Diamond Age

I've been thinking of The Diamond Age and at this point, I think technology has almost caught up to what Neal Stephenson envisioned.  I keep imagining how I'm going to create A Young Students Illustrated Primer as a download off the Google Android App Store.  I think the technology is there.  No, not for an exact copy.  But for a non-living, second half of the book, army of little girls copy.  I can understand why it hasn't been created.  But... it would be totally awesome if someone would.

I flipped through some of the Ubuntu options for education.  GCompris came to mind, but it just wasn't what I was looking for.  It's all games based a different approach.  With GCompris, someone else teaches the subject.  Then GCompris takes over and helps with enforcing the concept through games.  It doesn't do a good job of replacing the teacher.  And that's what I want to do.

Sorry unions, but the teacher has got to go.  And the technology is probably there.  But is there a will and a desire?  Because we're talking something beyond complex.  About breaking concepts down into teachable, repeatable sections where if you can't do what is going on, then you can't move on.  No pass, no advancement.   But like a real teacher, the program has to be able to teach the same subject in dozens of different ways to finally get the point across.   

I think my major desire is because I don't believe the US school system is worth a damn.  I grew up in the public school system.  I found it completely lacking.  The public school system teaches to the middle.  If you are exceptional in either direction in any subject, you get left behind and chewed apart.  I can't complain about class size, because mine were no more than 30 in any class.  I grew up with the same 30 or so people.  I was 9th of a class of 32?  38?  Somewhere in there.  

But I made it through without major effort.  I had problems that became huge during college.  Because I was on both ends.  English was a joke.  By eighth grade, I had learned everything they had to teach me.  But math... that was a different story.  I wish I was better at math.  But I wasn't.  I barely passed.  It crippled me.  

But because I had small class sizes...  they passed me.  And they crippled me.  Algebra didn't seem important, and my teachers wouldn't put in the effort.  Now, I wish they had.  Because what I love to do requires math.  Because math is a universal truth.  And English is open to interpretation.  

And now you get where the failing is.  Or maybe you do.  

English: many interpretations.  None is absolutely correct.  

Math: One interpretation.  One answer.  

If the education system refuses to accept there is one correct answer, then they will teach to failure.  

 

So....

Remote access.  It's something I think I've begun to love more and more.  Sitting where ever I happen to be, I can login to certain computers, and get them to do things I normally wouldn't be able to do.  See, normally I'd have to have VPN access.  But then with decent remote software, I can be sitting up on a ladder, working on one project when the phone goes off.  Person B needs a problem solved, and like 5 minutes ago because some device quit working.  And I can connect to them remotely and fix it if it can be done remotely. 

It makes me think the future showed up a lot faster than anyone ever expected.  Somewhere in the process of learning is to learn Linux.  I only have spare computers at work, and spare time at home.  Not really spare...  just a tendency to make time.  So I can use remote access to connect to my Ubuntu machine in the office while I hang out on my couch, and play with things from there that would normally require VPN access. 

Makes me think, though...  Linux is such a nice open platform, and I have no idea how to write much code in it.  I don't know much of anything about it.  Hence the remote access to force me to figure out how to make certain things work.  Small steps towards getting a decent network monitor written and operational, and turning this Ubuntu machine into a full featured remote administration machine. 

That's the entire point...  remote administration and monitoring so instead of being reactive to threats and problems I can be proactive.  But it's hard to be proactive to stupid. 

The right thing, at the right time

From the vagueness of what I last left you with to something specific. It's hard to quantify what I've learned in the military, and even harder to explain it to people who have never been in the military.  I've run into lots of people who thought they could fake it...  but when it comes down to it, you just can't compare.

My brother-in-law lit himself on fire.  It wasn't intentional.  Someone was cleaning at his job with pure alcohol and he lit a blowtorch and up he went.  He works in the oil business, but I couldn't tell you what he did.  But the training he went through as a firefighter stopped him from serious injury. 

