[ExI] Update on the Hawaiian observatory shutdown

[William Flynn Wallace]

Spike - can you tell me what's happening in your school?  And we have
always had an anti-intellectual bent.  Natural thing - envy.  Refusal to
believe that someone is way better than you, despite tons of evidence.  And
it's also political - most of the undereducated people are conservatives
and most educators are liberals.  Natural antagonism.

Just think of all the toys/tools/gadgets/autos etc.  we have that took
scientific studies to develop, or just good engineering.  I wonder if high
schools teach about TV and radio and radar and all the rest in some class.
If they did I'll bet the Ss would have a greater appreciation for what
elite intelligences have given them.  How many hours went into the
development of the iPhone and its predecessors?  Millions for sure.  bill w

On Fri, Sep 20, 2019 at 11:50 AM SR Ballard via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

>
> academic elites are grudgingly recognized.
>
>  spike
>
>
> I am confused.  Your post seems to suggest that academic achievement is
> somehow being suppressed.  Explain please.  bill w
>
>
> America has a strong anti-intellectual bent.
>
> SR Ballard
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Fri, Sep 20, 2019 at 9:21 AM spike jones via extropy-chat <
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org> *On Behalf
>> Of *SR Ballard via extropy-chat
>> *Subject:* Re: [ExI] Update on the Hawaiian observatory shutdown
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> >>…But I don't want to see 'elite' become a dirty word.  bill w
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> >…Unfortunately, it already is, and has been as long as I’ve been able to
>> understand that type of nuance.
>>
>>
>>
>> >…Elite is used in mainly two contexts “the elite” which is an extremely
>> loaded, negative statement, or a self-aggrandizing one, and “an elite
>> ____”, where the blank is usually a martial reference, such as “fighting
>> force”, “sniper”, “martial artist”. Only occasionally would it refer to
>> other things in a matter-of-fact, non-judgemental way.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> There is an important subtlety at play: the term elite is often viewed
>> with suspicion unless it refers to athletes.  In the world of sports, the
>> elite athletes are celebrated, paid outrageous sums of money, offered huge
>> salaries for saying nice things about a product, etc.  We love our
>> celebrated athletes.
>>
>>
>>
>> Elite scholars?   Hmmm… a bit problematic.  Should not all students be
>> elite?  (ehhh no.)  Is it fair that some students are better than others?
>> (Ja.)  Why should we allow academic excellence and superior achievement?
>> (Allow?)
>>
>>
>>
>> My experience has been positive in turned academics into a sport.  I am a
>> volunteer coach for American Math Competition and Science Olympiad.  We are
>> trying to organize a Codeo team (programming competition.)  For some odd
>> reason, academic super-achievement is OK so long as it is an actual sport.
>>
>>
>>
>> Granted of course: as team sports go, the academic sports carry the
>> lowest status and the funding for it is carried by the parents.  But, it is
>> allowed to exist, and academic elites are grudgingly recognized.
>>
>>
>>
>> I claim progress.  I competed in American Math Competition when I was a
>> senior in high school.  Our newly-formed team won the county championship.
>> We had a blast.  But our school never acknowledged it, never (as far as I
>> know) even knew that we had won that.  Now, both AMC and Science Olympiad
>> are at least recognized sports.  When our team won a medal last year they
>> mentioned our academic elites over the intercom.  That’s progress.
>>
>>
>>
>> Elite academics are nowhere near being offered sponsorships.
>>
>>
>>
>> spike
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