Another unintended effect of driverless cars is more fuel efficient practices. If you have shared cars, then you can just order the car for your needs. No longer will people be driving huge SUV's to work when the only reason they needed the SUV is for that weekend trip to vermont. Recreational cars would be less common too. If you're not the one driving, the fun of a sporty car tends to be reduced.
College is important. I've been reading an ever increasing stack of articles suggesting it's not nearly as important as we once thought it was. Perhaps that's true, though i'd suggest that it's a matter of confusion. College is expensive, too expensive. This is the point we should be focusing on, not on the matter of whether or not to attend.
In my opinion the reason it is expensive is because the market is not operating properly. And the reason the market is incorrect is because the role of higher education changed, but the business model hasn't. The labor market is the only market where the supply pays for the privilege of fulfilling the demand. In my opinion the demand consists of companies demanding people with advanced skill sets. The supply is you and me, the future employees. College used to be a service to finely prep a pupil for an aristocratic life. Today I view it as an institution to develop new skills for the benefit of industry.
For this purpose I think the solution to the education bubble is to move higher education into the public education system. In my opinion that would result in a series of policies that would both increase the presence of higher education, and decrease the lifetime cost to the student.
I'm right there with you. I did terribly in school, I got 'B' grades but i'm sure I was a C or a D student. Class was frustrating. There was never a clear "goal". The focus was always on the process. I never understood why he was doing something, and why it worked. For me the understanding of the process didn't come until the end when I got to fully analyze everything, and let it sink in. Unfortunately that rarely happened. I had the same teacher for most of high school. He'd spend forever walking through a problem.. my mind would wander, I thought to myself "where is this going?" then he finally reached the end. This is where i'd start making connections. But before I could make any progress he'd erase everything and start on something new.
He never graded homework, so i'd just make it look like I put some effort in it. That was enough to get credit. When test time came I had no idea what anything was. Fortunately he would always have a few full example problems on top. I'd run through them trying to find a way to solve them. Inevitably i'd spend half the test time reverse engineering the problems, and most of the time I actually did well finding a solution. I would typically get the right answers (though we'd have to show our work, and he'd subtract points because i didn't use the process he taught.)
Khan academy is amazing. I've gone back to relearn the things I didn't get while in school. I love being able to go at my own pace, and re-watch things.
I've been thinking about going on a similar path. I've already built up the buffer, but I'm not quite sure the best way to find consulting relationships. What did you do?
As an American Citizen, that is a terrible shame. I can honestly say that three fourths of the most talented engineers I have worked with are not citizens.
I opted out at a scanner in Milwaukee (not as much for health as just generally disagreeing with the concept) it was one of the active millimeter scanners. When I did he proceeded to tell me it wasn't an x-ray scanner, but used radio waves "like your cell phone". At first I was going to comment on the frequency difference, but instead i decided to say "oh i see, so it's radiowaves like my microwave oven?".
I hope making a game never gets easier. I think it is so many people's path to programming. When I was 11 or 12 I was intent on making my own games. I really had no idea how to do any of it. So I went searching for an easy tool(was hoping for a gui of some kind) I stumbled on RPG maker which was ported by some Russian guy. Then I found this product called the GCS (Game creation system) by pie in the sky software. Both of these tools made games, but not the games I had in my imagination. So I decided I needed to learn how to program so I can make my own engine, and make those games in my mind. Little did I know the path I had just embarked on. Along the way I learned C++, win32, Direct X 7, and more. My interest in programming games soon waned, but what was left was a skill, and a lifelong interest. Had there been a GUI that allowed me to create the games that were inside my imagination, It probably would have been just another one of my fleeting obsessions that got lost along the way.
i used to have a pre, i did web os dev for it, but it never took off. Today I have an android phone, and when Amazon ships my fire i'll have a tablet too. I feel too dedicated to the android platform to change back.
Sal is amazing. He is a great teacher, and his wealth of knowledge is vast. Unfortunately even sal, with his genius, is going to start running up against some curbs. I think it would be great if he brought on just a few more world class teachers to continue his model.
What's awesome though is a student can move at their own pace. If they're not ready for a for loop, then they can stay where they are, and continue practicing.
That video, and the demo from the link above is amazing! The speed of progress is blowing my mind, especially in the area of image recognition, and analysis. Though there's incredible progress in AI, wireless technology, and virtually everything else. Everywhere I look engineers and scientists are pulling off mind blowing things. I'm going into the future expecting the unreal, yet still when I see it I feel like i'm experiencing future shock.
This is a really cool example of privacy concerns, but also highlights a possible future for media! Imagine movies with a more personal touch. This video did such an amazing job at integrating dynamic material, it was completely seamless.