Neats vs scruffies vs money

I’ve stumbled upon “What is the well dressed educator wearing now?”, an AI education article written in 1982, through a twitter thread. The article can be summed up as a commentary on whether one should pursue theoretical methods vs a more experimental approach (i.e. neats vs scruffies) and has been done to death since the article was written, so I don’t have much new to say. What astonished me is the actual focus on education. The piece reads like something written in another universe. There is no link to outcomes (which invariably means how many students will we get if we follow approach A vs approach B or where will these students get jobs). It’s like the authors only concern is what scientifically valid AI education looks like.

I find the innocence fascinating.