Will our brains fill up?

[Epidemic]

The post about calculators kinda lead me to this.

I am inclined to believe that calculators in school are inherently wrong because you my not learn the basics. But then the treky in me steps in, lets go sci-fi for a minute. Lets run 100 or 200 years into the future. Will simple math even be taught and should it? Will we use computers like we use our fingers and toes to count to figure out time paradoxes and hyperdrive fuel consumption near black holes.

In the future to advance with our puny brains will we leave the simple math to the machines while we try to grasp the higher concepts in the limited school time. In order to become a functioning worker, starfleet captain, or school teacher in the 22, 23rd centuries will we be able to get in all that is required by age 18 - 22. If not will we shed the less important things which can be aided by technology? The year 1640 (I think) was the last year which a human could know all that was known and all which had been written. We have shed the knowledge of how to butcher animals, hunt for non poisonous berries, and navigate through dense forests. In place of these abilities our kids practically know how to drive a car and work with computers before age 3. Will math be replaced with if then logic as the kids progress. Is simple math just a talent which is on the verge of becoming irrelevant?

[Siliconjunkie]

Knowing how to solve the problem is much much much more important than the answer. Even today I see a lack of critical thinking skills.

[M_Six]

If the level of literacy keeps degrading, we won't be able to understand the written word in 50 years anyway, so why worry? There has been more than one thread here that I simply could not understand or even read. Spelling and grammar are basics.

[Vagabond]

if you can not or do not understand simple math you will never be able to " figure out time paradoxes and hyperdrive fuel consumption near black holes"

[Prexaspes]

Funny, I was just in a forest picking non-poisonous berries earlier today.

What I think is an interesting question is the future of written communication. Will all the Internet speak become part of our language? Will anyone even be able to read or write in cursive? Will anybody be able to write without a keyboard? I know I've gotten to the point where I can type a lot faster than I can write...

[Redwolf]

Some concepts (like math) are timeless and will not change much throughtout history. You will still need to know how to carry in addition to figure out what the Science and History will change dramatically though. We probably won't be learning about vaccum tubes and the breakup of AT&T like we do today. In science, who knows what will be consitered wrong with today's science in the future. Literature will change as well, and I wouldn't be suprised if today's books would be as different to them as Shakespeare is to us.

[Epidemic]

So you do not think that knowing the concept that you can add two numbers together is sufficient.

I reference the fire thing again, knowing that you can use fire for thush and such is not as important as knowing how to make it with friction tinder and such. Using a lighter, torch or such is sufficient knowledge to accomplish the task at hand. Is not the same true of math.

Language is our interface so spoken and written language should not be skimped on as it is an essential skill. But the basics of math I am not to sure of. If we came up with a way to pass our knowledge directly brain to brain then language might not be required either.

could we not start right out in algebra and skip K - 6 times tables addition and subtraction and decimals?


As far as handwriting, perhaps that is another thing that will go the way of knowing how to use punch card machines.

[M_Six]

True. My cursive skills are so bad that I can't even sign my name the same way twice. I always have problems with Traveler's Checks for just that reason. But my cursive skills have always been bad. 30 years ago I was typing my homework for high school because my teachers couldn't read my handwriting. Essay tests in college were always an exercise in frustration because I had to keep scratching stuff out and rewriting.

Still, math, spelling, and grammar are still essential skills. Or were you looking for something more basic than that, Ep?

[Epidemic]

I agree math is essential I just am not sure that the knowing of how to multiply 32.576 X 57.90321 is as important given the advent of easy to use crutches such as computers and calculators.

Actually my math skills are horrible yet I am considerd a whiz with math at work. Thank you Bill Gates.

I was destined to be a truck driver or mechanic before Bill gave me Excel.

[Redwolf]

Originally posted by Epidemic

I reference the fire thing again, knowing that you can use fire for thush and such is not as important as knowing how to make it with friction tinder and such. Using a lighter, torch or such is sufficient knowledge to accomplish the task at hand. Is not the same true of math.

Math hasn't really changed much since the invention of calculus. The basic concepts are really still the same. We still learn genometric concepts that the Egyptions were experimenting with about 3000 years ago with not many changes. Algebra is still taught with fundamental changes, if any, since it was invented in the Muslim empire (what section I don't know). We still learn and use Roman Numerals even though Rome fell over 1000 years ago, and Arabic numbers are used as the basis of modern mathematics. Every few hundred years or so there is a major addition to mathematics, like Calculus. But as far as fundamental changes are concerned, like what occours to science and language, there are very, very, very few.