Bill Gates Applauds Affordable Colleges, Urges Graduates to Solve the World's Problems (gatesnotes.com) 150
When Bill Gates took the stage at Stanford back in 1996, he was ready with his first joke after a long round of appreciative applause. "Maybe I dropped out of the wrong college."
But Bill Gates still cares about education. In 2019, a Gates Foundation commission even suggested valuing colleges by their affordability and accessibility, as well as the improvements they provide to economic mobility. And by those metrics, Gates writes on his blog, an emerging leader is Northern Arizona University (or NAU).
- Beginning this fall, an NAU program will make tuition free for students with family incomes below the state's median of $65,000.
- Half its students are first-generation college students.
- NAU recently launched a universal admissions program, "which redirects applicants who would have been denied entry to instead apply to community college," Gates writes. "From there, students are guaranteed subsequent admission to NAU as a transfer..."
- NAU has secured millions in scholarships and advising services for community college students planning to transfer to NAU.
So last weekend, Bill Gates delivered the commencement speech at Northern Arizona University, for graduates of its College of Engineering, Informatics, and Applied Sciences and College of the Environment, Forestry, and Natural Sciences. "You are graduating from an institution that creates opportunity, fosters innovation, and builds community, and it has prepared you to find solutions to some of the biggest problems facing us today," Gates told the audience.
Then he added "NAU is also giving you something I never received: A real college degree." Some of you might know that I never made it to my own graduation. I left after three semesters to start Microsoft. So, what does a college dropout know about graduation? Not much personally, to be honest.
As I prepared for today, I thought about how you, as new graduates, can have the biggest impact on the world with the education you received here. That led me to thinking about the graduation I never had, the commencement speech I never heard, and the advice I wasn't given on a day just like this one.
That is what I want to share with you this afternoon: The five things I wish I was told at the graduation I never attended.
Gates suggested the graduates seek careers solving the world's important problems. ("Some of you are heading off to start careers as programmers. You could use your talents to make sure all people can benefit from artificial intelligence — or to help eliminate biases in AI.") He ended his speech by telling the students "you will be the ones to solve the climate crisis and reduce the gap between the rich and poor."
But Gates also told the students not to be afraid to change their mind or their careers — and to be willing to admit they don't know everything. "Just about everything I have accomplished came because I sought out others who knew more. People want to help you. The key is to not be afraid to ask."
My fourth piece of advice is simple: Don't underestimate the power of friendship. When I was in school, I became friends with another student who shared a lot of my interests, like science fiction novels and computer magazines. Little did I know how important that friendship would be. My friend's name was Paul Allen — and we started Microsoft together...
The only thing more valuable than what you walk offstage with today is who you walk onstage with.
But Bill Gates still cares about education. In 2019, a Gates Foundation commission even suggested valuing colleges by their affordability and accessibility, as well as the improvements they provide to economic mobility. And by those metrics, Gates writes on his blog, an emerging leader is Northern Arizona University (or NAU).
- Beginning this fall, an NAU program will make tuition free for students with family incomes below the state's median of $65,000.
- Half its students are first-generation college students.
- NAU recently launched a universal admissions program, "which redirects applicants who would have been denied entry to instead apply to community college," Gates writes. "From there, students are guaranteed subsequent admission to NAU as a transfer..."
- NAU has secured millions in scholarships and advising services for community college students planning to transfer to NAU.
So last weekend, Bill Gates delivered the commencement speech at Northern Arizona University, for graduates of its College of Engineering, Informatics, and Applied Sciences and College of the Environment, Forestry, and Natural Sciences. "You are graduating from an institution that creates opportunity, fosters innovation, and builds community, and it has prepared you to find solutions to some of the biggest problems facing us today," Gates told the audience.
Then he added "NAU is also giving you something I never received: A real college degree." Some of you might know that I never made it to my own graduation. I left after three semesters to start Microsoft. So, what does a college dropout know about graduation? Not much personally, to be honest.
As I prepared for today, I thought about how you, as new graduates, can have the biggest impact on the world with the education you received here. That led me to thinking about the graduation I never had, the commencement speech I never heard, and the advice I wasn't given on a day just like this one.
That is what I want to share with you this afternoon: The five things I wish I was told at the graduation I never attended.
Gates suggested the graduates seek careers solving the world's important problems. ("Some of you are heading off to start careers as programmers. You could use your talents to make sure all people can benefit from artificial intelligence — or to help eliminate biases in AI.") He ended his speech by telling the students "you will be the ones to solve the climate crisis and reduce the gap between the rich and poor."
But Gates also told the students not to be afraid to change their mind or their careers — and to be willing to admit they don't know everything. "Just about everything I have accomplished came because I sought out others who knew more. People want to help you. The key is to not be afraid to ask."
My fourth piece of advice is simple: Don't underestimate the power of friendship. When I was in school, I became friends with another student who shared a lot of my interests, like science fiction novels and computer magazines. Little did I know how important that friendship would be. My friend's name was Paul Allen — and we started Microsoft together...
The only thing more valuable than what you walk offstage with today is who you walk onstage with.
Huge Irony (Score:5, Insightful)
Such irony that a billionaire asks students to solve the worlds problems, when it is the rich and powerful such as himself that are creating those very problems by funding thinktanks to further their goals and by buying politicians and controlling the largest corporations.
If you want to make the world a better place then figure out a way to remove greed from politics.
Re:Huge Irony (Score:5, Insightful)
"figure out a way to remove greed from politics."
Hahaha. You crazy? Greed is intrinsic to human nature. Even the oppressed masses if they get power will use it, probably worse than their masters. We have to find a way to work with human nature, or identify the genes and edit them out. I mean, you know how a golden retriever is so docile compared to a wolf or rottweiler? It's probably a few gene mutations is what did it and enabled it. Maybe somebody will identify what genes cause or inhibit human greed, aggressiveness, things like that and genetically edit them fully out on a massive scale or at least tone down their effectiveness. Right now we're not doing much studies on the genetics of human behavior, intelligence, greed, impulsiveness, etc.
