[NT] how generous are you with your knowledge?

[ygolo]

How likley are you to sit down and explain or teach?

Are there certain parts of your knowledge that you gaurd from others?

I am rather likely to explain or teach. I want to be a science teacher as a second career once I retire as an engineer.

In high-school and college, I vastly preferred explaining homework solutions to other people than doing my own homework.

The knowledge I guard from others is the knowledge I am (or will be) obligated to protect by contract.

Who does knowledge belong to that we should decide who gets it and who doesn't?

Is knowledge personal?

If you express your knowledge have you somehow shown someone your soul? Like a tracking device of where you have been or where you are going?

Why hide knowledge?

How did you gain yours?

There is a concept of Intellectual Property rights. Legally IP belongs to who ever owns the rights on it.

Knowledge belongs to the person who knows. This is simply tautology.

I don't know if sharing knowledge is showing someone my soul. But perhaps the enthusiasm with some knowledge is shared is.

I would hide knowledge if I were required to by IP laws.

I gained knowledge in various ways, including: experience, thought, guided experiment, practice, insight, reading, observing, clarifying, and yes by teaching also.

 

[Owl]

Man, not one thing in that entire post made sense to me. Can I find "the glory of god" in newborn twins conjoined at the skull?...is it the gleam in their eyes? Ignorant people are dangerous...and I'm not obligated spirtually to supply matches. If God wanted them to be intelligent...should have given them smarter parents. Doesnt "he" control the universe.....how hard can it be?

The glory of God's mercy is revealed in natural evil as a call back that restrains and removes moral evil from the hearts of men.

Ignorant people are dangerous, but you disarm them by winning them over to your side through education.

Why do you think God wants everyone to be intelligent?

 

[Terian]

I'm very generous. I love to share ideas and inform people of any and all fascinating concepts. I am considering teaching Medical Biology at the graduate level when I'm finished with school, etc.

 

[The_Liquid_Laser]

How likley are you to sit down and explain or teach?

Are there certain parts of your knowledge that you gaurd from others?

I usually focus on trying to get to know a person first, and if they ask my opinion on something then I usually explain my thought process. After a while people who like that sort of thing realize I am knowledgable about a lot of things and start asking my opinion about more things. Basically I try to start off slow and let the process snowball.

 

[Haight]

If someone asks for my help in explaining something, I'll very much oblige in most cases--because if you can teach it, you also better understand it yourself.

Word to your mother.

 

[Ilah]

Philosophically, I am very much in favor of the idea of sharing knowledge. In practice though I am not so good at getting my thoughts accross to other people. I have been working on the and I think I am getting better at it, but it still takes quite a bit of effort.

I would not deliberately withhold knowledge from someone unless they were particularly nasty to me. However, since it does take time and effort for me to give an explaination I would like to know that it would at least be something the person is interested in knowing. Most people aren't interested in knowing the process of how I made something. Most people are not interested in the types of books I read. If I start to share this information in the course of normal conversation people often look a little board.

I also identify with the problem of being accused of arogant for sharing information. Also it can be concidered rude to correct someone, especially if it is some stranger we overhear giving wrong information.

I also have some problems with the knowledge v. sympathy thing. I had an experience from a co-worker who was always coming to me telling about how stressed she was. I shared my knowledge with her of different relaxation techniques, but she always left seeming annoyed. I was very puzzled until someone explained that she didn't want advice, she wanted sympathy. Not only was my advice unwanted, I am looked down on for giving advice instead of sympathy.

So I am a little cautious sometimes in giving out information, unless it is wanted.

Ilah

 

[ThatGirl]

I think ThatGirl has something to prove, to whom I have no idea.

I was thinking about the phrase The Persuit of Knowledge and it got me to thinking.

Why is knowledge a persuit? I personally don't like to share my knowledge for the fact that I believe I may somehow create a bias in someones interpretation. I like to observe how people interperate because it shows me the depths of who they are. Likewise I think that people knowing how I think can lead to misinterpretations as to who I am so I keep my knowledge on lock down to avoid sharing too much about my real views.

Then I got to thinking about how knowledge is earned not just given. To expand my own I really have to pry sometimes. Knowledge is not easilly attainable. Look at colleges and how much they charge for education. Even on the forum here it seems that you only get imput if someone is trying to help or sway you, but little knowledge is given for the sake of being given.

Why is knowledge that so many people posess a comodity. Would not the world do betting in having all resouces given.

It truely is a persuit that many have to work hard to attain. That really hinders what we are capable of.

But then I wonder if ignorance is bliss and how people who are not spiritual alter their actions for the sake of knowledge as much as people alter their actions for the sake of god, giving knowledge the same sacred respect that people give to spiritual icons. I wonder the value of the two.


Just thinking

 

[Anja]

I find it interesting that most of the responses classified the sharing of knowledge as "helping" someone.

So. Would you say something more about this?

 

[BlackOp]

The glory of God's mercy is revealed in natural evil as a call back that restrains and removes moral evil from the hearts of men.

Ignorant people are dangerous, but you disarm them by winning them over to your side through education.

Why do you think God wants everyone to be intelligent?

There is NO evil in nature. We just project our moral fantasies on it.

Winning someone over is a form of manipulation. I'm not so sure my "truth" is the truth...I possibly could be instilling a more complex set of lies. Ignorant people tend to be the happiest. Lighting things on fire/smashing things to bits can be quite cathartic. Why would I want them to be more miserable? Half the people in this country are on meds to make them "stupider"....my selfishness is saving the others money. This is my inadvertent contribution to our species.

I was joking about "god" wanting anything.......people want things. If God exists, it already has everything.

