Time, Knowledge, and Us

Natty Bumppo

I don't really like forums. I don't like going out. Most of the time, I perfer to stay indoors. Thankfully, I have the internet to keep me busy, sometimes. Point is..I don't like forums. Mostly because, I do not like people. But what I have noticed is that when I am on forums I notice that a lot of people have a vast amount of knowledge. Before I continue, I want to tell you that I am not complementing everyone on every forum, because most forum members are idiots. Still, I have seen a lot of intelligence and knowledge in some forum members (I am talking about most forums Ive been too, this doesnt apply only to AP). So my question as funny as it seems, is: How are people so intelligent? Weird question, right? But there is something else that comes into play that boggles my mind.

Time. There is never too little of it, which is why I ask how people can know so much. For instance, I know my way around a computer, at least for the most part. My family comes to me for help when they need help with something on the computer; but when I compare myself to some other people on here I feel as if my computer knowledge is equal to that of a 2nd grade math compared to Calculus! I come to the conclusion that, "No surprise, they must study a lot about computers"; but recently I have began to think a bit deeper. Most of you guys know a lot about anime, life, manga, computers, almost everything about everything. How? From a little study I did, most teenagers/young people sleep about 8 hours a day. Which leaves about 16 hours left. Granted thats enough time to get yourself educated in things, but what about chores? Your personal life? Other things you have to do? I dont think that anyone here spend 16 hours straight online learning things.

There is so little time, yet so many people seem to know a lot. I try reading Jo Jo's Bizarre adventure, yet I still find myself stuck in part 1. Yet, there are those who know so much because they are all caught up! How? Its so fucking long. I dont have enough time to read it! Let alone all the other titles I read, or want to read. How about anime? I have a shit load saved onto my hardrive that I havent watched. I try, but theres never enough time to catch up! Same thing with computers? Games? I mean no matter how much I think about it, computers are so vast and theres so much to learn; but I never have the time! I am busy doing other things (chores, life, anime, manga, school, work, finishing my book) that I cant sit down and research a topic. Same thing goes for anything else! I want to read books, but I never have enough time. I mean there's never enough time! Our lives are so short; but theres so much to know, so much to be discovered! I mean doesnt anyone realize that this will the the only August 14, 2007 that we will ever have? This quote always pops into my brain when I talk about time: Life is but a vapor, it appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away. (I will be in great awe if anyone can tell me where it's from)

Basically what I am trying to say (and its really really difficult to explain) is how can people have all this knowledge and still go through all the same things I do. I mean I assume most people sleep, go to work/go to school, have lives of their own, eat, takes shits, and all that; but still manage to know a lot more than me.

I am not complaining that I know little. For the most part, I am jelous that people can have lives and maybe be as busy as I am and know so much.

I want to learn more, yet I dont have time. Maybe I am just stupid. I can accept that, but how do you do it? Do you manage your time a certain way? Does everything just fall into place?

How can you go through your life yet still know so much?

I know it sounds like I think no one can be smarter than me. In a way yes, if people go through the same basic life things as I do…why is their knowledge so much more vast than mine? I like to research, I love to learn, I want to learn, but I never have the time.

I am not trying to insult anyone, just trying to firgure out somethings I have been thinking for A LOOOOOOOOONG time. I am also not complimenting everyone, I just need to know what goes on in other's lives and how they do it.

I apologize for being verbose, and if I sounded stupid. I was just trying to help you understand my thoughts, as silly as they were. I blame coffee for making me post this.

P.S. I just wasted 50 minuets writing this. Fifty minuets that I will never get back.

COWMAKAZE

I wouldn't classify myself as a "genius" or even super smart (I do get straight As in school, but in my opinion that hardly constitutes knowledge), but from knowing a couple of them I'm fairly sure I can give an answer.

I'm pretty sure the answer is all in priorities. The people that seem to know everything just put learning above a lot of things, whether they realize it or not. That's… really all I can say about that.

Another thing is that most of these super-smart people don't know everything. All they know are things they are interested in and would like to know more about. Like I said, I'm no genius, but I can say with confidence that I know a bit more than the average bear about analysis of literature (plan to go into that), computer programming, and evolution (I just find it interesting). However, I find grammar, the mechanics of a computer, and the rest of biology - all alternate sides of those same three coins - to be extremely and excruciatingly dull.