Re: (Score:3)
Oooo better yet, maybe we can ask big pharma to make a drug that will make us less greedy.
Re: (Score:2)
Nobody will take it. It will likely be done in the form of a gene-drive virus, the easily-misled fools who avoid being vaccinated against it will get it.
Re: (Score:2)
Start treating greed as a mental illness.
Re: (Score:2)
Start treating greed as a mental illness.
The people writing the book which determines what is or isn't a mental illness are poster children for greed. The solution is always pathologize and medicate, even when the problem is environmental. We could start by vaporizing the APA, though.
Re: (Score:2)
Back in the 60s Arthur Koestler proposed pretty much this. Create a drug that stops greed agreesion and violence by switching off the "lizard brain" instincts, and proposed that hippies would be the one to kick off its use and that it could end violence and war in the world.
I think Clockwork Orange was a pretty robust response to THAT idea.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, but we must have it for *free*, and we need to reserve all the doses just for us! Ain't no one gonna pay for a drug to make you less greedy.
Re: (Score:2)
Oooo better yet, maybe we can ask big pharma to make a drug that will make us less greedy.
Why bother? Just give everybody free weed.
It's not hard at all to remove greed from politics (Score:5, Interesting)
Finally you need to teach critical thinking in schools with a focus on evaluating people's claims while also making sure that pregnant women have access to good nutrition and children are guaranteed to have food and that they're breathing clean air. This way you come up with citizens who are intelligent and capable of being proper citizens.
There's a reason why everything I wrote above is intensely controversial in America. It works and there's a whole bunch of people who don't want to see the kind of citizen who can remove greed from politics.
Re:It's not hard at all to remove greed from polit (Score:4, Insightful)
First things first you need a voting system that isn't winner-take-all first past the post or you end up with a two-party system like ours and those are too easy to buy off. Next you need to make voting mandatory because a common tactic of anti-democratic elements is to make it difficult to vote and you can't do that when voting is mandatory.
That would be unconstitutional. The first amendment includes freedom of association. Freedom of association includes not having any association, which would include declining to vote for anybody at all.
There's a reason why everything I wrote above is intensely controversial in America. It works and there's a whole bunch of people who don't want to see the kind of citizen who can remove greed from politics.
That's not why. You have a very bad habit of assuming that you know what everybody's motivations and intentions are and assuming that you're speaking for the majority, but you don't, and you aren't. Even if voting was mandatory, you'd eventually find out that most people don't have any of the same priorities as you do, and likewise won't vote the same way you do. This is exactly why it's often said that democracy is a terrible political system, but it's also the best that we've ever come up with.
Re: (Score:3)
First things first you need a voting system that isn't winner-take-all first past the post or you end up with a two-party system like ours and those are too easy to buy off. Next you need to make voting mandatory because a common tactic of anti-democratic elements is to make it difficult to vote and you can't do that when voting is mandatory.
That would be unconstitutional. The first amendment includes freedom of association. Freedom of association includes not having any association, which would include declining to vote for anybody at all.
We have mandatory voting - all you have to do is show up and take your voting papers and put them in the ballot box - there is no requirement for you to fill them in at all. Most people though draw some derogatory pics on these types of votes AIUI...
Anyway I guess the issue is that people will not agree to be forced to vote as that would violate some other one of your constitutional rights.
Re: (Score:3)
I don't show up to vote. I vote by mail.
A law mandating I mail in a ballot doesn't seem any more burdensome or unconstitutional than mailing in my tax return.
Those who decline to vote can mail in a blank ballot.
Re: (Score:2)
Though that won't in any way guarantee the outcome that he seems so certain of.
Re: (Score:2)
One wonders why we even needed a Voting Rights Act when your right to vote is protected by the first amendment...
We can compel military service.. We can compel you to surrender your property. We can compel you to serve on a jury. Hell, we can even compel you to maintain a road in your town.
But na, we can't compel you to vote.
Who knows if the reasoning still hold today, but there is at least some jurisprudence o
Re: (Score:2)
No, but it did prove that your claim of freedom from association was complete bullshit, lol.
Even if it is bullshit (it's not) I don't mind being corrected. Unlike you, I don't just double or triple down on something that I can't be absolutely certain of. The government can't compel you to vote, for exactly the reason I mentioned. But they could compel you to submit a blank ballot, which I suppose you could call voting, but it really isn't.
In fact, you love to fucking lie about whatever the fuck you need to lie about to make whatever point it is you're trying to make.
And you've been doing it for years.
Damn. Either I pissed...nay...took a big shit in your cheerios and you're seriously raging about it, or you're so damn interested in me that you want to write a
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Dude hold on, I can't just give it up on demand. It doesn't work that way. I'll have to have burritos or something first and then wait a few hours. I'll mail it to you once I'm done.
Re: (Score:2)
I had meant to tell you earlier, I'm really worried about your health.
You're using a purchased kidney, you really shouldn't be eating like that. [nih.gov]
It'll kill people like you. [nih.gov]
Hell, maybe it explains why you're shrinking, [slashdot.org] too.
I love the profile I'm getting of you.
Like, there's an obvious vein of truth in your overall trajectory, but you have zero compunction about inventing a number or minutia to fit your current narrative.
The compulsi
Re: (Score:2)
Can you even fit that into your busy schedule of 3 ribeyes a week? [slashdot.org]
I had meant to tell you earlier, I'm really worried about your health.
That was years ago, haven't had a ribeye in a while. Mainly I haven't had time to cook, and I don't live anywhere close to a restaurant I used to go to that made really good ones. But do note the timing of that post; it's important, as I'll explain.
