Oh, I think I saw that YouTube video!

Generally the "even engineer dads can't make heads nor tails of it" objection is that the engineer dads didn't spend a couple minutes reading the helpfully coloured highlight box in the textbook. There has been a push in math to develop teaching methods that emphasize understanding rather than memorization. Thus 5x3 becomes 5x5x5 or 3x3x3x3x3 instead of "STFU and memorize your times tables."

A better example, also from Internet memes, is a procedure where you add or multiply a pair of larger numbers by breaking them down into component problems. 37 + 55 becomes (30 + 50) + (7 + 5) and some "parent" on Reddit or Facebook with add a comment like "why can't they just do addition like we learned??" Someone sensible will usually point out that people who are good at arithmetic will often use decomposition on harder problems if they're doing them in their head.

The teaching algorithms are pedagogical tools used to increase understanding or illustrate problems from different perspectives, not the final here's-the-algorithm-you-should-always-use".

I said that the 5x3 answer being marked wrong was likely due to a poorly educated teacher. No, primary school children probably won't be multiplying anything non-commutative soon. That was a joke. However, it is important not to instill, and then spend years reinforcing, incorrect facts. You shouldn't tell students things like "multiplication is defined as commutative" because that kind of thing will eventually screw someone up.

Sure. I think the GP's example, if it was correctly described, is probably a sign of a teacher who doesn't understand what they're teaching.

I was pointing out, educationally I hope, that the GP also doesn't really understand what they're talking about, despite claiming it's "simple." Which, incidentally, makes me suspect the anecdote may not be entirely accurate.

Or maybe they want to prepare the kids so they're not shocked when they start Clifford algebras.

Multiplication isn't defined as a commutative operation. It happens to be so when you're multiplying real numbers but in general it is not.

Fractions are difficult for lots of people. You have to understand what a fraction is before "just double the denominator" is simple and obvious. It's not a new thing. There's the story of the 1/3 pounder failing because people thought the 1/4 pounder was bigger. I have a relative who specialized in teaching remedial fractions.

It is kind of shocking that American universities are accepting large numbers of students who can't do basic math, and in programs that apparently involve calculus no less.

I'm not sure about the assertion this is a recent phenomenon when the head of state recently promised to reduce drug prices by a thousand percent.

but also in economics, with the 2008 financial crisis that was caused by a failure of the institutions that are supposed to regulate such things.

Dunno, the institutions who were supposed to regulate such things did a pretty good job here, as they did in most places that weren't the US or a specific bit of shadiness between the UK and Iceland.

It's also unnecessary. The most common alternative to a republic is a constitutional monarchy, and the presence of a figurehead monarch doesn't make a democracy much more resiliant against determined stupidity.

Did they make any attempt to distinguish between correlation and causation?

Such as? There have been a couple of controlled studies on ultraprocessed food. They found weight gain and other things like speed of eating associated with the UPFs and not other diets. Good luck doing a decade long controlled study until people get heart disease, even if you somehow convinced an ethics committee to let you try.

https://www.cell.com/cell-meta...
https://www.nature.com/article....

There have also been lots of mechanistic studies of many of the common ingredients in UPFs.

The way to make money on it is to buy stock in those companies. Or stock in their customers, who are selling more stuff.

If you manage to get the timing anywhere close to right you can sell that stock and then buy real estate at foreclosure sales.

If a society can't adapt to post-scarcity then that society should get eliminated. That's just about the dumbest reason for self destruction you can imagine.

The cotton gin. It was all down hill after that.

Sure. Everyone should learn Latin in school. Greek first though. You don't properly apprciate Latin if you don't already have Greek. Then a few modern languages, at least one Romance to follow the Latin plus a Germanic and some form of Chinese. Better throw in Japanese and something with click consonants too. Practical math absolutely, and shop and don't forget home ec. Advanced math too... none of this "choosing" to take calculus. Science classes should cover physics, biology and chemistry for everyone, to an advanced level. Some economics, sociology and anthropology too, and definitely comprehensive history. Every child should graduate knowing how to fix a toilet, maintain their brakes and perform competent Japanese joinery.

Epstein seemed to have a penchant for putting commas in random places. He used double commas too, for some reason. Epstein seems to have really liked commas and just sprinkled them liberally through his e-mails like glitter.

An anecdote is not correlation. It's not even weak evidence of a correlation.