The market has shrunk and the prices have gone up… there are still some good items on the second hand market, at times, depending on location.

How are people surprised ! That’s just sad

Googling seems quite effective, honestly. For example here

For my friend, I think was a Google search as well

The most groundbreaking moment in this sense for me was when I was writing course notes for an introductory course (level 300 on my specialty, I was ready). On a small topic, I had my references lined up, until a colleague shared that the obvious, well-known, widely referenced result had been disproven a couple of years prior. The new proof is far from simple, does not belong in a level 300 class and made me scrap the whole section.

For the interested: the course was Introduction to Numerical Analysis, the topic was the order of convergence of the bisection method. Widely known but wrong result Ironically, I can’t quickly find the paper disproving it.

At first read, I enjoyed it, but afterwards I realized it’s a Mary Sue character with some problematic views on romance, I’m not interested in continuing reading

Over the summer, archeologist groups look for helpers. Here is an example. It’s often mostly grunt work in a bigger group.

There are also plenty of small seminars scattered around the world with artisans teaching their techniques. A friend of mine made a sword for example.

I learned the hard way that my limit is one and a half. The half means “sometimes, a second shot is fine, sometimes NOT”

I haven’t heard of since there was a clear explanation of how the eye evolved - since that one was a specific example they were referring to

To scrap the surface: Babel.

The description of what it means to be an expat, away from your culture, cut much deeper than it had reasons to. And it’s a great action/fantasy book

I might give it another try, the first time around I found it forced and bland. Like Asimov tried to connect pieces that were not meant to connect, while not having a lot of inspiration

I didn’t like it :(

But once they get to be supervised, it’s “too late to fail them” (/cynic)

Great read, exactly what I experienced. On the other hand, we also really want to think about what knowledge is really important. Is knowing the difference between Internet and World Wide Web necessary? Or is programming in a random language? Knowledge is power, but there is just so much you can learn. Starting knowing that you don’t know and it’s not magic is, to me, already a great step, because from there you can learn. Expecting everything to be prepackaged is instead a very passive approach, and that should be discouraged.

From the educators perspective, they get a lot more brain rot. They dropped in in-person socialization, long and medium term concentration and literacy of any type. I haven’t heard any positives yet… but I also fear that with every year, I am getting closer to the trope of “back in my days”-shake walking cane. So, hopefully someone comes to tell me I’m missing something

Personal favorites: Caves of Steel and The Currents of Space.

Obviously, the main Foundation trilogy is a glorious space opera, but I sometimes feel its writing is a bit too dry. It almost feels like ready a piece of theatre.

I am confused by your comment. What do you define as poor in this context?

It’s a consequence of having money that some people will earn more than others. What I want is that the lowest segment of the population can live with dignity and the highest cannot buy up a state. From what you are saying, Finland actually fills these criteria?

I know a bit about teaching about computers/programming to kids in the first years of high school. Their understanding of anything computer is abysmal. They have grown up with smartphones and maybe tablet, never were able to tinker with anything. Even just what internet is was confusing to them. It had to be reframed as “when can you watch youtube” for it to make sense…

What does voluntary surveillance mean in this context ?

Sounds pretty cool, thanks for sharing

There are mixed marks that seem to work. The one I’m most familiar with is private health insurance in the Netherlands. The market is very strictly regulated, all health insurers need to offer the same basic package - a cheap package that covers all the basics. And there is intense governmental oversight to check that the health insurers cover what they are supposed to. The capitalist aspect and the market economy enter mostly on the non-basic packages.

You can notice how it’s a very slow moving market, but it still generates profits for the owners and profits the society as a whole.

I hope something like this could be implemented more widely, where a strong tax redistribution system and strong regulations in favor of the less rich can counter the evident downsides of capitalism without killing neither private ownership nor market economy. Like we haven’t killed car traffic, we have very strongly regulated it.