Egregoros

@georgia @sun you need the latter for the former.

@mischievoustomato @sun you can get more than one degree, some degrees can just be because you find the subject interesting

@georgia

I got one degree in what I like and one in what I'm good at.

@sun @mischievoustomato

@georgia @sun i was thinking more about the "wealth" part. Money makes life enjoyable.

@mischievoustomato @georgia my position in 2026 is that you can learn more using the internet than at university unless you specifically are going to university because you need the structure and the dedicated time. which, really, isn't a unique proposition that universities provide either, they just do it conveniently.

@sun @georgia I'd say structure is what Universities provide, but I think I could learn better on my own at my own pace. I'd probably find it more enjoyable if I didnt have to do clear time wasting bullshit (thank god for LLMs)

@mischievoustomato @georgia let's say you want to learn ancient languages, they might have a lot more resources on that too than you can gather on your own, but to but truthful about it, that's because they jealously guard their information monopolies instead of making the information free, which should be what they would do if they actually did care about their mission statements of improving world education.

@sun @georgia @mischievoustomato This was alwaya true in the case of CS, I'd say stuff like proper engineering, uni is probably useful

@meeper @georgia @mischievoustomato yeah you're right, I didn't properly qualify I mean "topic I am interested in" rather than "specialized difficult profession" like engineering or law

@mischievoustomato @sun a minimum amount of money prevents misery but money alone doesnt create happy people, just distracted people. it creates opportunity for enjoyment but fulfilling experiences require more than money.

@georgia the situation is a lot different in China than the USA because in the USA you can't actually afford to go to university for enjoyment because it's too expensive, yet it has a wide variety of adult daycare classes. In China they don't pretend it's anything but an employment entrance exam.

@georgia @sun The problem is that college is so expensive that getting a degree for "enjoyment" is a luxury few people can afford.

@pettanko @sun some careers in academia are also important because furthering the worlds knowledge is important (not including postmodernist philosophy as knowledge). they probably cut cool shit like ancient languages.

@georgia @pettanko actually agree it's not good, but I do enjoy that some of the people that kiss china's ass also hate stem-focusers and pro-ai so now they have to deal with the contradiction.

if the article is even true, reporting about china is notoriously bad in the english-speaking world

@sun @georgia @pettanko we have had how many videos of "CHINA IS COLLAPSING!"?

@mischievoustomato @georgia @pettanko there used to be tons of articles about "CHINESE GHOST CITIES THEY BUILT BUT NOBODY LIVES IN LOL" fast forward ten years later and they are full of people and thriving, not a peep from the China-haters.

I don't hate China, I like it in a lot of ways, but I am not going to either kiss its ass or criticize it for every single thing.

@sun @georgia @pettanko interesting. Same here. I did use to fall to the "woah China sux" kind of stuff, but they actually seem to care about their own people, and I'd say the avg chinese can probably dream of a better place in the future. I cant say the same hahahahah