As a bit of an aside, have you ever considered how difficult English is to learn vs. most other languages?

Yes. When I am in America I speak Hinglish with my extended family. At home I am currently learning Tamil. Soon I will try to only speak Tamil in my house so it’s now a case of “Hindi theriyathu poda” and I will have to get the t-shirt for t…[Read more]

jakelafort wrote:
As though a lack of ideological diversity isn’t the sine qua non of indoctrination! As though that lack of ideological diversity isn’t in part a reflection of show me the money.

I think that progressive values have a momentum of their own, especially with the young.  The human race has a doctrine of helping the needy and vuln…[Read more]

Reg,

To celebrate Hamit Coskun winning his appeal for free expression, I will burn an old USB drive that holds 100 copies each of the Quran and Bible to celebrate.

Don’t burn anything to celebrate freedom of expression, especially if you’re concerned about Carbon footprints. Instead. read Al Quran and The Holy Bible out loud on a street corner…[Read more]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
Many U.S. students will very likely start going to Chinese Universities soon.

Might be a good idea for all American schools to start teaching Chinese.

When I was young (I’m 79 now, so a long time ago), the choices were French, German, and Spanish. French was recommended as the language of diplomacy, German for kids…[Read more]

Many U.S. students will very likely start going to Chinese Universities soon.

Simon says someone says it who didn’t say it but lemme display it.

………….

The problem in colleges isn’t indoctrination. It’s a lack of ideological diversity

The right seems to be on a mission to expose universities as centers of leftist indoctrination. Too often we professors waved away the charge. We called these assertions naive at bes…[Read more]

@Simon, – The coordinated flight of birds or the efficiency of an ant colony are examples of true emergence. It is complex order arising from simple, local rules. Each agent behaves independently, yet their interactions create a collective intelligence without any central plan or higher consciousness.

It’s legitimate emergence because the…[Read more]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
The problem in colleges isn’t indoctrination. It’s a lack of ideological diversity.

The right seems to be on a mission to expose universities as centers of leftist indoctrination. Too often we professors waved away the charge. We called these assertions naive at best, Trumpy at worst. Students, we rightly noted, are…

[Read more]

Thanks for the comment Jake. I was also thinking that old age is wasted on the not-so-young, to twist G.B. Shaw’s line for when people mistake religiosity for wisdom. Needing a comfort blanket against existential fear doesn’t make you wise; it just means you’re still afraid.

Real wisdom comes from remembering what it felt like to be young — cur…[Read more]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
It sounds plausible, even scientific, but it doesn’t predict, measure, or model anything.

But surely the behaviour of flocks of birds – organisation – emerges from the behaviour of single birds, following a few simple behavioural rules, and the organised behaviour of ant colonies emerge from ants, which have a l…[Read more]