CAN YOU LEARN HOW TO BE UN-AFRAID?

This is as good a time as any to test my philosophy professor's favorite theme: "The more you learn, the less you fear."

After a week of scanning the news, this is some of what I learned:

* Two chaperones at a Colorado HS prom sprayed disinfectant on students who in their words were "dancing like they were having sex with their clothes on"

* A single parking space is on sale in the heart of Manhattan for $1 million

* After Facebook's initial public offering, hundreds of 20-somehings became instant millionaires

* Having children can add or detract from a couple's happiness -- pretty much all depending on which survey by which committee of experts you read

* In the battle of the 99:1 %, facts suggest the 1% benefit generously from the federal outlay of $2.1 trillion in social programs like Social Security, Medicare, food stamps, and Pell Grants

* About 93% of immigrants applying for US citizenship can correctly answer six out of 10 questions about our history and government; only 65% of native-born Americans can

* Dr Daniel Wilson, best selling author & robotics engineer, is featured in this week's Wall Street Journal predicting, "High-tech implants will soon be commonplace under our skin and inside our skulls, making us stronger and smarter." In effect, prospects for a new superman

The first five items are a mixed commentary on our shifting social values. But those last two...When you place them side by side, you're reminded that tens of millions of uninformed native-born-citizens are about to vote our nation's future. And yet equally distressing is the memory of the last regime which spoke of creating a new superman.

One is left to wonder which is more dangerous: Our ignorance or those who would replace our ignorance with their neural enhancements? Sixty years later, I still wonder about Professor Link's pledge: the more you learn, the less you fear.