> The very idea that better educated people make better decisions in politics is simply wrong as far as I can see.
"Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government"
--Thomas Jefferson
But also a country that values education is more likely to value the opinion of an expert, more likely to question a promise or political sound bite.
E2E encryption is a good example of the divide between politics and the science. I'm not saying that the computer scientists have the answer here, but ignoring what they say is not the way to come to a policy that will benefit the country.
Fair point. However, being well-informed is seen to be important in being able to make a decision in other areas of life (legal system, medical treatment).
I agree though that there are cultural differences of opinion on this.
Ok I get your point, and I agree. The vote is for everyone, and everyone is able to assess how happy they are with what is going on.
I'm not sure Brexit or Trump are going to do any good for the poorly educated and poor, however. Both were protest / anti-establishment votes, which fell nicely into the hands of the privileged.[1]
They aren't going to do worse for those already in trouble. Obama didn't solve those problems neither is the EU. The challenges we are facing are structural (we need less and less people to do more and more work) making everyone PHD's will not change that.
> They aren't going to do worse for those already in trouble.
Wow, you know, I've heard a lot of "lets burn it down", "lets put an outsider in there!", "lets shake it up!" from a lot of different places, but this is basically their thinking, isn't it? They don't see any tangible differences to their own lives with either candidate, but would love to "stick it in the face of those damn liberal snowflakes".
EDIT: however, I tend to imagine if those who are suffering so much were a little bit more educated, they would proactively seek better opportunities, or at least not let their quality of life get eroded so much and just sit there.
Your arguments don't make sense. Am I not being clear? I thought I was.
I'm NOT saying that being more educated == being an academic. Getting an education trains you for more than just a career in academia. How many times do I need to say it out explicitly for you to understand this simple point?
Again there is a difference between fundamentals and then optimizations. The point i am trying to make is that it doesent matter whether you are number #1 or #30 what matters is whether your population on average is educated
"Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government" --Thomas Jefferson
But also a country that values education is more likely to value the opinion of an expert, more likely to question a promise or political sound bite.
E2E encryption is a good example of the divide between politics and the science. I'm not saying that the computer scientists have the answer here, but ignoring what they say is not the way to come to a policy that will benefit the country.