Knowing Things

LW

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.

Sredni Vashtar

For me, I become interested in something and read a lot about it and immerse myself in it to the degree that I am interested in it. If I want to make a formal intellectual pursuit of it, then I do so, although nearly all such things become a kind of informal intellectual pursuit for me, assuming a certain level of engagement. I want to be the go-to guy about things when that is needed, but I always want to learn more.

Imipolex G

The initial contact with a subject can come in any number of ways. Maybe I happened to read something or hear about it from someone else or learned a little in school or saw it mentioned on a website. Could be anything.

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.

glennmagusharvey

I find that "wanting to know something" is usually not a condition that self-perpetuates from nothing; generally there's an experience that makes me want to know more and then it snowballs from there.

Sredni Vashtar

^ I am debating whether or not this is self-evident in my head. I mean, can I assume that most people realise that being intrigued by something is almost always provoked by direct prior stimulus, or should I assume that random decisions are enough of a factor to require clarity here?

Bee

Mostly it comes down to this.

glennmagusharvey

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.

Salix Babylonika

sustained interest over time.

Tachyon

i just kind of pick things up places and remember them

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

Sredni Vashtar

@Bee: Beaker's seen footage; he stays 'noided.

But back to the topic: I obsess about things naturally, so fixating on a subject and learning a lot about it comes easily to me. I also have a very good memory for esoteric details and a tendency to over-analyse what I take in, so I end up thinking very academically about very un-academic things. This is not always a good thing, but it can be a lonely sort of fun.

Klinotaxis

i got a job where i am materially rewarded for knowing things

One-Winged Eagle

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.

LW

glennmagusharvey,

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.

glennmagusharvey

The motivating experiences happen randomly but to some extent can also be chosen by oneself.

Tre

I think my current measure of intelligence (or lack thereof) was mostly a result of hours upon hours of Wikipedia use as a kid, Tumblr and TV Tropes as a teen, my education, and a bit of stuff I kind of just got via intuition (my initial Photoshop knowledge prior to high school, my brief but workable skill set in HTML, etc.).

Generally I'm just a kid of the internet age, and I think I've become the person I am because of it.