Let me start by saying I'm not talking about formal education or degrees. When I ask 'Do you want to learn?' I'm asking if you feel a desire to know more about the world around you, and to know the truth about the world around you. When you hear an 'I don't know' does it somehow sound bitter to you? With the ease of access to information these days, shouldn't we be able to eliminate most 'I don't know' from their life?
This question comes from an insight I had in a recent session with my therapist. I want to know everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. I want to know everything about every hard science, I want to know about every advance in medicine as soon as it's been proven beyond casual or unrelated correlation. I want to know the history of every civilization man has record of, the motivations of great leaders and demagogues. I want to know every philosophy, it's effects on it's followers and the real world. I want to know every magicians every trick. My therapist posits that this comes from an inherent personal curiosity. (What he sees as a positive trait) I think it comes from fear. Everyone copes with things differently, I cope by knowledge acquisition. I grew up with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, and coped with the fear by learning everything I can about it, to the point where I am an active participant in every research project that can use me, and am trying to get a job with the research clinic in Ann Arbor that has treated me since I was young.
I want to learn, because the alternative is terrifying. Because 'I don't know(with the implication of I don't care)' is the most evil thing I can think of.
Edit to include*
I just get this feeling that one day I'll have learned enough, I'll get that one fact/theory into my brain that will catalyze the rest. It will all just make sense and I won't be afraid anymore.
Of course I want to learn, however I have a limited amount of resources and by that I mean time, not access to information. I'm never going to learn about every culture or every advancement in pick a discipline. Therefore, I don't get angry at people for saying "I don't know" to something that to them isn't worth taking the effort to learn. The hard truth is that there's an opportunity cost to learning. -If you take the time to learn why the sky is blue, that 10 minutes could have been allocated towards something else that is potentially more pertinent to that persons life. Guess what? -you're not going to find the one answer than satiates your curiosity, nor should you. Keep asking questions and finding answers but recognize that its okay to say.. "meh, this question can wait, I've got other things to tend to." Also, good luck getting that gig in Ann Arbor. I grew up there and Hubski is HQ'd there in mk's basement. If you end up there you'll have to join us for a Hubski meet up!
Yes, I want to learn. The main reason why is a mix of nihilism and wanting to validate my myself through learning. I already have a degree in History and I feel like studying and remembering the past really hasn't helped me develop myself as a person, as much as I've liked the subject at school, college and uni. What I really want to learn though? Programming. Have you ever had that awe-inspiring idea for an online business that you think could succeed, thrive and prosper but you don't have the technical know-how to build a website that can let you do just that?
Having the technical know how makes you realize how unrealistic some of your ideas may be and how much work is involved in programming. I prefer to be a dreamer sometimes.
Yep. Two main reasons: 1. Knowledge really is power, and to be brutally honest, I enjoy power as much as the next man. I'd like to think that my acquisition of knowledge qualifies me to wield power, but that's not necessarily true. Being a leader isn't just about intelligence, but I digress... 2. I believe that intelligence is a responsibility that we should all levy on ourselves if we truly wish to realize our true potential, both individually and collectively. Why should I have the ability to vote if I don't understand the issues at hand? Although I don't share the fear you speak of, I sympathize with your disdain of the evils of ignorance. May you always thirst for knowledge, my friend. Cheers!Do you want to learn?
Why?
If there was or is ever anyone in the world who said 'no', I would be very upset, to say the least. A passion for the intellect is at the core of my being. I want to learn because it is like my need for air. I need air, food, shelter, and knowledge. As said elsewhere in this thread, knowledge is its own reward, knowledge is power, knowledge is surety, knowledge is agency, knowledge is the foundation of wisdom, knowledge is the foundation of advancement. When someone says 'I don't know', that should be an invitation. 'I don't know' should mean 'Teach me.' I'm graduating in two weeks with a bachelor's degree in biology and continuing on to a PhD program (as soon as I get in). Convert this desire into an action. Immerse yourself. Revel in wonder. Something might draw you. If you decide to be a physicist, that doesn't mean you have to stop learning about philosophy. You're just becoming a master of one of these subjects and getting the tools you need to discover new knowledge that nobody else knows. And when you discover new knowledge - as I've done a couple of times now, since I have a publication and have presented a poster - take a moment, every time, and revel in the fact that you are the first person to know it.I want to know everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. I want to know everything about every hard science, I want to know about every advance in medicine as soon as it's been proven beyond casual or unrelated correlation. I want to know the history of every civilization man has record of, the motivations of great leaders and demagogues. I want to know every philosophy, it's effects on it's followers and the real world. I want to know every magicians every trick. My therapist posits that this comes from an inherent personal curiosity.
When someone says 'I don't know', that should be an invitation. 'I don't know' should mean 'Teach me.'
When I say it, it means, "Teach me or I will drop what I'm doing and teach myself." However, in my experience when others say it, it's an excuse.
Yes, I do want to learn. You could say it's an "inherent personal curiosity" as your therapist might. As a kid I would sometimes pick through gravel examining each stone carefully and pulling out the small chunks of quartz; I loved going to 'rock shops' and looking at all of the fossils and crystals, always got a geode to break open when I got home. Living in Seattle I'd go the Pacific Science Center, once for a birthday, and really enjoyed the interactive displays. I'd read through my dad's textbooks even before I could understand the words and when I started using the internet I'd do the same with wikipedia. Most of the jargon still went over my head, but some of the stuff stuck and I managed a pretty decent knowledge base over a pretty broad spectrum before starting chemistry/biology/math in high school and college. Nowadays there's more to it than just pure curiosity, though. I've asked myself what is fundamentally important to myself more and more frequently over the years, and the answer has pretty much always been (loose definition of knowledge) "gaining knowledge, applying it to the world, and helping others to do the same." This is usually the result of some other questioning: Q. Why am I here?
A. I don't know. I don't have enough information to answer that question. I need to know more about myself and the world in which I live before I can even think about answering this question. Q. How can I be a good person? -> How can I contribute to society?
A. I like people who help others, aren't selfish, work hard, are generally optimistic and friendly, etc. I feel good when I exhibit those behaviors, especially helping people. To help people in big ways, you need a lot of people with a lot of information and experience working together, and to be one of those people you need to learn. Right now I'm studying to become a microbiologist and am spending most of my time learning so that I can participate in research and help expand mankind's knowledge base. To be frank, I also learn so I can keep my mind occupied. When I'm not occupied I start thinking about how inevitable death is and get in weird moods, so when my natural curiosity isn't enough motivation and I get bored/have nothing to do I just study.
I want to learn so that I can eventually discover something unknown, and contribute to the collective pool of human knowledge. The way I see it, everything I know has been known by someone else at some point. I want to discover something, to be the first person to know something and show it to others. To reach that point, I have to learn as much as I can. I also think its amazing that I have access to information that people labored their whole lives to produce, and in some cases fell just short of. Archimedes would have killed for a modern calculus book, one that is readily available to me. It seems almost disrespectful to these great people to just pass this information up out of apathy. Also, there's the general sentiment that knowledge is its own reward, which is also true.
I also want to know everything that I possibly can. I think it's interesting that you mention fear, though if I grew up with a condition like hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, I would want to know all about it too. My curiosity seems to stem from the desire to play with things. It's always seemed to me that almost everything can be tweaked or modified in such a way that something more interesting can happen. The world we live in is fascinating and yet, I have the feeling that there are ways to get more out of everything. I'm not sure if that's a healthy attitude to have, but it's taken me to some fun places and I'm happy to live this way.