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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: David Buehrer <dbuehrer@******.CARL.ORG>
Subject: Re: Getting an Education
Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 07:48:28 -0700
Ereskanti wrote:
/
/ In a message dated 98-03-24 09:42:31 EST, dbuehrer@******.CARL.ORG writes:
/
/ > It is my job as an old fart to pick on the youngsters from time to
/ > time :)
/ >
/ > Seriously though, I am constantly astounded by the maturity and
/ > intelligence of the younger members of this list. When I was a
/ > teenager I (and my classmates) didn't have the presence of mind that
/ > they have.
/ >
/ You, an OLD FART?!?!?!? Oh brother ... now I've heard everything. BUT, this
/ topic was something we discussed at work today while unloading yet another
/ (annoying) shipment.

Compared to Wyrmy, I'm an old fart :) (14, sheesh ;)

/ Younger People (aka, 'the Kids') are more in touch, or at least have more
/ access to, information than I know I used to. And I was the kind of kid that
/ used to enjoy reading encyclopedias just so he could imagine leaving his town.

Yep. Cable TV started it with channels like Discovery and CNN. And
the internet is giving kids even more access to information. Heck, I
haven't thumbed through an encyclopedia in years.

To bring this back on topic.. In SR people have access to even more
information: hundreds of channels, simsense classrooms, expert
programs, etc. What do you think the knowledge base would be like?

-David
--
"Belief is a truth held in the mind.
Faith is a fire in the heart."
- Joseph F. Newton
--
ShadowRN GridSec
email: dbuehrer@******.carl.org
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm
Message no. 2
From: Adam J <fro@***.AB.CA>
Subject: Re: Getting an Education
Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 08:22:50 -0700
At 07:48 25/03/98 -0700, you wrote:

>To bring this back on topic.. In SR people have access to even more
>information: hundreds of channels, simsense classrooms, expert
>programs, etc. What do you think the knowledge base would be like?

Honestly? Crappy. The people that want to learn would use them. The people
that don't, wouldn't. It may improve education for middle class and up,
but there would still be a giant line between the haves and have-nots.

Initiative is what people need to get educated and build knowledge, not a
vast amount of knowledge to learn from.

-Adam

-
http://www.interware.it/users/adamj \ fro@***.ab.ca \ ICQ# 2350330
ShadowRN Assistant Fearless Leader \ FreeRPG Webring \ TSS Productions
The Shadowrun Supplemental \ RPGA Reviwer \ SR Archive Co-Maintainer
Message no. 3
From: Lehlan Decker <decker@****.FSU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Getting an Education
Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 10:58:47 -0500
On Wed, Mar 25, 1998 at 07:48:28AM -0700, David Buehrer wrote:
> Ereskanti wrote:
> /
>
> Yep. Cable TV started it with channels like Discovery and CNN. And
> the internet is giving kids even more access to information. Heck, I
> haven't thumbed through an encyclopedia in years.
>
> To bring this back on topic.. In SR people have access to even more
> information: hundreds of channels, simsense classrooms, expert
> programs, etc. What do you think the knowledge base would be like?
>
I'm guessing very large. Look at how much the net has changed
things. Of course I'm guessing there will be more government/corp
censorship of things, which may control it somewhat.
Also by then, your looking at very high bandwidth going into
each person's house, full interactive simsense, etc.
(Can you imagine the 10 year old, discovering daddy's XXX simchip
vs the playboy magazine. :))
I'm thinking kids will be very smart when it comes to tech.
But it looks like the knowledge base of what really lies outside
the sprawl may be much less. (Think about the lack of geography
etc that kids seem to know today).
Anyway...didn't mean to ramble so much. I'm in a typing mood
today I guess.
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Lehlan Decker 644-4534 Systems Development
decker@****.fsu.edu http://www.scri.fsu.edu/~decker
--------------------------------------------------------------------
"Uh-Oh Toto, it doesn't look like we're gods anymore."
Message no. 4
From: Rabid Dwarf <jjstoltenber@*******.EDU>
Subject: Re: Getting an Education
Date: Thu, 26 Mar 1998 14:01:21 -0500
On Wed, 25 Mar 1998, David Buehrer wrote:

<big snip>

> To bring this back on topic.. In SR people have access to even more
> information: hundreds of channels, simsense classrooms, expert
> programs, etc. What do you think the knowledge base would be like?

Actually I feel that the knowledge base would be quite low, may even have
high percentage of relatively "illiterate" people.

I agree that there would be more information out there, but would it just
be given away? Currently we have public television and the government
forces some of the channels to show educatinal telievision. But at the
same time much of our "entertainment" on the tube, and 'net, is slowly, or
not so slowly as the case may be, moving to the charge for access side of
the fence.

Why would it be any better in 20XX? With the corps running most of the
broadcasting and controlling most of the usefull matrix sites, would they
not have a policy that the only people who have access to their stuff
would be employees or paying customers? there would be some trid shows
that would be free to the masses, but IMO they would be worthless
entertainment drivel with about as much educational use as a stone.

So the overall knowledge level, IMHO, outside the corps would be rather
low. there would be some balck-market programs but only till the corps cut
them off. The same rules about corp educational programs could probably be
applied to standard education. Would all people get to attend school? How
long would it be free? are there any public schools and are they any good.
With out the corp backing and with the relative ineffectiveness of the
gov't, public schools would almost be reduced to fancy day-care, IMHO.

But the same things could have been said 150 years ago about the education
of the slaves, but it did happen, so it would here. But in 20XX it's not
illegal to learn stuff, just expensive.

Rabid Dwarf
aka Jon Stoltenberg

"all the really cool quotes are taken!!!"
Message no. 5
From: Paul Gettle <pgettle@********.NET>
Subject: Re: Getting an Education
Date: Thu, 26 Mar 1998 21:59:51 -0500
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

I am reminded of one of the episodes of Max Headroom that aired on ABC
before it got canceled. (For those of you unfamiliar with the general
setting of Max Headroom, it's cyberpunk, but instead of Multinational
Corporations being the driving forces running the world, Television
Networks are in control).
The show I'm thinking of involved a group of radicals who were
pirating video feed of the Major Network's Subscriber Educational
Programming Channels, and showing the pirated video to underprivlidged
children.
RobinHood-esque shadowrunners could be hooked into quite a few good
runs if they were involved in a similar scam.

At 02:01 PM 3/26/98 -0500, Rabid Dwarf wrote:
<<Article about Corps only educating those who pay for education
deleted to conserve bandwidth.>>
>But in 20XX it's not illegal to learn stuff, just expensive.

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--
-- Paul Gettle (pgettle@********.net)
PGP Fingerprint, Key ID:11455339 (RSA 1024, created 97/08/08)
625A FFF0 76DC A077 D21C 556B BB58 00AA

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