 

[Simplexity]

I think the bias aspect is what Jack Flak was hinting at and I understand that aspect fully. I think though that there needs to be sort of a mutual understanding that there is equal footing so to speak(no dismisal based purely on jealousy or perceived stupidity), that is easier said than done and it is hard to find people like that.

I think though when you are in a situation such as this, the willingness to share some of what you think may be "biased" knowledge is much greater because you value and don't necessarily forcefully try and change someones interpretation. You also trust that there will be more a mutual exchange of knowledge and insight and have a sense of striving towards something higher like actually "understanding" something instead of making arbitrary judgments/conclusions.

In terms of why it seems that a lot of this knowledge is guarded I would have to say that is more a case of an "open mindedness" barrier. I maybe should have sort of prefaced this by saying I am talking more on a 1 v 1 basis rather than a more collective or group/community oriented way. I think generally though I sort of understand where you are coming from, I think just observing and seeing someones thought processes for what it is and benefiting from that without having an intention of altering it is a pleasure we should all have the opportunity to have. Many of us however have seen how many barriers there are IRL that sort of deter us from being as open.

 

[Metamorphosis]

Unless I think it would harm me in some way, or give them an edge over me...very generous.

 

[ThatGirl]

Thanks guys for the insightful responses,


This forum rocks.

 

[Valiant]

How likley are you to sit down and explain or teach?

Are there certain parts of your knowledge that you gaurd from others?

I'm very likely to do so in real life. I'm actually studying to become a teacher in english and history, at what we call "gymnasial level" here in Sweden. Students attending the "gymnasium" are between 16 and 19-20. I might continue my studies in pedagogy and go for a PhD if i'm good enough. As it is, i'm the top student in my class of 40, though.

And yes, there is knowledge that I don't speak of. Mostly about mysticism, ancient religions and other stuff I find interesting, but not really worth wasting anyones time with. And quite frankly, I don't have anyone to talk about a lot of that stuff with. People who have read as much as I have about celtic mythology and the like are mostly weirdos who actually believe in that shit. There is probably lots of hidden pockets in various subjects that I never get to discuss. It's mostly because I never talk to someone who's enthusiastic about such things.

 

[ygolo]

I find it interesting that most of the responses classified the sharing of knowledge as "helping" someone.

So. Would you say something more about this?

I am guessing she is implying that we may actually be hindering someone by not letting them figure things out on their own.

There is some truth to that.

Jane Goodall and all.

 

[FDG]

I would say that I am fairly generous, unless I have something pressing to do.

In high-school and college, I vastly preferred explaining homework solutions to other people than doing my own homework.

LOL. Same here.

 

[miss fortune]

I enjoy telling people about things about which I'm enthusiastic- which means that I occasionally wonder if I've managed to bore customers by telling them ALL about wines, or boring my poor family and friends half to death by enthusiastically sharing any new bit of information I've learned. I've been told that the fact that I present this knowlege with the enthusiasm of a 5 year old though makes the compulsive dispensation of information signifigantly more tolerable

I just like talking about things I find interesting

 

[Owl]

There is NO evil in nature. We just project our moral fantasies on it.

Winning someone over is a form of manipulation. I'm not so sure my "truth" is the truth...I possibly could be instilling a more complex set of lies. Ignorant people tend to be the happiest. Lighting things on fire/smashing things to bits can be quite cathartic. Why would I want them to be more miserable? Half the people in this country are on meds to make them "stupider"....my selfishness is saving the others money. This is my inadvertent contribution to our species.

I was joking about "god" wanting anything.......people want things. If God exists, it already has everything.

Happiness is the effect of believing you possess that which is good. Thus, an ignorant person may believe he possesses the good and be made happy by this belief without knowing his possessions are not good. But a distinction can be made between happiness and lasting happiness, and the ignoramus will soon discover that his possessions fail to satisfy, and his happiness will fade.

 

[BlackOp]

Happiness is the effect of believing you possess that which is good. Thus, an ignorant person may believe he possesses the good and be made happy by this belief without knowing his possessions are not good. But a distinction can be made between happiness and lasting happiness, and the ignoramus will soon discover that his possessions fail to satisfy, and his happiness will fade.

Who determines anothers requirement for happiness? The fact you have to 'believe" you possess happiness makes one think it is a manufactured emotion. To me, happiness is forgetting everything I have experienced/learned and just BE. It doesnt happen very often. You will never see bliss like playing with a three year old...and he doesnt give a rats ass about Jesus. He's never heard of him....and doesnt require a stringent set of guidelines. He doesnt care about sustaining it either....nor do I. Its just a moment, stamped in time. There is something beautiful in that......We just get greedy and expect it every waking moment. We then look to manufacture the feeling and every moment thats not perfect lends itself to pretending its present....

 

[niffer]

I don't randomly spout out info everywhere I go, only if someone is actually curious or needs help. And unless they've recently pissed me off, I'd be willing to give them as much knowledge or help or explaining as they'd like, unless I was at a life-or-death level of busyness.

 

[burkeus]

In terms of why it seems that a lot of this knowledge is guarded I would have to say that is more a case of an "open mindedness" barrier. I maybe should have sort of prefaced this by saying I am talking more on a 1 v 1 basis rather than a more collective or group/community oriented way.

To me, the second sentence here (above) is precisely the reason that the first sentence is problematic. In other words, the open-mindedness barrier is the direct result of being unable to discern between the 1 to 1 basis and the group. If I know the context that I'm dealing with, I can be much more open-minded in my interaction with others. I guess I've always had this problem, though now I'm just aware of it in a completely different context than before. Being unable to discern has been and continues to be the core issue with which I struggle, regardless of context.