3 ms·

I'm against affirmative action, but I value your points here. I think affirmative action doesn't attack the root of the problem (leaving aside the moral argumen

I'm against affirmative action, but I value your points here. I think affirmative action doesn't attack the root of the problem (leaving aside the moral arguments), and we should instead attempt to solve the problems you've stated (and others besides!) more directly. Chiefly, stringent enforcement of race-blind consideration and better funding for public health and school infrastructure to give all communities a respectable baseline of opportunity. Also, reduced or even nullified college tuition. I think that if these are implemented, there may not even be a need for the racial quotas that affirmative action implies. If quotas are to be set, they should be evaluated and gradually rolled back. As for funding...that's a whole other discussion that boils down to unassailable moral axioms, as everything does. I suppose if people were so enlightened to agree on heavily taxing billionaires, this whole mess with equal-but-not-really citizens probably wouldn't be happening either.

intended 3y ago
This is where things should be in general. Society benefits with cheaper and accessible medical care, education and policing. That is a great baseline to compare reality against. One of the many reasons reality deviates, is because of racism and discrimination. Both need to be addressed at the same time. (Leaving one, allows the other to recover)
- slt2021 3y ago
  AI can make education almost zero cost in the future. instead of fighting for limited number of seats at Harvard and blaming AA - we should create AI technology to give Harvard quality education to everyone in the world for (almost) free
  - funcDropShadow 3y ago
    > AI can make education almost zero cost in the future. This is still an open question. LLMs will certainly help to improve teaching. But education is more than teaching. And LLMs have at best a mediocre track record of being correct. So if you are lucky you are taught something correct by an LLM. Going to university to meet other people with which you can learn together by helping, criticizing, or correcting each other is extremely valuable. That cannot be replicated by an LLM at home. Even the experience of just moving to another city, leaving home is a part of education. Education will always cost time and hard work. Because oneself has to change to become educated.
    - slt2021 3y ago
      My point is that you dont have to pay $80k per year for 4 years, and move to Boston to get a top tier education. Perhaps your local state college could create local learning environment good enough to teach your cutting edge research and subjects, with the assistance of AI. And mobilize your local community and find peers to accompany you on your student journey. Top tier education wont be available only to ivy leagues students, but any state school student. And this policy is strictly better than any Admission hack hatvard coukd ever do
slt2021 3y ago
I hope that with generative AI and LLM everyone will have professor for any subject in their laptop and wont need expensive and useless college degree. Why have thousands colleges and employ thousands of professors (and useless admin people) who teach the same textbook subject and gove same homework assignments? Not even mentioning completely useless and unrelated to higher education industry of “college athletics”. Something decentralized and local, with focus on self-learning, group learning, peer tutoring, and AI will make Harvard quality education accessible and almost free for anyone. It will be a matter of personal effort and skills to learn and obsorb such knowledge This will be possible in a few years 100%
- chii 3y ago
  A Harvard education is not the textbooks nor the lectures, but the name and connections afforded to an alumni.
  - slt2021 3y ago
    Names and connections did matter before Internet. It is overrated these days for most people. A knowledgeable specialist with experience will have strong local connections and can have his name popularized globally on Internet, just by getting good visibility online projects/blogs/research/etc. You dont need harvard connections to create value for the society.
    - vacuity 3y ago
      You're right, but people associated with Harvard will still have a leg up compared to most other people. If there weren't these small "cool kidz clubs" that amplify and bolster each others' reputations even when not deserved, experts would be more uniformly recognized regardless of background. That is more optimal than cronyism for pooling talent.
      - slt2021 3y ago
        There are plenty of these cool kidz clubs for elites, like your local polo club, country club, golf club, sailing/yacht club, skiing & snowboarding club etc. AA is such a silly band aid solution that only benefits rich, while the optimal solution should be to lift lives of all poor people across the board. Institutions such as harvard will lose their relevance over time, for example nobody cares about harvard CompSci people.
soundnote 3y ago
Presently many colleges and universities have enough DEI commissars on payroll for their cost to match ~1000 students' tuition. You could easily sack the enforcers of political orthodoxy and extend scholarships to people.
- vacuity 3y ago
  Hah, I forgot about administrative bloat, and I wholeheartedly agree. People in upper management in various organizations seem to have disproportionate incomes to their value. It doesn't help that there's a power imbalance and, often, a lack of understanding.

