Posted on 06/02/2023 11:07:03 AM PDT by jimwatx
I'm not a chemist, but I like chemistry. I'm not a geologist, but knowing something about the rocks I love to see helps the experience. I'm not a cartographer, but maps have kept me from dying.
It actually seems that people do not welcome knowledge just for the knowing. This is a sad turn of affairs.
Hardly - the ones we get now only know what they were taught at IIT and will argue anything contrary. So this isn’t much of a dumbing-down.
I couldn’t agree more. When I make microprocessor based lab instruments for a chemist, biologist, or geologist, a little knowledge works out a lot better than a blank stare.
Don’t look now, but your leaders plan to take the United States to third world status. We’ll be there pretty soon.
“omg that reminds me of the fabulous furry freak brothers!!”
I just happen to have several of their comics downstairs from Berkeley, 69’.
” If you focus on computer science, you don’t need the biology. “
Teach them communication skills instead.
Heaven forbid people get a solid all-around education. Especially considering that you’re not going to be able to have a 40-year career in the same field, you’re going to have to move around.
“Pythagorean theorem”
Perhaps it has something to do with India’s average IQ which is 76.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/average-iq-by-country
I went to an inner city high school that was 93% black but only had one black student in my Regents math classes after like 9th or 10th grade. It seems to require a minimal IQ in order to understand certain concepts beyond multiplication and division. Once you start getting into trig and advanced algebra the herd starts to thin out. Not everyone is good at abstract thinking so India figures why waste their time on it for those unlikely to ever use it. This policy might be coming to America before too long once all of these illegal immigrants start filling up our schools.
Me: 42 years as a programmer. I never did anything else.
A problem with skipping other subjects is that problem solving makes you are good programmer. If they concentrate solely on computer science, they may end up with horrible communication skills. I work with people who write emails like they are a 10 year-old in Special Ed. They are also incapable of office chit-chat.
The days of the heads-down coder are coming to an end. Coding is just going to become a part of a bigger job, kind of like how a lot folks are expected to know how to use Excel.
Speaking of coding, what if AI learns to code?
I am not all gloom and doom there. It can be a tool, but you will still need people to verify that the code will work and is the most efficient.
You are correct. I was being somewhat facetious….or not.
I remember all the hue and cry about CASE tools back in the 90s.
“Speaking of coding, what if AI learns to code?”
The old catch phrase “learn to code” will become obsolete in favor of the new catch phrases “learn auto mechanics or HVAC”. Whatever jobs can’t be done by computers will become the next hot jobs.
We have 600 programs that have to be converted to Java. That’s heads down programming that’s probably going to require some contractors.
Our ERP ran their COBOL programs through a converter that produced non-OO Java. The problem is that you need a COBOL programmer to mod the code. Our Java guys were baffled by it. I don’t really do Java (my Java code looks like a bash script) but I had to tell them how to do the mod in Java.
I get contacted by COBOL shops on occasion. They can hire an Indian programmer for less money but I think they get weary of the communication issues.
“I can see why evolution would be controversial but the periodic table? “
It has something to do with transuranium elements having periods.
People have been predicting that for as long as I’ve been in the industry (1995... geeze right around now actually). Various “natural language” and semi-AI tools are always “about to change the industry”. And they don’t. Because there’s so much more in coding than “the basics” which is all anybody doing another job can do. So much of coding is error handling. Writing code for when everything goes right, your files are there and not locked, the user has permissions, the user does what they’re supposed to when they’re supposed to, is easy. The other 80% is when things go wrong. Smoothly handling all that needs people.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.