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Well, I'm a transhumanist so I don't believe that I will necessarily die. I would guess the best bet for a compsci major is to try to invent a AI or something that enhances cognition so that scientific research is sped up enough to find a cure for death before you die.

It seems to me that what China needs is more entrepreneurial spirit, not more rote memorization.

"These kids have the same dreams as all middle-class kids: to go to college, to get white-collar jobs, to own their own home, to have Nikes and name brands,"

Wanting white-collar jobs and their own homes, I understand, but name brands? Well, that's the problem. The whole purpose of name brands are to create artificial scarcity. if the goal is to have a good life, that is definitely achievable, but if the goal is to be better than everyone else, only some will meet that goal.

Um, spending a couple of years just to get self-confidence is a pretty stupid deal.

Well, I was thinking that if you wanted to find the connection between say, any connection between Ash trees and the portrayal of warfare in ancient mythology, such a search engine could be helpful.

But that's how the stock market works. :) Trying to do better than that is futile.

I wouldn't agree with "debt based currencies are backed by the ingenuity of the people". Debt based currencies are backed by the trustworthiness of the debt issuing entity. It doesn't matter how ingenious Americans are as long as the Fed prints money to fund the welfare and warfare state.