By J. H. Saltzer, February 6, 1996, updated January, 1997

This paper is a good one for learning how to read a paper critically as well as for debating the issues this particular paper raises.

• What are the author's special qualifications to raise these issues? (Apparently, none. From a point of view of understanding technology he is a lay person. He has professional knowledge of finance and economics, but that aspect of this paper is relatively small.)

• Review Noam's list of three fundamental activities of the university:
  1. Creating and validating knowledge
  2. Preserving knowledge
  3. Transmitting knowledge
  Is that a good characterization? Are these things of equal importance?

• What is the line of argument that says these activities will be undermined? (1. Unassailable fact: Technology allows one to obtain information without visiting the library or university; the student no longer has to sit at the feet of the master. 2. Conclusion: Therefore all three of the functions of the university will fall apart: researchers working collaboratively don't need to be in the same place, information repositories can be distributed, and commercial outfits can begin offering classes in competition with the universities.)

• Does conclusion (2) inevitably follow from unassailable fact (1)? What evidence does Noam offer in support of his claim that it does? (None.)

• Is there any argument that does support the claim that conclusion (2) follows from fact (1)? (Yes. In 1900, many small towns had both vaudeville and opera houses for entertainment. Centrally-produced movies and radio-transmitted opera led to creation of national superstars in both areas. The local theatre and opera house almost vanished within a few years. Similarly, a distance-learning curriculum staffed by super-star faculty could displace university lectures by being both better than the average local lecture and cheaper to produce.)

• Aren't there opposing considerations that may outweigh these? (Yes. While distance learning might replace a 6.033 lecture, can it replace a 6.033 recitation? You may want to wait till the end of the term to answer that one, but this discussion should give some clues.)

• Even under Noam's scenario, is the university gone, or is it merely changed? Is Noam guilty of static analysis? (Static analysis is the assumption that when you change one aspect of a system, the rest of the system doesn't adapt in response. It seems likely that the people who run universities will respond by adapting, rather than by just closing up their shops. Mass-market universities, which contribute only marginally to creating and storing knowledge, are likely to either convert to the distance-learning model or, if it succeeds, be victims of its success. But research universities may well be able to evolve to embrace this technology.)

• is it possible that the "dismal" scenarios that Noam suggests are actually a good thing?

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  Comments and suggestions: Saltzer@mit.edu