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Why some people so OBSESSED with books in a dangerous way?
I believe education is very important. I believe most intelligent people would say knowledge is more important than ignorance. It's the bread of the mind. Many great minds recommended to get a fresh perspective on things, reading can help. However it seems like some take it to the point where they're so extremely obsessed with books that it messes up their thinking, like a glass bowl dropped on the floor.
Just as a house needs a foundation before being built, I'll need to provide some context before asking my question. I'm just trying to see what others think about all this.
Okay, one instance: For example I was thinking about how Newton's Law of Gravitation said all matter is attracted to all other matter (and of course based on how much matter it has and how far away it is). Of course Einstein came along and did his magic with adjustments to the Universal Law, but it's still quite close to the truth. So I decided to think of experiments to test this gravitation concept myself, not because I doubt it's true but because I want to understand it better from a hands on perspective So I imagined to myself that in outer space objects which are close to each other tend to be drawn towards one another (example artificial satellites can affect rocks very close in space), and weightlessness just means they're free falling, or to be more precise moving in a straight line through Einstein's spacetime. So to test this gravitation between objects, I brainstormed that maybe I could drop two really heavy metal balls off of a 300 foot cliff into very fine sand below and measure the distance above and below to see if there was any attraction to each other. Of course things fall to the very center of the Earth and so they come to each other eventually, but that doesn't happen at 300 feet but only the center of the Earth. So I told someone really into Physics and he told me, "Gravitation is so weak. I could be wrong, but I really don't think your IDEA will work." I told another person in Physics and he told me to not question Science. I told him I was just trying to grasp at a deeper level and hands on experience, and he again told me not to question. So then I told someone who doesn't know anything about Science and he said, "Nope, not from a book." Me, "I didn't get this idea from a book." Him, "Gravitation is in a book. Mass is in a book. Free fall is in a book. Objects in space are in a book." It sounded like he was so obsessed with books that it messed up critical thinking.
I'm confused, one side basically told me my IDEA was not going to work, and even brushed it aside by saying "Your idea", but the other side was accusing it of being from a BOOK. Oh my gosh, why can't people be allowed to brainstorm now a days? I mean, aren't all ideas just combinations of already existing ideas, but in different ways? You can't build a brick wall without any bricks, or even think out of a vacuum. What's wrong with hands on experience? Why can't people just give useful feedback that will help, rather than saying, "Not from a book"? I mean, in college, when a professor gives a class a critical thinking essay, he expects the class to use technical vocabulary words from the field of study. Does that mean the students aren't thinking for themselves but rather mindlessly regurgitating a book because they use technical words and already existing concepts? When someone in Physics gets a PHD, they use technical vocabulary words that already existed in the field, does that mean the doctoral student was from a book? When someone gets a Nobel Prize, they use scientific concepts which already exist (for example those getting prizes will integrate already existing concepts like "electrons", "matter", "energy"). Does that mean they were regurgitating a book? How do you get people to understand that thinking for yourself is more important than books, or their phrase "Not from a book"?
I believe education is very important. I believe most intelligent people would say knowledge is more important than ignorance. It's the bread of the mind. Many great minds recommended to get a fresh perspective on things, reading can help. However it seems like some take it to the point where they're so extremely obsessed with books that it messes up their thinking, like a glass bowl dropped on the floor.
Just as a house needs a foundation before being built, I'll need to provide some context before asking my question. I'm just trying to see what others think about all this.
Okay, one instance: For example I was thinking about how Newton's Law of Gravitation said all matter is attracted to all other matter (and of course based on how much matter it has and how far away it is). Of course Einstein came along and did his magic with adjustments to the Universal Law, but it's still quite close to the truth. So I decided to think of experiments to test this gravitation concept myself, not because I doubt it's true but because I want to understand it better from a hands on perspective So I imagined to myself that in outer space objects which are close to each other tend to be drawn towards one another (example artificial satellites can affect rocks very close in space), and weightlessness just means they're free falling, or to be more precise moving in a straight line through Einstein's spacetime. So to test this gravitation between objects, I brainstormed that maybe I could drop two really heavy metal balls off of a 300 foot cliff into very fine sand below and measure the distance above and below to see if there was any attraction to each other. Of course things fall to the very center of the Earth and so they come to each other eventually, but that doesn't happen at 300 feet but only the center of the Earth. So I told someone really into Physics and he told me, "Gravitation is so weak. I could be wrong, but I really don't think your IDEA will work." I told another person in Physics and he told me to not question Science. I told him I was just trying to grasp at a deeper level and hands on experience, and he again told me not to question. So then I told someone who doesn't know anything about Science and he said, "Nope, not from a book." Me, "I didn't get this idea from a book." Him, "Gravitation is in a book. Mass is in a book. Free fall is in a book. Objects in space are in a book." It sounded like he was so obsessed with books that it messed up critical thinking.
I'm confused, one side basically told me my IDEA was not going to work, and even brushed it aside by saying "Your idea", but the other side was accusing it of being from a BOOK. Oh my gosh, why can't people be allowed to brainstorm now a days? I mean, aren't all ideas just combinations of already existing ideas, but in different ways? You can't build a brick wall without any bricks, or even think out of a vacuum. What's wrong with hands on experience? Why can't people just give useful feedback that will help, rather than saying, "Not from a book"? I mean, in college, when a professor gives a class a critical thinking essay, he expects the class to use technical vocabulary words from the field of study. Does that mean the students aren't thinking for themselves but rather mindlessly regurgitating a book because they use technical words and already existing concepts? When someone in Physics gets a PHD, they use technical vocabulary words that already existed in the field, does that mean the doctoral student was from a book? When someone gets a Nobel Prize, they use scientific concepts which already exist (for example those getting prizes will integrate already existing concepts like "electrons", "matter", "energy"). Does that mean they were regurgitating a book? How do you get people to understand that thinking for yourself is more important than books, or their phrase "Not from a book"?
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