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Originally posted by Magnetonium Topic related, I recommend watching a great movie called Idiocracy

I want to watch that again!!

Personally, I thought that this was the best scene:



with these not being too far behind:



BTW - I think I spotted pkc in that crowd
(and it definitely wasn't the one smart guy)

Idiocracy is no documentary, far from it, but it does portray in a funny way a possible future with the way the current way of life is going ... Its just a way to remind us of how much stupidity and ignorance there is today ... blended with satire, even subliminal political messages, its a good package overall, despite what some people may think. Beats watching Angelina Jolie's weekly dose of bullshit.

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Whenever you go and buy something, you are affecting someone somewhere, be it environment, a person, or a community - you're making a statement with what you buy. So make it a smart choice ... Its a big picture

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Originally posted by Magnetonium Idiocracy is no documentary, far from it, but it does portray in a funny way a possible future with the way the current way of life is going ... Its just a way to remind us of how much stupidity and ignorance there is today ... blended with satire, even subliminal political messages, its a good package overall, despite what some people may think. Beats watching Angelina Jolie's weekly dose of bullshit.

I'm building a Time Masheen as I speak.

It had actually been a little while since I caught a good dose of fiction but I do have to say that it was quite entertaining.

Having said that, though, I think that I'll continue to stick to the universal truths which have been so cleverly veiled amidst the allegory and myth of such classics as Virgil's Aeneid, Goethe's Faust, Ovid's Metamorphoses, Plutarch's De Iside et Osiride, Swedenborg's Arcana Coelestia, and Godfrey Higgins' Anacalypsis.

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Originally posted by adi_hanson its not just happening in america , over here it is too. you can draw a line and two dots and still walk away with a phD nowadays

Formal education is over rated, although there are certain skills and information that are harder to have the discipline to learn outside an institutional setting... like getting a good grasp of discrete mathematics and formal logic.

___________________
"The Greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." -Stephen Hawking
"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me— and there was no one left to speak out for me." -Martin Niemöller

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Originally posted by shaolin_Z Formal education is over rated, although there are certain skills and information that are harder to have the discipline to learn outside an institutional setting... like getting a good grasp of discrete mathematics and formal logic.

no, formal education acts as a balancing force when doing research. it provides a more rounded experience and challenges you with different points of view. that's why trancer only has 1 opinion, and everything relates back to the grand conspiracy. he's self-taught and by fuck it shows

seriously, no historian with any semblance of intellectual integrity would post things like this

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"For more than a century, ideological extremists at either end of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized incidents to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate influence they claim we wield over American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as "internationalists" and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure - one world, if you will. If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it." - David Rockefeller, Memoirs, pp 405

and argue that it supported a thesis of world government controlled by the Rockefellers. if trancer had gone to school and actually learned how to do research, then perhaps he wouldn't be so paranoid with his nonsensical ideas.

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Last edited by pkcRAISTLIN on Oct-04-2008 at 01:30

One of the most brilliant people I've ever met, one of my Professors that teaches the programming theory class I took ages ago (which has a prereq of Formal Logic & Discrete Mathematics), who also has done incredible thesis' and is actually a publisher of one of the more popular string matching algorithms (more like one of the few, and I think google used it too) and I think a number theory problem / proof / theory, actually made a sarcastic reference to building 7 in one of the classes... which isn't a bad indicator of what his views on certain subjects are . Plus, there are many academics who have supported and / or called for an independent investigation. You'll find plenty of dissent in the academia as well on a multitude of issues .

___________________
"The Greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." -Stephen Hawking
"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me— and there was no one left to speak out for me." -Martin Niemöller

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Originally posted by shaolin_Z One of the most brilliant people I've ever met, one of my Professors that teaches the programming theory class I took ages ago (which has a prereq of Formal Logic & Discrete Mathematics), who also has done incredible thesis' and is actually a publisher of one of the more popular string matching algorithms (more like one of the few, and I think google used it too) and I think a number theory problem / proof / theory, actually made a sarcastic reference to building 7 in one of the classes... which isn't a bad indicator of what his views on certain subjects are .