So, I think I'll answer your question like this:
There is no one person that knows everything or even close to it. Even people that spend a lot of time learning still have gigantic gaps in their knowledge. The fact of the matter is that, although there is not one person that comes close to knowing everything here, it may seem that way. This is because together, with each of us knowing a little, we comprise the one collective human genius.

captain usopp

Natty, I'm sure you know a lot of things I don't know. People learn things from time and experience. I am 26 years old, so I have had more time and experience with life. I suck at math though. If your good in math, your one up on me. I also know a lot about anime and videogames because I'm obsessed with them. I've loved videogames since I was 8. That's almost 20 years. And I know a lot more about anime since being on AP.

I have no interest in sports what-so-ever. If your into sports, you'll know more than me.

A life lesson, is that no matter how much you know, or how good you are at something, someone else is always gonna be better.

ooshi78

natty, you're asking questions that might never be answered… it looks like you're already doing a lot more than the average person. i have a feeling other people look at your workload and wonder how you get it all done. i find that learning from other people's success/mistakes cuts down my learning time significantly.

ooshi78

DeadJustice

I feel the say way about songs. A lot of people I know can memorize songs they hear, yeah I can't even come close to remembering half of one. Always bothered me.

Rai

Don't classify us all together.

One would know about Jojo because he read it all, but if you get in his life you'll see most of those readers know almost nothing else, unless it's essential to survive [harsh word.. 'live'].

I for one am REALLY REALLY REALLY bored most of the time. Even on school days, I find myself having a whoop of 6-7 hours a day I have nothing to do but sit on the computer/TV. The only sport I'm somehow into is baseball, which is almost never accessible here. The number anime/manga I'm into is really little. The stuff I do on the computer are mainly just hanging on AP for 3-4 hours a day [on school days, that is :ninja:] and playing strategy/mind games [which are extremely fun to me]. Maybe I get all this time because I'm 15-who-had-a-teacher-that-taught-him-everything-early-and-gets-good-grades-without-studying, but I doubt it'll change anytime soon.

So that's how I have time. But does that answer your question?
I'm afraid no. Because I'm pretty sure I know NOTHING important that a normal kid like me doesn't have to know. God help me if I would want to learn stuff I'm not interested in. And I'm not interested in a lot of stuff.

Once in a while I do get a little knowledge from TV _or from mind games, but nothing worth mentioning.

Okay, I just remembered a nice speech my principle told us a little back. I hope I got it right.
Mainly, he asked us what 'knowledge' is. Does the teacher teach us, or study with us. And he said the answer is, or at least needs to be, the latter one. Because the teacher 'learns knowledge' by answering pupils' questions she never tackled before, and without the will to learn it to teach it, the teacher can't be a teacher.
'Knowledge' is not when you try to put stuff into your brain, rather, it's a sort of a pyramid. First you suddenly find the thing you're interested in, and you can only get 'knowledge' if you have the base. Meaning, one who knows more to begin with, can gather more knowledge to hold it up. And it somehow works out, because someone who knows more about forums will learn what the quote button does way quicker than one who doesn't know about forums._

Mr_Dark

Well, a lot of people do what they do and have diffrent ways to do it.

Me for example, I wouldn't call myself a genius, but I've figured out that once you stop thinking about the unnessacery things in life, you have time to think about the universe. I've collected a lot of knowledge and thought about what could be out tere, and who. Frankly, I have somehow turned my life into a nightmare, because now, everyday, I think about celestial/higher beings, and what if questions about life, and if we qctually exist, etc.

Point is, if you know too much, you'll scare yourself.

Sorry if I sound obnoxious or sound like i'm making me look real smart. Just ignore that.

Mr_Dark

Messups in spelling, just typed in too fast.

The Iceman

No double posting please. Anyway isn't it scary whne you think about it??? Every second that goes by means your a second older, and a second closer to death.

Generic_Soda

People know a lot because they think. Normally people are distracted by other stuff, which causes their thought process to focus on other things, but if a person can sit down and think without distractions, they can think up things that would be impossible for them to think of normally.

Example: I'm a writer, and for the most part, write my stories in an environment where I am constantly having to move around and jump up at moment's notice, but the other week, my parents were out of the house all week, and I could really focus more on what I was doing. After writing a few pages, I read it over and said "Damn, did I really think that stuff up?"

A person is clever, people are stupid. I think that was a line from Men in Black. If you really think about it, it's true. It's the reason why authors and scholars can write insanely advanced stuff, but then when they're in a group talking to other people, they seem stupid out of the blue.

