The two biggest issues he’ll face is the newly renewed conflicts with the outer system and the economy. Both are very tricky to deal with and he’ll need to surround himself with a top notch staff to get the job done.

I do hope he decides to spend more on education of course, it is my chosen profession and the topic I most care about. More and more money is going towards education clinics and less towards traditional learning. We have got to turn these kids back to traditional learning. They are going to live a very very long time, they can choose to spend eight lousy years in a university.

As for the economy, that’s even more of a complicated topic. Sure energy is free but that’s it. Food, services, etc etc still cost a pretty penny. And in the ever complex economies of the system things just get very complicated. Every month it seems a new group is petitioning for sentient status and another new colony is trying to declare independence. It’s getting a bit crazy out there.

On a historical note, Alfons won 300 years after Barack Obama won the election as the first black president of the United States of America, back when there was only one. Lets hope Alfons does even a fraction as well as Barack did all those years ago.

We all know that with the advancement of technologies, people are able to learn anything in a matter of minutes. Want to be an electrical engineer? No problem, pay a high fee, go to a education clinic, and you’ll know it as if you went to school. Or so they say.

I once decided to have this technique done. I thought to myself, when the technology first came out, that I should give this a chance. I am by no means an anti-technological zealot, i hate those guys, and am always very open to the latest advances. So I went down a clinic, plugged myself in and requested the historical topic of the 23rd century Martian politics. It was a historical topic that I never really studied. As such, it would make an excellent experiment point. I could take what I learn from the brain dump and compare it to my traditional education and see which one is a better education.

Now, of course this really wasn’t a scientific experiment. It’s all based on my level of objectivity when comparing the two educations. But, it’s about as close as I could get without a grant. It would have to do. The procedure itself is, as i’m sure you all know, very quick and simple. Put on a neuro-hat, sit back, relax and an hour later you’re done. How it works, beats the hell out of me. But, it does. And the results?

Lousy. Did I now know all about martian politics? Yes. Did I learn anything about martian politics? I would have to say no. What does that mean right? It means this. I once had a student who was very smart. I suspect he was augmented but you can’t opening say such things. He knew everything in my class. What I mean is, after the semester as done, he knew all the facts, knew all the dates, knew all the talking points. If someone asked him for a fact, he had it. But, he didn’t know a thing. If asked, what did all those facts mean, he was clueless. What does it matter if he knew the date of the bombing of New New York, he couldn’t answer the question of why it was bombed. His facts were factual. But there was no meaning behind it.

Human history is filled with facts. It is also filled with nuances. Subtleties that can not really be quantified. It is not a fact that a leader felt a certain way. This is a subjective point and one open for debate. It is a fact that a leader acted in a certain way.

So, when I say I knew the facts I did. But, I didn’t really know why or how those facts knit together. After my brain dump at the clinic, I knew the dates of elections, I knew about the riots, I knew about the failed terraforming bills. What I didn’t know was what led up to those elections, riots, and failed bills. The dump was only factual there were no nuances.

Lets face it, Sentients of all kinds are simply more complicated than a list of facts. We are a mix of emotions, imperfections, you name it. It takes an understanding of those imperfections to get a full and broad view of the topic.

Now, the brain dumping is fine for factual content. Want to know something, it can provide it. Want to learn something, it can not. I did, however, take what I was given and attend several lectures and classes on martian history. It was good to have those facts and then discuss them, debate them, among fellow students.

Brain dumping simply isn’t a substitute for traditional learning. All of those degrees being given out by education clinics, I feel, are not worth the paper they are printed on.  Traditional, four year degrees are still the way to go. And I think we are seeing some backlash in several industries and a return to the notion that traditional degrees are more valuable. It’s the life experience’s, the debates, the interaction with other students that is the real learning experience, not the facts. Even before brain dumping, you could just memorize facts, regurgitate them on a test and get a degree. It’s just now that technology has been created to speed up the memorizing factor. Take my advice, don’t do it. Spend the four years, don’t cut corners, you’ll be better for it. And as my list of papers to grade can attest, lots of young kids are taking this route. I even have two AI’s and three Cy’s, limited augmentations, in my class. I think it’s great.

Well, back to grading papers and watching low-grav sports. Love Sundays.