I actually saw a home improvement show about a month ago where they visited a factory that has set up a 3-d printing system that makes, wait for it….., houses! Well, parts of houses, actually, but they are then shipped to a building site and assembled into houses. It was pretty cool to see.
I'm pretty sure it's coming, and in a small way it's already here. I'm forming a house that will have factory framed walls right now actually. A first for me, and for the company (I think). Everyone who's dealt with these types of walls is dreading it though - the quality just isn't there, and it often isn't when all the parts of a project are divided up between specialists who never have to deal with getting everything to work together.
And remember, factory framed or 3-D printed or whatever you'll always need carpenters to put it together. I'm pretty curious about cost as well.
I saw this dudes perspective quite a bit while in university: You're around the bleeding edge of research, and stuff has all kinds of POTENTIAL uses so you figure that all these these game changers are just around the corner. Self driving cars, useful electric cars, and all sorts of other amazing stuff has been "just around the corner" for years now. Turns out that getting things to market takes a hell of a lot of work and often time.
You kinda missed the point of the piece - probably because you seemed to be insulted by it from square one. The basic point is that classical education: history, philosophy (logic and critical thinking), economics, etc. I really feel that we, as society, are severely lacking in this basic knowledge that everyone should have - I see it both among tradespeople AND private/public sectors. What the article is saying is that while specialized skills are great and can be highly coveted, what's missing is fundamental education.
+1 to this.
I am blessed to have had a very good university, high school education and upbringing and the basic knowledge and thirst for knowledge that instilled in me is crazy valuable. Not in dollars, but in satisfaction/self-actualization and perspective on people and the world. I'm shocked and/or disappointed on almost a daily basis by my co-workers and others on site with by how ignorant, non-curious, and non-empathetic they are and I think this has quite a bit to do with their education levels. The ones who got on the tools right out of high school (or before) and are the same age as me sure are good at their trade though!
It's a shame that we can't even begin to teach these things by grade 12 nowadays. Being able to think shouldn't come with a 160 grand price tag.
And to this! My folks had to pay a hell of a lot of money for me to get a good high school education - public school just wasn't cutting it and it sounds like things haven't gotten any better in the last 20 years.