Knowing everything about the world/universe/?

Post Reply New Topic

This is a little off-topic, but I tried making a knowledge database using a mind-mapping program once, and I gave up almost immediately.

I figured the information was already in my head, and I could access it more easily from there instead of the computer.

So...is this really necessary? I'm not stopping you from completing your project - if this is what you want to do, then by all means do it. It sounds like a fun project for a rainy day.

good heavens, there's no way you could absorb all that.

I have heard that political operatives (nothing sinister, just low-level flunkies) have been changing articles on things to support their viewpoint, and suppress the oppositions'. Just take things with a grain of salt.

Doing lists, databases, etc., may be one of the signs of our particular situation. I have several databases of books, records, 3d art stuff (models, hair, poses, yada yada)..some of these are 23,000 entries long. But I'm lazy, I let the computer keep track of that stuff.

I'd just go for things that interest you. There's 2 kinds of experts; those that have knowledge a mile deep and an inch across, and the other kind. No matter what, there's someone out there that knows more than you about everything (or think they do... If you're interested in one subject, or a few, there's nothing wrong with that. We can't all be Linnaeus (Sp?)

I think it's more about the need to organize everything than to know everything - so that if you learn something new you know exactly where it fits and how to find it when you actually need it. I constantly have the same feeling. I don't need to know everything but I need to know how to learn it if I need it.

The more I think of it, the more obvious it becomes to it that the world (or all the information about the world) has no well defined structure. Any categorization is arbitrary, fuzzy and imprecise. There is an infinite number of ways in which you could organize the same information.

This thread sort of existentially reminds me of a kid with AS I recently heard about. He approached a professor of astronomy and with utter sincerity and awe asked the prof how on earth they had ever DISCOVERED the names of all the planets and heavenly bodies and their features.

The kid was hyperfocused on astronomy and with learning the names of everything, but he didn't understand that the names weren't INNATE (like named by God or something), that they are a human construct/invention or "filter" if you will laid over the "known" universe.

In some ways, the kid was incredibly intelligent/keen. In other ways, not so much. "Forest for the trees" sort of thing.

I think that's fascinating, btw.

Personally I think I sometimes labor under the delusion that the more I "know," the more chance I have of somehow "controlling" my surroundings and therefor protecting myself. I say "delusion" because I know at some level this isn't true, but it's a hard habit to break. If you asked my parents they'd probably tell you I was born asking "What's that? What kind of tree is that? What's this flower called? What's that bird? What....."

I make no apologies for my curiosity - it makes my life all the richer, generally. My husband and I sometimes joke that we see and hear things other people (NTs, mostly) just don't notice - things like trees and birdsong and flowers and insects and so forth.

I'll never forget meeting my half-sister for the first time. I'd been waiting at her house for about an hour, and I passed my time watching squirrels gambol in these enormous trees in her front yard. I loved listening to the wind roaring through their leaves, and the dappled sunlight playing on the ground...it was glorious! When she arrived, I asked her what kind of trees they were, and not only did she not know, but I swear, she looked up sort of...surprised, like she'd never even noticed them before. Like, "WHAT trees?" That was my first clue that however much we wanted things to go well, we would never be "close." Then I saw her beautiful old house, with tons of gorgeous built-in bookshelves all over the living room and dining room...all of which were utterly bereft of books. *sigh*

Sorry for the tangent, but it's just fascinating to me what people "know" or find worthy of "knowing" about the world around them.

Good idea Ana54. Post the result if you make it through.