which is why he was teaching mathematics and not civil engineering but youre right, a formal education is no panacea for stupidity. but i'll bet my left nut that he knows an awful lot more about formal logic and programming theory than someone that just read a few texts on the web

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Originally posted by shaolin_Z Plus, there are many academics who have supported and / or called for an independent investigation. You'll find plenty of dissent in the academia as well on a multitude of issues .

yes, but virtually all of these academics that do so are well outside their area(s) of expertise. the lack of a peer-reviewed engineering paper supporting their theories is all that matters. and the academics that have attempted to muddy the waters with junk science are liars and frauds so if youre saying that this is how trancer-x would turn out with or without formal education, i think you might be right.

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Originally posted by shaolin_Z Formal education is over rated, although there are certain skills and information that are harder to have the discipline to learn outside an institutional setting... like getting a good grasp of discrete mathematics and formal logic.

Schooling (academia) really only gives you the tools to become another cog in the wheel, anyway. It doesn't empower anyone to rise above the crowd, it simply teaches you how to integrate yourself into the machine.

People are continually discouraged from seeking the truth and ridiculed for deviating from the status quo while intellectual pursuits have devolved into mindless distractions that usually only appeal to our base human (or animalistic) instincts. It's pretty sad.

For many who suffer from exceptional or profound giftedness, formal education often feels intellectually and creatively stifling rather than encouraging.

Some of the greatest minds that our world has ever know have been autodidacts, anyhow. So I don't see why one should be dissuaded from following their own path especially if they've long since grown tired of the rigorous monotony that's axiomatic to being bound in a typically stagnant class setting.

Did you know that Manly P. Hall only had an eight grade education? I thought that was pretty wild considering how amazingly brilliant that man was. I just thought that I'd mention it since it seemed relevant to the topic at hand.

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Originally posted by Trancer-X Schooling (academia) really only gives you the tools to become another cog in the wheel, anyway. It doesn't empower anyone to rise above the crowd, it simply teaches you how to integrate yourself into the machine. People are continually discouraged from seeking the truth and ridiculed for deviating from the status quo while intellectual pursuits have devolved into mindless distractions that usually only appeal to our base human (or animalistic) instincts. It's pretty sad. For many who suffer from exceptional or profound giftedness, formal education often feels intellectually and creatively stifling rather than encouraging. Some of the greatest minds that our world has ever know have been autodidacts, anyhow. So I don't see why one should be dissuaded from following their own path especially if they've long since grown tired of the rigorous monotony that's axiomatic to being bound in a typically stagnant class setting.

Yeah, kinda hard to disagree there. All formal education really means is a degree and there's a bunch of idiots out there with degrees who suck at their careers and professions. So at the end of the day, what it boils down to is a means for getting a document you need to get a well paying job or pursue a career path; just a cog in a machine. Plus, being educated implies you're more likely to be indoctrinated by the system... and formal education or not, the power of denial and capacity for irrational thought, is not something you'll find any lack of, especially on a collective level, in human history. The institutions, weather secular, religious, or "mystical" (in ancient times), have always been used to keep the masses in check and in line.

quote:

Originally posted by Trancer-X Did you know that Manly P. Hall only had an eight grade education? I thought that was pretty wild considering how amazingly brilliant that man was. I just thought that I'd mention it since it seemed relevant to the topic at hand.

I haven't read that much of Hall's work but I know he's recognized in esoteric circles as a genius by many.

___________________
"The Greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." -Stephen Hawking
"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me— and there was no one left to speak out for me." -Martin Niemöller

I think that the muddying of the waters comes from the people who seek to constantly engross our society with a constant barrage of mindless entertainment and Hollywood-style fictions. It's like mental chewing gum which provides little to no intellectual sustanance.

To get to the heart of the truth, one must truly endeavor to pierce the web of deception that's been spun around us rather than ignorantly masquerading it's individual strands as some form of intellectual integrity, as the trolls on this board always seem to do.

Sometimes the hardest part can be unlearning the nonsense you learned in school and from other institutions.

___________________
"The Greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." -Stephen Hawking
"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me— and there was no one left to speak out for me." -Martin Niemöller