Ah yes the paradox of knowledge. The more you learn, the more you learn how much more there is to learn
Intellectual curiosity is the true barometer; you either thirst to know more, or you're content with ignorance.
Eventually you realize you forget almost as much as you learn, it's like a bilge pump in a sinking boat. Then you focus on what you want to remember and come to acceptance with that.
You have to keep going through rehearsal of that old information to keep it from fading. The hard part is stacking new layers on the old layers.
I know way too much about the bronze age and not in a haha Ea-Nasir way but in a I have the major trade routes of the era memorized sort of way. The only official education I have is a high school diploma that even then I probably shouldn't have gotten since I failed math outright.
Ah yes. I am truly a thirsty knowledge bitch.
you know it!
There is a third way!
You thirst to know more but have a soul crushing deficit of self esteem and truly believe you're incapable of anything more than menial labor. You remain with your thirst, not content with your ignorance, but unable to overcome the self image of "absolute moron with no place in the scientific community who must be narcissistic for even thinking he could be" and so you grow to hate yourself even more because of it!
...Err.... Or so my friend says.
You don't have to go to higher education to pursue knowledge! We have more knowledge available to us freely than any other time on Earth!
And for that matter, you don’t even have to pursue knowledge that will help you make money!
Taking a deep dive in some hobbies using free knowledge could very well enhance your life better than getting the masters degree and the promotion.
Though fair warning if you are too much of a knowledge collector Odin will invade your dreams and you will become a neo-pagan. Or atleast thats what happened to be, I throw shit at him when he does, he laughs.
The more I learn, the better I understand Monthy Pythons song about how sweet it is to be an idot
I think it's a general thing with highly capable persons in expert and highly intellectual domains that eventually you kinda figure out what Socrates actually meant with "All I know is that I know nothing"
I feel like that sentiment is easily reached by anyone who is curious and likes to learns, so a lot of people.
If one thinks a lot, likes to learn and, maybe more important, thinks about knowledge and learning things, that person will probably get there.
A certain educational background probably helps but is neither required nor sufficient, IMHO.
I was arguing with a engineer two weeks ago about systems. I never met him before. But he had a few drinks and interrupted our conversation. And I nearly lost my shit because of how confident this guy was speaking, saying obvious things and being vague, while not saying anything at all. Like, "This system isn't good at all! We should all follow Clean Code principles!"
Then someone pulled me aside and said, "Go easy on the guy. He's only been in the industry for a year."
And I did feel bad. But also like, my dude... You are going to wake up to realizing you know nothing about everything.
You are going to wake up to realizing you know nothing about everything.
I wish I had your optimism about humanity.
This guy sounds like management material.
Me at 34 with no post secondary education: I wish i could afford to goto school
The more you know, the more you know what you don't know. People who know nothing often think they know everything.
Everyone is just making it up as we go along.
Be skeptical of anyone who claims they have the answer.
42!
But who has the question?!
:P
I know you're being cheeky, but we did get an answer to what the Ultimate Question was...
spoiler
The Ultimate Question "What do you get when you multiply six by nine" is found by Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.
The tainted question because the B ark landed on earth ruining the results.
What is 41! Multip*ied by 42?
I have come to realize a PhD just means you have spent a lot of time thinking about what you are doing.
Doesn't mean what you are doing is smart really. Just well thought about.
Graduated and am working as a junior engineer and I basically feel like I have a mountain of stuff I need to learn, I can see I've grown since I started a year ago but man is there still so much for me to learn
Coming out of my undergrad I definitely did not feel that. I think it should be relabeled to high-school and undergrad is I feel SO dumb
wisdom is understanding what we dont know
I've forgotten more than I know.
I've been this way my whole life. I learn something new and realize I don't know shit.
The last one is me with only an associates except I'm licensed under that associates to provide health services and that just makes idiots of us all on a daily and often even hourly basis. "You put what in your where now? ...and why did I go to school to be the person you call to get it back out???"
"All I know is that I know nothing."
That's it, no discussion.
There's people who don't understand what that means.
Perhaps they are they wisest of all.
that's more than some people who think they know everything.
My all time favorite "Stig Fact" from Top Gear is
"They say that he knows only two things about ducks..and both of them are wrong"
Which would arguably qualify as knowing less than nothing about ducks 😁
Whenever I see this quote (or others like it) I hear it read in Bill's voice from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.
Bill : Socrates [SOH -crates]- ' the only true wisdom is knowing that you know nothing.
Ted: Dude, that's us!
I disagree. Most people seem dumb, but there are select few which are incredibly genius.
Like, I heard of a model theorist who produces quality papers every month or so. Then there is also Andrew Wiles, who proved Fermat's last theorem through labyrinth of Langlands. The complexity and depth of the field is just insane.
Yes, balanced on the other end by billions of mouth-breathing maroons.
I already knew that I and everyone is dumb before my undergrad. Am I smart?
Hard no.
I think you're more wise than smart?
IMO, all three of these statements are correct.
Masters level living in that PhD level mindset. We a bunch of dumb animals
We totally aren't.
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