Let me say that learning from books is a great thing that we have all benefited from greatly! If fact, it would be a sad, sad world if we didn’t have books to learn from.
It’s how we learned the majority of what we know! Without the existence of book learning, we’d probably still be hunting with bows and arrow to a large degree. Without books (or any form of reading and learning system), we couldn’t have standards or controls to maintain things. Yes, learning from book is a very important need in our lives.
But…, are we stifling our creative selves within? By reading what other tell us to do or think, are we kind of experiencing a mass brainwashing effect? In some ways, if we all read the same materials that everybody reads, do we have the possibility of becoming more like human lemmings? Where we blindly follow our discipline off of a cliff?
I think that book learning is great, but you have to think and do our own experiments in life too. Or try to do something that doesn’t involve following instructions in a book! Check out the picture of very large (almost life-size) Transformers that a laid off machinist created after losing his job. He didn’t follow a book to create these mainly Halloween displays, he just did it. Later he did design a book that explained how he did it, and instruction to do the same, but wow, that’s pretty incredible.
Transformers
I bet this guy is now kind of a local hero (especially to his son and the kids in the area) in his neighborhood, if not his community. Of course he’s been on the news too!
The point is, that the guy that made these replicas of the Transformer (robots?) didn’t do so because it was in a book, or that it might not be possible. he did it by experimenting and thinking. While his example doesn’t solve any real problems in society, it does show that we don’t have to be lemmings following a preordained route to become a member of the mediocracy.
We all dream, but perhaps we should all dream and do. In the computer world, dreaming without action is call Vaporware. Step out of your societal rut and experiment in life! Personally, I did my lunch experiment and while it required more spreadsheet time and a bit more thinking than normal, the end results were very rewarding!
At age 42, Benjamin Franklin was rich and retired! He then proceeded to become an inventor. He could have become even richer, but he was already one of the rich men in America, so he never patented his stuff and gave it away to society for free.
Your experiment doesn’t have to be earth shattering! Start out small, then build up to larger and more grand experiments!
What say you?
MR
I like the idea for sure. I look forward to the day when I can be free from the requirements to put food on the table and can allow more creativity to flow.
Yep, that’s one of my biggest hurdles too! So I have to settle for simple easy to implement experiments for now…
As Will Rogers once said: “There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.” I’m a pee-on-the-fence kinda guy.
Unfortunately, I am too (and so is my son for the matter). In fact, I think I did that once as a kid at my aunt’s house (she had an electric fence to keep her cows in).
By book learning, we’re coming to understand what it already known. But when we start doing, we create something new. So not are we learning in a hands on way that sticks to our brains in a more permanent way, but we’re also contributing to the knowledge base of the world.
Anytime we step out and do something, we put at least a slightly different spin on how it’s done, and that makes a contribution. Maybe the pride we take in that is part of why we learn better by doing???
I agree! I know I learn better when I have perspective and can put all of my senses into it. It’s one thing to learn and read something like, oh let’s say riding a bike, but it’s an entire different experience once it’s tried.
I like the aspect of contributing to society, but as @cashflowmantra says, first I need to put food on the table..
At times, I think traditional education is stifling our creative abilities. Since there is pressure on teachers to improve test scores or teach to the test, it is up to parents to encourage creativity and provide outlets of your children to be creative. Expose your childre to a lot of things and they will use their imagination.
I totally agree. In some way the school system is creating drones for society, well maybe not that bad but you are right about lacking creativity.
Krantcents, I so agree. I used to think of the school as my babysitter & that my husband & I were the teachers. We exposed the kids to many “what if” conversations and gave them more experiences than the latest toys.
MR, some people would like the old apprentice system where you learned the trade & then were free to experiment with improvements. Then there is the saying, “Tell me and I forget; show me and I remember; let me do it and I understand.”
Start by following instructions in a book, but become so good that you can write your own instructions!
Doing is better than reading, reading is better than not doing!
True, but I’ve been reading all my life 😉
I would like to do something cool like the guy that made those transformer models or something like Benjamin Franklin. But for now I’ll settle for financial experiment because the are much easier to implement… Then again there is aways software to play with.
I think you learn much more from experimenting than from books. When I was in college, I always loved labs more than classes. It’s a lot more fun to create something tangible.
Yeah, me too! Reading about it or watching it on TV (or the internet) just isn’t the same. Sometimes you have to get down and dirty with it.
Some times it can be a bit more risky though! Remember Marie Curie!
this is true. that said, when possible i’d rather have the book learning as my foundation before i venture out to experiment. many mistakes can be avoided that way. the flip side is that the books will create a preconceived bias which may preclude the true creative juices from flowing. given the choice, i’d go with the earlier route.
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That is SO cool! I love Transformers! I always love hearing stories about people who get an idea and just go for it. Good for him.
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