You're using a purchased kidney, you really shouldn't be eating like that. [nih.gov]
It'll kill people like you. [nih.gov]
No, it won't. So when it comes to your kidneys, dietary protein is harder to process for several reasons, which you can go ahead and google by yourself. Hint: Part of it involves your liver. The long and short of it is that if your kidneys are impaired, then high
Re: (Score:2)
I wonder if your brain filters out your own lies...
But speaking of fun lies, do you remember that time Apple gave you a 13" MacBook Pro [slashdot.org] but squeezed it into a 16 inch chassis?! [slashdot.org]
Pro tip, there, from someone who actually has a 16" MBP- the 1 Display limit was only on the M1 devices (Not M1 Pro/Max), i.e., No 16" Apple Silicon MBP *ever* had that limitation, lol. It support
Re: (Score:2)
But you have been thoroughly destroyed here. You can pretend like you haven't until you're blue in the face, but people will read this, and understand what I have come to understand.
You lie to make points. There is no piece of evidence that you will fabricate to service as fake oppositional data to prop up against the point you want to make. None. That's how you operate. And it's quantifiable.
And that's why you don't troll an actual fucking engine
Re: (Score:2)
It's interesting that when I say shrinking, and present 2 datapoints, both with different heights, you focus on the different weights.
I wonder if your brain filters out your own lies...
Ah ok that makes more sense. But honestly, I'm not sure which height is correct. Measuring your own height is a little difficult, and the only way I "know" my height is whatever they tell me at the doctor's office. If I was trying to self aggrandize as you claim, I'd always stick to the 5'11" figure. But, I've had them say both 5'10" and 5'11". Your guess about which is correct is as good as mine.
But speaking of fun lies, do you remember that time Apple gave you a 13" MacBook Pro [slashdot.org] but squeezed it into a 16 inch chassis?! [slashdot.org]
I don't see any mention of a 13" in either of those, unless you're talking about the 13" Dell XPS, or unless you
Re: (Score:2)
It's been fun, my sad, sad little fucking poser friend.
But you have been thoroughly destroyed here. You can pretend like you haven't until you're blue in the face, but people will read this, and understand what I have come to understand.
That you made an ass of yourself?
You lie to make points. There is no piece of evidence that you will fabricate to service as fake oppositional data to prop up against the point you want to make. None. That's how you operate. And it's quantifiable.
And that's why you don't troll an actual fucking engineer, fucker.
But you still can't point to anything that I've actually lied about.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't see any mention of a 13" in either of those, unless you're talking about the 13" Dell XPS, or unless you're talking about that AC post, which wasn't mine. And Apple didn't give me anything, nor did I buy anything from them.
It was a joke about how you were ascribing a limitation that only existed on the 13" MBP to your 16" MBP.
Not quite. So the M1 Pro supports only two, and more importantly, in order to do that you have to use more than one thunderbolt port. My other laptops don't have this limitation. One problem is I've only been issued a single dock and I'm using three external monitors. Another problem is all three of those are HDMI monitors. So for the MBP I'm basically stuck with displaylink.
Ok- you *are* correct that it supports 2. I actually wasn't aware of that. I thought it was 4 like my Max. ;) But it's wrong.
As for using more than one thunderbolt port, that's pure nonsense. Unsurprisingly though, it was easy to find that result in google
Whenever I go into my office, I plug mine into a dock, and it drives 2 external displays natively + does all the other dock goodies (power, ethernet,
Re: (Score:2)
As for using more than one thunderbolt port, that's pure nonsense. Unsurprisingly though, it was easy to find that result in google ;) But it's wrong.
You can say it's wrong all you want, the fact remains that I only get one working monitor out of it.
Whenever I go into my office, I plug mine into a dock, and it drives 2 external displays natively + does all the other dock goodies (power, ethernet, etc) + sidecar to an iPad Pro - all over a single TB port.
Aren't you also asserting that you have different hardware than I do?
Re: (Score:2)
You can say it's wrong all you want, the fact remains that I only get one working monitor out of it.
Problems getting displays to not be quirky over docks is a universal problem.
The difference between us, I suppose, is that when I see this [reddit.com] I don't immediately think to myself, "HMMM, THE LG GRAM 17 MUST NOT SUPPORT MULTIPLE MONITORS!!"
Aren't you also asserting that you have different hardware than I do?
Unsure. Your hardware remains unresolved. You haven't said whether you have an M1 Pro, or an M1 Max.
However, 2 displays over TB is specifically listed as supported on Apple.com for the M1 Pro.
Since you claimed 1, and specifically claimed that any more would require Display
Re: (Score:2)
Problems getting displays to not be quirky over docks is a universal problem.
So then why does every cheap laptop I have work fine with it, Linux and Windows alike, where this $2500 brick doesn't?
The difference between us, I suppose, is that when I see this [reddit.com] I don't immediately think to myself, "HMMM, THE LG GRAM 17 MUST NOT SUPPORT MULTIPLE MONITORS!!"
Well if you actually read that, people have posted solutions there. And look at this one as well:
https://www.reddit.com/r/macbo... [reddit.com]
You know what's interesting about this? Despite the guy thoroughly explaining the problem, a bunch of iFans like yourself came in there and started bitching him out, despite how polite he was about the matter. Quite a distinction between iFans such as yourself and
Re: (Score:2)
So then why does every cheap laptop I have work fine with it, Linux and Windows alike, where this $2500 brick doesn't?
Because you invented the $2500 brick to talk up your shitty laptops, lol.
5 seconds of google will show a million results of people having trouble getting monitors to work over USB-C +/- docks on their Grams and XPS'
The tech is a pain in the ass. Always has been.
