BL> I don't think I'd like to be a kid now, trying to decide a
BL> future. Even Medicine is changing! If you look 20 years ahead
BL> it's impossible to see. Do we end up the brains-trust feeding the
BL> industrial giant of China, or food-peasants feeding Asia, a nation
BL> taking in each other's washing in the service industries, or what?

FM> But I don't think that's much different from then.

He's right.

FM> I did science and engineering but became a banker and now
FM> stockbroker. Hardly relevant skills. The post-grad Comp Sci.
FM> I did was probably useful though, when I was a programmer.

BL> I assume you choose an education appropriate to your career,

Pity he clearly didnt Bob.

BL> which is really the whole point, isn't it?

Yep, that he clearly didnt the predictability you raved about.

BL> I did Engineering because I was an engineer. Why would I want
BL> to do Commerce unless I wanted to be a banker and a stockbroker?

Says sweet fuck all about predictability Bob.

BL> This is the point I was making...

Fucking up completely actually. As usual.

BL> 40 years ago I could predict where I would end up

And plenty of people couldnt. You dont even have any evidence that
less can today than could then. Your claim is a complete dud. Again.

BL> (not as it turned out, in fact)

Funny that.

BL> but today there is no way to know.

And there wasnt then either.

BL> I suppose the 60s were the end of predictabilty.

Pathetic really. Not much still firing between those ears now.

Cant even do a convincing job of faking anymore. Fools no one but the wog.

BL> I don't think there is a danger in a narrow education.

The words 'think' and 'Bob Laurence' dont compute. Soorree.

BL> You learn as you go along anyway, and mostly you
BL> learn how to learn, but the waste is prodigous!

And learning say latin exclusively might not do you much
good if you end up in engineering Bob. Might as well learn
the essentials at the same time you are learning to learn.

BL> Personally, I think the answer is a shortened non-Uni education that
BL> finishes High School at 16, and goes on to a polytechnic for 4 years.

Thats ok for some fields, and hopeless
for other. Useless for medicine for example

BL> I can't see that universtities have a function any more.

More fool you then Bob.

BL> A profession will no longer be recognisable after 20 years,

Pigs arse it wont, even computing hasnt changed all that
much in 20 and its changed a hell of a lot faster than most.

Medicine hasnt changed that much in 20.

BL> and if this is so, the Uni will
BL> always be teaching 10 years out of date!

Now try explaining why a 'polytechnic' wont too. Have fun.

BL> Instead of being a real big deal with lots of continuing business
BL> and an entire department... they cure ulcers forever now.

And its not difficult to get that story thru to the medicals that
have got their medical training in a uni 10 years ago Bob. Poor old Bob.

BL> You get a breath test, a bottle of yoghurt, and ta
BL> ta ulcers. The local GP could do it, and probably will.

Sure, they do quite a bit they didnt once do. No big deal,
decent medical training means that they dont have to keep doing
things the way they did fresh out of uni Bob. Poor old Bob.

FM> I thought I'd heard that they've discovered that it's a bacteria
FM> that causes ulcers. Where do the breath test and yoghurt come in?

BL> The C13-urea breath test is used to diagnose presence of
BL> helibacter pylori, and yoghurt is used as the medium to deliver
BL> the antibacterial goop to the gut where it does the most good.

BL> I was using that as an example of the big change in gasterentiology.
BL> Ulcers were the major part of the
BL> speciality, and now they're the least of it.

You've mangled that completely too. The REASON they actually test
for that particular bug is that it ISNT the cause of all ulcers.
It it was, you wouldnt bother to test, just ensure the person
really does have an ulcer and just zap that bug with the yoghurt.

BL> I wonder if cardiology might go the same way.

You dont get that many magic bullet solutions in medicine.

BL> I notice a similarity to ulcers... too many known
BL> causes, an undefiend genetic link, stress, food... and
BL> it turns out to be a bloody germ! One effect, one cause.

Doesnt happen very often tho. Some like the variety
of downsides in a shithouse lifestyle are indeed due to
a variety of factors, not just one bug you can squash.

And the illness of aging sure cant be just due to a particular bug either.
@EOT:

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