Children will learn by downloading information directly into their brains within 30 years, predicts the head of Britain’s top private schools organization. Chris Parry, the new chief executive of the Independent Schools Council, tells the Times Educational Supplement: “It’s a very short route from wireless technology to actually getting the electrical connections in your brain to absorb that knowledge,” says Parry. “Within 30 years, sitting down and learning something will be a thing of the past.”
Cool. You first.
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There was an episode of The Outer Limits about this topic… “Stream of Consciousness.” The synopsis:
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Due to a brain injury, Ryan Unger cannot enjoy the benefits of a neural implant that allows other people to tap into The Stream — a direct connection into all human knowledge. He tries, unsuccessfully, to keep up with everyone else by using a long-forgotten skill: reading books.
Unfortunately for the human race, the Stream has been erroneously programmed to crave information instead of knowledge. Soon, it begins to turn the human race into its slaves to attempt to locate and process every single bit of information, a process that will lead to the human race’s extinction as people stop doing everything to obtain the desired information. Ryan’s injury keeps him from falling under the sway of the Stream, leaving him the only person who can stop it. The Stream will not allow itself to be shut down, however, and it commands the humans under its contol to defend itself from Ryan. In the end, Ryan succeeds in shutting down the Stream and saving mankind. Cut off from the mental crutch humanity has used for so long, Ryan finds himself needing to teach mankind the old ways of acquiring information again — from books.
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You first indeed…
How much would he be willing to bet on that? Many schools in this country don’t have reliable internet yet. Also going to go out on a limb and say this guy isn’t a biologist or neurologist, or any kind of -ologist. Thanks for this bit of Monday morning comedy.