You know what's interesting about this? Despite the guy thoroughly explaining the problem, a bunch of iFans like yourself came in there and started bitching him out, despite how polite he was about the matter. Quite a distinction between iFans such as yourself and well...everybody else, wouldn't you say? Basically most of you have a stick up your ass over the fact that any single person wouldn't be head over heels willing to take it in the ass madly in love with apple. Same way you feel about Disney, it seems. Let me guess, the apple logo is on your inner thigh, and mickey mouse is on your butt?
What the fuck are you talking about? I literally said exactly what that guy said.
What the fuck are you talking about? A distinction between people who are right (like me) and people who don't know what the fuck they're talking about (like you?) lo
Re: (Score:2)
Because you invented the $2500 brick to talk up your shitty laptops, lol.
5 seconds of google will show a million results of people having trouble getting monitors to work over USB-C +/- docks on their Grams and XPS'
The tech is a pain in the ass. Always has been.
And if you notice, basically all of them find a resolution. Meanwhile, there's literally no workaround to this on an MBP.
What the fuck are you talking about? I literally said exactly what that guy said.
What the fuck are you talking about? A distinction between people who are right (like me) and people who don't know what the fuck they're talking about (like you?) lol.
In your example, I'm the OP. I'm the one telling you the facts. You're the fucking moron spreading misinformation.
As for MST, you don't even know what that IS, you stupid fucking shit-for-brains.
I'm aware of the Macs not doing MST, which is why I waited to listen whether or not you were using a dock or not, first.
You aren't daisy-chaining.
If you are daisy-chaining... Then why are you using a dock?
This is pointless. All you're doing here is trying to confirm your lie through selective googling. There's no rigor. That's how I know you're full of shit.
Good try, though.
Right, just like you swear the star wars hotel was booked out 365 days...but of course, any evidence to the contrary is selective googling according to you, despite the fact that it was literally impossible for this to be true.
And why is it, that despite claiming that the apple website lists the M1 Pro as supporting two displays, you couldn't even fucking link it, even after I asked? That
Re: (Score:2)
And if you notice, basically all of them find a resolution. Meanwhile, there's literally no workaround to this on an MBP.
wtf are you talking about.
Here, little child, give me your exact problem, and I will help you find a resolution.
Right, just like you swear the star wars hotel was booked out 365 days...but of course, any evidence to the contrary is selective googling according to you, despite the fact that it was literally impossible for this to be true.
It was.
There is no evidence to the contrary. None.
All (literally) online sources use the Disney online availability widget (which shows Standard Cabin availability)
In order to book any cabin, or find availability of the 2 larger sized cabins, you must call.
No online source does this, because that makes the click-bait no longer profitable.
And why is it, that despite claiming that the apple website lists the M1 Pro as supporting two displays, you couldn't even fucking link it, even after I asked? That should be easy as fuck, but you totally dodged that question. I wonder why? Or maybe I already know...
You never asked me to link it.
Are you actually denying
Re: (Score:2)
wtf are you talking about.
Here, little child, give me your exact problem, and I will help you find a resolution.
So I spent a little time after work to try to figure this out, because it would be nice to have at least a reduced reliance on displaylink. And it turns out that, as usual, I'm right on this, and you're incredibly wrong.
It was.
There is no evidence to the contrary. None.
All (literally) online sources use the Disney online availability widget (which shows Standard Cabin availability)
In order to book any cabin, or find availability of the 2 larger sized cabins, you must call.
No online source does this, because that makes the click-bait no longer profitable.
And you'd know just how irrelevant this is if you'd actually read the links. You're literally the only person who actually claims this. But this is old news, you lied about it, and that's all there is to it. You're not kidding anybody, nobody gives a crap about your stupid ego or the fact th
Re: (Score:2)
So I spent a little time after work to try to figure this out, because it would be nice to have at least a reduced reliance on displaylink. And it turns out that, as usual, I'm right on this, and you're incredibly wrong.
Oh get the fuck out of here. They don't let you play with the computers at McDonalds.
And you'd know just how irrelevant this is if you'd actually read the links. You're literally the only person who actually claims this. But this is old news, you lied about it, and that's all there is to it. You're not kidding anybody, nobody gives a crap about your stupid ego or the fact that you've bruised it several times over, so just sit down and shut up you big lolcow.
Fucking moron, lol.
Good retort.
No, seriously, so fucking clever.
I point out a fact, and you say, "NU UH, IF YOU READ THE LINKS YOU'D SEE THIS WASN'T RELEVANT!" But you couldn't explain how it's irrelevant if your life depended on it, because you're just talking shit.
I wrote this: "Where, exactly? Because I don't see it. They mention it for the M2 Pro, but I don't see any mention of the M1 Pro. Shockingly, the M2 Pro can't even output as many pixels per second as another 5 year old laptop I have that cost even less brand new than ANY M2 laptop period. And worse yet, the vanilla M2 can't even do more than one external monitor. It's as if this is just deliberate. Oh, you want more than one monitor? Fuck you, spend another $1,000 on a more expensive model."
What the fuck are you talking about?
You're trying to move some goalposts to # of pixels per second?
Who gives a fuck what the "vanilla M2" can do? lol- are
I think you missed the point (Score:2, Insightful)
You don't make voting mandatory to force people to participate you make it mandatory so that it becomes impossible to cheat people out of their vote. If vo
Re: (Score:2)
You don't make voting mandatory to force people to participate you make it mandatory so that it becomes impossible to cheat people out of their vote. If voting is mandatory you can't use tricks to take away the right to vote
It's already ostensibly illegal to gerrymander, have districting laws and regulations stopped that? [nytimes.com] Why would they stop this? Did you fall off the fucking turnip truck last night? Don't go to sleep bro, you've probably got a concussion.
Constitution doesn't mandate winner-take-all (Score:3)
I don't know everybody's motivations but the motivations of authoritarians are so obvious that everybody knows those. We learned almost 100 years ago how to spot fascists. Now inside my own political party that's a little bit harder. It's easy to get unity among fascists because they're used to doing what they're told
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
First things first you need a voting system that isn't winner-take-all first past the post
Ranked choice is a good idea, but the politicians who stand to benefit from the current two-party system aren't going to give up the status quo.
