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What knowledge is worth knowing?

T

thesoundofmotion

Bluelighter
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May 1, 2007
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I'm wondering what knowledge is really important in this lifetime.

I've been taking classes in the liberal arts over the last few years and I'm wondering if anything I'm learning has any real value to it. I have been taking classes in the social sciences such as political science, sociology, psychology, etc. and I'm not sure if any of that is real knowledge.

What knowledge is really worth knowing?

I would have to think it's knowledge that you can actually physically apply to the real world. If you can't do anything with it, is it any good?

It seems that learning to be able to form powerful connections with others and to have control over the basic functions that keep you alive are much more important to know.

Thoughts?
 
A thorough understanding of the philosophical problem of Identity/Difference aka. Unity/Multiplicity aka. Sameness/Otherness aka. One/Many is pretty important. I would say that most of the problems are reducible to these fundamental concepts.
 
Ow, yeah... to prove my point. You are asking here which of the MANY kinds of knowledge is the ONE which is most useful. There are (nearly) infinite things to learn (science, history, art, philosophy, engineering,...). You are already confronted with the problem that there is a multiplicity in reality and you wonder how to deal with it. Do you continue to learn constantly DIFFERENT things (a never-ending proces of acquiring knowledge) or is there something determinative and specific (IDENTITY) that's the most fundamental to know, and overcomes the infinity of potential knowledge.
 
The knowledge of how to apply what you've learned is valuable. Knowing mechanics might appear more useful than psychology, but if you don't have the right tools then knowing how to bargain with a good mechanic is far more valuable. With sociology, psychology, the humanities, etc. the tools of implementation are never out of reach, not so with chemistry and engineering. Doubt and insecurity are two things that counter-act your ability to implement tools that appear purely mental, so the only thing keeping them from being useful is yourself and your experience.
 
Sometimes to answer a question you gotta ask the opposite question to see the full perspective. So I wanna ask "what knowledge is NOT worth knowing?".

Well now that kinda seems like a silly question. I mean, it wouldn't be knowledge if it wasn't worth knowing right? So you're question of what knowledge is really worth knowing seems counterintuitive to me.

Well with out turning this into epistemology, I guess my interests in knowledge is knowing about the mind, how people interact, pretty much anything involving people haha. I like to understand this through the lens of philosophy, anthropology, psychology. If you're taking classes i'd suggest a philosophy class. I mean it may sound inapplicable to you but it may help you understand life and the modern world.
 
Anything that enriches your understanding and appreciation of life. For me, this is most definitely the physical sciences like physics, chemistry, and biology (for they describe how the universe works, making me marvel over the sublime elegance of things, and makes me feel at one with the cosmos), and computer science (for I do not readily understand mathematics, despite it being highly interrelated, and this is my "in" to philosophy, too, describing degrees of interrelatedness, derivation, and the mechanisms of knowledge representation. Also has surprising overlap with biology!).
That is not to say other subjects are not as important, it's just that they are not for me. I crave understanding of the natural world and that of the ability to know, and these are my ways of satisfying that thirst.
 
I just Stumbled Upon a quote today from Johnny Depp, of all people. I guess maybe I Stumbled it so I could post it in answer to the question "What knowledge is worth knowing?"

There are four questions of value in life... What is sacred? Of what is the spirit made? What is worth living for, and what is worth dying for? The answer to each is the same. Only love.

I don't think that those four questions contain all the knowledge worth knowing. The answer would have to be different for everyone, in reality, but Psyduck hit the philosophical bullseye with his/her/its/their answer.

Reality and philosophy only match up sometimes, don't you think?
 
Portillo said:
That to live is to die, a little bit every day.
Click to expand...

I believe this is 100% correct.
IF I write that the sun will come out tomorrow, I'm correct also, would you agree?
We were born with expiration dates. Don't most people accept that their deaths are facts?
We are dead people who haven't died yet.

Would you consider that knowledge worth knowing? I would if I was the first person ever. I wonder what the very first humans thought when they first experienced a death...

I don't honestly know if there is knowledge worth knowing because the world has changed and developed so fast that knowledge isn't static. If knowledge is always moving and growing and changing, then how can anyone know anything?
 
I want to believe that, Portillo.

I would sleep better believing that the universe was comprehensible.

Do you think it is comprehensible by human beings?
 
I was thinking about this the other day because two ppl around the same time in my life (about 10-years ago) told me: "U think U know everything" and "U think everyone is stupid." I replied to each, "Yeah!"

So i was thinking, both ppl that said that were into occult or stupid religions. Religion is a waste of time.

Several things I think are important to know have to do with wisdom or experience several things i learned (besides religion being a waste of time):

  • Jesus probably didn't exist and if he existed, he certainly did not walk on water.
  • Death is the second-best feeling: love is the first (I had an out of body/near death experience)
  • Sex is a waste of time and energy
  • The world is not fit for bringing life (children) to suffer (unless U live in Australia or new Zealand or a sustainable farm)
  • The shit will hit the fan (global warming, peak oil, geometric world population growth)
  • Money is for playing games
  • God is real to those who experienced god for those who haven't it's a waste of time discussing. (I experienced god through miracles or angels; angels are ppl who taught me love, how to make money, etc.)
  • There really isn't that much worth knowing
  • The government of U$A is extremely evil (CIA killed JFK, 9/11-fraud, WW2 lies, etc.)
 
GoddessLSD-XTC said:
Jesus probably didn't exist.
Click to expand...

What a fool you are.

"This does not mean, as is now being claimed with alarming regularity, that Jesus never existed. He certainly existed, as virtually every competent scholar of antiquity, Christian or non-Christian, agrees, based on clear and certain evidence. But as with the vast majority of all persons who lived and died in the first century, he does not appear in the records of the Roman people." - Bart Ehrman
 
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At its most fundamental level i would say 'nothing is important'.. accepting this really opens you up to the possibility of the moment. It's entirely up-to you.

Portillo said:
That to live is to die, a little bit every day.
Click to expand...

I really like this. It reminds me of Corinthians 15:31 "I die daily"
 
Portillo said:
What a fool you are.

"This does not mean, as is now being claimed with alarming regularity, that Jesus never existed. He certainly existed, as virtually every competent scholar of antiquity, Christian or non-Christian, agrees, based on clear and certain evidence. But as with the vast majority of all persons who lived and died in the first century, he does not appear in the records of the Roman people." - Bart Ehrman
Click to expand...

I said, "probably didn't exist and certainly did not walk on water." Do U believe he walked on water? 8(:?8o
 
The universe itself is comprehensible, but not in full. As in, we will comprehend it to the point to accomplish almost anything within its bounds by understanding its internal operation, but never be able to fully predict the evolution of it (to do so would require knowledge of the total state of the universe, which I suspect is impossible whilst being in it).
 
^There's also many fine scholars who see his story as an aesthetic re-working of ancient myths of Greek and Egyptian origin. If you look at the parallels it becomes highly likely that his story was simply a contemporary update of these much older stories combined with the revolutionary attitudes that were common among the people of Judea at the time. I'd say, as logically as possible, a guy by his name probably existed, but was one of many political martyrs at the time. He might have been a great teacher and helped the poor and set a good example, and might've posed a threat to the established hierarchy, but all the stuff written about him in the Bible is totally unverified and there are no eye witness accounts.
 
I can totally understand if people dont believe the miracles. But I also suspect that people dont want Jesus to exist because they are uncomfortable with his existence.
 
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