So does this mean I’m getting smarter or dumber?
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What then from what he's learned does J.T. Shea, or Nathan Bransford, or anyone, newly contribute to knowledge?
Maybe a little of both but mostly confused.
I'm a researcher by day and my old office used to have a sign that said, "We regret to inform you that we have not answered your questions. In fact we have generated MORE questions. But we believe these questions are on a higher plane and will lead to greater understanding."
In otherwords… yeah… you know MORE if you are more aware of all you don't know…
I officially want to find/make a sign that has the quote from Hart's office sign. It seems like the inner-working of my mind put down in a quotation.
As to your question Nathan, I'd say it makes you wiser. If you picture a wise elderly person, do you picture someone still convinced that they know all or someone convinced that they know very little regardless of their wisdom? I always picture the latter. Those who think they know all things are called adolescents. It's part of why I love my students, they are both unsure of themselves personally and incredibly sure of everything they think they know.
At least you've realized this. Some people never do.
Smarter and wiser!!! Have a listen to Dylan's "My Back Pages." He says it beautifully.:)
The older I get, the more I lie to myself. It saves a lot of trouble.
I was going to be all zen and tell you it means you are wiser…but 50 peeps told you first so nevermind!
It's like that scene in "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" when they meet Socrates.
It says here: "True wisdom lies in knowing that you know nothing." That's us, dude!
So therefore, according to Socrates, you are getting smarter. Dude.
Salima beat me to it, but I'll fill in with the Dylan quote: "But I was so much younger then; I'm younger than that now."
Teenagers are immortal and know everything. Then they start to actually learn stuff.
Smarter. You are realizing something new, thats a step in the right direction 🙂 Now you can tackle some of the stuff you don't know and make it stuff you do know.
There's some quote that I can't exactly remember, might be Einstein, to the effect that, the greater your sphere of knowledge, the larger the boundaries of your ignorance.
Something like that, anyway!
It's hereditary- remember how little your parents knew when you were a teenager?
It's hereditary- remember how little your parents knew when you were a teenager?
Wiser. Now you get to figure out more stuff. Oh and enjoy the aches and pains as the body whines about the next class.
Another good question, John Jack. And we have just the guy to answer it on the Bransforums. Polymath.
It means neither, but only that as open-minded as you are, it (your mind) continues to expand and let more possibilities in.
…yes…
Neither.
It means you're getting better.
I like what Phil said. Well said, Phil. Also, wonderful quote from Socrates given by Rane.
It's funny how, as teenagers, we all go through a phase of intoxication with our own self-perceived cleverness. But it's only when we get to the stage you've mentioned, Nathan, that we start to see the enormity of the whole picture. Awareness is everything.
I realise I know little when it comes to technology, especially. Just received a new android phone, and the learning curve is off the scale…for me. On my old phone I only needed to key in the number. Now I need a Google account and to master many tricky manoeuvres before I can just ring someone. When I was wrestling with the settings, I was given the option of tapping into someone's network down the road. I wonder if someone down the road has been given the option of tapping into my network, too.(Password protected, I know.) However, now I can download ebooks and read them on the phone. Woo.
Move over, Dick Tracy.
Hopefully, wiser.
(Proverbs 17:28)
I say we get smarter because we are less arrogant, more humble. All good.
Could it be?
Maybe it is like sailing off the end of the world thinking the world is flat…relief that you didn't fall off the end of the world, and there is a whole new world to be discovered.
"Awareness helps us see more than we could before."
word ver: nonqua (is that like a desert?)
"When we know more, we see more."
Lucy
I don't know, but at least now I know I'm not the only one.
Just more thirsty for knowledge
I think that's because the older you get, the more you realize how much there is in the world. No one can possibly know it all. Not that this stops some people from thinking they do. As long as you keep thinking you don't know it all, you're still learning. It's when you stop learning that you're in trouble.
And like the other "old folks" have commented, this feeling just seems to grow with age. Nearing 50, I just feel more and more like I don't know enough. But maybe that's because I'm job-hunting, which tends to amplify all of this in a depressing way …
Yes. You are getting one of the two. ^_-
To me, it doesn’t matter. As long as I can still see a pristine fluffy snow bank and want nothing more than to do a somersaulting flip into it, I know I’m doing just fine (regarless of whether I physically can or not). Let the questions about wisdom come and go, because they will do so forever, but never leave a pristine snow bank behind.
It happens. After a half-century of hanging around, I can sometimes realize I don't know where I left the car keys, what day my anniversary falls on, and if I remembered to take my pills. I can provide you with the name of someone who can vouch for this if you need it.
Unfortunately, it just means what it is…you're getting older…:)
Best,
T
There are two possible explanations to this saying:
1)You are smart enough to understand you don't know enough- unlike those who are extremly "dumb" to think they know everything.
2)Everytime you learn something new, you realise how much you will never know about that particular subject.
P.S- you're only 25? Or are you older and am I having my leg pulled by some of the commenters?
I take comfort in knowing that no one knows very much. But collectively, we know enough.
Not smarter, sorry friend. But more experienced and more aware.
I keep thinking about what you said, "in my old job as a literary agent…" that you enjoyed reading when you weren't forced to.
That means that the books that we read, usually published from bookstores, are indeed perfect. Hence the enjoyment. What you got as a lit agent wasn't perfect. That's intersting to me.