Next you need to make voting mandatory
That's a great way to get people to "Christmas tree" their ballots out of spite. Maybe an income tax rebate for voting would be a better idea?
While you're at it make it illegal to donate to a political campaign you can't vote in.
That'd be difficult to enforce.
Needless to say only individuals can donate and you have strict caps.
This would probably hurt the Democrats more than the Republicans, because the Democrats win on messaging (which costs money), the Republicans win on loyalty to party. Pay a visit to Florida som
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
And I'm a Democrat and I can tell you right now we don't win on messaging. We are god-awful at messaging. When we win it's because the Republicans are so bad shit crazy insane but even the Republicans better messaging can't overcome how freaking cra
Re: (Score:2)
And I'm a Democrat and I can tell you right now we don't win on messaging. We are god-awful at messaging. When we win it's because the Republicans are so bad shit crazy insane but even the Republicans better messaging can't overcome how freaking crazy they are.
This is one of the dozens of common statements for which symmetric polarity is conserved.
That is, Republicans say the same thing in reverse:
Democrats win on messaging because they have all the slick media/entertainment/design folks so they come up with pithy statements and catchy tunes like "Hope And Change" or "Yes We Can" or "Common-Sense Gun Reform" that are wrapped in slick graphics and cool TV ads and suave hip celebrity endorsements. Republicans say they are god-awful at messaging, and only win when t
Re: (Score:2)
Republicans say the same thing in reverse:
Democrats win on messaging because they have all the slick media/entertainment/design folks so they come up with pithy statements and catchy tunes like "Hope And Change" or "Yes We Can" or "Common-Sense Gun Reform"
Hope and Change did pretty well, there's no denying that. But nothing in recent memory has set any group alight as well as MAGA.
You want to know what I think? No? Well, change the channel then, 'cause here it comes. I think it's as sadly simple as people wanting economic change, and falling for the idea that the other party is going to give it to them. Well, they aren't. They'll change everything else, but not that, since they all work for corporations.
Re: (Score:2)
We actually know the genes that make dogs so friendly and they exist and work similarly in humans. I guess there’s some cognitive impairment but maybe we’ll all have big cyberbrains installed at birth anyhow.
Re: (Score:2)
OK, interesting. I just did some quick googling on that, there doesn't seem to be anything definitive .. recently there are two genes GTF2I and GTF2IRD1 as possible candidates (is that what you refer to?) They are transcription factors (meaning they control expression of a bunch of other genes) .. one thing I know is you never want to fuck with transcription factors unless you're sure of what the hell you're doing. In other words .. we know a lot but still have a ways to go before we fully decipher the exac
Re: (Score:2)
is that what you refer to?
Hahah I posted the extent of my knowledge on the subject in that post. So. Maybe?
I seem to think there were 3 genes mentioned in whatever I read but could be misremembering.
IIRC having these genes in people makes them look like elves.
Also I can totally imagine assholes not liking the idea that they have defective genes and having good success convincing society that we need them so I doubt anything will happen even if we ever have the means.
Re: (Score:2)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
"Among the hallmark traits of people with Williams syndrome is an apparent lack of social inhibition. Dykens and Rosner (1999) found that 100% of those with Williams syndrome were kind-spirited, 90% sought the company of others, 87% empathize with others' pain, 84% are caring, 83% are unselfish/forgiving, 75% never go unnoticed in a group, and 75% are happy when others do well.[39] Infants with Williams syndrome make nor
Re: (Score:2)
I've long thought that if sentience as we know it is to survive in our tiny corner of the galaxy, we will have to either become a different species or be replaced by one. However, the idea that we could/should do this intentionally will very quickly come up hard against the strong resistance to anything with the slightest whiff of eugenics. I'm not sure there is a good answer to that, honestly. The whole thing seems like somewhat of a catch-22 to me.
Excellent posting here.
Re:Huge Irony (Score:4, Insightful)
Hahaha. You crazy? Greed is intrinsic to human nature.
I don't actually believe that is true at all. The vast majority of people are not greedy. Ironically most people do not know what greed is. Many of my parents generation were taught, by the conservative christian movement, that materialism is greed - i.e. anything but wearing sack-cloth and living in poverty like Jesus was a result of greed. Similarly, Gordon Gekko's 'greed is good' speech came from this sort of widespread belief around what greed is.
I also thought this was greed, until I got into the business world and actually encountered pathologically greedy people. These people are like sociopaths - it's not that sociopaths want to hurt people, they just can't emphasis with other people's hurt. Until you encounter one (I suggest you don't), you really just have no idea how messed up this thinking is vs a normal human framework. Similarly, people who are greedy have a pathological need to acquire more. Even if they have absurd amounts of stuff, and getting more would destroy themselves and the people around them, they will still do it. Until you have encountered real greed, most people have no idea. Real greed is a suspension of logic around the acquisition of things, whereas a normal person, who wants enough food to not die, is not being illogical.
Unfortunately, like sociopaths, this drive means these people do end up in the worst places. Which is one of the reasons why democracy sorta works - it gives regular people a way to get rid of crazy when they eventually work themselves into the top of the power tree.
Re: (Score:3)
I also thought this was greed, until I got into the business world and actually encountered pathologically greedy people.
I don’t think people understand how common this is at the top of power structures. It’s one thing to read studies but it’s another to work with various groups of people over an extended period of time and discover that a significant fraction of them couldn’t care less about the earnestness or truth of the things that they say as long as they think it will get them more money or power.
I literally heard a man tell hundreds of people that he’d lied to us for a good reason, and th
Re: (Score:2)
Greed is intrinsic to human nature.
