01/31/2025
When I was studying economics at Mississippi State University, my professor of Macro Econ was a former. U. S. Marine Corps gunnery sergeant noted that in most transactions, when a good was bought or sold, it left the seller without and the buyer with the product. The aggregate supply remained the same. However, when it comes to education. No matter how much is sold or given away, the supplier still retains the same amount of education no matter how much is transferred. This leaves society with a net increase in the education supply, i.e., knowledge. An excellent argument for education. Our founding fathers recognized this need for knowledge for democracy to function (See John Locke), and hence, we have public schools.
Much is being made of artificial intelligence, and much money is being raised to support its development by some wealthy and ambitious individuals. It is not authentic intelligence, the kind you and I have to varying degrees. It is being oversold, much like missions to Mars to get you to spend money with the same wealthy, ambitious persons. We should thank the Chinese for that “Hold my beer” moment when they created an AI model that was far better and much cheaper. They exposed the scam these persons were trying to perpetrate on the world.
But to my point. Education and knowledge have been free to those who make the effort and seek it. But now, these wealthy and ambitious people would have us believe our intelligence is inadequate. We should invest money in their vision of the future (Artificial Intelligence) instead of investing in education, teachers, and schools that teach critical thinking. In short, make them more prosperous and us more dependent on them, with the promise of eliminating the need for us to think. Hence, they would control what we should think.
Do you see the problem?
