HN user

Danihan

1,233 karma

Send capital.

wagist [[]] gmail

Posts0
Comments654
View on HN
No posts found.

Welp, you asked for my opinion. My opinion is that if you literally can't think of a valid use for the entire internet in a classroom setting, then you aren't trying very hard. It's tantamount to having a library at your fingertips.

* How about using an app to record the lecture, so a student can verify their notes later?

* How about taking a picture of the notes on the board, when they can't copy things down quickly enough?

* How about checking up on a sick relative using SMS, so they aren't feeling anxious about it all class?

I'm not even trying really -- there are dozens of valid use-cases that respect the preset curriculum. Let alone all of the uses that fall outside of respecting it, if and when the curriculum is too facile for the student.

Couldn't I have been learning programming during the time my high school English class was tackling "A Catcher in the Rye" one chapter per week, after I read the entire book within the first few hours we had it? Apparently not, because cell phones aren't allowed, and they can only used for Candy Crush.

My question is how many kids are actually going to do that?

Not very many, and that's why most people will justify smartphones being taken away from all students. Which will primarily hurt the ones who were using them for more interesting purposes. Typical crab bucket mentality.

And what justifies them to be the judge of whether what the teacher is discussing is relevant to them or not, given they are 10 years old.

I never said anything about whether the lessons were relevant, nor were ages brought up.

You're an example of not orienting your perspective properly.. ;)

The internet, a global communications network that everyone carries with them in their pocket on a mini touchscreen PC, is fucking incredible.

Even prisoners who go away for 10-15 years have been blown away by the advancements in cell phone technology and adoption when they get out.

Underrated post, completely agree. There have been several times when I wasn't doing so well financially and I wondered -- if I'm this smart (not to be cocky, but top 1% at least) and struggling, how are other people making it at all?

The answer is, they take far fewer risks than I do and rarely mess up. And when they do mess up it's years of hard work to recover.

But yeah, there is definitely some social Darwinism currently at play in regards to intelligence.

I agree with much of what you said, yet I just don't see it as all that bad of a situation.

I still think there is a lot of upward mobility even in that scenario -- the smarter people I know earn good salaries and have nice lifestyles. Nicer than their parents, in most cases, mainly because consumer technology constantly gets better and cheaper.

And there is still opportunity for risk takers to start their own companies, and it's really not all that hard with some traction to get acquired by a bigger player.

Of course, people with a lot of capital get rewarded for holding onto it / being conservative with it, but that's just common sense, not throwing good money after bad.

It's like we're all supposed to say, "Yeah! Late stage capitalism is so awful!" and nod along, but it doesn't feel awful to me at all. I have a 2016 Mazda that cost $18k and it's just awesome for the price. I bought a brand new iPhone SE for $150. I bought a 50 inch TV on black Friday for $200.

My parents as kids didn't have running water in their houses.

I'm not all about materialism, but I'm really at a loss for what exactly I'm supposed to be feeling outraged about. I don't even really make that high of a salary, just average middle class.

BitCoin looks like it was designed as a weapon intended to damage central banking and money issuing banks, with a Libertarian political agenda in mind—to damage states ability to collect tax and monitor their citizens financial transactions.

That's exactly why I (and most people) like it so much..