Two of the many women whose contributions helped make the internet possible were Jean Bartik and Grace M. Hopper
Neither were rich; both had excellent educational opportunities and excelled in their field of choice
Grace Murray Hopper (December 9, 1906 – January 1, 1992) was an American computer scientist and United States Navy rear admiral.
A pioneer in the field, she was one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer, and invented the first compiler for a computer programming language.
She popularized the idea of machine-independent programming languages, which led to the development of COBOL, one of the first modern programming languages. She is credited with popularizing the term "debugging" for fixing computer glitches (inspired by an actual moth removed from the computer).
Jean Bartik (December 27, 1924 – March 23, 2011) was one of the original programmers for the ENIAC computer.
In a segment titled:
Insight from the tech world’s best minds (video) Lawrence O'Donnell of 'the Last Word' speaks with a man I know next to nothing about,
Walter Isaacson (PBS interview). Their conversation is centered around the people behind our "Digital Revolution".
At minute 4:52 of the 'tech world' conversation with Lawrence O'Donnell is this key idea that I take from Walter Isaacson's comment on the cost of education:
"there was a wonderful woman..I mean there were six great women who did ENIAC, one of them was [..]Jean Bartik. She came from a tiny town in Missouri; poor family, and for $78.00 dollars a year she got to go to the Missouri State College and become a Math major, and as soon as she graduated she saw an ad that said we need mathematicians; she goes to Penn [state university] and is the person who does the ballistic missile programming for ENIAC.
Nowadays that school costs $14,000 dollars [per year] and I worry that were not creating the next generation of geniuses."
Not that I care about the next ballistic missile we hopefully will not build, nor do I limit my concern for "the next generation of geniuses", but what about the next young anyone -> (maybe a retiree) would be student/tradesperson with a curiosity like Grace Hopper here:
She [Grace Hopper] was curious as a child, a lifelong trait; at the age of seven she decided to determine how an alarm clock worked, and dismantled seven alarm clocks before her mother realized what she was doing (she was then limited to one clock).
I love that story; I can laugh and relate to it. Took apart an outside water faucet once with a
crescent wrench I'd seen my Dad using. Scared because tools were off limits but too curious to stop. So one turn at a time, first counter clockwise to loosen, then clockwise to tighten it back up as I chickened out. Then counter clockwise ..just to see what would happen until POW ! the top of the valve blew off and straight up smacking the roof soffit while I tried desperately to plug the gusher. That got me a spanking.
(not whipping - just a swat on the behind or two)
It wasn't long after I discovered the beauty of watches, once I'd learned to pry open the back with a pen knife (also off limits)..
that cost me a few extra loads mucking out horse stalls
Okay enough of me getting off on a tangent.
Just think of all the many non-famous people beyond the genius labeled. People who would choose jobs like the inventor, or musician, or writer, or tradesperson; or whatever art or craft that they would rather be employed doing that they love? The world is full of people who have been unable to do what they really are curious about and would love to do but never do because they could not afford to get the schooling or training in a trades school*. Stuck in a job that was available out of immediate need because we have a "Grand Old Party" and too many other adherents that have systematically turned education into a commodity, farther out of reach and in fact are today campaigning to end public education altogether, beholden to a so called ideology that serves an unreal master - profit + the corporate charter + labors "free market" (read:loose labor market - excess labor pool)- that do not believe in serving the people of this country doing the job the people have elected them to do.
It's more than the malfeasance, corruption and the built in negative incentives of such an "ideology" embraced by a party dead set against investing in and providing public education as a right, it also seems like a crime of wasted talent, and a huge missed opportunity to make for a much more peaceful nation that benefits even those who choose not to go to school and want to work outdoors for a living. People should be able to work at what they love and count on our pooled resources to make that happen.
The next "revolution" may not be a tech revolution or something that makes huge bundles of money, but it might save many lives if it is but a small piece of the many puzzle pieces that leads to new innovations in harnessing, storage, and portability of clean energy - as one important example. James Burke has shown over the years how most all great discoveries came about. It wasn't one person working in a vacuum that came up with one brilliant idea that finished the job, but many people who contributed in many small but vital ways, adding to each discovery that brought about change.
So the more people who have the freedom to learn and do what they love, brings peace and prosperity and a better quality of life all around.
- imo
So nothing new here just a simple plea that makes sense to me. Besides learning is one of the good things a person shouldn't have to be rich or deep in debt to do
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- Elizabeth Warren (video) pins a banker to the wall with the facts on student debt and the long term hardship to families in America
Thanks for stopping by :)
P.S. Got to turn in, got some GOTV call making figuring out to do later in the morning