Re: Why Americans feel no compulsion to learn foreign languages
At 12:50 PM 3/29/96, Dr. Dimitri Vulis wrote:
Likewise, Tim says there's no value in learning about "traditional" crypto. I say there is.
This is taken completely out of context and is beneath contempt in terms of trying to argue a point. *PLONK* Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^756839 - 1 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."
tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May) writes:
At 12:50 PM 3/29/96, Dr. Dimitri Vulis wrote:
Likewise, Tim says there's no value in learning about "traditional" crypto. I say there is.
This is taken completely out of context and is beneath contempt in terms of trying to argue a point.
No, I think both of Tim's statements illustrate the typical Americans disdain for learning for knowledge's sake and the (still amazing to me) ability to express pride in their ignorance. Most Americans lack the motivation to learn a foreign language (or even their native language), or to learn what great naval battles of WW II were won because certain codes were broken, or how to prove that two triangles are congruent, or how to break a substitution cypher, since this knowledge won't bring immediate monetary rewards. It's as if though their challenge is to go through life learning as little as they can get away with (other than obscure sports statistics). --- Dr. Dimitri Vulis Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps
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