I found an interesting bit of insight from Ross Mayfield's blog regarding a fundamental inefficiency with the way we develop new technologies:

• At the core of Doug's design philosophy is augmentation (change behavior) instead of automation (ease of use). Listen to his thoughts on how WYSIWYG is actually clumsy, for example, and consider how the computer is a tool in the context of users.

  Think for a moment about how commercialization really occurs in the Valley. We develop products for mainstream adoption and pay particular attention to market risk. One of the greater perceived risks is requiring a change of behavior on the part of users. This product risk is one of the most common reasons for a VC to say no, and in many cases for good reason -- if a product actually requires people to learn how to use it, who knows if they will? Doug points out that if diffusion really worked that way we would ride tricycles instead of bicycles.

  It's not just that Doug was disruptively ahead of his time, it's that the Valley is really engineered to produce sustaining innovations.

So, yes, people are lazy and don't want to learn better ways to do things. It seems very basic, but the effects of this attitude have an impact on every level of society. Think about politics; a major problem with the political process is just getting people to learn the most basic facts about their candidates before voting for them. Not doing their homework causes voters to take shortcuts, and try to size up a candidate based on superficial characteristics like appearance and demeanour, characteristics which imply integrity and trustworthiness. This force causes the system to artifically select candidtates who are the most charismatic instead of the most qualified.

(todo: add more examples)

I think the cause of this problem runs deep. Its roots are in people's education at an early age. Modern education doesn't teach students to think critically, be skeptical, and learn on their own; instead, it teaches them to assume that everything the teacher says is valid and that disagreeing with it leads to punishment. School artificially selects and shapes people who bow to authority and do as they're told.

Now, it's true that some students are more independent learners than others, but it's ludicrous to assume that having free will and independent thought could harm anybody! Even if you have the most menial job in the world, screwing the caps onto tubes of toothpaste, free thinking can be a benefit. What if there's a better way of doing it? What if there's a problem on the assembly line and you have to think up a creative solution? It seems like most people, when confronted with a problem that they've never seen before, will immediately assume that there's nothing they can do and try to find someone else to solve it for them.

Humans, by nature, love to learn; it's one of the traits that defines us as a species. The problem is that school -- especially university -- crams huge amounts of knowledge down our throats until we can't take it anymore; until we've developed such a distaste for that subject that we don't want to learn anything about it ever again. I've tried to avoid taking subjects in school which I have a genuine love or interest in because most of the time the terrible teachers will teach such uninteresting and pointless material that I leave completely disgusted with the topic. I think it's common for students to write an exam, and then immediately do a subconscious mental purge to forget everything they've learned in under a week.

A quote from the Sudbury Valley website:

• The fundamental premises of the school are simple: that all people are curious by nature; that the most efficient, long-lasting, and profound learning takes place when started and pursued by the learner; that all people are creative if they are allowed to develop their unique talents; that age-mixing among students promotes growth in all members of the group; and that freedom is essential to the development of personal responsibility.

The state of formal education today is hurting society. Humans learn to bow to authority and become unknowing automatons with rigidly held and unquestioned beliefs. We don't adapt well to change. We're easily misled and duped by people corrupt with power. This has to stop.

Resources

• How to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the Internet by Douglas Adams

• Why Nerds are Unpopular by Paul Graham

• NorthStar Teens - alternative education for independent learners

• Sudbury Valley School - alternative education for independent learners

• How to Make a Feynman - biography of Richard Feynman (another fine example of the power of independent learning)