Do we really need to distinguish between alligators and crocodiles?
Who really cares?
We’re literally paying people to find differences between two different animals. Is there any real need for us to have this information?
We need to trim the fat. Knowing the most intricate differences between alligators and crocodiles is FAT.
Question: how will this knowledge advance us as a species?
Answer: it won’t.
Newsflash—the next major step in human evolution will be merging with artificial intelligence. Knowing that alligators have longer mouths than crocodiles (or is it the other way around?) will not help us achieve our goal in any conceivable way.
Why do kids need to memorize the order of the colors in a rainbow in class? Makes no sense.
Memorize the things that actually matter, like the order of the planets (kudos to all the 2nd grade science teachers out there).
We should be teaching kids to code as soon as they can read and perform basic mathematical functions. Instead, 5th grade and onward is just additional FAT that no kid “needs” to remember.
Do we really need to know what people ate in the ancient Chinese dynasties? Do you REALLY think there’s a chance that New York City could turn into an ancient Chinese dynasty, and that we’ll all need to try to remember bits of info from our 5th grade history classes in order to survive?
I think it’s certainly possible, but highly unlikely.
The possibility that artificial intelligence could try to take over the world is much more of an immediate threat.
Let’s get our 3rd and 4th graders to work on defeating artificial intelligence and saving the world.
If you were to put enough 3rd and 4th graders into a giant room, lock it, feed them only Ritz crackers and Ssips Fruit Punch, and not let them out until they figure out how to safely transport human beings to and from Mars, I bet they’d figure something out—FAST.
You see—they have the brains, but we don’t activate them. Instead, we teach them crap.
Stop teaching your kids crap.
Instead, teach your kids how to save our failing planet from total annihilation by the machines and crocogators.
Until next time,
Michael J. Erickson, CEO & Co-Founder
