Trying to fix or improve pedagogy is the wrong strategy. While there are certainly broad ways of teaching that work better than others, the fact is that each person learns differently. Learning success is also wildly dependent on the skills of the teacher. A fundamental problem with the current education system is that it is (mostly) a monopoly. Worse, the people who select the product (politicians and parents) are not the consumers who benefit or suffer from that choice (students). So, what if there was a way, somehow, to do one or both of these things: 1) Put the consumer of education (students) in a position to make an informed choice about how to be schooled. 2) Make a wide variety of schooling methods* and systems available in a competitive market place. * Not just online education, but face to face, teacher-led education, too.

"...sharing health data between doctors, researchers, insurers and hospitals..." Hey, what about the patients?! We should all have access to our health records online, be able to add comments, correct errors, and control who has access and to what level. E.g. I don't want to give my insurer full access to all my medical records.