Here is a very sobering video clip with information that will make people in the U.S. realize that it is not our world anymore.
Your comments and thoughts, much like John Nash's, "Game Theory" is to be entertained to identify all the scenarios and how they would play out.
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Those are incredible statistics, and show how expomentially fast we are progressing. Will we manage to keep up?
ReplyDeleteHello Jack,
ReplyDeleteA very good question and it is my thought that based on the pure demographic differences of the populations, I don’t see the U.S. keeping up. My example to this point is that if 25% of the highest IQ student population of India is considered, realizing this is more than the TOTAL of U.S. students. Now you factor in the average dropout rate in U.S. schools is currently 30% – 40%, and in Washington DC this dropout rate has hit as high as 60%.
That being said, how many of U.S. students are being taught that “Humans interacted with Dinosaurs” or “Intelligent Design” is being passed off as a Science class, trying to compete in this world market?
China will soon become the number one English speaking country because it is being taught to the majority of Kindergarten children in China. How many U.S. children are being taught Chinese in Kindergarten?
Another point is that the U.S. Department of Labor estimates that a student today will have between 10 to 14 jobs by the time they are 38 years old. If we cannot provide the stability of health care coverage protecting the workers from being denied medical coverage and treatment due to preexisting conditions for themselves and family; we will have a working class that has no health care because they got sick four jobs ago….like many third world counties.
Then on the other hand, I give you the latest examples of Teabagger lemmings shouting at corporate sponsored rallies, “How they don’t want “Job Killing Obama Care!” These people have not idea how close they are to having NO MEDICAL COVERAGE AT ALL!! Of course they will still have the medical insurance premiums taken out of their paychecks…..just don’t try to use it.
“We Are Living In Exponential Times” so as Jack has asked the question, “Is the U.S. keeping up and do we have the capabilities to even keep up?”
The 5X title, referring to the number of words in the English language compared with the time of Shakespeare caught my eye. Of course, Shakespeare found that dearth of words a problem for his expression, so he just invented ones as he needed. Great stuff!
ReplyDeleteWhen I write to my relatives in Germany, I often consult the Google translator and I notice that I cannot get the nuance that I wish in expressing my ideas to them because the German language has about half as many words as does English. I find German rather primitive.
Regarding the video, Engineer, those data bode poorly for many Americans, especially those in rural areas as well as in the inner city. The gap grows exponentially wider between the diligent suburban student and those other groups. And when the rest of the world is thrown into the equation, the situation here in the States grows evermore dire.
The dumbed-down media American feed their pap to our citizens like dope to an addict. Is it no wonder that our test scores rank so low worldwide? Just flip though the cable channels some evening to see what our fellow citizens are running through their heads!
I'll step off of my soapbox now.
Mudrake, your comment about google translator was interesting. Perhaps it not so much the German language as the web tools limitations. I think if you were German trying to express yourself through the Translator into English, you might find the same frustration.
ReplyDeleteHalf the fun of any language is the specific cultural idioms which do not translate or make logical sense. French is truly like that.
Hello Muddy,
ReplyDeleteYour soap box was very welcomed. I agree that the English language is a very dynamic language and this is a good thing.
I used to work with a man who left Communist Mao’s China. He told me that the Chinese language has 20 words for snow alone. Things like “Goose Feather Snow” is just one example.
As far as competing in the world market, I have often told my wife, daughters, and friends; “The gap between those who have and those who have not, is only going to get wider as time goes on.”
I have seen this in person when I was in South America 35 years ago and I recognize my country headed down this same path.