Coming Up With It Yourself
Tagged as: Jul 02Have you ever realized that there are so many things that you do not know? I mean, even besides the things that humanity doesn’t know (e.g. the cure to any of a whole slew of diseases, the details of all of the other planets and galaxies, where Amelia Earhart is), there are things that you just don’t know like how to program a complex program, how DNA works, how to create a bookcase from a tree, how to cook a perfect turkey for Thanksgiving, and the list goes on endlessly.
So in life, we’re always learning. You’ve probably heard that it’s pretty good for you to learn something new everyday. And I concur, that’s a great thing. Having an open mind, being amazed, willing to be taught. It’s all swell!
I’m interested, though, in how there are differences to learning. There is the kind that we learn because someone has taught us (i.e. in the classroom setting at school), but there is also the learning that comes out of a totally different intelligence/mind set. While the former is good, I’m apt to think that the latter is even better.
Newton, Socrates, Einstein among a few all had to come up with things on their own. They used logic, research, and intuition to arrive at the results that we now know all about today. And while there are many things that have been figured out already, it’s still pretty good for someone to separately arrive at the correct solution without having been taught it explicitly. At least I think so.
So do you know anyone that solved the Rubik’s cube without looking at the answer? Yeah me neither. Give the people that figure it out on their own their due.
I wholeheartedly agree that being inquisitive, being able to apply logic and using intuition are wonderful, Derek. I’m glad for that classroom learning (and the internet, too) so that I don’t have to re-invent the wheel. Learning something new every day is a powerful way to keep yourself young…and supposedly helps prevent Alzheimer’s Disease. But, I’m not going to bother with a Rubik’s cube!
Oh so another benefit! Well that’s definitely not a bad thing.
I definitely utilize resources to look things up. But at the same time, I think that I was just thinking that it’s pretty deserving of respect when people are able to figure things out without having to use resources.
What kinds of new things do you try to learn everyday?
I agree that it’s deserving of respect when people can use their own logic to solve a problem. What do I learn every day? Any time I touch html code, it’s a learning experience(and I want to know what plug in you have for your comments!). Eight years ago, I could hardly figure out how to send an e-mail. If you had told me I would be blogging I’d have fallen on the ground laughing.
My main love interest is words, and I collect eponyms and colloquialisms. What about you?
Oh good one (learning when looking at HTML). Do you have to look at it very much for your site/blog? (Which part of the comments do you want to know which plugin I’m using? For the actual comment forms, it’s Brian’s Threaded Comments.)
I think that I’m currently enjoying learning some Python (it’s a programming language). Over the course of my life, though, I enjoy learning all kinds of things! I am often asking why things are the way that they are. I question a lot of things, and that leads to me learning new things.
I enjoy words as well. Of course, they’re not exactly my profession as much as they are for you. But I enjoy a good game of speed scrabble or boggle all the same. I also like to use words that are more interesting (read different) than what most people might use. Those words are just in there from all of the years of reading I think.
Glad you told me what Python was…it’s a snake to me. It’s this adding to the comments. I’ll check out the link. Boggle? Come on over! It’s a favorite, and as much as my husband loves words…he won’t play.
Yep, that reading is pretty cool. You can sit in a chair and go all over the world.
Let me know if you want to see pics from our special delivery. I had to make it private to protect the identity of the kids.
Perhaps someday we’ll have to find some good online word games to play!
How much do you think that you read? What are some good books that you’ve read lately? I’m always on the lookout for good recommendations.
Oh and I tried sending you FlickrMail so that you could add me as a friend.
i’d just like to applaud your reference to amelia earhart. seriously. please mention that you did this to either cathy, leti or christine. they will probably squeal with delight.
btw, can you attach values to different kinds of learning? is it possible to appreciate or think more highly of one kind of learning? and how many different kinds are there anyway? tell me, sir! I NEED TO KNOW!
Why do they like Amelia Earhart so much? And after reading your comment, I realized that I horribly misspelled her name. I don’t even know what got into me.
Are you mocking my value system for different types of learning? Or are you talking about things like visual, experiential, and aural learning?
mmm… first of all i would never mock you…
but what i was really referring to was the point about “coming up with it yourself”. you have inventors and innovators and imitators. do you think you, me, we attach different kinds of value to these different kinds of talents ppl have? i’m all for coming up with something yourself or even arriving at the same conclusion separately. but there’s a simplistic beauty in learning by rote. of course, you can’t just let it lie there. i’m sure newton, socrates, and einstein had to learn the basics and then move on. maybe that’s what made them so great, they learned it, didn’t accept it as the end all, did their own homework, and then changed the face of the game.
aaanyway, i believe the book ms. q is talking about is tipping point.
I do think that I might attach different kinds of values to different kinds of talents. On the other hand, they are all special in their own way. The savant who can memorize all of the cities in a state along with population is pretty impressive. I’d agree that only knowledge that is used is knowledge that is good. Application is of utmost importance, whether that means improving upon theories or providing help or whatever it might be. Good points.
I guess it also helps to have context of my thoughts. In the case of this post, I had come up with a thought/theory about something and when brought up in conversation I was mildly shot down because that had already been theorized. Was it my fault that I arrived at some thought just like someone else before me? No, and I think that I shouldn’t be discredited as a fraud just because I wasn’t first. (Of course, if I had tried to take the idea and pawn it off as my own, I should be called out on that.)
I think it’s in the book, “Blink” or maybe “The Tipping Point” where several people who are not working together come to the same solution for a given problem.
I think “book learning” works very well for some people because that’s how their mind works but that’s not how everyone’s mind works. I’ve read about different types of intelligences and am fascinated about how the mind works and learning can be mind and body and emotion. Many times we recall things more quickly because of an emotional link. Some people learn better visually.
I googled for types of intelligences because I couldn’t recall them all and here’s one I found: http://skyview.vansd.org/lschmidt/Projects/The%20Nine%20Types%20of%20Intelligence.htm
I did the school learning pretty well but there are many successful people who weren’t good at school. You mention Socrates - If I recall, the “Socratic Method” was to question and move from question to question based on the answers.
In college we were required to take 3 “Critical Thinking” courses. Those courses were great - I found that they taught me how to think. If you graduate from college and don’t know HOW to think, you will be stuck with waiting for others to find the answers and their answers may be wrong or not right for you.
Oh interesting. I just might have to check out these books to see if they’d be ones that I’d want to read. I’ll also have to check out that link later when I have more time to read it.
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