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tom rss

what about me?

tom bonked 19 Oct 2024 02:34 +0000
original: Gargron@mastodon.social

It's always a pleasure to see a popular Threads account with fediverse-sharing enabled. Despite such a vast difference in the platforms, we can achieve a human connection. But fediverse integration in Threads is still in a sorry state over a year since launch. They need to be able to follow us back. They need to see when we mention them. Those are such basic things.

tom honked 18 Oct 2024 12:21 +0000

Just reminded myself of my own naiveness: 10+ years ago when Coursera and others came out, I thought the traditional UG-level university education was inevitably going to be replaced by it (with the exception for fields where hands-on labs etc. are a must).

Why would people choose to go to their random local university when they can study courses online taught by world experts for a lower cost? Nowadays, they can also get an infinitely patient personal tutor in the AI form for a lower cost. The traditional UG education doesn’t seem rational or efficient.

Well, the world isn’t rational or efficient: 1) people still attend universities for the in-person social aspect (and the pandemic years didn’t seem leave a long-term impact on this preference), 2) the legacy institutions have a gigantic momentum: governments and corporations still put "degree in X" in job requirements, research institutions won’t likely admit people without traditional credentials (despite having the same or better experience and knowledge), immigration departments take traditional UG degrees as a requirement or give bonus points for it in visa applications, and so on.

Will this situation change in my lifetime?