Comments on: The very foundations http://snarkmarket.com/2010/5294 The stomping grounds of Tim Carmody, Robin Sloan and Matt Thompson. It's a long-running conversation about media, journalism, technology, cities, culture, design, books, music, movies, the future and the past. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:58:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: Matt Penniman http://snarkmarket.com/2010/5294/comment-page-1#comment-9108 Matt Penniman Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:30:12 +0000 http://snarkmarket.com/?p=5294#comment-9108 Incidentally, WorldChanging also had a good post about Gates' presentation and what it means: http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/010976.html Incidentally, WorldChanging also had a good post about Gates’ presentation and what it means:
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/010976.html

]]> By: Matt Penniman http://snarkmarket.com/2010/5294/comment-page-1#comment-9014 Matt Penniman Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:50:08 +0000 http://snarkmarket.com/?p=5294#comment-9014 I think local energy, local education, and local law are compelling ideas, but I also want to hold out the possibility that change this fundamental will require cooperation on a scale we've never seen before. What if the best way to meet our energy needs turns out to be orbital solar power -- but only a broad consortium of the EU, US, China and India has the resources to build the necessary infrastructure? How can we evolve or revolutionize our political system to the point where that kind of buy-in from that many people becomes possible? I think education may require similar economies of scale -- although first, I think we need to reach some broad agreement about the purpose of education. Are we just trying to reproduce the elite? Bring up the next generation of technocrats? Or should education aspire to a true equality of opportunity? This makes a huge difference in what institutions end up looking like; compare a place like <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/09/AR2010020902208.html" rel="nofollow">Trinity Washington University</a> with Harvard or Yale. I think local energy, local education, and local law are compelling ideas, but I also want to hold out the possibility that change this fundamental will require cooperation on a scale we’ve never seen before. What if the best way to meet our energy needs turns out to be orbital solar power — but only a broad consortium of the EU, US, China and India has the resources to build the necessary infrastructure? How can we evolve or revolutionize our political system to the point where that kind of buy-in from that many people becomes possible?

I think education may require similar economies of scale — although first, I think we need to reach some broad agreement about the purpose of education. Are we just trying to reproduce the elite? Bring up the next generation of technocrats? Or should education aspire to a true equality of opportunity? This makes a huge difference in what institutions end up looking like; compare a place like Trinity Washington University with Harvard or Yale.

]]> By: robertogreco http://snarkmarket.com/2010/5294/comment-page-1#comment-8999 robertogreco Tue, 16 Feb 2010 01:41:12 +0000 http://snarkmarket.com/?p=5294#comment-8999 It seems like in all three of these domains (and others like finance/banking), the current system has become too complex or bureaucratic to be fixed or reformed. Benefiting from simplicity and flexibility, startups will pass them up, perhaps with a variety of solutions competing at first, until one specific solution catches hold. And, in all three domains, the solutions can take root at small-scale and/or local level, often resembling the historic systems that preceded the current ones: local energy (water wheel and windmills become solar panels or unknown technology), local education (apprenticeships become online/in-person mentorships), and local law (not so sure here - something to do with shared community values as opposed to specific rules and regulations?). It seems like in all three of these domains (and others like finance/banking), the current system has become too complex or bureaucratic to be fixed or reformed. Benefiting from simplicity and flexibility, startups will pass them up, perhaps with a variety of solutions competing at first, until one specific solution catches hold. And, in all three domains, the solutions can take root at small-scale and/or local level, often resembling the historic systems that preceded the current ones: local energy (water wheel and windmills become solar panels or unknown technology), local education (apprenticeships become online/in-person mentorships), and local law (not so sure here — something to do with shared community values as opposed to specific rules and regulations?).

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