Knowledge For Knowledge Sake.

Has it ever occurred to you that it might just be okay for some people to spend their lives thinking? Why is it necessary for everyone to always be running around producing and consuming. Maybe the opposite would be beneficial. Produce and consume less. Where are we trying to get to so fast? If people are treated like monkeys, society can devolve.

 

Hmmm... I'll have to think about that.

 

Me too!

I'm pondering the monkey devolution thing right now.

 

good point actually, excessive inappropriate production is self destructive not only of the individual, but of the very environment that makes the existence of the species possible.
ability is useful and desirable, not for the accumulation of symbolic value, but for the gratification of creating and exploring.

"squallor", is created by trying to make everything have to be about symbolic value.

the error people make, and some people want them to, is the idea that not producing for the sake of others accumulating symbolic value,
being equated with inactivity and unwillingness to exert effort.

nothing could be further, from sitting down and figguring things out, and refusing to hate logic.

 

Why do we have to stop producing and consuming in order to think?

Because if you think about it, even monkeys consume. The need for food is a muhhfukka.

What is this thread?

 

having to anything isn't the point. smart monkeys don't charge a toll if you're not robbing from their tree.

 

I hear ya, OP. I've thought about this a lot (I guess that reveals the type of person that I am), and when I pull back and observe myself and my peers, it becomes evident that we over-encourage "hard work" as a virtuous behavior. For some reason if another person busts their ass working 100 hours a week, it warrants respect and accolades. There seems to be a culture in many of my workplaces that if you actually take days off when you are sick or need a day, then you are weak or somehow less impressive than someone who never calls out.

Personally, I work a lot. And when I used to work even more (80 plus hours per week at a very physical job), I found that I barely had time to think or develop as a person. It was always a rush on to the next task, and when I did have a rare minute off, I had to focus on resting just to get enough energy to go back to work the next day. I felt like I was stagnating personally and socially during that period. I'm a big proponent of a 35 or 30 hour work week. I think that strikes the best work/life balance and gives people enough mental time off to feed ideas and creativity. To let the mind wander into territories beyond commitments and things that need to be done.

 

Here we invented the 8 hour workday?

 

exploring how to do things, and then using that knowledge creatively, is where gratification comes from.
people expecting to get that from buying something, is the bill of goods we are sold.

 

Knowledge for knowledge sake. Yeah, I used to be like that when I was younger. I would read every book I could get my hands on even If I wasn’t interested in the subject matter; Great artists of the high renaissance, the complete works of William Shakespeare, The Biography of Richard Wagner, Great Scientists of the 20th Century, War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy, Existentialism, The Punic Wars, .....just to name a few..


Hotwater

 

had all of the first six moody'd albums on 8 track in the early 70s.

at any rate, useful knowledge for its own sake,
is a far more gratifying aesthetic then mass quantities of symbolic value,
for their own sake.

 

knowledge and money are both wasted, when not put to uses that are both creative and considerate.
and trying to make everything have to be about money, ends up wasting most of what little most people are able to get their hands on.

the value of anything is what you can do with it.

 

They can spend their lives thinking, but how will they support themselves?!

Honestly, I don't really believe that's what you were implying. As someone else said, acquiring knowledge and then using said knowledge is what gives us gratification. (it all makes sense to me now! And going to use this for arguments in the future lol) So, yea, I agree, that people could really stand to think more. I'm a thinker. I'm an overthinker actually. But no, I generally think before I act...except for posts like this. Kinda got a thought and just rolling with it. But yes, thought is so important, but it has to be challenging enough, and people are only motivated if there is some reward system in it, for instance, being able to use that knowledge. I have in the back of my mind, knowledge for knowledge sake alone is...well, I'm afraid to finish that. I don't mean to say that there isn't anything gained from just seeking knowledge. There is a practice or a habit that develops from it, aiding in easier knowledge acquisition when you really do need to know something, but all of that being said, I believe that that which we seek to know, in a general sense, should be for some sort of purpose, even if that purpose is to keep our brains sharp so as not to develop Alzheimer's, or "devolve" ( hehe yeah, admittedly I had to look that one up! ) Oh, but the Alzheimer's fear is honestly one that I have had for awhile now and why I indulge in posts like this one, so, um, thanks!


*oh, using said knowledge CREATIVELY was what was said.

 

I liked your post. Spending is supposedly good for the economy. I think I get what you're saying though.

It makes me think of something said in the film "Fight Club" towards the beginning about "never being complete".

Also, in the movie, "10 Things I Hate About You", there's a quote talking about people and their "consumer driven lives".

Me -- I rarely buy anything except food/drink other than maybe some items at a dollar store. I consider myself materialistic though. I love to shop at thrift stores and the "before mentioned" dollar stores.