
The Death of the Autodidact - glindhol
http://thebaffler.com/blog/death-autodidact-mangla
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brudgers
The deaths in Oakland are an illustration of why architects are licensed.
They're licensed because legal construction requires building permits. And
build permits exist so that fire inspections are less necessary. And fire
inspections exist because people construct stupid things that lead to the
deaths of other people.

Mies and Wright both had licenses to practice architecture. It's what allowed
them to practice in the mid 20th century as license laws became common.
License laws became common as building code become common. Building codes
became common after the Triangle Shirtwaiste fire.

There are problematic professional licensure categories. Barbers aren't one of
them. The practice is licensed because hygienic practices are necessary to
reduce the spread of disease. It's why I probably won't get headlice or a
bloodborne illness from a shave and a haircut.

~~~
zeveb
> Mies and Wright both had licenses to practice architecture.

Which proves that licenses may be necessary to prevent dangerous architecture,
but certainly aren't sufficient to prevent hideous architecture.

> There are problematic professional licensure categories. Barbers aren't one
> of them. The practice is licensed because hygienic practices are necessary
> to reduce the spread of disease. It's why I probably won't get headlice or a
> bloodborne illness from a shave and a haircut.

What level of licensure or inspection is required? How certain are you that
the current level is the correct level?

~~~
brudgers
I am certain that the current level of barber licensing is more correct that
the non-licensing advocated by the article for the public health reasons I
listed.

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johan_larson
Is this a problem? If so, can anything be done about it?

The notion that formal training from a reputable institution should count for
more than self-learned skills doesn't seem particularly problematic. And even
the notion that credentials from highly regarded and highly selective
institutions should count for more than those from less distinguished
institutions also seems ok. Of course they do. How could they not?

But maybe I am missing something. If so, I'm sure the internet will promptly
inform me of it.

~~~
informatimago
This article doesn't really express the death of the autodidact, but rather
than the rejection of the autodidact in Silicon Valley enterprises.

I've seen in this article no references to statistics showing that there are
less autodidactic learning now than earlier.

I've not seen either references to statistics showing that there were fewer
autodidacts amongst startup entrepreneurs.

I would rather think that with the development of the Internet, of MOOCs,
youtube channels dedicated to teaching, and the mere availability of books
from the Internet, there is nowadays more autodidactic learning than ever.

For make no mistake, learning anything from a MOOC is really autodidactic: the
requirements to pass the MOOC exams are usually minimum, if you want to learn
something, you will have to do your own study well beyond what is required to
get the little certificate.

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k__
Half-OT: Could it be that OOP was favoured for many years, because most
professional developers were autodidacts and now that more people get CS
degrees, we see a rise of FP?

~~~
johan_larson
I don't think there is a connection between OOP and autodidact developers. Do
you see one?

~~~
k__
The connection I saw, was FP has a steeper learning curve and favours higher
math concepts that manye autodidacts are lacking, so they would naturally go
into learning OOP.

~~~
inimino
I could argue the opposite, that working developers who have an autodidactic
bent tend to be attracted to FP, while those who picked computer science
because it is a good career learn OOP in school and stick with it.

