Lifehacker has a nice post up about how to get a free college education online. The post points out that many of America's most famous inventors and literary artists didn't make it through college; they were self-taught. Now, of course, self-teaching is easier than ever with so many freely available college lectures, notes, books, and videos. It's really amazing how much you could learn just sitting in front of your computer!

Of course, the downside to this is that you won't earn the lambskin ticket to economic superwow this way. True, you'll have the "knowledge," but sans the cred. Really, though, what the heck is the purpose of learning all this stuff otherwise? I mean, really, is this more about genorisity and "giving back to the public" or just stroking some namebrand professor's already inflated ego?

One reason why I post all of my educational materials (including recorded lectures) on my website is in the vain hope that somebody somewhere will actually find my intellectual outpourings useful somehow. Imagine it...Someone actually voluntarily listening to my storebrand PhD-certified ramblings.