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So many people decry taking any career path that isn't STEM-based, but surely one of the things the proliferation of technology and automation should one day en

So many people decry taking any career path that isn't STEM-based, but surely one of the things the proliferation of technology and automation should one day enable is a world where someone could be a poet, or an artist, or an engineer, and not worry much about providing the material conditions of their life? I want to live in a world where anyone can be anything. I still think it's pragmatic advice to avoid (or at least consider carefully) spending 150k on an english degree from a private school, but that's not due to any bias against english as an academic discipline - it's more about how much college costs and how debt constrains future choices.

js2 8y ago
“The science of government it is my duty to study, more than all other sciences; the arts of legislation and administration and negotiation ought to take the place of, indeed exclude, in a manner, all other arts. I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.” -- John Adams (in a letter to Abigail)
- jessaustin 8y ago
  ...and they all lived happily ever after! It isn't surprising that a generation who successfully fought a war of revolution against a royalty of "divine" right would have a millenarian bent, but that doesn't mean that we should believe them. In fact, it might be telling that this pithy narrative is found in a private letter to his wife rather than in his more intentionally public works. In every generation, there will be those who find poetry boring and politics exciting. The rest of us must maintain constant vigilance against those scourges on humanity.

js2 8y ago

“The science of government it is my duty to study, more than all other sciences; the arts of legislation and administration and negotiation ought to take the place of, indeed exclude, in a manner, all other arts. I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.” -- John Adams (in a letter to Abigail)

jessaustin 8y ago
...and they all lived happily ever after! It isn't surprising that a generation who successfully fought a war of revolution against a royalty of "divine" right would have a millenarian bent, but that doesn't mean that we should believe them. In fact, it might be telling that this pithy narrative is found in a private letter to his wife rather than in his more intentionally public works. In every generation, there will be those who find poetry boring and politics exciting. The rest of us must maintain constant vigilance against those scourges on humanity.