From: Hagbard Celine (hagbard@ix.netcom.com)
Date: Fri Jun 13 1997 - 00:51:11 MDT
Abraham Moses Genen wrote:
> At the severe risk of being considered regressive, I believe that the
> pleasure of learning should be given full consideration before we
> abandon the joy (and even pain) of slowly accumulating knowledge and
> formulating ideas through continuous cognitive development.
> Although the idea of an intellectual implant that gives us an instant
> lifetime of knowledge and pleasure might have its merits, the depth of
> emotion and the spirit of humanism that might be lacking under those
> conditions should give us some pause for further consideration. Is
> knowledge worth having without at least some effort and passion?
But how then would you know if you were an extropian if you knew nothing
of extropians?
Information for information's sake is a good thing. Any bit of data,
however small, provides a foundation for further learning. If you had
never had certain resources at your disposal, your learning on certain
subjects would have been severely curtailed. How then can excess
information be a bad thing? Who says you have to care about all of it?
Indeed, without carrying with you what seemed at one point in your life
to be a mundane fact, you might have missed out on an important, perhaps
entirely original connection between navel oranges and the JFK
assasination. Furthermore, without excess data, you may never have
discovered the data set that interests you the most. Finally, if you had
a repository of the accumulated knowledge of mankind throughout history
what would you be doing with your life right now? I imagine that I
probably would not be in law school. I would care little for the
bothersome specifics of human governance and concentrate more fully on
the "big picture." Indeed, if I could spout the law off the top of my
head (and make a cogent argument therefrom) I would be the finest
attorney Court TV had ever seen.
So then, I see your point about the trial and error of learning which
must not be dismissed lightly. However so much of our time in school is
devoted to understanding what has already been discovered or decided. If
the best and brightest already knew the stuff, how much faster would new
discoveries and decisions be made?
"Eureka! I have found it!"
"Because you did, I did! Eureka! Look what else I've found!"
Keep it real,
Hagbard
(One feelin'-good, live, extra-terrestrial-type individual).
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