In the past I have written about how I have huge concerns about how the US has gone from a nation where the youth is fascinated by science and technology to a celebrity culture where kids are more concerned about what celebs eat for lunch than they are about their own education and future. The first time I tackled the issue was in a post titled US Schools Must Improve where I contrasted the US educational system to that of Iran – a country which was barely third-world when I visited it decades ago. The point was that Iranian students had much more homework and were far better at math and science than comparable US students.
My next post on the matter discussed how Global Unrest is Tech’s Fault – specifically I detailed how two billion people in Asia have entered the workforce in the past two decades because of technology which has allowed the cheapest and most productive labor to be a mouse click away.
Tonight on CNBC at 9:00 pm EST there is a special on how science has lost its luster among the youth in America. It is called Meeting of the Minds, The Business of Science. This is a subject of great importance to anyone concerned about the future of the US.
Here are the participants per the CNBC website:
J. Craig Venter Institute Founder & President
Synthetic Genomics Founder & CEO J. Craig Venter, Ph.D. is a biologist most known for his contributions in sequencing the first draft human genome in 2001, and for the first complete diploid human genome in 2007. In 2010 he and his team announced success in constructing the first synthetic bacterial cell.
Celgene Chairman & CEO Robert J. Hugin has been chairman and chief executive officer of Celgene since June 2011. He is also a member of the board of directors of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).
The Jemison Group President
Retired NASA Astronaut Mae Jemison, M.D. served six years as a NASA astronaut, flying aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour in September 1992. She founded the international science camp The Earth We Share (TEWS) in 1994.
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Partner Bill Joy is a partner in KPCB’s greentech practice. He co-founded and was chief scientist of Sun Microsystems and is named on more than 40 patents.
Simons Foundation
Renaissance Technologies Board Chair Jim Simons, Ph.D. is president of Euclidean Capital, a family office, and board chair of Renaissance Technologies LLC, a highly quantitative investment firm. He is the founder and chairman of Math for America and co-manages the Simons Foundation, a charitable organization primarily devoted to scientific research.
City University of New York Professor of Theoretical Physics Author, “Physics of the Future” Michio Kaku, Ph.D. is an internationally recognized authority in Einstein’s unified field theory. His best-selling books include Physics of the Impossible and Physics of the Future.
