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Comment When will we learn? (Score 1) 278

As somebody who actually has a lot of clients in the Agricultural sector, I find all these opinions rather amusing. Robots and automation haven't substantially improved automobile quality. Although the auto industry hasn't volunteered the information, I imagine that recalls are more frequent now. Why? Because there are so many ways in which the human mind and senses are superior to machines. Personally, I would not want to eat food picked by machines that cannot distinguish between ripe, green, spoiled, molded and contaminated food...nor do they possess the fine motor skills for harvesting WITHOUT destroying the plant itself which is pretty bad for berries, fruit and nut trees, etc. I would also not want to eat a burger prepared by a robot that cannot determine if the meat being cooked is spoiled or not, because the robot lacks a sense of smell. As for the Cesar Chavez portrayal of farm workers as being poor and exploited, I am out in the fields with these workers and they have nicer cars than I do, work fewer months out of the year and can make between $20 and $25 an hour harvesting, pruning and cultivating crops. This is not uniformly the case, but it is what I have seen in all my clients. The ONLY people that benefit from robotics are the multinationals who sell them and the robotic designers. Society at large is NOT improved by this activity and it will just shrink the tax revenues once again and put the money in the pockets of the uber-elite.

Comment Re: This defines irony (Score 1) 667

Just remember Mr. Right Wing dumb ass, you're on the same planet as everyone else. Even if it is another universe.

So, Trump (the Tangerine Buffooni bird) thinks that taking a political stance to end another political perspective is achieving clarity? We have not only elected a nitwit, but a blind one at that. Look at the political leaders who have eliminated perspectives that don't agree with theirs. They are called demagogues initially, but they become dictators. A dictator is someone that wants everybody to agree with everything that they say--whether there is any validity to it or not. Trump is a thin-skinned, humorless and petty man whose brain is AS SMALL AS HIS FINGERS.

Comment Re:Age and ability to learn aren't correlated (Score 1) 162

Studies that are coming out now are revealing that learning ability is not as impacted by age as "conventional" wisdom suggests. These same studies also show that older workers are MORE productive than younger workers as they tend to focus on the work. Even accounting for age-related costs increases in insurance, older workers are a good deal

The Case Against Algebra 908

HughPickens.com writes: Dana Goldstein writes at Slate that political scientist Andrew Hacker proposes replacing algebra II and calculus in the high school and college with a practical course in statistics for citizenship. According to Hacker, only mathematicians and some engineers actually use advanced math in their day-to-day work and even the doctors, accountants, and coders of the future shouldn't have to master abstract math that they'll never need. For many math is often an impenetrable barrier to academic success. Algebra II, which includes polynomials and logarithms, and is required by the new Common Core curriculum standards used by 47 states and territories, drives dropouts at both the high school and college levels. Hacker's central argument is that advanced mathematics requirements, like algebra, trigonometry and calculus, are "a harsh and senseless hurdle" keeping far too many Americans from completing their educations and leading productive lives. "We are really destroying a tremendous amount of talent—people who could be talented in sports writing or being an emergency medical technician, but can't even get a community college degree," says Hacker. "I regard this math requirement as highly irrational." According to Hacker many of those who struggled through a traditional math regimen feel that doing so annealed their character while critics says that mathematics is used as a hoop, a badge, a totem to impress outsiders and elevate a profession's status. "It's not hard to understand why Caltech and M.I.T. want everyone to be proficient in mathematics. But it's not easy to see why potential poets and philosophers face a lofty mathematics bar. Demanding algebra across the board actually skews a student body, not necessarily for the better."

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