Noam Chomsky On The Purpose Of Education

By on June 15, 2012 in News 31

Maria Popova of Brain Pickings highly recommends this Chomsky lecture video, saying:

In this talk based on his presentation at the Learning Without Frontiers conference in January, philosopher, linguist, and cognitive scientist Noam Chomsky — easily one of our time’s sharpest thinkers — discusses the purpose of education.

Despite the slow pace and the cheesy AfterEffects animated typography, the video is a treasure trove of insight on everything from the role of technology to the pitfalls of policy.

, , ,

  • Hazy Daisy

    “Technology is neutral.” Can see why John Zerzan hates this guy.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Daniel-Savio/100001826954767 Daniel Savio

      Oh, well, Zerzan’s basically a Luddite.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/James-Phillip-Schmitt/1590026226 James Phillip Schmitt

        Zerzan probably uses knives and forks.hypocrite.

  • charlieprimero

    Chomsky expects us to believe the conspiracy theory that “Global Internationalists” use government education to indoctrinate students into obedient conformity to some mental Control Grid.

    Expect Noam to start showing up on the Alex Jones show more often.

    Bring the ridicule Disinfomaters!

    • Andrew

      The only reason it’s not a conspiracy is because it was done out in the open and documented.

      http://www.wesjones.com/gatto1.htm

      • David Howe

         I have to disagree on semantics.  A conspiracy need not be completely concealed.  This is not a revelation to many of us.

    • David Howe

       a conspiracy requires only two people.  Education is only one piece of the puzzle; it discourages rational thinking and critical thinking.  It celebrates feelings and subjectivity.  Advantage: plutocracy.  We are distracted by our infighting while the wealthy rob the treasury.  This is obvious.

      • Andrew

        The fact that we value the tokens in the treasury more than our personal (psychological/spiritual) growth is another piece of the puzzle.

        • David Howe

           It’s pretty much a done deal.  at no time in history has the “market” been the highest value of a society.  It’s all over.

    • Jin The Ninja

      When Chomsky last appeared on Alex Jones; Jones implied Chomsky was a CIA plant, and MIT was a gov’t funded socialist psyops bastion. No ridicule for Chomsky, just disdain for Jones.

      • charlieprimero

        Why disdain for Jones?

        • David Howe

           Well, he’s mostly speculation and irrationality.  He’s entertaining, I’ll give you that, but he makes shit up.  Chomsky doesn’t do that.  Basically, Jones is against everyone who is not Alex Jones or whose existence questions Jones’ veracity.

          • charlieprimero

             What did Jones “make up”?

          • David Howe

             Do your own research.  I’m not here to provide a remedial education.

          • charlieprimero

            Hahahha!   You should change your username to D.J. Onus Probandi.

          • JaceD
          • Monkey See Monkey Do

            I cant believe there is a wikipedia dedicated to trolling, some people have put so much ‘effort’ into it, its pretty sad really. Whatever you do..do not click on the link that says ‘click here if this page offends you’ – Although I must admit, it was the funniest part of the site.

          • JaceD

            It’s pretty hilarious. I can’t stand Alex Jones so this page made me laugh. A few too many “fags” and “faggots” in the text for my liking but a great Jones fan trolling tool. The best is the video where he starts crying about the children, pure gold.

            Where abouts is the link? I can’t find it and I Love a good laugh.

          • Monkey See Monkey Do

            Oh the Alex Jones page was a classic. The ‘are you offended’ link should be at the top of the page, I think I found it after typing in christianity. Only funny if you have a sick sense of humour, you’ve been warned, click at own risk ;)

          • JaceD

            Brooooo that shit was fucking brutal… Didn’t stop me from going through it all with morbid fascination haha I loved the bit at the end about being eligible to live and work in the USA haha

          • paul

            Jones is into censorship. I was banned from posting to his Youtube Channel for posting, “Ron Paul is a fake, he believes the official story of 911″.

          • charlieprimero

            Same here.  I was banned from Alex Jones’ website forum for criticizing his use of Fear.  I was polite.  I did not curse.  I merely stated that, while profitable, the Fear-based message is counterproductive. 

            His web bots must have noticed me criticizing him on several forums for the banning because days later he posted this short video called “Love vs. Fear” emphasizing how he is all about “Love” and not trying to scare people.

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3tuewEUZ98

          • Calypso_1

            The thought of Alex Jones’ love ‘echoing through eternity –through the universe’ makes me want to autoclave myself.

        • Monkey See Monkey Do

          Alex Jones is an uneductated entertainer, he uses horrible sources, makes shit up, he’s homophobic, pro-capitalist, he dosen’t know how to debate, he’s paranoid and delusional, he’s website is for-profit. He’s there to placate the uneducated masses who have no framework or understanding of their own anger and rage. Is that enough reasons for ya?

          • charlieprimero

             Ha!  Those are some pretty good reasons to disdain Jones.

  • jon201011

    just as Thomas explained I cannot believe that any body
    can make $7051 in one month on the internet. did you read this page MorePay3

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=612431484 Brian Flowers

    How is the Internet not as significant of an improvement as Telegraphs? This is the first time in human history that we can actually communicate data faster than we can travel!

    Sure, horses and ships to telegraphs was a huge improvement — from days to minutes to send a brief message. But those cross-continent telegraph cables were absurdly slow — Around .01 words per minute. Now we’re at ~3,913 285,632 wpm on undersea cables. Now, instead of very brief, sms-sized messages taking days to get out, we can instead send live video of events as they happen anywhere in the globe.

    Also, “Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes” — assuming around a month to cross the atlantic (By SAIL, not steam), an early telegraph would
    only have been faster than actually sending a ship if your message was less than ~500 words. Now, you could beat that same ship as long as your message is less than 77 Libraries of Congress. We’re moving from measuring that difference in words (~5 bytes) to LoCs (~10,000,000,000,000 bytes). Even for a jet, a single internet fiber link will send nearly one full LoC in the time it takes for that flight to cross. We no longer have the ability to ship data in physical form (printouts, not discs) faster than we can transmit it. That seems like it’s kind of a big deal.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/KXEISFQYTBLN3NXIM4GEZOQ3GA Tony

    my co-worker’s mom makes $89 every hour on the internet. She has been out of a job for 8 months but last month her income was $19815 just working on the internet for a few hours. Here’s the site to read more MorePay3

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/RXACDF7IUZKWVA5NAVZK5OW7SA Nona

    what Christopher replied I’m stunned that some people
    can profit $5039 in a few weeks on the internet. did you read this link MorePay3

  • paul

     Chomsky is a douche-bag. He believes the official story of 911. 

    • Jin The Ninja

       limited, myopic, singular, amero-centric.