Reading 2
Informing ourselves to death. An interesting thought. I thought it was so cool when Socrates and thinkers of his day could learn about everything. They were studying math, science, history, philosophy, astronomy, and creating so much for these fields. Now to even get a basic understanding in all fields is pretty much impossible.
I think the author misses one point. Many many many people in the world have the exact same type of belief system that existed in the middle ages. And what difference does it make if 10,000 angels can dance on a pin head because God made it that way, and the chair was made out of a herring because God made it possible?
I think that the author of the document is correct in pointing out that information does nothing for us, unless we reflect on it. It won't take away starvation in Kenya, but if everyone in Kenya started reading philosophy (which I think is the cure to everything) they would get wisdom. With wisdom, comes peace and understanding. They would then stop accepting our debilitating handouts, fix their economy we keep breaking, stop fighting each other, and eat. Wisdom is what hasn't increased since the middle ages. Knowledge has. We need to figure out how to turn that knowledge into wisdom.
What he fails to point out is technology gives us the chance to find wisdom. Before we got agriculture and community, we were too busy fighting for out lives to have time to reflect. Now we have all we need to become better people. The problem? It's not just information technology brings. It's also distraction, addicting distraction, that keeps us from processing the information into anything useful. Its not the computers, but the games!!
It was a great article. I wish everyone who works with computers would have a chance to read it.
I think the author misses one point. Many many many people in the world have the exact same type of belief system that existed in the middle ages. And what difference does it make if 10,000 angels can dance on a pin head because God made it that way, and the chair was made out of a herring because God made it possible?
I think that the author of the document is correct in pointing out that information does nothing for us, unless we reflect on it. It won't take away starvation in Kenya, but if everyone in Kenya started reading philosophy (which I think is the cure to everything) they would get wisdom. With wisdom, comes peace and understanding. They would then stop accepting our debilitating handouts, fix their economy we keep breaking, stop fighting each other, and eat. Wisdom is what hasn't increased since the middle ages. Knowledge has. We need to figure out how to turn that knowledge into wisdom.
What he fails to point out is technology gives us the chance to find wisdom. Before we got agriculture and community, we were too busy fighting for out lives to have time to reflect. Now we have all we need to become better people. The problem? It's not just information technology brings. It's also distraction, addicting distraction, that keeps us from processing the information into anything useful. Its not the computers, but the games!!
It was a great article. I wish everyone who works with computers would have a chance to read it.
posted by Nika at
2:20 PM
