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Reading

Lark

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To read is the foundation of all knowledge - Knight Tenplar

Do you agree with this statement? I just saw it in a DVD I got today and thought it could be an interesting talking point.
 

Such Irony

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Not really. I do think reading is important but so much in life is best learned by experience. (I know this coming out of an intuitive's mouth).
 

Trentham

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It can be helpful, certainly, but I wouldn't necessarily call it the foundation.

Plenty of knowledgeable people in the world who aren't well-read. Knowledge is gained by any number of means...reading's only one.
 

Mole

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Compelled by Law to Read and Write

When they taught us to read, they never told us that we wouldn't be able to stop.

And so they took us out of our homes and compelled us to go to school to learn to read and write. A trauma from which we will never recover. We will die literate or else.

On the other hand no law compelled us to learn to use the telephone, the television, the radio, the ipod or the computer. We learnt to use the electronic media naturally and intuitively at home.

Literacy is the mark of Cain, the scarlet letter branded on our forehead, a curse we carry all our lives until our souls were saved by the telephone, the television, the radio, the ipod and the computer.

We sing the song electric.
 

Mole

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The Telephone Thesis

I predicted half of your post, Victor.

It's a way of thinking. And I am pleased you are halfway there.

For when you can predict the whole of my post, instead of writing your thesis, you will present your thesis over the telephone.

So instead of your thesis being a monologue, your thesis will be a dialogue, such as we are having here.

Of course it will mean changing your way of life and that of your examiners. It would mean altering the academic power structure. And it all started here on Typology Central.

I hope I will be modestly remembered in your dedication.
 

JocktheMotie

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"Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking." -AE

Might want to take that one to heart, Lark.
 

Lark

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"Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking." -AE

Might want to take that one to heart, Lark.

Who is AE and what is meant by lazy habit of thinking?
 

Valiant

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Whoever this AE is, he's partially right.
Information is not knowledge, it must be mentally digested and often practiced or used for it to become that.
Those who read too much lofty theory are often out of touch with reality, as a result of reading too much and thinking too little.

However, this has nothing to do with age, in my opinion.
Theory and practice are inseparable parts of a whole, working system.
The separation itself is an odd thing, indeed.
Which sort of is akin to the separation of opinon/belief and action.


Yes, the foundation of knowledge at an early age usually starts out with books, quite generally.
Stories, songs and today television are also sources of inspiration.
To further drive home the point of theory and practice, though...
Does not kids often go out and reenact the very things they have read about, or derivatives of what they have been told through books?
Whether it is cowboys and indians, knights and monsters, soldier versus soldier, spies, kids playing doctor...
Through this "practice" the children gain a deeper understanding of what these things feel like.
Through their imaginations they can bridge the gap of being shot with a peashooter while the adrenaline is pumping to what it feels like to be in an actual battle.
Without this, the little stories about soldiers fighting or doctors saving lives would probably mean very little.

Books, though, seem to create individuals with a more in-depth understanding of things, though, compared to the kids who are brought up only with television.
Those kids often seem to turn out less imaginative and knowledgeable, somehow.

My conclusion based on my own observations is that your assumption is correct.
In my world-view literature is the foundation of knowledge.
 

Mercurial

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To read is the foundation of all knowledge - Knight Templar

Do you agree with this statement? I just saw it in a DVD I got today and thought it could be an interesting talking point.

The capacity to learn comes first.
 

LunarMoon

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No, the ability to communicate and pass on information from generation to generation is the foundation of all knowledge. It is also the most important and distinguishable trait of our species. Knowledge existed far before the written word and it also existed for centuries within several Native American cultures that had no written language. It is also worth remembering that before the 20th century, literacy was not always as common as it is today, yet several illiterate people carried a vast amount of survival knowledge that is arguably more valuable than that of which many 21st century individuals possess.
 

Qre:us

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"Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking." -AE

Might want to take that one to heart, Lark.

Who is AE and what is meant by lazy habit of thinking?

Albert Einstein.

:rofl1: Ow, my sides are hurting. This couldn't have been better if it was scripted.
 
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