Game Changer by Douglas E. Richards Page B

field between boys and girls.”
    Several of the graduate students
nodded thoughtfully.
    “But moving on,” said Rachel, “there
can be no denying that Matrix Learning will cause social upheaval, at minimum.
It’s too profound a capability not to.” She raised her eyebrows. “So do any
other thorny issues come to mind?”  
    “Yes,” said Deb Sorensen. “Those
who prepare the Matrix Learning programs get to play God. So who decides what’s in the programs? Who chooses the content of the educational
package that gets, um . . . uploaded?”
    “Great point, Deb,” said the
professor. “That would definitely be an issue. Who controls the information
people are being infused with? Who decides what gets learned? When you learn
the old-fashioned way, you can seek out information, try to ferret out both
sides of an argument. But now, if this technology were to see widespread use,
everyone would have more or less the same knowledge of a field. It’s been said
that history is told by the victors. So you get your history course zapped into
your brain. Now you know what someone else wants you to know. But is it the
truth?”
    “Totalitarian regimes have
always tried to control knowledge, control information,” said Eyal Regev. “And
even though the Internet has made that very difficult to do, kids in these
countries still get indoctrinated into the regime’s ideology at a young age.
Matrix Learning, as you called it, would make this even easier.
    “On the other hand,” continued
the swarthy Israeli, “an open society could make multiple versions of a history
available. People could choose to download one of them, or, for a broader
perspective, all of them. Just like we can choose which books to read, choosing
from among those we know take conflicting positions. If there are multiple
schools of thought in any field, you could get them all, and decide for
yourself.”
    “This technology could also
revolutionize the practice of democracy,” noted Feldman. “The average American citizen
is profoundly uninformed when it comes to politics, which makes them
susceptible to lies, and to charm. But now both parties in an election could
have voters upload comprehensive and complex position papers, which almost no
one takes the time to read today. They could then decide for themselves which side they agree with.”
    Rachel smiled. “Very good,” she
said. “As Mr. Regev pointed out earlier, certain technology advances are such
big leaps forward they are disruptive. In good and bad ways. In my opinion,
there are few advances that would be as disruptive as Matrix Learning would be.
I think you’ll find that the more you think about a world in which this is
possible, the more you realize there is almost no aspect of civilization that
this wouldn’t impact.”
    She paused. “Let me return to
the current educational system for a moment. Sherry, you pointed out that the
university system would go down the drain. What do you think the primary impact
of this would be?”
    “Economic,” said Sherry Dixon
without hesitation. “College is a multibillion dollar industry.”
    “Maybe,” said Rachel, “but I
don’t think so. The professors will be busy organizing the knowledge for the
Matrix Learning downloads. They’ll be okay. And while they won’t be giving
lectures, they’ll have more time to push back the frontiers of knowledge. In my
view, if college were to become extinct, what would be lost is the maturing
process that students undergo over four years, the social skills they hone
there. Having to find a way to manage psychotic roommates and the freshman dorm
insane asylum. Learning how to study when there are preferred social options,
and when surrounded by chaos. No amount of Matrix Learning can teach maturity,
or how to navigate complex social situations. These can only be gained through
experience.”
    “Which brings up other Matrix
Learning deficiencies,” said Feldman. “What about creativity? Genius?