Knowing Things
I am not sure if this is an easy or hard question to answer, but how, in your opinion, do people become knowledgeable about stuff? To ask a sort of vague question, how did you come to know what you know? By knowledgeable I guess I mean well-informed or conversant in a topic, whether that topic be trains, philosophy, physics, obscure Russian animation, hiking, football, writing, or whatever else.
Do people typically develop a passion in something and then use that passion to motivate them to read and read about a subject and have conversations with others who are interested in that subject? Is it more of a matter of going to college and graduate school, taking the right courses taught by the right people, and retaining knowledge? Does having a mentor or a similarly influential person in your life play a role?
Is appearing knowledgeable more a function of your own self-confidence than actually knowing stuff? On that same token, might people have more valuable knowledge than they might realize?
I do not know if there is a single real "correct" answer here, but I am interested in hearing how and why people came to pick up the interests they have and how they were able to get to a state where they feel like they know something about them.
Do people typically develop a passion in something and then use that passion to motivate them to read and read about a subject and have conversations with others who are interested in that subject? Is it more of a matter of going to college and graduate school, taking the right courses taught by the right people, and retaining knowledge? Does having a mentor or a similarly influential person in your life play a role?
Is appearing knowledgeable more a function of your own self-confidence than actually knowing stuff? On that same token, might people have more valuable knowledge than they might realize?
I do not know if there is a single real "correct" answer here, but I am interested in hearing how and why people came to pick up the interests they have and how they were able to get to a state where they feel like they know something about them.
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After that, it's just a matter of finding more info however I can. This usually means a combination of internet sources and print media.
like things people said in conversation, or things i noticed, or things i read in magazines or saw on TV
i'm not good at sustained study of any particular subject, i'm too easily distracted
Well the reason I put it down is because, from my own observations, simply saying "I want to know more about [topic]" isn't enough; there needs to be something else that motivates the need or want to know more.
I think you make a good point there. I guess I was trying to get at that catalyst for wanting to know more about something with those mentions of passions in the first post. Do you think those motivating experiences are random? It seems as though many people explain their passions by referencing their personality or especially memorable experiences they have had.
I do not mean to criticize those neat origin stories, but I am curious whether there are some people who just randomly become knowledgeable or interested in something without really realizing it.
kingCrackers,
There's knowing because you studied, and there's knowing because you did it.
Sometimes there's no substitute for doing when you can study. Sometimes there's no doing, only study.
Depends.
If I may push back a little bit on your post, what about when someone studies a subject a bunch but does not really feel knowledgeable about it? Likewise, is it possible that some people might be able to do something well but not really be able to claim they are knowledgeable? To make those questions a little less opaque, I feel like even among people who are reasonably educated there are some who can retain information, remember facts, and explain things a lot better than others.
Going back a bit, the first post was not really made in response to any specific thread here, though the types of conversations in threads like the Richard Dawkins one sort of inspired it. I am continually amazed by people who can carry on such high level conversations, reference works and theorists, and respond to arguments and such with a sense of understanding. Likewise, I find it pretty neat how people can know a bunch about specific topics and bring that knowledge to the table when those topics come up. As such, I am interested in learning how people get to be that way.
Generally I'm just a kid of the internet age, and I think I've become the person I am because of it.