Europe proves this wrong, especially Nordic countries. It's perfectly possible for people to work together for mutual benefit, and to develop a fair system of governance that doesn't give all the power to the wealthy.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Huge Irony (Score:5, Insightful)
Such irony that a billionaire asks students to solve the worlds problems, when it is the rich and powerful such as himself that are creating those very problems by funding thinktanks to further their goals and by buying politicians and controlling the largest corporations.
If you want to make the world a better place then figure out a way to remove greed from politics.
Actually nope, him, and Warren Buffet and other tech billionaires of all shapes and sizes* go through a cycle of amassing fortunes in their youth, and then turning to philantropy in their mid and late years, That's what the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation is all about...
Is not the optimal course of action, but is a relatively decent heuristic to follow.
*For example, Peter Norton
Re: (Score:2)
In other words, they're trying to finally undo at least some of the damage they caused.
Re: (Score:2)
Further, they are attempting to undo the damage they caused, without the say of those they harmed.
What's the saying, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?
And these are EXACTLY the types of people you'd want to trust with philanthropy given their past record.
Re: (Score:2)
In other words, they're trying to finally undo at least some of the damage they caused.
At best they are trying to undo the damage they caused with the same level of thinking that they used to cause it, which is impossible.
More likely, from the available evidence, it's a cynical ploy to get richer while also affecting public opinion. Bill Gates stole that money (it was based on illegal and unethical business practices) and then he was allowed to invest it in a fund he solely controlled, thereby not even having to pay taxes on it. He then directed the fund's investments in a way that profited h
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
If you want to make the world a better place then figure out a way to remove greed from politics.
The disease has infected mankind for thousands of years. Long before "politics" was invented as a Weapon of Mass Distraction.
No, we will not likely survive ourselves. We're not even a smart enough species to learn from Wisdom to avoid repeating the worst of our own history. If you want to understand the problem with humans, solve for the Disease of Greed that tends to infect and destroy every damn thing. Not just politics.
Give it a minute. We'll likely pull enough inexpicable "alien" evidence from the
Re: (Score:2)
In dogs it was much quicker because they could breed within a year and rapidly be modified through human selection.
In something single celled that last days you can see immediate evolution take place.
Re: (Score:2)
Gene editing isn't slow though.
Re: (Score:2)
All you need a semi-acceptable policy around the world that allows us to kill off more humans than any other war, disease, or plague has ever brought upon our species. And we have that policy. 40 - 50 million a year dead. Every single year. Year after year. There is nothing on this planet that has even come close to the harm caused by abortion.
Even if this wasn't a spectacularly dumb idea for a bunch of other reasons, human population has increased well beyond our ability to support it given our current state of being a bunch of stupid selfish assholes, so making even more people would just mean even more people dying of starvation. Why do you want people to be born just so they can starve? How do you not see that's far more monstrous than abortion?
Re: (Score:2)
All you need a semi-acceptable policy around the world that allows us to kill off more humans than any other war, disease, or plague has ever brought upon our species. And we have that policy. 40 - 50 million a year dead. Every single year. Year after year. There is nothing on this planet that has even come close to the harm caused by abortion.
Even if this wasn't a spectacularly dumb idea for a bunch of other reasons, human population has increased well beyond our ability to support it given our current state of being a bunch of stupid selfish assholes, so making even more people would just mean even more people dying of starvation. Why do you want people to be born just so they can starve? How do you not see that's far more monstrous than abortion?
If everyone lived like they do in NYC, the human population can fit into the area the size of New Zealand. We have MASSIVE vast spaces all over this planet where humans haven't even started populating yet. We still have Third Worlds that have yet to be developed. Rich First World counties continue to live in massive luxury by comparison, literally throwing out more food than they can eat. All while you sit here and assume we're running out of everything.
Sorry, but when society demands an all-or-none appr
Re: (Score:2)
If everyone lived like they do in NYC, the human population can fit into the area the size of New Zealand.
If everyone lived like they do in NYC, many of us would go totally batshit.
We have MASSIVE vast spaces all over this planet where humans haven't even started populating yet.
Oh, my sweet, summer child. That's not how anything works. You have to be able to feed those people.
We are facing population collapse, not excess.
We have at least 4 billion people more than we need to maintain technological society.
Re: (Score:2)
If everyone lived like they do in NYC, the human population can fit into the area the size of New Zealand.
If everyone lived like they do in NYC, many of us would go totally batshit.
Meh. Your survival instinct would kick in at some point. What would be "batshit" in that situation would be listening to humans bitch instead of being productive. And you're missing the entire fucking point here. Our planet is quite large enough to hold the current population and more. Bit hard to argue otherwise when there are still vast areas we haven't even started populating yet.
We have MASSIVE vast spaces all over this planet where humans haven't even started populating yet.
Oh, my sweet, summer child. That's not how anything works. You have to be able to feed those people.
No shit. And I've already explained how plenty of First World countries live in massive excess with regards to food. We
Re: (Score:2)
And I've already explained how plenty of First World countries live in massive excess with regards to food.
You didn't explain to me, I already know shitloads about it. But you don't appear to have noticed that crop failures are growing more common. The effects of AGW are already reducing output, and it's going to get worse. You get it yet? Also, I don't know if you have noticed this little detail, but the fact that we have plenty to go around doesn't mean it goes around.
Re: (Score:2)
As far as I can tell, the only thing that is guaranteed to "get worse", is human fearmongering for the sake of clickbait. No, I don't "get it" yet until it's proven with facts instead of Greed selling a shortage. I've provided many examples of current waste. Remember car companies were making bombs during World Wars. To say there's a considerable shift in survival priorities when SHTF is putting it mildly.
Much like listening to politicians rant about the end of the world in a decade, I take fearmongerin
Re: (Score:2)
I've provided many examples of current waste.
