Emore

Really liked it! However, it was too easy, even on level 19 (where I stopped playing). New typefaces should perhaps be released every level, and only give sans/sans or serif/serif alternative answers to each question.

I love this kind of TED talks.

One of Alain's main arguments was that the "kinder, gentler" philosophy of success should partly be based on the negative implications of meritocracy, i.e. "if you are at the bottom, you deserve to be there and thus you're a looser". But to meritocracy's defense -- isn't it more fair to say that "if you are at the bottom, you can with an effort pull yourself out of there"? And thus "merit" a better position in the social hierarchy?

For me, once anyone at the bottom make the slightest effort to rise, they are instantly rising in social hierarchy. Thus, it's all up to themselves, and it's all based on a choice. Make a decision, and merit follows.

I'm not sure what I want to say with this argument. But somehow, the criticism forwards meritocracy seemed a little shallow in the talk.

Half right is half wrong. I didn't think of looking at the subject as you presented it, thank you!

Very interesting article. I myself have a fairly strong ambition to become rich. Not for the money in itself but for the -- as Dennis mentions -- the making of the money.

"Problem" is that I'm Swedish and thus live in Sweden. Becoming rich here is almost impossible, just as it is impossible to be poor.

So, what are the geographic constraints for becoming rich? I guess it boils down to the US?

Personally I'm getting tired of all this college bashing. Nowhere else can the most people build up the biggest contacts' network, greatest knowledge and the best personal development for the shortest amount of time. Sure thing, there's always the exceptions proving the rule. This is probably the most evident within comsci.

As a reply to the article, I'd say the best way to transform "waste" into "worth" is simply to get rid of the huge tuitions with maintained quality. Though, I realize this is probably next to impossible for the US. However, it works fine in other countries.

With "Asian-American" I meant international students temporarily studying abroad, NOT Americans of Asian descent. I see no racism when referring to the first group, since the Chinese education system (I'm only familiar with the Chinese and Thai education system) is too a much larger extent composed around pure memorization of either language or math.

I'm very sorry if what I posted came out as racial slur. It was not my intention, since I certainly do not identify myself even remotely with that kind of arguments.

Interestingly, my impression is that this is exactly the strategy that Asian-Americans _don't_ use.

While I completely agree on your argument, I don't see many people driven by the beauty fo the craft itself. My guess is that competition and shortcuts are simply much more effective in quickly reaching success.

The sad fact might be that it is perfectly possible to master a field or craft without a passion for the subject. Simply because passion is not competitively passable.

For me it's 1. Pascal, 2. Fortran, 3. Scheme. Guess the order is somehow scrambled, which would explain that Yahoo turns out number 1 for "search engines" :)

A search for 'bing' does not return Bing itself, at least not in the first 4 pages. Interesting.

According to Wired's Chris Anderson it's all but dead. His coming book is about this very subject, called "FREE". Until the release, take a look at this article (and video clip) by Anderson himself: http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/16-03/ff_free, or at his own blog (which lately have been featuring several articles about "free"): http://www.longtail.com/the_long_tail/2007/05/my_next_book_f...

Ah, thank you for the explanation. I digged around a little, and the base acceptance rate of all university applications was 54% för 2008. This is an aggregated number. For Sweden's most prestigeous med school (Karolinska Institutet) the number is 3,6%, so it does vary a lot depending on the education.

There are very few programmes that don't have any requirements. However, if one doesn't have any good high school grade, the "university entrance"-exam is a way in, or else professional experience. Hence, there are (again, depending on the education) a wider range of ages represented. However, 28% of all applicants are 19 years old. No one in my class is older than 25.

About universal and free, I'd say the system here is close to very good. According to me "universal" apply more to the possibility of actually studying, than the numbers of students accepted. And "free" is simply no tuition fees, which Sweden does not have. This is also the main difference, with the US having (large) fees.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "base acceptance rate". But the universities usually accept around 50% based on high school grades, 25% based on the entrance exam and a further 25% on mixed backgrounds (professional experience, prior university credits etc). The numbers themselves differ between universities.

If you meant something else, I'm happy to explain that too :)

Anyone can attend any university (with the exception of a couple of private ones, mainly within marketing and design). This includes medicine, law and business. The only requirements are high school grades and/or a public "university entrance"-exam.

I'm missing Objective-C. Fairly sure it should be top 20 considering the overall good quality -- and quantity -- of Mac apps.

I'd like to see Cornerstone http://www.zennaware.com/ for Git. :)