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That is an incredibly charitable interpretation of what Shaw said. He paints a picture of a future where 80% of the population earns third-world wages unless t
by rmrfstar 6y ago
That is an incredibly charitable interpretation of what Shaw said.
He paints a picture of a future where 80% of the population earns third-world wages unless they "compete for the kinds of jobs that are going to be at the top end".
Three minutes later, he rudely interrupts another speaker to argue against "one computer per student" on the grounds that system administration makes it too expensive and students shouldn't learn to sysadmin because its not a "high end" skill.
Basically, he wants an oligarchy and is unwilling to say it. It is interesting that his protege is doing more than any living person to make his neofeudal vision a reality.
- gugagore 6y agoI do not think he argued against "one computer per student". Did he not explicitly say he agree with the point, but wanted to be clear that he thinks it would cost more than what Papert was saying?
- rmrfstar 6y agoSo he warmly welcomes the elimination of trade barriers, predicts it will create a large peasant class, then aggressively undermines a proposal to up-skill students by saying it is too expensive. No one is ever going to come out and say "I hate poor people, do not design systems to empower them." They say things like "do X which will hurt poor people but also do Y to help them." X always happens before Y, and when the time to implement Y comes it is always too expensive. Look at the 2008 financial crisis: banks bailed out early on, 40 million people experienced foreclosure. Look at the CARES act. Now that the market has rebounded, there will be no support for people facing eviction. I say this as a relatively wealthy person in a high-skill profession.
- gugagore 6y agoListen, I am about as left as they come. But do you want to try to respond to my actual comment? What I heard in the clip was Shaw claiming it is expensive to put computers in the classroom, but that it is a worthwhile investment. And that not funding that effort would make (most) US Americans competitive on the order of textile workers in developing countries. I'm sure the dude's politics suck. But can you try to stop trying to convince me of that?
- patrec 6y agoWhich protege?
- supahfly_remix 6y agoJeff Bezos, who worked at DE Shaw prior to starting Amazon.
- busterarm 6y agoBezos wasn't a particularly notable figure at the firm during his time there. Employee to protege is a big leap.