Education and software
Good teacher shortage. Kids are annoying by nature and inclination. We need effective teaching software agents.
I don't think that good software will ever replace good human teachers. I hope that it'll replace bad human teachers very soon, though. Making computer instruction interesting, engaging, and properly reactive is a hard problem. Computers have one major advantage over human instructors, though - patience. You can't bore a computer. Well, more than one advantage. Software is easy to duplicate. Duplicating a teacher takes time, a large investment of resources, and is dubiously effective.
Having a computer teach abstract algebra and the finer intricacies of Joyce might be a bit much, but that's not what I'm asking. The problem is that people aren't learning basic algebra and sentence-verb-object. And I think modern technology ought to be able to handle that much just fine.
I don't think that good software will ever replace good human teachers. I hope that it'll replace bad human teachers very soon, though. Making computer instruction interesting, engaging, and properly reactive is a hard problem. Computers have one major advantage over human instructors, though - patience. You can't bore a computer. Well, more than one advantage. Software is easy to duplicate. Duplicating a teacher takes time, a large investment of resources, and is dubiously effective.
Having a computer teach abstract algebra and the finer intricacies of Joyce might be a bit much, but that's not what I'm asking. The problem is that people aren't learning basic algebra and sentence-verb-object. And I think modern technology ought to be able to handle that much just fine.