Thinking you are so smart...but you're really stupid

[Iamme]

I have noticed, over time, on several message boards, that there seems to be a lot of intelligent posters....who are posting all the time!

I am often guilty of this very thing. I can sit here for hours. I can sneek over to my friends computer, to read/post, when I should be working.

While I have been here online, a guy I know, who has no interest in 'wasting time' online, is out working from early morning, to dark. Even on Saturday.

The time will come in a few short years, where the day of reckoning will come. That day is retirement day. I got thinking that while I have have been online trying to debate most likely bogus mediumship, and discussing such things as woowoos...or even more scientific matters for which nobody really seems to have an answer....that while I am skipping out on work...this other guy is making a fortune, and is setting himself up for life.

I have come up to such people as him and said, "So, Bob...have you ever wondered what hapopens to light from a star, that is at the outer reaches of the known universe...what happens to the light that shines AWAY from the rest of the universe (out into the vast reaches of nothingness)? (Bob, with queer look on his face) "Noooooo?" Or, I can bring up some other heady topic like crop circles or mediums puporting to be in touch with the dead...or whatever. Same response from the Bob's of the world. They'll simply say something like, "Ya. RIGHT!" And they might follow it up by, "You don't seriously waste your time on this stuff do you?"

Now another direction this thread could take has to do with the following: Some people are so smart in a certain field, that they neglect to simply think of something else that might solve a problem better. I'll make up some example so that you understand what I am talking about: Say that some guy is some microbiologist who works for Georgia-Pacific. They are working on various chemicals or moleular arrangements, or genetic altering in order to create a wood product imprevious to moisture problems. They are using all kinds of high tech lab gizmos and playing around with all kinds of goodies in the lab, and out in the field. Meanwhile, some kitchen table inventor somewhere comes up with some simple solution. He figures the best way is to make the product out of plastic. Duh! Here these really, really, high I.Q. Ph.D.'s are channeling all their brain power into the tree...and they proverbally can't see the forest through the trees...er, the plastic. See what I mean?

 

[LFTKBS]

I think you're talking about two different things here. The first is essentially a critique of those who spend time being "productive" v. those who hang out on the forum. I submit that a) occasionally, the forum helps me get answers that I might not otherwise have had (q.v. The Lucifer Principle thread) and b) that sometimes false beliefs are dismantled (q.v. Ruby). I further submit that the forum is entertaining and free. Sometimes better than paying $8 to see a bad movie.

I don't know how much time you spend here, but I manage to handle my affairs despite the siren call of the JREF board.

And the second thing has more to do with innovation, which I'll let someone else take a shot at.

 

[Wile E. Coyote]

I like the saying, "Nobody at their death bed ever looks back on their life and says, 'You know, I wish I had worked more."

I am young and healthy. I have my mind and I have a great family. I have enough income to be happy now. I could die tomorrow or in 80 years. There is no telling.

Working away your golden years in the hope that you will be well off in your old age seems odd to me. I'd rather spread my good memories throughout my entire life than in the waning years, too beaten down by age to enjoy it all.

 

[Phil]

. . . I don't know how much time you spend here, but I manage to handle my affairs despite the siren call of the JREF board. . .

Well said. And since I have some affairs to handle, I'm out for a while.

 

[Peter Jenkins]

Get a job in IT with a free, fast internet connection. There you have the best of both worlds.
I would hate to think my life was nothing more than working dawn 'til dusk. That's the pits. How about if your friend drops dead on the same day he retires. Bug**r that for a laugh.
How about if he gets taken in by a 'free energy' investment scam and spends all his savings on some conman's fantasy?
These forums provide entertainment, intellectual stimulation and information that I wouldn't find elsewhere.
Good luck to your friend. I'm sure he'll be able to rest easy.......one day.
Peter

 

[Peter Jenkins]

Now another direction this thread could take has to do with the following: Some people are so smart in a certain field, that they neglect to simply think of something else that might solve a problem better. I'll make up some example so that you understand what I am talking about: Say that some guy is some microbiologist who works for Georgia-Pacific. They are working on various chemicals or moleular arrangements, or genetic altering in order to create a wood product imprevious to moisture problems. They are using all kinds of high tech lab gizmos and playing around with all kinds of goodies in the lab, and out in the field. Meanwhile, some kitchen table inventor somewhere comes up with some simple solution. He figures the best way is to make the product out of plastic. Duh! Here these really, really, high I.Q. Ph.D.'s are channeling all their brain power into the tree...and they proverbally can't see the forest through the trees...er, the plastic. See what I mean?

Well, three cheers to the guys who invented plastics.

Ok, I think I can see what you're saying, and its true that there are people spending time and effort on research which is trivial. However, I think they are in the very, very small minority.
Or, are you saying that we should all sit back on our butts and rely on the products that have already been invented?
Peter

 

[Iamme]

Wile E. Coyote---Cute.

But in reality, I would say that THIS is how it works: When you are young, you are into the here and now. Eat drink and be merry. Then, as you age, you decide that you had better quit those nasty habits and start to shape up, because you are feeling the onset of aging and know you soon won't be able to do what you now are able to do. They start to put their financial affairs in better order. Then, when someone is on their deathbed, they are more than likely going to reflect as to WHY they are on their deathbed. They will probably realize that if they didn't think they were so smart...so know-it-allish...that if they had quit smoking sooner...didn't drink as much...and ate better(more fruits and vegatables)...not so many burgers and greasy chicken...and had chewed their food 32 times...drank more water...and had brushed their teeth better...that perhaps they wouldn't be in the mess that they find themselves in now.

 

[Suddenly]

I get all my work done despite JREF, and JREF is usually just the thing to jar the gray matter out of some writers block. As I write this I can almost feel the back of my mind processing a "voluntary confession" issue.


But then again, considering what happens when I do well at work, I'm gonna guess there are those that would rather I spend all my time here instead of working.