To: Luddite Professor, From: Threatened Student

Over at "Accelerated Future", a blog mostly about the wonders of transhumanism, there's a long letter someone apparently wrote to a professor regarding his critical views about technology.  Some excerpts:

I am a technology enthusiast. For this reason, I find your stance–or how it has been relayed to me–offensive. [...]

[The] popularity of the internet has allowed cultural exchange like never before. Individuals are able to access information from multiple sources with little effort, reducing the influence of biased media.  With the help of a computer, an investigation on global injustices is a simple feat; Americans, who used to be confined to a selectively limited media shell, can now explore new worlds and learn about the joys and pains experienced by others, thousands of miles away. This is a blessing more than a burden. [...]

My hope is that with this letter, you might reconsider your opinion on the information age. Humans are creative and amazing creatures, and one of our greatest accomplishments is the computer. It saves lives, has opened new doors for expression and art, and may one day lay the foundation for a new and beautiful species, or an improvement of the human species. Optimism and education are always the best approaches to understanding the future.

Link: Accelerating Future : Letter to a Luddite.

She probably could have learned a lot more from this professor than from those she found more agreeable.  Part of education is learning how to face unfamiliar or  disagreeable ideas and not feel threatened.  This is hard for any of us to do, at any stage of our lives.  But you don't learn very much by only listening to those you already agree with (and trying to shut out the rest).