The best and only way to defend and nurture it is education.
If one accepts this premise, it's important to pay attention to who is advocating for and making it easier to get an education, vs those who downplay its importance, let it get prohibitively expensive or put up other roadblocks.
Resounding yes for getting an education. Learning to think and being thrown in with random other people will serve you well. I agree that learning a hands-on skill adjacent to whatever you study is valuable.
Yes, education is the important factor. Though education != college. It goes farther than that. It is what we learn from our parents ever since the day we can think. Both of my parents are very strongly educated people, something that they passed on to me (and my brothers).
Computers are an amazing tool. That is why I'm always helping people learn to use and program them. I wish all programmers would do the same. It makes a huge difference.
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