Old Socialist wonders at that the Economist’s latest what to name it? But a Propganda Offensive aimed at ‘10- and 11-year-olds’?
6 hours ago
I was in a school in London recently, listening to a classroom full of 10- and 11-year-olds discussing the right and wrong ways to use AI. They all saw how staggeringly useful it could be, yet they also knew it was unreliable. They debated whether and when it would be wise to accept what a chatbot says, or try to verify it, or refine the question. All the kids were passionately engaged; all were palpably thinking for themselves.
And that gave me hope. Using your brain is hard. As AI advances, more and more children will be tempted to outsource their thinking to machines. Meanwhile, political polarisation encourages people to judge an idea not by its merits, but by the identity of the person expressing it. In these times, it is more important than ever for children to learn how to think critically about the world they live in, how to base arguments on facts and how to disagree without being disagreeable.
The Economist Educational Foundation, a charity backed by The Economist, helps children do exactly these things. It offers lesson plans on current affairs to schools around the world. Each lesson is prepared with the input of an Economist journalist (to make it rigorous) and an educator (to make it fun). Students who took 12 weekly lessons showed ten times the progress of non-participating peers in measures of critical thinking and communication skills. We reached one million kids this year, many of them from poor backgrounds who particularly benefit from the self-confidence that Topical Talk helps them build. With your help, we can reach many more children in 2027. Every £1.50 (or $2) funds a child’s access to these lessons for a whole year. Please donate–and help the next generation learn to think–by clicking on the link.
Old Socialist.
On the Bloomberg candidacy, a comment by Political Observer
Posted on February 9, 2016 by stephenkmacksd
One can almost welcome Mr. Bloomberg into the presidential race of 2016. The Republicans are a collection of Neo-Cons, Dixicrat Feudalists, Free Market Fundamentalists, that expresses a collective political nihilism. And the exhausted, indeed near desperate campaign of Mrs. Clinton. … Continue reading →
…
Appointment of John Micklethwait as Bloomberg’s chief executive and co-author of Right Nation, excerpted on Front LIne:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/architect/repub/rightnation.html
and The Fourth Revolution, see this YouTube video for an interview with its authors: (See this witty,scathing review of The Fourth Revolution, in The New York Times by Rosa Brooks: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/29/books/review/the-fourth-revolution-by-john-micklethwait-and-adrian-wooldridge.html {Added 02/09/16 3:23 PST})
Neo-Con Adam Roberts whistling in the dark!
Posted on December 6, 2025 by stephenkmacksd
The Economist and its present hirelings, have willfully forgotten their propganda predecessors of John Micklethwait & Adrian Wooldridge? stephenkmacksd.com/ Dec 01, 2025 Reader recall this from Nov 21, 2025? Zanny Minton Beddoes, Edward Carr, Nicolas Pelham & Adam Roberts discuss: … Continue reading →
Posted on June 15, 2019 by stephenkmacksd
The Posh Boys & Girls @TheEconomist have not forgotten about ‘The Right Nation’ by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge. Here is the first excerpt posted at The National Review: https://www.nationalreview.com/2004/06/right-nation-john-micklethwait-adrian-wooldridge/ But, for whatever reason, the editors of National Review have … Continue reading →
