[p2p-research] newsweek on The Creativity Crisis

[Michel Bauwens]

Ryan, your first statement is about the total contrary of what I would
advocate ... Most analyst and scientist would totally disagree with your
view on knowledge as such, and claim that it is especially disinterested
basic science, that has created the most fundamental breakthroughs, not
shortermist pursuit of profitable spinoffs and the repression of curiosity
in academia for the sake of profit. It is really artificiall to put
theory/action as opposites, they go hand in hand, theory and world vision
nearly always is what is necessary to inspire real world action

it was precisely public funding of education which guaranteed broader
education for all, and having worked for a private university last year, I
have now seen close by how the profit motive distorts education at all
levels .. the only acceptable way for me is to have educational institutions
run by nonprofit foundations with a public interest, with public funding,
but not necessarily as state institutions, since they are most often
centralized and bureaucratized .. ... And subsuming knowledge to private
interests is for me the absolute nightmare ... You are advocating precisely
the kind  of measures that have led to the present educational measure ...
Please don't misunderstand, I'm not against 'private' initiative and free
schools, just against schools where education is subsumed to private profit
models ... Without giving you names, but this is a real story, if you are a
poor girl on a scholarship, and violated by the son of a rich lawer, you can
pretty much forget due process ...

I symphatize with 2 if applied to transhumanist dreamers <g>, but otherwise
would point out that there are just as many people inspired by their
spirituality to advance their life (see the protestant work ethic) as the
other way around, and that a dole is what the excluded most often need just
to become active and productive in their society ..

On Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 9:36 PM, Ryan Lanham <rlanham1963 at gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
> On Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 9:20 AM, Samuel Rose <samuel.rose at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>>  On Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 2:44 AM, Michael Gurstein <gurstein at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> This could be right. I recall I believe it was Michel that pointed out
>> on this list a few months back that when the "cold war" ended in the
>> US, government funding for culture also dried up. The government
>> funded culture (public access television, arts, theatre, etc in
>> communities) as part of the "cold war"
>>
>>
>> quote:
>>
>>
>> examples:
>>
>> http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/10/17/051017crat_atlarge
>>
>> (looking for other that are more objective)
>>
>>
>>
> My own view of why creativity is falling is threefold:
>
> 1. There is a glut of funding for schools and research such that real value
> is mocked and avoided.  Somehow the idea of "knowledge" as an end became
> morally acceptable.  Such academics strike me as people nearly as immoral as
> some of the worst criminals.  They choose to waste their lives studying the
> valueless.  Consequently, University funding needs to fall by 75% from
> states.  We need huge private sector investment to get actual productivity
> from schools at all levels.  Nearly all state schools at all levels should
> be privatized.  Fortunately, the UK and several US states are moving rapidly
> in this direction.
>
> 2. People remain mired in metaphysical and religious dreams that dissuade
> them from improving life on this planet.  Too often this allows poor people
> to accept their lot and seek a dole rather than an active means of solving
> their issues.
>
> 3. And most importantly, we don't have the maker centres and technical play
> centres available to societies to build and explore garage-level innovation.
>  Instead, people sit glued to mass consumption media and allow themselves to
> be passively entertained as opposed to actively solving problems.  This is
> even worse amongst the theorizing/observing set who really produce almost
> nothing while carrying in many cases a decent mind that could actually solve
> some real world issues.
>
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>


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