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[Kagus]

I need to learn to stop talking.

Another babbler? I feel ya, man.

[TD1]

Y'all should relocate to Babylon.

[Yoink]

It occurs to me that I haven't showered in over a week (don't worry, I use plenty of strong deodorant so that others don't need to suffer with me). I probably won't have time to do so in the morning, either. 
The fact that I have to go and do things in the morning is another cause for unhappiness. >_<

[ChairmanPoo]

I need to learn to stop talking.

Prepare "Hello! I'm an Ellenjamesian" cards

[Hanslanda]

I need to learn to stop talking.

Another babbler? I feel ya, man.

Yeah I have a habit of spewing facts constantly about everything. I'm a pseudointellectual.

[scriver]

I'm a pseudodactylectual

[George_Chickens]

im a pseudoballchinian

[Kagus]

I'm a pseudodactylectual

You claim to have fingered people, when you really haven't?

...yeah, fair enough, I've known folks like that.

I need to learn to stop talking.

Another babbler? I feel ya, man.

Yeah I have a habit of spewing facts constantly about everything. I'm a pseudointellectual.

I was at a little gathering (trying to explain the familial relation would just confuse matters, so I'll leave it alone) back in early fall of last year, and I was chatting a bit with the hostess about various topics. I also have a tendency to remember Fun Facts about all sorts of random things, and this was making itself rather evident.

Then the hostess hit me with a big question; is it meaningful to accumulate knowledge that is not specifically related to one's trade/hobbies?

She made the argument that to pursue and devote time and thought towards "inconsequential" knowledge was a waste of resources, and unnecessary.


It kinda took me back a bit. I mean, I've met plenty of people who don't have the same curiosity and general "flypaper-mind" configuration that I do, but I have never heard someone specifically argue that it's "wrong" to pick up information that can't be actively applied to one's field(s).

It was a viewpoint so alien I couldn't even really grasp it. Sure, it's one thing to say that it's better to focus on applicable knowledge than to wander off into trivia, but to say that it's preferable to not possess knowledge than to possess "useless" knowledge? The whole concept struck me as anathema.

[George_Chickens]

I'm a pseudodactylectual

You claim to have fingered people, when you really haven't?

The pride I feel for finally fingering my father's killer is dampened only by the fact that I promised to kill my father's killer. I fingered myself. To death.

[methylatedspirit]

What? That kind of viewpoint exists? I mean, sure, I'm very much on team "gather any knowledge", but that's because I can't know what knowledge can somehow be manipulated into useful problem-solving tools before I encounter the problem. That is because, well, I don't have precognitive abilities; I can't see into the damn future with enough precision and accuracy to know every single problem I will have to solve in future. If I knew that, I'd be living a life entirely foreign to me. I'd be far, far easier than the one I'm living, but it's like some kind of hell to me to even consider.

[hector13]

You should've hit back with "what if your hobby is collecting trivial information?" 'cause that makes you smart.

A lot of the inconsequential information I've picked up has been from playing video games.

[Hanslanda]

Weirdly that IS my hobby. And I think all knowledge is valuable, intrinsically. Just because it's not of immediate benefit to you does not mean it will never be beneficial.

[JoshuaFH]

Knowledges tend to all be interconnected, and all specialities benefit from the perspectives that are inherent to other specialities, so honestly being as open minded as possible is the best way to go.

[scriver]

I think the real question is - when does knowledge change into knewledge?

[Yoink]

I wish I could freely browse all the inconsequential knowledge that's kicking about in my head. Instead, for the most part it will just bubble to the surface during a relevant conversation/train of thought when something reminds me of it.