Facebook Responds by Predicting Princeton’s Demise

[Truthseeker420]

After a controversial academic paper predicted the demise of Facebook, the social network has responded with a satirical prediction of the destruction of Princeton University.

On Wednesday, websites were buzzing about a provocative research paper by two Princeton graduate students that said social media sites like Facebook usually follow the same growth and decline patterns of infectious disease outbreaks.

A Facebook spokesman told The Wall Street Journal the paper, which relied on Google search query data, was “nonsense.”

On Thursday, Facebook went a step further with its own mock academic research. “Princeton will have only half its current enrollment by 2018, and by 2021 it will have no students at all,” wrote Mike Develin, a data scientist at Facebook.

Develin said he analyzed various data points, including the percentage of queries on Google Scholar matching the query “Princeton.” Develin’s research showed the percentage had dropped dramatically since 2000, an “alarming” number, he wrote.

“In keeping with the scientific principle ‘correlation equals causation,’ our research unequivocally demonstrated that Princeton may be in danger of disappearing entirely,” Develin wrote.

The paper authors could not immediately be reached.

Facebook’s posting Thursday ends on an ominous note. “While we are concerned for Princeton University, we are even more concerned about the fate of the planet–Google Trends for “air” have also been declining steadily, and our projections show that by the year 2060 there will be no air left.”

Facebook Responds by Predicting Princeton?s Demise - Digits - WSJ

 

[JimBowie1958]

After a controversial academic paper predicted the demise of Facebook, the social network has responded with a satirical prediction of the destruction of Princeton University.

On Wednesday, websites were buzzing about a provocative research paper by two Princeton graduate students that said social media sites like Facebook usually follow the same growth and decline patterns of infectious disease outbreaks.

A Facebook spokesman told The Wall Street Journal the paper, which relied on Google search query data, was “nonsense.”

On Thursday, Facebook went a step further with its own mock academic research. “Princeton will have only half its current enrollment by 2018, and by 2021 it will have no students at all,” wrote Mike Develin, a data scientist at Facebook.

Develin said he analyzed various data points, including the percentage of queries on Google Scholar matching the query “Princeton.” Develin’s research showed the percentage had dropped dramatically since 2000, an “alarming” number, he wrote.

“In keeping with the scientific principle ‘correlation equals causation,’ our research unequivocally demonstrated that Princeton may be in danger of disappearing entirely,” Develin wrote.

The paper authors could not immediately be reached.

Facebook’s posting Thursday ends on an ominous note. “While we are concerned for Princeton University, we are even more concerned about the fate of the planet–Google Trends for “air” have also been declining steadily, and our projections show that by the year 2060 there will be no air left.”

Facebook Responds by Predicting Princeton?s Demise - Digits - WSJ

The current college educational system is primed for making money off the students, not educating them. One day in the very near future, what degree you have will matter less than what you test at with a detailed oral examination. Lots of people are graduating with no practical knowledge on how to get things done that employers wont be able to risk losing major clients because of some dud from a sheepskin mill.

Within 30 years almost all college graduates will get their degrees through online classes combined with remote oral examinations by professors who have thousands of students under their supervision. A real competition for the best education will begin that discounts the fraternal ties and reputations of the elitists universities and a great part of that will be because todays elites will be very different by then anyway and from outside the country.