Yes, but then I don't reply a billion times and clutter up the thread. Also, after I submit a post I usually proofread it and immediately enter into modify post mode to fix errors and expand on things I think are unclear to avoid arguments starting over things I've left unclear.
I apologize if it's an inconvenience, I just usually think of more things to add to my post after I've read it a few times, plus if I edit my posts, when new people come to the thread they won't take up the same line of argument over me being unclear. My OP being a good example.
EDIT: Oops, got ninjad by two posts.
Would people be smarter? Not really. I think they'll just move towards an average level of intelligence, being whatever it is on Wikipedia. Or rather, TV Tropes. Who reads the good stuff on Wikipedia anyway, they just check it for a definition.
Smart people will get a little smarter. But you'll get a huge increase of trolls in the world and the kids who do retarded things and post them on YouTube. And if everyone had Internet access, /b/ would be a hell lot bigger. I know kids my brother's age have a lot more Internet than I did during the dial-up age, but they're certainly no smarter.
Good points.
(sorry about getting sidetracked again)
Nikov:
[spoiler]Also, Nikov, I'm watching that video. I'm about 7:15 in. Black republican says something...
Black Republican?
[spoiler]PERSONAL: U.S. Citizen, born June 30, 1930
EDUCATION:
Ph.D. in Economics, University of Chicago, 1968
A.M. in Economics, Columbia University, 1959
A.B. in Economics, magna cum laude, Harvard College, 1958
EXPERIENCE:
Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, September 1980 - present
Professor of Economics, U.C.L.A., July 1974 - June 1980
Visiting Professor of Economics, Amherst College, September- December 1977
Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, April- August 1977
Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, July 1976 - March 1977
Project Director, The Urban Institute, August 1972 - July 1974
Associate Professor of Economics, U.C.L.A., September 1970 - June 1972
Associate Professor of Economics, Brandeis University, September 1969 - June 1970
Assistant Professor of Economics, Cornell University, September 1965 - June 1969
Economic Analyst, American Telephone & TelegraphCo., June 1964 - August 1965
Lecturer in Economics, Howard University, September 1963 - June 1964
Instructor in Economics, Douglass College, Rutgers University, September 1962 - June 1963
Labor Economist, U.S. Department of Labor, June 1961 - August 1962
PRINCIPAL PUBLICATIONS:
Intellectuals and Society (Basic Books, 2009)
On Classical Economics (Yale University Press, 2006)
Black Rednecks and White Liberals (Encounter Books, 2005)
The Quest for Cosmic Justice (Free Press,1999)
Conquests and Cultures (Basic Books, 1998)
Migrations and Cultures (Basic Books, 1996)
The Vision of the Anointed (Basic Books, 1995)
Race and Culture: A World View ( Basic Books,1994 )
A Conflict of Visions (William Morrow, 1987)
Ethnic America (Basic Books, 1981)
Knowledge and Decisions (Basic Books, 1980)
Say's Law: An Historical Analysis (Princeton University Press, 1972)
He is a regular contributor to GOPUSA, a conservative web and email newsletter run by Endeavor Media Group, LLC.
From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sowell
GOP = Good ol' Party = Republican
First, GOP stand for Grand Old Party, not Good Old. I'd just like to ensure you know that. Second, Alan Colmes was a regular contributor to Fox News. Did that make him conservative? Or was Fox just smart to hire someone with something intelligent to say? I find it annoying you utterly dismiss a man's fifty years of work as 'propaganda' simply because he's a "black Republican".
And back to topic, people would not be smarter. People would have more access to information at home, but I don't see why broadband is required to view Wikipedia, for example. People living in rural areas who don't have broadband internet obviously don't need it, or else they would move. They might want it, but if the Fed started handing out everything people wanted we'd face an impossible precedent to follow.
I, Duuvian, am writing in this here quote bubble. I screwed up formatting this quote pretty bad apparently:
So, he's not an African American member of the Republican Party? He's not espousing extremely conservative political beliefs during that whole interview while manipulating the same facts he claims his political opposition are? Can you prove those links incorrect, by the way? That's a little more important to this little side argument you've brewed up with me instead of whether he is, in fact, a person of African American descent in the Republican party? I don't think I dismissed his life's work, merely that the video amounts to conservative propaganda. Also, I've just always heard it called Good Ol' Party the few times people haven't abbreviated it. That's all I have to say on this argument.
As for this:
And back to topic, people would not be smarter. People would have more access to information at home, but I don't see why broadband is required to view Wikipedia, for example. People living in rural areas who don't have broadband internet obviously don't need it, or else they would move. They might want it, but if the Fed started handing out everything people wanted we'd face an impossible precedent to follow.
How would it be an impossible precedent to follow? Why do you even assume it's a precedent? If that's your reasoning then was the highway system or the mail system this idea's precedent? Were they necessary? What dangerous thing do you foresee for the next thing the government hands out if this were implemented? Did people move because they needed roads and a post office? I'd say yes, in limited cases, while most may not have required them but it sure would have been nice. How would someone operate a web business out of the home without internet? They would obviously have to move to the internet, even if they live in a rural area. As for why broadband, why not go with the best system that is available at the time so you never have to replace it until you have a bunch of unemployed workers and the new technology to upgrade the old with. It doesn't have to be broadband but if you do it, you might as well do it right the first time.[/spoiler]
God damn the formatting in this post killed me, trying to fix it now. I think I fixed it.
As far as Colmes, I don't know much about him. It sounds like he was the token liberal for their network but I'm probably wrong. Can you recommend me some good Colmes footage? I'm about to go to sleep, so I'll have to get back on tomorrow night if I'm not busy.
Good talking to all of you.
Author
Topic: Would people be smarter if internet access were free? (Read 7646 times)