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I know plenty of people who refuse to work more than 40 hour weeks. They'll never be renowned for their research, and they're not likely to get rich. If someon

I know plenty of people who refuse to work more than 40 hour weeks. They'll never be renowned for their research, and they're not likely to get rich. If someone wants to become "great", it almost always comes at some expense to their personal lives; if this is a trade-off they're willing to make, all the power to them. As far as children go, I'm not concerned with the typical number of hours they go through (in the U.S.) in their education. You really think it's too much? Look at the typical 17-18 year old out of High School and see if you're satisfied with their knowledge/understanding of things.

guard-of-terra 14y ago
I don't think so. We should find a way for people to become great without sacrificing their lives. Why? Because we want everyone to be great. And we can't have everyone sacrifice their life. It makes no sense if you look at it from this standpoint. "Look at the typical 17-18 year old out of High School and see if you're satisfied with their knowledge/understanding of things." That's because education doesn't work. You can make them "study" 80 hours weeks and they will not know or understand anything. They don't have time for that! They have to study. The only way to understand something is to relax and see the big picture. You can't see the larger picture from inside the treadmill.
- im3w1l 14y ago
  Do you think hyper-specialization could enable this?
  - guard-of-terra 14y ago
    I believe making everything simple, accessible and easy to understand can enable this. As opposed to knowledge enclosed in arcane tomes in the library only accessible to those in the inner circle.
- endtime 14y ago
  > We should find a way for people to become great without sacrificing their lives. Why? Because we want everyone to be great. I don't think you are actually expressing a coherent desire. To paraphrase the villain in The Incredibles: "If everyone's great, no one is."
  - evincarofautumn 14y ago
    I disagree. Suppose you increase the baseline “greatness” of humanity on the whole, so that the average person compares to the greats of the past, and the greats of the present are greater still.
tptacek 14y ago
This is horseshit.
sliverstorm 14y ago
You really think it's too much? Look at the typical 17-18 year old out of High School and see if you're satisfied with their knowledge/understanding of things. You know, I don't think that's an issue with how much time they are or aren't spending studying, at least from a nationwide perspective.

guard-of-terra 14y ago

I don't think so. We should find a way for people to become great without sacrificing their lives. Why? Because we want everyone to be great. And we can't have everyone sacrifice their life. It makes no sense if you look at it from this standpoint. "Look at the typical 17-18 year old out of High School and see if you're satisfied with their knowledge/understanding of things." That's because education doesn't work. You can make them "study" 80 hours weeks and they will not know or understand anything. They don't have time for that! They have to study. The only way to understand something is to relax and see the big picture. You can't see the larger picture from inside the treadmill.

im3w1l 14y ago
Do you think hyper-specialization could enable this?
- guard-of-terra 14y ago
  I believe making everything simple, accessible and easy to understand can enable this. As opposed to knowledge enclosed in arcane tomes in the library only accessible to those in the inner circle.
endtime 14y ago
> We should find a way for people to become great without sacrificing their lives. Why? Because we want everyone to be great. I don't think you are actually expressing a coherent desire. To paraphrase the villain in The Incredibles: "If everyone's great, no one is."
- evincarofautumn 14y ago
  I disagree. Suppose you increase the baseline “greatness” of humanity on the whole, so that the average person compares to the greats of the past, and the greats of the present are greater still.

tptacek 14y ago

This is horseshit.

sliverstorm 14y ago

You really think it's too much? Look at the typical 17-18 year old out of High School and see if you're satisfied with their knowledge/understanding of things. You know, I don't think that's an issue with how much time they are or aren't spending studying, at least from a nationwide perspective.