Feb
25
Analog Computers
February 25, 2018 | Leave a Comment
Today was a real history day. During the Cold War the U.S adopted a policy of containment. The goal of the policy was to “contain” communism and Soviet influence. The U.S fights proxy wars aimed at stopping communism from spreading. An interesting notion is that of mutually assured destruction keeps peace in the world(MAD). I understand why some believed that standing armies are a menace to freedom and democracy. The United States as such a young nation felt it was their duty to spread these ideas and not let socialist thinking corrupt fledgling post colonialist states. And after seeing what a toll isolationism had taken on not engaging in foreign affairs, it begs to reason that we would not have gotten involved in the Vietnam War and Korean War. Had we not suffered the effects of isolationism thinking, then we would not have suffered such grave losses in Vietnam or Korea. The act of containment then was a reactive response because we did not proactively engage with foreign leaders before it escalated. I believe that Meigs and the investment in the military industrial complex connects to even what we see in the military today. Being a soldier doesn’t just encompass only being a soldier, but also being smart in sense of bombs, detonations, and other tactical elements.
Vannevar Bush says the human mind does not work the way libraries work, it works by making spontaneous connections between things which don’t seem similar. We move from one thing to another putting together a chain of meaning. We need machines that reflect the way we fundamentally think. Carr wants us to learn the discipline of the book and silent working. I agree with both Carr and Vannevar Bush. It might be hard to believe but we need the little bit of each world. I believe that the government continues to meddle in the way states provided education based on the views of Carr. Common Core Standards and Race to the top is returning the principles of what Carr is stating in his ideas, in that their needs to be discipline in the book work and silent thinking to create innovative ideas from suggested problems. But at the same time, you have countries like Finland and Iceland which follow an organization educational structure similar to Vannevar’s idea of the internet and yet students are able to flourish and maintain high standards. As a whole, the system we live in now needs to tailor learning and thinking not only through distraction but also through a series of spontaneous connections.
Speak your mind