Look, we know about how much food we're wasting. It's roughly half of it. That's appalling, and yes it does give a substantial buffer. As a massive food exporter with a lot of land in temperate zones, the US is in a very good position to keep feeding our people compared to other nations. But a number of nations are already having serious problems feeding their people already, and things are getting worse. And even though we have government food aid programs, there are children going to bed hungry in this co
Re: (Score:2)
The main thing that's happening, is waste driven by corruption.
And if many of our problems can be solved by simply not wasting, then we will eventually figure out a way to de-fuck our priorities. If we don't, we'll starve. Again, survival instincts tend to re-prioritize shit VERY quickly. A trillion-dollar social media enterprise becomes utterly worthless when there's no internet. Or electricity.
What is considered scarmongering is the profitization of headlines (a.k.a. clickbait). There have always been
Re: (Score:2)
Why do you want people to be born just so they can starve? How do you not see that's far more monstrous than abortion?
Because you're doing what every other ignorant human does; ASS-U-ME. That's why.
After we catch criminals stealing, why not just cut off their hands after the first offense? I mean, it's far more damaging to society allowing thieves to continue to steal, so might as well take the most drastic approach like abortion, right? Perhaps we just start sterilizing those "troublesome" parts of our society under mandate instead. That way we won't have to worry about this whole abortion argument. Sounds logical eno
Re: (Score:3)
Such irony that a billionaire asks students to solve the worlds problems
Yeah, at our current level of technological development the world's problems are largely economic. The smart thinkers came up with the solutions quite awhile ago, but the bean counters looked at the costs and said "maybe when it's cheaper."
Re: (Score:2)
The smart thinkers came up with the solutions quite awhile ago
What solutions would that be?
Re: (Score:2)
What solutions would that be?
We already have several technologies for generating carbon neutral energy. Modern farming practices can easily grow more than enough food to feed the entire world population. Access to medicine and medical care is also simply just an economic issue. Housing is an issue of geopolitical nature and economic costs, not lack of physical land space.
The solutions already exist, it's all just economics and politics that prevent their widespread implementation on a scale necessary to create the desired level of c
Re: (Score:2)
Modern farming practices can easily grow more than enough food to feed the entire world population.
That's not a bean counter thing holding it back. Actually a lot of what I refer to as the "food religion" run FUD campaigns aimed at holding a lot of it back. The organic food movement in particular aims to set agricultural technology back to the 50s effectively rolling back all of the gains in crop yields that we've made in the last 70 years. The EU has banned GMO crops due to campaigns by organizations like greenpeace, despite the fact that the scientific consensus being that GMO is safe being even strong
Re: (Score:2)
Not quite. A lot of the cutting edge research in medicine is very expensive to develop. People that are doing it want to get paid. For various reasons, currently the US is effectively subsidizing that for the rest of the world.
People expecting to be paid is an economic issue.
It seems rather silly to say, but I could have free electricity and a car that emits no CO2, right now without any new technology needing to be developed. The reason I don't? Because the number in my bank account is too small. Most of the world's problems simply come down to someone not having enough money to pay for the solution, whether it's my first-world problem of not being able to afford a PV system and a BEV, or somebody who can't afford a bag of ri
Re: (Score:2)
People expecting to be paid is an economic issue.
It seems rather silly to say, but I could have free electricity and a car that emits no CO2, right now without any new technology needing to be developed. The reason I don't? Because the number in my bank account is too small. Most of the world's problems simply come down to someone not having enough money to pay for the solution, whether it's my first-world problem of not being able to afford a PV system and a BEV, or somebody who can't afford a bag of rice for their family in the third world.
In the sense that economies deal with the distribution of scarce resources, sure. But simply putting numbers on bank accounts won't give everybody EVs; it simply can't.
Re: (Score:2)
The only way to get the greed out of politics is to make it so ineffective at doing anything that it's not worth spending money on. Of course that invites it's own sort of trouble. But anywhere you have
Re: (Score:3)
My sentiments exactly. (Score:2)
I got my bachelor's degree there. And yeah, a major factor in the decision to go there was how low the cost was. I never took on student debt, and this is why. Just as then, I still view student loans as being unnecessary. If you had to take out a loan for college, then you're either stupid or you're not trying hard enough.
Back then I was on part-time minimum wage, and I didn't have any family assist with the costs. Now I'm part of the top 3%, and still rising apparently.
Re: (Score:2)
Now I'm part of the top 3%, and still rising apparently.
I guess you just have to hope these kids getting their affordable college go into gender studies or similar unemployable nonsense degrees, lest they create a labor market glut that drives down salaries. Supply and demand applies to labor as much as it does to anything else in a capitalist economy. You're successful and well-paid because someone else wasn't. The world needs ditch diggers, too. [youtube.com] Not just to dig the ditches that need to be dug, but also because the rarity of skilled workers is what creates t
Re: (Score:2)
Well, fortunately humans ain't fungible and you can't just create more neurosurgeons by stuffing more warm bodies into universities. It doesn't work that way, they still have to be of sufficient quality to qualify.
And most of these humans do not.
Re: (Score:2)
I think the question you really have to ask is, "could someone else do my job if the financial burden of college wasn't an issue?" For some fields, a certain amount of innate aptitude absolutely is required. But for most jobs, that's not really the case. How many neurosurgeons work at Microsoft?
Re: (Score:2)
How many good programmers do?
It's trivial to teach someone to code. Rote-programming (aka "Stackexchange copy paste coding") is easy to pick up. As long as you know what to look for and know how to handle ctrl-c, ctrl-v, you're in.
It's less trivial for someone to actually understand what they're doing.
Re: (Score:2)
I guess you just have to hope these kids getting their affordable college go into gender studies or similar unemployable nonsense degrees, lest they create a labor market glut that drives down salaries. Supply and demand applies to labor as much as it does to anything else in a capitalist economy.