Keep in mind, that this is coming from an extremely ignorant person, so take it with a grain of salt.

Yoska

@Rai:

I for one am REALLY REALLY REALLY bored most of the time.

Dr. Phil said something like "boring people gets easily bored". :ninja:

I believe most people are pretty smart. But I'm no a bright person, I'm probably under an avarage in everything, so I don't know if I can contribute this discussion.

Anyhow, I think the thing with knowledge is that it's getting really specialized. A few hundreds years ago a person could in theory still become a master in every field - in Leonardo da Vinci style - because all the human knowledge there was could have been basicly learned by reading couple very very thickly binbed books. Nowadays there is so much information that one person simply can't learn all of it. Not even inside a specific field. Specializing to a certain narrow subject inside a field (JoJo if you want) is required if one desires to become a truly good at it.

jmbjr

@The:

No double posting please. Anyway isn't it scary whne you think about it??? Every second that goes by means your a second older, and a second closer to death.

I can't tell if that's scary or depressing. :sad:

Anyways, when it comes to knowledge, you may be smarter than everyone you know about, say, science, but everyone you know is better than you at math. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, it just means they spend more time learning math, and you spend more time learning science. Simple, yes?

For example, most people in my classes at school ask me for help in things, usually language arts. However, it's almost the opposite at times in math and science. Does that mean I'm stupid? Of course not! I'm great at most subjects, just not as good in math and science. The same thing could be said about things other than knowledge, as well. Like in gym class, I'm terrible at things like football, but I'm pretty good at things like track.

Bottom line is, if you think you don't have time for learning things that other people know, just remember that you probably know something they don't, as well. You do have the time, but you're using that time for things that interest you, or that you think are important.

Hope this helped!

Rai

@Yoska:

Dr. Phil said something like "boring people gets easily bored". :ninja:

lol, that is somehow surprisingly true. Though I'm fine with being boring~

If you may, Natty, you can easily enough learn from said smart people, then show off in front of the stupid ones, forcing them to ask the same question you asked.
Smart

Mister_Anbu

I've always believed that a "smart" person when it comes to knowledge about random things just means that they have a really good memory. There's two kinds of smart in this world from what I have personally experienced (granted, it's only been 17 years of public schooling), people who are naturally smart and will always know a lot despite their work ethic, and people who are smart enough to work hard to achieve similar results. It's a lot like Naruto with Rock Lee and Neji, to catch up with someone who is naturally smart, you must persevere and work even harder than them.

Don't let people who are "smarter" than you bring you down. Letting them bring you down shows that you aren't smart enough to look past it. You are you and no one else can ever change that.

dinty

@Natty:

I mean there's never enough time! Our lives are so short; but theres so much to know, so much to be discovered! I mean doesnt anyone realize that this will the the only August 14, 2007 that we will ever have?

Well, according to most philosophers, and a few religions as well, the first step towards true knowledge is to question the things you're questioning, so you're on the right path.

My own view of things is: learn whatever you can about what really matters to you, and then rely heavily on the Reference Desk for info about everything that doesn't…

Malintex_Terek

@Natty:

So my question as funny as it seems, is: How are people so intelligent? Weird question, right? But there is something else that comes into play that boggles my mind.

I'm skeptical regarding the existence of "intelligence", cognitive ability can really be broken down into imagination and experience. Education is an amalgation of both, so someone who is educated would have the equivalent of the amount of imagination/experience of others learned. Wealth of the ages and all that rot.

Who one hangs around is an influence too.

spamato

I know as much as I do because I shut the fuck up and listen often (in good ole reality anyhow). Now you never know just how smart a guy is on the internet because the google search engine makes being smart so damned easy. Example being I get into an arguement over taxing methods in fucking…cambodia let say. And they introduce a whole new side to the argument I didn't know existed. Now what do I do? Say he is right and actually change my opinion? Fuck no! is the answer. I look it up on wikipedia, skim it cook up soome bull shit that I am a 54 year old guy with a PHD in cambodia taxing and awesome, then continue the endless arguement.

it's not so much that people actaully research the topic they just argue it over so often they find the five minute skimming session eventually turning into some real text book knowledge. As for time for games and anime..well you will find that people will make time for a hobby so big to them. I actually lost sleep so I could finish up a crossword book (just 16 more puzzles)

bedrock

Who the fuck cares about sleep when you are really captivated by something? Learning to read and use a computer actually costed me years of sleep - not that I miss them …

l2agnarok

@Natty:

