In conversation with Marc Andreessen

Similarly it would be a good thing if no one murdered anyone else even if people occasionally committed suicide.

He's pointing out that a major historical problem has given way to a lesser, far more tractable problem.

Frankly, I find your comment idiotic.

However, he could back the Warner Brothers equivalent in education who would go onto then back Jim Cameron.

Here is another post comparing the Education & Entertainment business in the Indian context: http://cgviews.wordpress.com/2014/06/01/%E2%80%8Beducation-e...

For instance, there are probably 100s of videos and lectures on General Relativity out there. You can watch them endlessly and you would have some understanding of overall ideas but you would be at complete loss if someone takes simple exercise problems from any textbook and asks you to solve it. In other words, deep understanding doesn't happen simply by watching phenomenal documentaries.

Major component that really matters in any academic programs is homework and exercises. This is what allows students to get deep insights in to subject and make sure they can actually put their learning in to action. It also allows professors to verify that they have actually crossed the line from shallow understanding to deep understanding. This is what you pay for when you go to college. No amount of video lectures by James Cameron is going to replace this.

The example of the world's best teacher is .. James Cameron.

Why? Because he's rich? Throw money at rich people and the world will be better for it?

There is nothing to suggest you'd learn math better with high production values or 3D effects or even talented actors(!). I simply can't take this seriously.

It's a lot more disturbing that the interviewer thinks Twitter isn't diverse because it's more than 50% white. How many industries out there are less than 50% white? Why is that an expectation when more than 50% of the population is white? Why is tech being singled out?

Calling the very real hardship caused by job loss in America the "lump-of-labor" fallacy and calling our welfare state "very advanced" is not very graceful. Some exposure to what that's really like would be highly instructive for Marc. Spoiler: it's demeaning and depressing.

The major missing component of MOOCs is intensive homework problems that often requires you to consult professors in their office hours. And the time professors/TA spend in checking your homework.

The core thing to understand is that real learning doesn't happen when you are listening to lectures but it happens when you are working on homework and doing exercises where you struggle through and occasionally have to go back to professor's offices to get insight.

But the truth is that the price of education is mostly justified as "certification service". When you have degree from Stanford it means someone very reputable is backing up your claim that you have learned thing or two about something. That's mainly what you are paying as "tuition fees". MOOCs are relatively much weaker as certification services and hence chances of them getting trusted is same as chances of trusting degrees from many other "online universities".

I would say the reaction in the real world tends to be "Oh, fuck, those regulations are good for something after all."

>> Even if the assertion (that Zuckerberg did not know about Netscape before meeting Marc) is true, I do not agree that it is a shame. Perhaps just points to how young the tech industry is and how much more opportunity still exists to build great companies.

This is one of those anecdotes people carry around that sounds good in interviews and/or illustrates a point but most likely got transformed over the years. Andreessen is positioning himself as an "elder" of sorts, one that has extensive experience (through multiple booms) and therefore wisdom within the tech world. This benefits him in multiple ways but the perception is the most important.