nominally free, but parents had to obey the system to get even that much. but beyond that, the opportunity costs of being in an underserved school vs a place that has more teachers per kid and let’s say no child hunger are immense. doubly so if one school has some half-decent anti-bullying programs vs another school that has none at all.

If the faculty and students at Harvard switch bodies with those at Average State U, does anyone else notice?

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