selva

An insightful talk by Dan Gilbert on this http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_...

There are many reasons, mostly to do with skewed priorities. I'll describe one of ways priorities get skewed. There is a disproportionately large film and TV industry with a lot of political backing which are interested in getting TV into as many homes as possible. In the south Indian state I come from, one of the election promises by the current chief minister (somewhat equivalent to a governor in US) was a free TV for every family. The same minister owns a private TV Network. What best way to get more audience than use government money...

From Oxford Dictionary: Friend - a person with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically one exclusive of sexual or family relations.

Developing mutual affection takes time. Clearly, technology has taken this word 'friend' (and many of it's variants) and has - to use the new parlance - mashed it up. Of course, words and meanings evolve but technology has created social platforms that leave behind words and meanings that were shaped over decades and centuries. There's a dissonance between who we think is a 'friend' and what a social platform thinks is a 'friend'. The context is new, the rules are not well established, and the words are awfully inadequate.

I agree with Mr Gray, btw. It is creepy. But, this is quite normal where technology is busy pushing the boundaries.

I just read 'A Mathematician's Apology' where Hardy touches on this at one point. If you want to consider someone's opinion on your question (besides cperciva), consider Hardy's (because he was a great mathematican and a brutally honest person). Briefly, Hardy thought the ability to make deep contributions to mathematics erodes after middle age. He cites Euler, Abel, Ramanujan, et al. Hardy mentions Gauss who was old (55, I think) when he made a major contribution but, Hardy notes, the idea for it had germinated while Gauss was young. I personally think Nature plays a bigger part than nurture when it comes to mathematical ability (of the rarer kind). Ramanujan is a classic example. He had pretty much no nurture. Way before anyone knew or cared, he was producing stunning mathematical insights.

Exceptional. http://www.cbc.ca/writersandcompany/