Curiousity Killed the Kat~!

Did You Know? Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod, Jeff Brenman. Music by Fatboy Slim "Right Here, Right Now."

Casey sent me this video today and I loved it. We truly live in the information age. It makes you ask the question, can you afford not to keep learning? Can you afford not to be curious? I was totally sent into distraction land by this video. When you watch the video, they say that the amount of technical information is doubling every 2 years, which means by the third year of college for students going for technical degrees that information is outdated. Does that mean you can just jump in now and start learning and you are not really that far behind? Or is there so much information that is assumed that you know that you will never catch up because how will you know what you don't know.

I love the Internet and the ability to click on almost anything and get information about that item or piece of information, or at least you can hunt until you find out. Have you ever tried to retrace your steps when you find something new? Yikes, I never realized how many websites I will click through to find something out.

This video talks about information, computers, demographics, education, jobs, new technology, dating, social networks, language, fiber optics, and how we live in exponential times. Think about what that very sentence assumes you know~! I could totally geek out on this stuff.

Of course, information is not knowledge and being knowledgeable does not make you wise. Sometimes the wisest people I know are the ones with the least amount of "information" or education. Think of a beloved grandparent or a favorite aunt or uncle. So, the video asks the question, what does it all mean?

You know, after watching the video, I actually feel more optimistic for our kids. They have a chance to work in a career that perhaps they create or will work in the future at jobs that do not even exist yet. Nanotechnology anyone? Genetics? We pushed out children into college so they could get ahead and it may be that that will not be the way anymore. If these fields change exponentially, then as a company you may not be able to afford to have students in school for 4 years only to have them graduate with fairly outdated information. Self-directed learning or didactic learning will be the wave of the future if you want to learn something outside of a career field. Think about it, how many times have you picked up a book that you HAD to read in college and hated, but now you are willing to learn about it and see what all the fuss was about? What skills do you bring to that now that you did not have then?

The explosion of people attending college by the way was pushed upwards when employers could no longer give aptitude tests or test your skills before being hired. But they could objectively say that you need a college diploma to get a job. That makes a college degree nothing more than box you check off on an employment application. It is starting to have the same meaning as a high school diploma. "Well, we know you got through school, so you are not a total doofus."

So this curious Kat is now excited about the idea of learning something new~! Who knows where it will lead? I can do it on my own terms for the most part. Maybe curiosity will be a job requirement in the future.