Time. There is never too little of it, which is why I ask how people can know so much. For instance, I know my way around a computer, at least for the most part. My family comes to me for help when they need help with something on the computer; but when I compare myself to some other people on here I feel as if my computer knowledge is equal to that of a 2nd grade math compared to Calculus! I come to the conclusion that, "No surprise, they must study a lot about computers"; but recently I have began to think a bit deeper. Most of you guys know a lot about anime, life, manga, computers, almost everything about everything. How? From a little study I did, most teenagers/young people sleep about 8 hours a day. Which leaves about 16 hours left. Granted thats enough time to get yourself educated in things, but what about chores? Your personal life? Other things you have to do? I dont think that anyone here spend 16 hours straight online learning things.

Only most young people and teenagers have eight hours of sleep each day, that doesn't mean that there won't be a whole lot of other kids that sleep seven hours or less.

Also, from what I've learned over the years on the net, there seems to be more teenagers and pre-teens on the internet, or at the least, forums.
Most likely the people you find smart, are teenagers or adults obviously.
Teenagers would have almost their whole day to be online, and if they are the type to read interesting topics, then a couple years or even months, they could learn a whole lot. I wouldn't imagine most adults to even have time to go onto the internet with them being in college, though I know alot of college people who just slack off until the last minute and still get an A on whatever.

Besides, there are probably a lot of people who are just too smart for school and get A's without having to study much, so that would leave time for more learning on the net. However the learning may not be intentional. People may even just spend their time with other people or even family, and get knowledge from them.

I doubt all that crap even helped, knowing myself but meh, as I said, some people may just be too bored and just go onto forums and coincidently learn stuff.

I for one, am thirteen, and I get straight A's without trying very hard. Whenever I get home from school, I do my homework for about an hour, and spend majority time on the internet reading out of boredom, I tend to only read but depending on the topics I read, I may have learned alot without even intending myself to learn. I also have a couple brothers who are in college and tell me news about things and how things are done.

Boredom made me state the obvious in a long way…

Tsuchirinhon

Cyringohn is wise because he doesn't question everything or try to find reasonings behind all the shit that happens in life.

You can be "smart" and not even know what 2+2 is.

Fleur

There's different kinds of intelligence, you know.
Not everyone's born the same, so learning varies from each person.

Babies don't learn to stand up all at the same time- some learn slower, some learn faster.

Then comes experience. Your environment builds upon the current kinds on knowledge you have, for some examples:

Fluid reasoning: measured in tasks requiring inductive, deductive, conjunctive, and disjunctive reasoning to arrive at understanding relations among stimuli, comprehend implications, and draw inferences.

Short-term memory: measured in a variety of tasks that mainly require one to maintain awareness of, and be able to recall, elements of immediate stimulation – i.e., events of the last minute or so.

Long-term memory: Measured in tasks that indicate consolidation for storage and mainly require retrieval, through association, of information stored minutes, hours, weeks, and years before.

Processing speed: Although involved in almost all intellectual tasks, measured most purely in rapid scanning and responding in intellectually simple tasks (in which almost all people would get the right answer if the task were not highly speeded).

Then there are Auditory processing and visual processing. At this point, the whole Left brained and Right brained thing comes into play.

Like you said, chores and stuff may get in the way of learning. But some people can get their chores done so fast, they have extra time. Or others may only need a little time to learn things. (High levels of long term memory.)

But obviously, that's not all. Hobbies greatly influence your knowledge.
People who like sports know a lot about them. People who like music, etc.

But like you said, you like using the computer, but others seem to know much, much more about them. Well, some may have more ambitions in learning more about the computer. They'll go out of their way to learn more about it. (On top of that, the intelligence levels may differ.) This is an example of priorities, like COWMAKAZE said.

Urg. As I'm typing this, I'm almost starting to confuse myself, actually. Anyway, don't get the idea that one person knows about everything.
One who knows more about fact may lack in social intelligence, vice versa.

Rai

Fleur, you're back? I didn't see you posting for a while.

Like I said in my first post though, based on my principle's speech and on my experience, I can remember stuff to my whole life or forget them in a week.
All I need is, after I learn something [ex. A shark's life], as long as I don't tackle the same info from a different source, it'll be all forgotten in days. But if after 2-3 days suddenly the teacher talks a little about it and I share what I know, I'll probably remember that.. to my whole life. Probably.