[ExI] ai in education

[Kelly Anderson]

I think that you can meet people in other ways than attending
University these days. Us mostly old fogies that hang around in an
email list may not be the greatest at knowing about such things, but
my kids spend a lot of time in group chats playing video games. My
daughter met her fiance that way. He's from England, she's from Utah.
So perhaps reproduction will happen someday in my line, who knows. As
for meeting business partners, you would get a lot more bang for your
buck on linkedin than going to Harvard IMHO. I went to BYU. I met a
few people. I've met many more useful contacts since then, however.
But maybe BYU was a poor decision. While I can't complain, my current
role as owner of a woodworking business has almost nothing to do with
what I learned in University. And I'm more financially successful at
this than I was as an entrepreneur computer guy, and I didn't do bad
at that either. Glad to be out of the programming game at this point.
Owning capital equipment feels better than a degree in computer
science with the world going the direction it's going.

-Kelly

On Wed, Mar 4, 2026 at 12:54 PM spike jones via extropy-chat
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [ExI] ai in education
>
> On Wed, Mar 4, 2026 at 9:47 AM spike jones via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
> snip
> >
> >>... Regarding universities becoming obsolete: I agree.  We already have good examples of people who get a specific vision of where they want to go, and can drill deeper, faster on their own compared to a university setting.
>
> >...For an extremely small number, they can do that.  However, a broad education is essential for entry into the educated (power) class.
> Technical people don't get a lot of that, and it hurts us.  ...Most of us need the guided study you get at a university.
>
> Keith
>
>
>
> Ja, I have no regrets about going that route.  Times change however.  At some point, studying at the U is too slow and too expensive.
>
> I think back on my own education, which really started after college was over.  Working in any big company is a playground of opportunity, if one understands it is its own kind of university in its way.  The military can be the best education there is, if one is motivated and has the type of personality to prosper in that environment.  The military trains its own experts.  It has its way of figuring out who is smart enough to benefit them the most.  Then, they create their own.
>
> John cannot imagine anyone with any brains going into the military.  But I can easily imagine it.  They tend to be fast risers.  If you recall Dr. Strangelove, most of the brass is a lot more like Peter Sellers' brilliant depiction of Captain Mandrake rather than Brigadier Jack D. Ripper (also brilliantly played by Sterling Hayden.  Often people who go into the service have economic pressure pushing in that direction.  I certainly understand that motive.
>
> spike
>
>
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