This is not just about free online education or redefining the educational system. This is about freedom and liberty. This is just not freedom of education or freedom to learn and not even liberty for free knowledge but this is a new kind of liberty - A LIBERTY TO UNDERSTAND. Liberty to understand with no shackles if we have the will. Liberty to understand without biased teachers and professors. Liberty to understand anywhere in the world since the man-made borders have no meaning here. Liberty to understand without paying a penny. Liberty to understand with no time limits. Liberty to understand sans the over-rated IQ. Liberty to understand without any distinction of race, creed, religion, or sex. Liberty delivered at our door steps without a single bullet fired and without uttering the word revolution. Liberty bought to us using a pen, a napkin, and a camera. This happened in the history of mankind, period.
The citizens of this country are currently stuck in an irresponsible, cognitively stagnate, and ideological debate of pro and anti-tax. They are so mired in their polarized certainty that they have become oblivious to this fact - the unintentional consequence of their actions might even bring the country down. Amidst this cacophony, a German-born American citizen has upgraded the version of liberty without even mentioning the word liberty. This probably could be a cure for democracy's Achilles' heel - to have a thriving, peaceful, perpetual, and sane democracy, the country needs intelligent citizens. If we like the idea of democracy, civilization et al., one needs to embrace the fact that we have a moral responsibility to be intelligent. Liberty to understand is a vehicle to pursue that moral responsibility. I am proud to say, this guy Sebastian was and is my professor and he is the new Norman Borlaug. Let thousands of Borlaug bloom on this planet before we kick the bucket. And they will. My hopes have never been so high.
"I spent the last few days under incoming mortar and rocket attacks, then dodging checkpoints under questionable legal status to exfiltrate a war zone to a third world air field until things settledown. I had about an hour of fairly solid internet connectivity to be able to get the assignments done and still managed a respectable score. This is a typical week here for me."
- An email from an online AI class student in Afghanistan.
All I can say is - for once, remove the word "busy" from the lexicon and sign up for the new class at udacity. You might never become an expert in AI but I can promise you that your confidence will skyrocket. If not anything else, you will get much better at what you are doing now. Your world will never be the same. You will develop a sense of awe and wonder. Signup to experience that feeling; you will never regret it.
The citizens of this country are currently stuck in an irresponsible, cognitively stagnate, and ideological debate of pro and anti-tax. They are so mired in their polarized certainty that they have become oblivious to this fact - the unintentional consequence of their actions might even bring the country down. Amidst this cacophony, a German-born American citizen has upgraded the version of liberty without even mentioning the word liberty. This probably could be a cure for democracy's Achilles' heel - to have a thriving, peaceful, perpetual, and sane democracy, the country needs intelligent citizens. If we like the idea of democracy, civilization et al., one needs to embrace the fact that we have a moral responsibility to be intelligent. Liberty to understand is a vehicle to pursue that moral responsibility. I am proud to say, this guy Sebastian was and is my professor and he is the new Norman Borlaug. Let thousands of Borlaug bloom on this planet before we kick the bucket. And they will. My hopes have never been so high.
"I spent the last few days under incoming mortar and rocket attacks, then dodging checkpoints under questionable legal status to exfiltrate a war zone to a third world air field until things settledown. I had about an hour of fairly solid internet connectivity to be able to get the assignments done and still managed a respectable score. This is a typical week here for me."
- An email from an online AI class student in Afghanistan.
All I can say is - for once, remove the word "busy" from the lexicon and sign up for the new class at udacity. You might never become an expert in AI but I can promise you that your confidence will skyrocket. If not anything else, you will get much better at what you are doing now. Your world will never be the same. You will develop a sense of awe and wonder. Signup to experience that feeling; you will never regret it.
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