Now...  what if you could hire people that do things instinctively...   without thinking...  and it's the right thing?  You'd probably make a pretty penny or two.  And that's what's good about military people.  They do the right things in a pinch.  Because that's what they've been trained to do.  The right thing.  Without thinking.  Every time. 

When the incorrect response results in death, then you lean the correct response quickly.  I knew one fat fuck during my 2nd tour in Iraq.  His name was pronounced Gregwar.  Except that it wasn't Greg War.  It was Greg waour.  Or something like that.  It didn't sound like a badass in the middle of a war.  It sounded like a chain smoking fat man with French heritage and a gut that said he was 9 months pregnant.  And that guy got shipped off to war.  He was shipped home early. 

If Gregwar had been just incompetent, I could have worked with that.  But he was a lying sack of shit.  And lying is something I just can't stand.  If you are stupid, I can deal with that.  Ignorant?  That's workable.  Untrainable?  I can deal with that as well.  But a liar?  That's hard.  Actually, it's not.  I just didn't have the authority or ability at that time. 

The point of mentioning Gregwar is to show what happens if you retain incompetence.  But what about the person that does the right thing, at the right time, every time, without being prompted?  Firefighter training saved my brother-in-law.  Because he did the right thing.  At the right time.  Without being prompted.  And it saved his life. 

 

Brave New World, part 2

 So if we're heading out into a brave new world, and we don't like the looks of it, what can we do? 

Q1) Johnny has three apples.  Billy has eight apples.  Jenny doesn't have any apples. How many more apples does Johnny have than Billy?

a) 5

b) Jenny did not have a fair chance.

c) None of the above

d) All the apples should be redistributed to all to make everything equal.

Q2) Name one individual who lead a blameless, sinless life.

a) Elvis Prestley

b) George Washington

c) George Washington Carver

d) None of the above

Q3) If an individual is incapable of living a blameless, sinless life in which they never did anything wrong, then would a collective of individuals be able to live a blameless, sinless life?

a) Yes

b) No

c) Inconclusive

d) None of the above

Answers:

A1) C - None of the above.  Johnny has less apples than Billy, not more.

A2) D - None of the above.

A3) B - No.  If an  individual is incapable of being blameless, then a society is incapable of being blameless.  Socrates' "perfect city" has a good explanation of macro to micro and micro to macro conversion.  

So, based on what we have deduced from questions 2 and 3, we know that every society screws up because every individual screws up.  

There is more to that, but I'll let this bit sink in until next time.

Disintermediation

Wow.  Just had one of those wow moments coming to the office to study for a bit.  I was listening to Dave Ramsey's Final Peace University CDs on debt myths.  Anyway, Dave starts talking about the savings and loan failures in the 1980s.  That's when the adjustable rate mortgage appeared. 

To explain the story: most of the bank failures occurred because interest rates dropped significantly.  So banks had a lot of old loans that were sitting at 6, 7, or 8 percent.  During the Carter years, the interest rates skyrocketed.  And suddenly, in order to attract new business savings deposits had to pay out 10 or 12 percent.  Now the bank is to having to pay out more money than they are taking in.  This caused quite a few bank failures.

Now, here we are in 2012, almost 2013.  Looking at Market Watch for today, it looks like a 30 year fixed mortgage is running at 3.45%, and the 15 year fixed is at 2.86%.   Everyone and their dog that can refinance in this market will refinance.   So now banks are tied to receiving between 3 and 4 percent interest for a long time and a lot of money.

What happens if the interest rates jump up again?  Once again, banks have to pay out more than they are taking in, and we have another banking crisis.  Now you see my WOW moment.  Fun things, fun things. Let's hope there are a lot of adjustable rate mortgages out there so the banks survive this crisis.

I wish people would have taken out fixed rate mortgages, but what can you do?  Not everyone has any degree of financial intelligence.

Now the question is: how do I position myself to profit off this happening again?