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To add, as much as I love university... it was mostly a waste of time for me. Paradoxically, the humanities are now more interesting because I am older and seek

To add, as much as I love university... it was mostly a waste of time for me. Paradoxically, the humanities are now more interesting because I am older and seeking to understand what the fuck is reality. I'm of the opinion we need to split school in a way where young people focus first on how to be useful, then be useful for a period of time. From here, humanities are more relevant once one has enough wealth and time to appreciate it.

paganel 7y ago
> Paradoxically, the humanities are now more interesting because I am older and seeking to understand what the fuck is reality. I’m in the same boat as you, I for myself am a former CS student now approaching 40. Up until my late 20s - early 30s I was really trying to absorb almost anything I could that was CS-related and which I reguarded as interesting (for example I used to spend time reading lambda-the-ultimate even though I had never written a compiler and most of the stuff written in there was way over my head), but since then I’ve started realizing that reality (and human interactions) is (are) a lot more complex and difficult to understand compared to anything CS-related. I have since started using some of my CS “skills” in order to further understand said “reality”, as part of some personal projects of mine.
mlthoughts2018 7y ago
Focusing exclusively on how to be useful to corporations or governments will cost society too much. We have to also focus on how to be useful to effect change, exemplify upstanding moral and ethical behavior, question authorities, etc. How to be good friends, good parents, good civic participants. How to express sympathy, how to understand cultures and ways of life different from our own, and we need to start this learning process early in life! If someone doesn’t start undertaking study of the humanities until “one has enough wealth and time to appreciate it” this would be a disastrous outcome for the future of hunanity, let alone also frankly something of a wasted life for people who pursue it in that order.
- mathgladiator 7y ago
  Here, I mean useful period and I include carpentry in that along with car repair or dealing with the electrical box. That is, have a reasonable fallback or be at least useful to neighbors in times of need.

paganel 7y ago

> Paradoxically, the humanities are now more interesting because I am older and seeking to understand what the fuck is reality. I’m in the same boat as you, I for myself am a former CS student now approaching 40. Up until my late 20s - early 30s I was really trying to absorb almost anything I could that was CS-related and which I reguarded as interesting (for example I used to spend time reading lambda-the-ultimate even though I had never written a compiler and most of the stuff written in there was way over my head), but since then I’ve started realizing that reality (and human interactions) is (are) a lot more complex and difficult to understand compared to anything CS-related. I have since started using some of my CS “skills” in order to further understand said “reality”, as part of some personal projects of mine.

mlthoughts2018 7y ago

Focusing exclusively on how to be useful to corporations or governments will cost society too much. We have to also focus on how to be useful to effect change, exemplify upstanding moral and ethical behavior, question authorities, etc. How to be good friends, good parents, good civic participants. How to express sympathy, how to understand cultures and ways of life different from our own, and we need to start this learning process early in life! If someone doesn’t start undertaking study of the humanities until “one has enough wealth and time to appreciate it” this would be a disastrous outcome for the future of hunanity, let alone also frankly something of a wasted life for people who pursue it in that order.

mathgladiator 7y ago
Here, I mean useful period and I include carpentry in that along with car repair or dealing with the electrical box. That is, have a reasonable fallback or be at least useful to neighbors in times of need.