Changes

The first is not mine. [http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eleanor_Roosevelt#Disputed Eleanor Roosevelt] said that first-rate minds discuss ideas; second-rate minds discuss events; third-rate minds discuss people. And our entire school system is about events and people, and not about ideas. And this is particularly true in history, and it’s true in history of science, history of just about anything.

The first is not mine. [http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eleanor_Roosevelt#Disputed Eleanor Roosevelt] said that first-rate minds discuss ideas; second-rate minds discuss events; third-rate minds discuss people. And our entire school system is about events and people, and not about ideas. And this is particularly true in history, and it’s true in history of science, history of just about anything.

And the second observation is that schools are organized almost entirely around the delusional notion of the Right Answer. All the important questions don’t have right answers, or don’t have known right answers. (Applause) All of the important questions of science, all of the important questions of politics and philosophy and religion, everything that actually matters to us, we need to be able to explore our ignorance in comfort, to consider alternative explanations, to ask what would count as evidence, in any domain whatsoever. We want to get to the point that [ Piaget] talked about, in which every child is encouraged to openly create their own theory of what is real (an ontology); their own theory of how you decide what’s true, what you take as provisional, what you reject outright (an epistemology); and most of all, what you do even if you don’t want to (ethics).

And the second observation is that schools are organized almost entirely around the delusional notion of the Right Answer. All the important questions don’t have right answers, or don’t have known right answers. (Applause) All of the important questions of science, all of the important questions of politics and philosophy and religion, everything that actually matters to us, we need to be able to explore our ignorance in comfort, to consider alternative explanations, to ask what would count as evidence, in any domain whatsoever. We want to get to the point that [http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean_Piaget Piaget] talked about, in which every child is encouraged to openly create their own theory of what is real (an ontology); their own theory of how you decide what’s true, what you take as provisional, what you reject outright (an epistemology); and most of all, what you do even if you don’t want to (ethics).

1:13:31

1:13:31

Joel Orr: I think that’s a question that deserves the attention of people here, and I encourage you to seek out Ed over dinner.

Joel Orr: I think that’s a question that deserves the attention of people here, and I encourage you to seek out Ed over dinner.