> there is definitely enough dissidence at this point for it to be visible and indicative of a shift in world events

While I agree that things are set for significant change (if anything, covid was a clear sign pointing that way), I think that any sort of dissidence will ultimately be co-opted by... the system. Indeed, the main difference today from a decade ago is that it's pretty clear even for the average guy that the West is failing -- for example, the press is writing quite plainly about Pops Joseph's recent blunder in the middle East -- but it's harder to see what precisely this failure points towards. If anything, it looks to me that whoever runs the show is giving it a vigorous push.

If I were to guess, I'd say that at the very least some portion of the old rule is ready for retirement, along with the old folks put in charge.

> and, I'm pretty sure for the printing press too.

Indeed, the main difference between the new and the old thing lies merely in the degree of amplitude.

> education consists of instruction and indoctrination

That's about as much as could be achieved of the grand goal of making everyone and their dog literate. My grandmother, God bless her resting soul, with her eight years of education, was better read, wiser and, quite importantly, more aware of her position in the world than many PhD graduates that I know. Inversion of values and all that, I suppose.

@Verisimilitude: Wait, you're not the glowie mentioned above, are you? Lol.

> Latin will provide to me an escape from the meta-platform, perhaps.

Perhaps. Have you read Solzhenitsyn, by the way? Or I would heartily recommend Corneliu Coposu's interviews, where he recounts his days in the communist prison. The detainees there survived (spiritually, first and foremost) by solving mathematical equations or by translating long pieces of text, all in their mind, since they didn't have any means of reading or writing. Unfortunately I don't think any of his spoken or written works have been translated into English, so who knows, maybe this could serve as a pretext for taking a stab at Romanian.

But more generally, North American culture is a dead end and you're better off studying any other -- Arab, Russian, French, Chinese, or what you will --, there's many other ways in which this endeavour could help one make an escape from the so-called meta-platform.

Latin will provide to me an escape from the meta-platform, perhaps.

Well I did say "some". There is always a percentage of people that see beyond the system, the question is just how large it is and whether anything specific can be done with it. Most people are obedient and "stupid", yes, but then again most realistic theories of power state that it doesn't matter what "most people" think. The issue is.. very complicated. But what I mean basically is that there is definitely enough dissidence at this point for it to be visible and indicative of a shift in world events.

> personal computer as an educational tool

Amusingly, there seems to be a pattern about pretty much any media invention being seen by its creator as a revolutionary educational tool (often those words exactly) that would usher in a new age of reason and enlightenment... only for their hopes to be dashed hard as people use it mainly for entertainment and propaganda. It definitely happened for the personal computer, TV, radio, and, I'm pretty sure for the printing press too. Then again, as I always say, education consists of instruction and indoctrination, and there is always a lot more of the latter than the former. So in that sense, perhaps all these inventions really did achieve their "educational" goal.