Which is one of the main reasons I chose what I did. Play the job market like an economist, and there's a good chance you'll win.
You're successful and well-paid because someone else wasn't.
Not really. The economy isn't zero-sum. A lot of people like to compare incomes to a pie, but this isn't accurate at all. The "slice" you get is really a slice of the GDP, which keeps getting bigger.
Florida's HVAC field is a great example. In most places in the country, HVAC is a very well-paid trade industry. In Florida, everybody and their brother has a contractor's license and there's just too much competition, so the earning potential suffers significantly.
This is a reason I often say that when people are living paycheck to paycheck, they should really consider moving. One of the nice things about being in the US is it's not truly a sing
Re: (Score:3)
This is a reason I often say that when people are living paycheck to paycheck, they should really consider moving.
Another bit of sage advice I've derived from you, is that if your bullshit allegory [slashdot.org] doesn't fit the current situation, just make the number bigger! [slashdot.org]
Then, collect some rent [slashdot.org] on a house that he bought caaaaash money 2 years after selling a house he bought on a mortage given to a dude making $46k, and then 2 years later... Buying another house caaaaaash money [slashdot.org], but wait.... except not? [slashdot.org]
Man, you are so impressive!
If I had the need to feel admired that you had, who knows what heights it'd drive me to.... lie a
Affordable? (Score:2)
That same school today is 3000 per semester! (6000+ a year, depending, or 20% of the average take-home pay in this region)
Re: Affordable? (Score:2)
/o\ (Score:2)
Wtf
Re: (Score:2)
Wtf
Rich old tech bro wants to drive down tech industry wages by creating a labor glut, basically.
Re: (Score:2)
So I guess in my country we should have an enormous surplus of medical professionals instead of that shortage we encounter right now?
Studying here is cheap. Dirt cheap. At least by US standards. Like a couple hundreds per semester, and mostly so people don't clutter the university enrollment lists to reap the benefits of being students, from student rebates to banks that offer student accounts.
Weirdly enough, we're not swimming in academics.
It could of course have to do with there being standards that you h
Re: (Score:2)
So I guess in my country we should have an enormous surplus of medical professionals instead of that shortage we encounter right now?
Funny you'd say that, since I recently did one of those online doctor visit video calls to get an RX for Paxlovid and it was $35 without insurance. There's either some really sketchy stuff going on (not that I'm complaining, the medicine turned my Covid infection into a mild 3 day case of the sniffles), or some enormous surplus of medical professionals driving down the costs.
As someone without insurance, I'm totally okay with that since the competition worked to my advantage. On the other hand, if I had d
Re: (Score:2)
Mind sending some of those docs across the pond? We could certainly use some.
As long as they ain't as qualified as the doc from Idiocracy, that is.
Affording college. And a haircut. (Score:3, Funny)
"NAU is also giving you something I never received: A real college degree."
It was bad enough when we found a billionaire couldn't afford a decent haircut. Times are so tough now the man can't even afford to go back to college.
And some say we're not in a recession? Please. Look who's struggling...
If we talk gently... (Score:2)
Maybe we can coax him offstage. Anyone have any week-old pocket peppermints? C'mon buddy. No one's gonna threaten your market position any more. There, there.
One point... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Jeffrey Epstein.
Yeah, interesting this story [theguardian.com] just broke today.
On the one hand, it suggests Bill didn't have that close a relationship with Epstein, at least at that point in time. On the other, I was only aware of the affair with the employee, so you wonder now how many others there might have been. In the end, if he didn't do anything illegal, then it's his own business whether he wants to be faithful to his wife or not, but it does show how much of his shiny public image was massively fabricated (though, I imagine this i
Bill is just like a real dad (Score:2)
advising his kids what to do because he couldn't make it happen.
I remember... (Score:2, Insightful)
I remember a time when slashdot was critical of Bill Gates.
I was blessed by the GI BILL (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
35 years ago I was able to attend college on the GI Bill. I had no debt and was able to work for many years without worrying about paying off college loans. I know that the military is not every ones cup of tea, but for those able we should provide low cost education and opportunities so they can make a nice living for their friend or family.
Guess what? That program was a lie [history.com]. Good for you that it helped you, but not everyone got their promised benefits [military.com]. Over 1 in 10 homeless in America are veterans. Too bad there's no "Sorry we ruined your life with PTSD and drug addiction" benefits, although they'd probably find ways to deny that to servicemembers as well.
Re: (Score:2)
35 years ago I was able to attend college on the GI Bill. I had no debt and was able to work for many years without worrying about paying off college loans. I know that the military is not every ones cup of tea, but for those able we should provide low cost education and opportunities so they can make a nice living for their friend or family.
Guess what? That program was a lie [history.com]. Good for you that it helped you, but not everyone got their promised benefits [military.com]. Over 1 in 10 homeless in America are veterans...
Uh, your citations are at best speaking about a very specific program time when the GI Bill benefit changed, and at worst 70 years old. For millions of servicemembers not specifically dealing with those issues, they have gained a significant benefit from the GI Bill. One that cannot be denied or eradicated with previous problems within the program.
Too bad there's no "Sorry we ruined your life with PTSD and drug addiction" benefits, although they'd probably find ways to deny that to servicemembers as well.
There ARE such programs. It's the entire reason millions of veterans receive disability benefits from the government when harm is proven to be service-connecte
Affordability? (Score:4, Insightful)
The annual tuition and fees for the online programs at NAU are $11,578 per https://nau.edu/paying-for-col... [nau.edu]
Given the scale that online education can run at, that still seems high to me. That said, I'm old and sometimes have a blind spot around the cost of things. Am I missing something?
If the answer is "Oh, that's just the price on the tin; nobody actually pays that." Then I am not okay with that at all. Inflating the sticker price to maximize what-someone-else-pays benefits is how we broke healthcare in this country. We don't want a sequel to that.