Game Changer by Douglas E. Richards Page A

that was many decades old even then. The Earth had been traveling
through a vast region of space that, unbeknownst to us, contained some kind of
invisible electromagnetic dampening field. One day the solar system and Earth
finally move beyond this great cloud, and every man, woman, and child became brilliant
overnight. Beyond brilliant. Everyone
could educate themselves as fast as they could speed read. But one effect of
this was that no one was willing to do menial labor. Factories stopped working.
So if what I call Matrix Learning were perfected, isn’t this one possible downside?”
    “Yes,” said Michele, “but this
would only be temporary. Society would adjust. All of these knowledgeable people
would come up with ways to eliminate menial jobs. They could create a
paradise.”
    Rachel nodded. “I tend to agree,
but it’s something to tuck into the backs of our minds. So any other downsides?
Is this instant education fair? You spend decades of your life, thousands and
thousands of hours, struggling to cram a world-class knowledge of neuroscience
into your brains. During grad school, while your friends are at the beach,
you’re doing all-nighter after all-nighter. Later, you work your ass off
keeping up with the latest experimental literature, slaving endless hours in
the lab.”
    She paused. “And then Matrix
Learning is invented, and a day later, the guy who spent the last decade
getting high and playing video games can have your same knowledge. Effortlessly.
Is that fair?”
    This question brought deep
frowns all around.
    “Yeah, that would kind of suck,”
said Greg Feldman.
    “So in some ways,” said Regev,
“it would be in the best interest of those who are now highly educated to
prevent this technology from happening. To protect their turf, their
advantage.”
    “And the multibillion dollar
educational system would become extinct overnight,” added Sherry Dixon. “Hundreds
of thousands of teachers across America would be out of work. The university
system, down the drain.”
    “Maybe not,” said Rachel. “At
least not at the grade school and high school level. Maybe you’d want to limit
this technology to those who are eighteen and older. Maybe you’d want to leave
the current grade school and high school educational system intact. Why?
Because people still need to learn how to learn. If they don’t know how to learn
for themselves, they won’t be able to wield the knowledge that is zapped into
their heads, adapt it for other applications, expand on this knowledge.”
    Rachel paused to let this sink
in. “We have calculators that can do long division, but we still force our kids
to do it the hard way. Why? So they understand the concepts behind the results.
So they have the proper background for further studies.”
    Regev shook his head. “I hate to
always be the skeptic,” he said, “but banning this technology for minors will
only work if you can detect when this Matrix Learning has been done. Or if
preventative measures are put in place. A molecular chastity belt for the mind,
that advertises when it’s been violated. If not, kids will take the short cut.
They can’t use a calculator in class because a teacher would see it. But if
they could have high school chemistry implanted into their minds, a teacher
would never know it. Cheating would become rampant, and not just among kids.
Many parents would be actively involved, willing to do anything to help their
kids get ahead.”
    “Interesting point,” said
Rachel, pleased by the thoughtfulness of the discussion. “I tend to agree with
you. So if society does agree with my point, that Matrix Learning should have
restrictions, an ability to detect when someone has been the recipient of this
technology will prove to be important. So cheaters can be caught. And even if
we force minors to learn how to learn, I’d probably be in favor of using this at
an early age, just once. To implant knowledge of how to read. To help even the
playing