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Comment Re:There are no new jobs (Score 1) 45

The only way you could reasonably predict what jobs will be available would be to predict exactly how much more advanced AIs are going to get and how quicly. And any prediction is a "Wild Ass Guess".

FWIW, there's a company in China building humanoid robots for assembly line work. So far it's only sold less than a thousand, so it's probably still in the experimental stage, but if it's "nearly ready" then it will soon be ready.

Now most assembly line work is basically rote repetition, with only a limited number of special-case scenarios, to this is far from a general purpose robot...but it's enough to eliminate LOTS of jobs...if it's cheap enough. And if it is, one can expect incremental expansion into other roles.

Comment Re:Oh no (Score 1) 53

The thing is, it wouldn't help things for one player to quit.

OTOH, as someone else pointed out, the government isn't exactly trustworthy either. (I consider accepting funds from lobbyist groups to be accepting bribes, just like accepting funds from individuals.)

On the third hand, open source approaches can't limit the use to which something is put.

Perhaps the "corporate powers" are the least bad choice...but that sure isn't encouraging.

Comment Re:Other subjects (Score 1) 199

It wouldn't hurt, but it would be a bit expensive (except the Morse code). Actually, I really think that shop classes should not have been cut. Admittedly repairing a steam locomotive is a bit extreme and a bit dangerous. Also horses are large and dangerous (and expensive) animals. And shoeing horses should be expanded to include running the forge that the horse shoe is created in. Perhaps not to digging the ore and making the charcoal, since in a lot of places the raw materials don't exist.

But these should be "options". They could replace PE and be merged with history and geography, or perhaps be "summer school". People really have no idea what the life of their ancestors was like, and "blacksmith" was a high status occupation.

Comment Re:Borugh to you by a state which (Score 1) 199

And the problem is that not all corporal punishment is bad. But people lack judgement about using it, so it gets over-used, under-used, or just misused. It needs to be quickly applied, accurately assessed, and minor in degree. Also it isn't sufficient in and of itself. It needs to be followed by an explanation and corrective action. And to come from someone that the recipient of the punishment accepts as having their good at heart. This can be difficult.

Comment Re:Not as important as bringing back flashcards (Score 1) 199

It needs to be a mix. I defy you to pronounce "gnu" using the rules of phonics. There are many words in English where phonics just fails, and for those you need to memorize the word. e.g. "adieu". But if you just memorize words, you'll never be able to read a new word. I accept that when I read a word from a foreign language, I'm likely mispronouncing it, but I *do* have a way to pronounce it, or I can't remember it.

Comment Re: A useful skill to have. (Score 1) 199

Actually, short-hand is a sheave of different systems, some of which are totally a different thing, and some of which are just lots of standard abbreviations, and so closely similar, even if unintelligible to those not skilled in that particular art. ... Then there's steno-typing, which is related to at least one of the forms of short-hand.

Comment Re: (Score 1) 199

I think what it actually means it multiple letters written without lifting the pen from the paper, which is sort of what you mean, but implies things like "i"''s are written without a dot, and the dot is added when the word is complete. IIRC, the "Palmer t" was a "t" at the end of the word written without lifting the pen to cross it.

Comment Disagree (Score 1) 199

My memory says that I could easily read my handwriting, but others had trouble. And I had trouble with the handwriting of others. I'm willing to accept that at one point handwriting was sufficiently standardized that most people could read it without problem, but I can't think of a documented decade when that was true.

Comment Re: It a guidebook... (Score 1) 199

Try " The lack of instruction in cursive writing in schools may be a significant contributor to this problem.". That's reasonable. To say it the other way you need to conduct double blind experiments, which is difficult for cursive writing.

It's a plausible assertion, but you could substitute needle-point and have it be just as good an argument. (I.e., practice at needle-point would likely be as good at training find motor skills.)

I accept that you need to practice fine motor skills to develop them, but cursive writing is very probably only one way to do that. Practice with a brush constructing Chinese characters would almost certainly be as good.

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