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How worthy is it /really/ for a psychologist to read up on quasars?

lonelappde 7y ago
Sure that case is a stretch, but I am curious about a lot of things that would really help my career or my social goals, but I still get stuck on a garlic or arguing about Apple and Google and China on HN. I think the simple thing is that I've picked the low hanging fruit and what I need to learn and work on is hard for me to learn and work on, and I have no pressure to excel from parents and schools and potential mates, so I don't do it.
zaphar 7y ago
Is the specific knowledge about quasars useful to a psychologist? That's hard to say. But is expanding your mental toolbox and exercising you mind useful to someone who engages in primarily intellectual labor? That seems likely to the case .
netcan 7y ago
Worthiness is a sort of fundamental. It's hard to argue for or against before getting to a subjective value judgment. For the purpose of this discussion, I think it's enough to just leave it at "because the psychologist in question thinks it's worthy."
nradov 7y ago
If the bridge crew is killed in an alien attack, the spaceship's psychologist will need to use quasar navigation to return to Earth. I'm currently accepting bids on the movie script. https://newatlas.com/exomars-course-correction/44632/ https://newatlas.com/exomars-course-correction/44632/
wan23 7y ago
How worthy is it for anyone at all to study quasars if the knowledge they gain is not disseminated?
chrisco255 7y ago
I think it's important to have at least a passing understanding of the cosmos, to keep things in perspective. That's not specific to psychologists, though, really applies to anyone.
crispyambulance 7y ago
> How worthy is it /really/ for a psychologist to read up on quasars? That's a question for that particular psychologist to ask and answer for themselves. And not you nor anyone else. People have different levels of curiosity. The benefit of their curiosity isn't something that can quantified and might very well amount to nothing of any utility. That's OK. Not everything has to have an explicit ROI or "worthiness". But if you require "worthiness" consider that the psychologist might have a kid at home who has a question about quasars. What could a well-stated and intriguing answer to such a child lead to? It's impossible to say, but whatever he says it will be better than what an incurious psychologist might respond with-- "I don't know. Finish your homework and brush your teeth before going to bed".

Sure that case is a stretch, but I am curious about a lot of things that would really help my career or my social goals, but I still get stuck on a garlic or arguing about Apple and Google and China on HN. I think the simple thing is that I've picked the low hanging fruit and what I need to learn and work on is hard for me to learn and work on, and I have no pressure to excel from parents and schools and potential mates, so I don't do it.

zaphar 7y ago

Is the specific knowledge about quasars useful to a psychologist? That's hard to say. But is expanding your mental toolbox and exercising you mind useful to someone who engages in primarily intellectual labor? That seems likely to the case .

netcan 7y ago

Worthiness is a sort of fundamental. It's hard to argue for or against before getting to a subjective value judgment. For the purpose of this discussion, I think it's enough to just leave it at "because the psychologist in question thinks it's worthy."

nradov 7y ago

If the bridge crew is killed in an alien attack, the spaceship's psychologist will need to use quasar navigation to return to Earth. I'm currently accepting bids on the movie script. https://newatlas.com/exomars-course-correction/44632/ https://newatlas.com/exomars-course-correction/44632/

wan23 7y ago

How worthy is it for anyone at all to study quasars if the knowledge they gain is not disseminated?

chrisco255 7y ago

I think it's important to have at least a passing understanding of the cosmos, to keep things in perspective. That's not specific to psychologists, though, really applies to anyone.

crispyambulance 7y ago

> How worthy is it /really/ for a psychologist to read up on quasars? That's a question for that particular psychologist to ask and answer for themselves. And not you nor anyone else. People have different levels of curiosity. The benefit of their curiosity isn't something that can quantified and might very well amount to nothing of any utility. That's OK. Not everything has to have an explicit ROI or "worthiness". But if you require "worthiness" consider that the psychologist might have a kid at home who has a question about quasars. What could a well-stated and intriguing answer to such a child lead to? It's impossible to say, but whatever he says it will be better than what an incurious psychologist might respond with-- "I don't know. Finish your homework and brush your teeth before going to bed".