Children happiness index

UNCEF (聯合國兒童基金會) published a report about children happiness index in April, 2013. Dutch kids are happiest. Kids in Spain and Greece seem optimistic while kids in Germany are pessimistic. US kids are slightly optimistic. Kids in Taiwan probably will not be as happy as those in these 29 countries.  

Basic skills required for racing with machines

在這電腦漸漸取代人類的時代，下一代的教育最需要什麼基本技能？1825年，三個 R(Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic) 的基本技能在英國被提出，到1970年代後期都還適用。現在似乎已不完全正確。現代教育所需的能和電腦競爭的基本技能，我個人偏向於相信 "Second Machine Age" 這本書第十二章 "Learning to Race With Machines: Recommendations for Individuals" 裡面所提到的 "構思能力，綜觀的模式認知，多元的溝通”。這三種技能似乎很抽象但並不完全盡然。書中提到一個例子，西班牙服裝公司 Zara, 想知道同一個店往後一兩個星期顧客會買什麼衣服？電腦模式無法預測極短期的顧客需要。於是每個 Zara 店的經理開始不斷地和顧客"多元化溝通" 她們的需求，"綜觀認知" 顧客當天的穿著，尤其較時髦者，再用"構思”的能力，準確地將綜合觀察的結果每天彙報給總公司。似乎這一套人為系統一直比電腦模式準。那確切的教育方式又如何實施？書中提到 SOLEs (Self-Organizing Learning Environments) 自我組織學習環境。這個抽象的 SOLEs 在書中被具體地描述成(也在多年實際研究觀察出) "學生自己組成 groups, 搜尋多元的資料，團體討論溝通，構思最佳的答案"。似乎這也是翻轉教育的形式。也許翻轉教育在無形中也是人類在抗衡電腦取代人類趨勢的轉變過程中所必要的途徑。

Telepresence is on hand

Teleportation may exist in sci-fiction but telepresence is on hand now. Kids in US can feel the omnipresensce of grandma in Taiwan (maybe too much!!)    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uUb4TrPyxs

stagnant wage increase with declining unemployment rate

U.S. unemployment rate drops to 5.8% from data released today. Wage increase is still hovering around 2% in the last 3 years even with the declining unemployment rate. This stagnant wage increase bucks against the traditional expectation: "Labor shortage during declining unemployment should drive wage higher".  

High income inequality spurs "working hard" mentality

Interesting trend for parenting: "In a country with high income inequality, i.e., higher Gini index, more parents emphasize working hard in raising their offspring."   China has highest income inequality followed by US.  

novelty-seeking ADHD

今天的紐約時報有一篇過動兒(ADHD)的報導。由於現代多變化數位世界的刺激，在較沈悶的教育系統對照下，過動兒數目直線上升(由11年前的7.8%升到3年前的11% 而且全美有 6.1%的小孩在吃減輕ADHD 的藥). 遊牧民族不太可能有過動兒，因為他們不可能有長時間的枯燥環境。也許翻轉教育真能意外地減低過動兒的比率。翻轉教育的看 video 進度可自主控制，上課不再是枯坐在椅子上而是充份地討論和發問，這可以使得過動兒比一般小孩強烈的 novelty-seeking 能充分發揮。長期而言，不是特別嚴重的過動兒，反而能將自己的疾病，轉換成具有 novelty-seeking 的特質。http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/11/02/opinion/sunday/a-natural-fix-for-adhd.html?_r=1

restoration of reproductive genetics

CBS "60 Minutes" tonight has an interesting episode about reproductive genetics which is supposed to breed out any foreseeable diseases for any newborn. This technology is a substantial boon to human beings. But if "a child could have other traits, like eye color, hair color, social intelligence, even whether a child will have a widow's peak?", then, it is really scary that reproductive genetics may drastically alter the subtle balance in our current society.  http://www.cbsnews.com/news/breeding-out-disease-with-reproductive-genetics/