Storage capacity on my Mental Harddrive

[starry night]

Remember, I'm still new to this - just having RE'd last month (3-15-06), so many of you have undoubtedly made these discoveries that I am reaching daily.......

I was sitting happily in the Library this morning perusing Sy Hersh's piece in The New Yorker ('cause we don't subscribe -- get it free at Library) on the Bush Admin's push toward Iran, when I paused to contemplate "How great is this, that I have time to fill my brain with ever more issues, news, current events. While I was shackled to the work-a-day world my mind was filled with so much USELESS flotsam -- which is now jetsam.

I mean really, all that product knowledge, procedures, customer data, rules, regulations, policies, database maintenance, corporate contacts, contracts, underwriting, accounting -- it was seemingly essential THEN, and I was good at it and well-thought-of, but REALLY!!!! - it's just so much SOUND AND FURY -- SIGNIFYING NOTHING-----NOTHING!! Jettison that from my hard drive, I've got more possibilities to explore, discover, know!

I know some people may fear that the "R" word means surrendering to atrophy of the intellect, but NOOOOO - it is mind-expanding and makes room for the input of what we WANT to study and consider, not the temporary mastery of job detail. That all seems to matter so little now. And I find this realization a bit pathetic, that what seemed so essential, necessary and important really wasn't. OK, so I helped to serve the customer, and others still carry that on and on in my absence, but in hindsight it seems so meaningless, monotonous, even futile. Not the part of my life, my intellect or my essence that adds value or growth or understanding.

I get to spend more time with our local news and issues, read WSJ for much more than industry competitive info, study other issues, contemplate, discuss things that matter to me instead of briefing yet another business meeting on stuff that doesn't make my life whole.

So, when the unknowing, yet well-meaning, say to me "Aren't you afraid you'll be wasting your brain by not having the stimulation of your job HA, HA, HA, and au contraire.

......It keeps getting better each day.....

[Nords]

Originally Posted by Starry Night

While I was shackled to the work-a-day world my mind was filled with so much USELESS flotsam -- which is now jetsam.*

Let me know when you figure out how to reformat-- or at least delete & defrag. I've had operating & casualty procedures rattling around in my brain for nuclear reactors that have been out of commission for over a decade, and they still wake me up at night...

[lazygood4nothinbum]

the ability to understand will always serve you better than the capacity for knowledge.

[Nords]

Originally Posted by lazygood4nothinbum

the ability to understand will always serve you better than the capacity for knowledge.

Oh, thanks a lot. You remind me of a physics prof who used to say "You don't need to know that formula for the final exam because you can always derive it from Maxwell's equations"...

I don't think human understanding will ever replace human heuristics, or else a whole lot of behavioral psychologists would quite logically have chosen some other field that actually had investors to study.

[lazygood4nothinbum]

the humanity i see is not quite always so mechanical. for me there are many ways to understanding. trial and error being just one.

for some, a concept might be hard to grasp. for others the challenge is letting go. grasping is knowledge. letting go is understanding. knowledge is the weaker force, because as much as knowledge can be filled with fact it can be fraught with fiction. while there may be misunderstanding based on wrong knowledge, the ability to understand is still the stronger force because if you understand, a little correct knowledge goes a long way; but if you do not understand at all, then all the knowledge in the world will not serve you. you would be the rain man.

[flipstress]

Hello, Starry Night!* Congrats on your retirement!

I love to read and long for the day when I can do so and just learn about stuff that's interesting to me, rather than needing to go through work documentation and manuals.

A few years ago, I read an article about a woman in town who knew that all she really wanted in life was to read, so she arranged her life so that she worked minimally and spent most of her time reading.* While I would not go to that extreme, I admire her being able to decide what was important to her and concentrate on how to do more of it.

I'm happy for you, and thanks for reminding us about the mental stimulation and pleasures awaiting in retirement.

[starry night]

Thanks for the input.....I especially appreciate the concept of knowledge vs. understanding. It makes me see knowledge (i.e. factual data) as the static, while understanding is the dynamic.

So, Yoda, seek I shall both knowledge and understanding (but first of all Understanding) and hope to find WISDOM along the way.

[flipstress]

Originally Posted by Starry Night

Thanks for the input.....I especially appreciate the concept of knowledge vs. understanding.* It makes me see knowledge (i.e. factual data) as the static, while understanding is the dynamic.*

I remember reading about crystallized and liquid intelligence, so I googled liquid intelligence, but found out it's called "fluid intelligence".* (Liquid Intelligence is a marketing agency for beverages.)

"Fluid intelligence is a kind of raw learning ability that can influence the speed and amount that someone learns. Crystallized intelligence is based on stored knowledge and experience. Both kinds of intelligence are important in life success. "

Here's a chart which shows that we add more to our crystallized intelligence as we get older.
http://www.psy.pdx.edu/PsiCafe/Overh...idVCrystal.htm

[lazygood4nothinbum]

Originally Posted by Starry Night

It makes me see knowledge (i.e. factual data) as the static, while understanding is the dynamic.*

already the wise grasshoppa

the thing about adding more ram is you don't have to access the harddrive so much. and being a lazygood4nothinbum, that works for me.

while it seems it would be harder to grasp than to let go, letting go can be more difficult because the nature of survival leans towards grasping. it is easier to grasp while falling than to trust a net will appear.

in such a dualistic vision, the problem with letting go, of course, is that you can wind up understanding everything and knowing nothing. and though that tends to lead to a rather amusing life, where the trick is balance, probably it is best to work towards being neither idiot savant nor laughing idiot. i tend towards to the laughter in life though i usually try my best not to get anyone too nervous. if i get in a mood though, feel free to reign me in.

But the fool on the hill,
Sees the sun going down.
And the eyes in his head,
See the world spinning 'round

[lazygood4nothinbum]

Originally Posted by flipstress

Here's a chart which shows that we add more to our crystallized intelligence as we get older.

hmmm. and i thought that was just alzheimer's liquifying my brain.

[flipstress]

Originally Posted by lazygood4nothinbum

hmmm. and i thought that was just alzheimer's liquifying my brain.

I was having fun*substituting "fossilized versus liquified intelligence" for "crystallized versus fluid intelligence".*

My fossilized intelligence is liquifying as I get older, draining through my sieve-like mind.*