John Stossel show aired on FOX Business network on September 16h, 2010. Today’s topic: “How was school for you?” From this question you can deduce that tonight’s show was all about the education in United States. Some of the questions that could be highlighted from the show could be: “How much is enough to pour into the black hole called our Federal education system? From the Constitutionalist point of view, this should be not even a question as the Federal Government does not have a mandate to meddle in States affairs because this is where the Education belongs. Some of the guests on tonight’s show were: Janine Turner, Colin Hanna, and Dr. Ben Chavis.

Notes from the video poster:

In honor of Tom Snyder and for the sake of historical interest.

An interesting recording from early 1979 during which Tom Snyder discusses life extension techniques with Durk Pearson and Jerry Pournelle. This information could save your life! Or maybe not.

I was only able to record the second half of the show at the time. The benefits of Choline and Lecithin are discussed, as well as the need for Thymosin to battle immune deficiencies. Durk describes how he fights baldness. The benefits of B12 are described. Life extension is described as a battle against evolution.

Tom is fascinated by Durk’s and Jerry’s prognostications about the(ir) future of publishing, computers and technology in general. Jerry describes his amazing Cromemco Z80-based computerized “glass screen” that allows him to edit his novels with ease, recording them on “magnetic records” before printing the manuscripts on paper using an “automatic typewriter” and mailing them to the publisher. Durk describes the theory behind flat panel TVs. Speculation regarding the connection of wavelength to holographic television ensues which leaves Tom flabbergasted. Jerry predicts the demise of old-fashioned newsprint. Jerry then tells the story of how much computer technology had shrunk since the old days of the Iliac. Somehow the discussion then turns to asteroid mining. Go figure.

The final segment of that night’s show includes Durk’s description of how computers are going to change everyone’s lives, how much better computerized cars are and how everyone will have interactive general purpose computers in just ten years. Durk and Jerry then boldly makes the assertion that within twenty to thirty years mankind will be able to control computers merely by thought, and any question the answer of which is known or calculable will be instantly answered, revolutionizing education. Durk points out that a computer has already passed the Turing Simulation Test as of 1979. Tom worries about computers running our lives, but is reassured by Durk and Jerry otherwise.

Mind you, this was at a time when personal computers were still very much a hobbyist curiosity, and processors like the Intel 8080 and Zilog Z80 were “high tech”.