Re: [IAEP] Is there a new geek anti-intellectualism?

[mokurai]

On Sat, June 11, 2011 7:32 pm, Christoph Derndorfer wrote:
 Hi all,

 thanks to Twitter I stumbled across a very interesting blog post called
 Is there a new geek anti-intellectualism?
 (http://larrysanger.org/2011/06/is-there-a-new-geek-anti-intellectualism/).

 Particularly in combination with the author's replies
 (http://larrysanger.org/2011/06/geek-anti-intellectualism-replies/) to
 many of the comments his original story received after being widely
 spread via Slashdot, Twitter, blogs, etc. this make for fascinating
 weekend read.

The Two Cultures (C. P. Snow) strikes again. To me, this smacks of sour
grapes. It's too hard for me, therefore it isn't worth doing.

There is a lot of wasted space in academic publications, particularly in
those branches of philosophy and theology that waste efforts on proving
what everybody knows that turns out not to be the case. One of the best
parts of my time in college was digging through many of the most famous
examples to understand why, and to pick out the gems amid the trash. Part
of the problem has been that it was illegal, and considered immoral, to
publish the truth on almost anything to do with the secular and religious
ruling classes in ages past. The history of restrictions on speech
gradually giving way, and the establishment of a considerable degree of
freedom of speech (beginning in Holland during its 90 Years War with the
Spanish Empire and Inquisition) is one of the greatest adventures in human
development.

I align myself with John Alexander Smith (1863–1939), who said,

Gentlemen, you are now about to embark on a course of studies which
will occupy you for two years. Together, they form a noble adventure.
But I would like to remind you of an important point. Nothing that you
will learn in the course of your studies will be of the slightest
possible use to you in after life, save only this, that if you work
hard and intelligently you should be able to detect when a man is
talking rot, and that, in my view, is the main, if not the sole,
purpose of education.

Smith was Professor of Moral Philosophy at Oxford University. Statement
recorded in 1914.

It was certainly the main point that Socrates taught, according to the
early Platonic dialogues. Plato himself put out some of the rottenest rot
in history later on, especially in The Republic.

 I definitely haven't managed to wrap my head around all of it but as a
 geek-dominated community working on education projects I feel some the
 things being discussed there potentially also apply to our own efforts.

We are taking pretty much the opposite point of view in the Replacing
Textbooks program. Save the baby, and use the bathwater to water the lawn.

 Cheers,
 Christoph

 --
 Christoph Derndorfer
 co-editor, www.olpcnews.com
 e-mail: christ...@olpcnews.com
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-- 
Edward Mokurai
(#40664;#38647;/#2343;#2352;#2381;#2350;#2350;#2375;#2328;#2358;#2348;#2381;#2342;#2327;#2352;#2381;#2332;/#1583;#1726;#1585;#1605;#1605;#1740;#1711;#1726;#1588;#1576;#1583;#1711;#1585;
#1580;) Cherlin
Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Replacing_Textbooks

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Re: [IAEP] Is there a new geek anti-intellectualism?

[C. Scott Ananian]

On Sat, Jun 11, 2011 at 7:32 PM, Christoph Derndorfer
e0425...@student.tuwien.ac.at wrote:
 thanks to Twitter I stumbled across a very interesting blog post called
 Is there a new geek anti-intellectualism?
 (http://larrysanger.org/2011/06/is-there-a-new-geek-anti-intellectualism/).
 Particularly in combination with the author's replies
 (http://larrysanger.org/2011/06/geek-anti-intellectualism-replies/) to
 many of the comments his original story received after being widely
 spread via Slashdot, Twitter, blogs, etc. this make for fascinating
 weekend read.
 I definitely haven't managed to wrap my head around all of it but as a
 geek-dominated community working on education projects I feel some the
 things being discussed there potentially also apply to our own efforts.

Hm, about six paragraphs in it seems the author is already getting a
number of concepts hopelessly muddled, which doesn't bode well for the
discussion to come.  The internet is making *some* forms of knowledge
obsolete.  It is true that mundane arithmetic ability can often be
substituted with a computer, and memorization of tables is in many
cases unnecessary.  We have largely lost the ability of the ancient
Greeks to memorize histories, preferring to read/write them instead.
I am largely unable to use my phone unaided, because I no longer
memorize phone numbers.  I don't think this is a portent of the fall
of mankind.

I think jumping from some forms of knowledge aren't as useful to
all academia should be overthrown is a step too far... even if some
sloppy or lazy thinkers may be tempted to jump there.

And then the argument jumps from fact to fiction.  Are great works of
art worth experiencing (reading, viewing, listening, seeing)?  Do
they become less great as eras pass?  Ought Great Expectations be on
a modern school curriculum?  Or should we substitute Neal Stephenson
for Dickens today?

You can have arguments on these topics, but they are not new
arguments.  To the extent the discussion is informed by technological
advances, it is merely continuing a conversation predating the
printing press.
  --scott

-- 
      ( http://cscott.net )
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