Life, Education, and Society

While listening to the podcast of Ben Casnocha's interview, my attention was completely drawn by the following 4 words that he talked about.

• On Demand education
• Real Life University
  
• Life Entrepreneurship
• Intellectual Society

They all conceptually refer to the same ideal state of living. I can quickly think of a cool idea for a startup company to be built around these concepts. I should appreciate Ben Casnocha for having coined such wonderful terms to convey his thoughts. Here are my views...

On Demand education is learning on the go, as and when it is required. We, software developers are usually very good at this style of learning. Of course with a solid design in place, we pick the right tool for the task in hand, and start off with implementation. We educate ourselves of the technology as we march along the path to get the software functional. With the advance of internet, learning just got easier. With Google search results, online tutorials, developer forums, Wikipedia, and e-books, we can get the desired information in minutes.

The term 'Real life University' fascinates me... Learning is fun, learning is essential, and learning should never cease. Visiting new places and being inquisitive helps to explore the life to its fullest. The idea is to be an eternal student and to learn from life as it comes by. For instance, when you visit an alien land, get to know their history & culture. Participate in social gatherings, exchange views and thoughts, and express via blogs.

Everyone of us can be an entrepreneur in our own little ways. What differentiates an entrepreneur from the rest is his ability to take a stand. If one is able and willing to make a decision on his own, he is a Life Entrepreneur. We often see people who are mere head-noders to a public opinion, and lack an identity of their own. Such people end up becoming members of a herd that is taken for granted.

Speaking of the basic traits of an Entrepreneur... He is one who does not only follow rules, but also tries to invent them. Simply said, he is a leader who makes a high impact on the world with an exceptional quality of work, socializing skills and a willingness to take risks to solve problems. One can become an entrepreneur in his own field of choice (Engineering, Medicine, Law, etc...), and not essentially Business alone.

Intellectual society is the basis for every kind of social experiment (democracy, betting, share market, ... ). It is required for people to think on their own when they participate in a social activity. Following the trend like a sheep in its herd does not contribute much to the society. Agreeing to what is being said in Spiderman 3, each of us have a choice. We should evaluate our choices and make an informed decision on our own.

Unfortunately, we are currently living in a non-intellectual society. People buy Toyota/Honda cars without even attempting to evaluate them. People use Google search just because others use it. For the same reason, democracy is a failure in India regardless of what the govt of India claims.