an unlimited number of times. This is much better than listening to some also-ran drone on, while you may have cut the class, or be half asleep, or not taking good notes. Technology has changed the whole landscape of education. Its cost is approaching zero, not the stratosphere, as your sister’s adviser seems to think. If the kids insist on going to college and indenturing themselves, as well as cluttering their minds with irrelevancies and false data, then they should only consider, say, Harvard, or very few schools like it. At least there the prestige, and qualifications for admission, are so high that the connections they make may compensate for the many downsides. Today’s educational paradigm makes as much sense as entering a Model T Ford in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. And anyway, Ray Kurzweil’s right about the Singularity, in my opinion. And he’s upped the date to when it’s going to occur to 2029, which is only 12 years from now, at which point the whole world will have changed in ways that will change the nature of life itself. So forget about saving to send your kids to college; and that goes double for your grandkids. JUSTIN: My sister’s adviser also suggested that she and her husband set up a 529 plan, which is basically a tax-friendly way to save money for college. I asked her what would happen to the money if her son didn’t go to college. She said she could use the money to pay for her grandchildren’s college education.
Justin Spittler is the editor of the Casey Daily Dispatch , a daily letter with news, an overview of the market, and important investment themes. Subscribe for free here. Doug Casey is a true contrarian investor. The founder of Casey Research and one of the most successful natural resource speculators in the world, Doug has also recently began publishing the High Ground series of books – thrilling and provoking stories about speculation, morality, and libertarian ideas. He suggests that you give a copy of his novel, Speculator , to a young person who’s thinking (or should be thinking, anyway) about his or her education. It’s going to be fascinating and fantastic to watch what happens over the next 20 years. And relying on, and paying for, today’s educational paradigm makes as much sense as entering a Model T Ford in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. But like you said, the world is going to be very different 12 years from now. Who knows what it’s going to look like 40 or 50 years from now? DOUG: Over the next generation, the world is going to change totally and unrecognizably from the way it is right now. Technological change is compounding at an exponential rate. It’s always been exponential, quite frankly. Ever since the invention of fire. But we’re now in its later stages; it’s like a Saturn rocket taking off, very slowly at first, but constantly accelerating.
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