intended 3y ago

This is where things should be in general. Society benefits with cheaper and accessible medical care, education and policing. That is a great baseline to compare reality against. One of the many reasons reality deviates, is because of racism and discrimination. Both need to be addressed at the same time. (Leaving one, allows the other to recover)

slt2021 3y ago
AI can make education almost zero cost in the future. instead of fighting for limited number of seats at Harvard and blaming AA - we should create AI technology to give Harvard quality education to everyone in the world for (almost) free
- funcDropShadow 3y ago
  > AI can make education almost zero cost in the future. This is still an open question. LLMs will certainly help to improve teaching. But education is more than teaching. And LLMs have at best a mediocre track record of being correct. So if you are lucky you are taught something correct by an LLM. Going to university to meet other people with which you can learn together by helping, criticizing, or correcting each other is extremely valuable. That cannot be replicated by an LLM at home. Even the experience of just moving to another city, leaving home is a part of education. Education will always cost time and hard work. Because oneself has to change to become educated.
  - slt2021 3y ago
    My point is that you dont have to pay $80k per year for 4 years, and move to Boston to get a top tier education. Perhaps your local state college could create local learning environment good enough to teach your cutting edge research and subjects, with the assistance of AI. And mobilize your local community and find peers to accompany you on your student journey. Top tier education wont be available only to ivy leagues students, but any state school student. And this policy is strictly better than any Admission hack hatvard coukd ever do

slt2021 3y ago

I hope that with generative AI and LLM everyone will have professor for any subject in their laptop and wont need expensive and useless college degree. Why have thousands colleges and employ thousands of professors (and useless admin people) who teach the same textbook subject and gove same homework assignments? Not even mentioning completely useless and unrelated to higher education industry of “college athletics”. Something decentralized and local, with focus on self-learning, group learning, peer tutoring, and AI will make Harvard quality education accessible and almost free for anyone. It will be a matter of personal effort and skills to learn and obsorb such knowledge This will be possible in a few years 100%

chii 3y ago
A Harvard education is not the textbooks nor the lectures, but the name and connections afforded to an alumni.
- slt2021 3y ago
  Names and connections did matter before Internet. It is overrated these days for most people. A knowledgeable specialist with experience will have strong local connections and can have his name popularized globally on Internet, just by getting good visibility online projects/blogs/research/etc. You dont need harvard connections to create value for the society.
  - vacuity 3y ago
    You're right, but people associated with Harvard will still have a leg up compared to most other people. If there weren't these small "cool kidz clubs" that amplify and bolster each others' reputations even when not deserved, experts would be more uniformly recognized regardless of background. That is more optimal than cronyism for pooling talent.
    - slt2021 3y ago
      There are plenty of these cool kidz clubs for elites, like your local polo club, country club, golf club, sailing/yacht club, skiing & snowboarding club etc. AA is such a silly band aid solution that only benefits rich, while the optimal solution should be to lift lives of all poor people across the board. Institutions such as harvard will lose their relevance over time, for example nobody cares about harvard CompSci people.

soundnote 3y ago

Presently many colleges and universities have enough DEI commissars on payroll for their cost to match ~1000 students' tuition. You could easily sack the enforcers of political orthodoxy and extend scholarships to people.

vacuity 3y ago
Hah, I forgot about administrative bloat, and I wholeheartedly agree. People in upper management in various organizations seem to have disproportionate incomes to their value. It doesn't help that there's a power imbalance and, often, a lack of understanding.