today i learned about ...
I had an epiphany this week. The world is a huge complicated place. The stores of knowledge in the world are beyond my comprehension. There is so much I would love to know about physics, history, mathematics, psychology, computational neuroscience, information theory, anthropology, network administration, mythology, astronomy, zoology ... But, I can't know it all. I wouldn't have time to learn it all. The depth and detail available to this age is staggering. And however much I learn, I will only see more fully how little I really know compared to the vastness of human knowledge.
But then I thought, why not try anyway? I can't know everything, but I can certainly explore to the limits of my capacity. Why not pick up books on philosophy, set theory, cryptography, and ancient literature? Why not teach my self about apache, C#, and php? Why not learn a foreign language or how to fence? Some of it I can start now, some it will have to wait and some will never happen. But, I'll try. I'll read Nietzsche, Feynman, Edward Gibbon, Sun Tsu, and Henry Longfellow. I'll visit the library, search the web, quiz knowledgeable friends.
Eventually. For now, I want to make it my goal to learn something new each day. It could be something small, a factoid or trivia. Or it could be a summary of a new topic or an in depth look at something familiar. Perhaps I should keep a diary of each day to remind myself. To that end:
- Monday - I learned that late Babylonian and Persian kings would leave clay cylinders with cuneiform writing in the temples to their gods. The cylinders were left after repairs or new construction on the temple and recorded the works and deeds of the king.
- Tuesday - I learned how symmetric and public key encryption works. I now understand how we can encrypt communication over https or PGP even though neither side initially knows the other's encryption key.
- Wednesday - I learned about the difference between the major branches of Islam. Most importantly, I read about the historical events leading to the schism between Sunni and Shi'a Muslims.
- Thursday - I learned that the Roman senator, Cato the Elder, ended all his speeches with "Carthago delenda est.", which means "Cathage must be destroyed."
- Friday - Today I spent a while learning to juggle. I made only a little progress, so this will span many days of learning.
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
--Mahatma Gandhi
posted by Ryan @ 11:43 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Ryan,
I think it is awesome that you are committed to be a life-long learner. I enjoyed reading the summary of what you have learned in the past week.
John
i echo john. hen hao. being a life-long learner makes life more exciting. cool stuff you've learned this week, btw.
Here's something I learned last week. The general area is, let's say, mathematics of complex networks. But the application is to the first map of sexual liaisons in a U.S. high school. If you look at this GIF movie, you'll see a large network of relationships, the "chains of affection". Each dot is boy or girl and the lines that link them represent sexual relationships that occured. Each frame is a week and an 18-month period is covered. While most teenagers at "Jefferson High" had had just one or two partners, 288 of the 832 kids interviewed were linked in a giant sexual network (the one in the movie) which is a worst-case scenario of potential STD diffusion.
Ryan, your desire to learn a great many things is wonderful. Unfortunately, specialization has infected our world. I feel it particularly in academia, though I may try to fight it. The generalist, the "Renaissance man" who is poet, engineer, historian and philosopher is a rare breed. Nowadays we water down terms like Renaissance man by using it to refer to a medical doctor who sails and studies Prussian historian in his spare time, which is a far cry from the great generalists of old. Best wishes on this neverending endeavour.
Ryan, I think you should post every week what you've learned so that we can all learn, too.
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