View previous topic :: View next topic |
Author |
Message |
McGruff Tux's lil' helper


Joined: 28 Dec 2004 Posts: 148
|
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 11:51 am Post subject: |
|
|
I want to learn how to photosynthesise. I could spend my life travelling the world (so long as it's somewhere sunny and they don't object to green men) and never have to work again. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Bones McCracker Veteran


Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 1609 Location: U.S.A.
|
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 12:22 pm Post subject: |
|
|
mcgruff wrote: | I want to learn how to photosynthesise. I could spend my life travelling the world (so long as it's somewhere sunny and they don't object to green men) and never have to work again. |
That's a good answer.
How do you travel the world with roots, though? Or, would you be floating in a nutrient bath?
Hemmed. There is a yew tree that travels around, in Toothless. It rides around on a giant cart drawn by a zombie horde. But I think it lives off blood. (Great book, by the way.) _________________
patrix_neo wrote: | The human thought: I cannot win.
The ratbrain in me : I can only go forward and that's it. |
|
|
Back to top |
|
 |
sikpuppy n00b


Joined: 12 Jun 2012 Posts: 34 Location: Central Coast, NSW
|
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 1:08 pm Post subject: |
|
|
mcgruff wrote: | I want to learn how to photosynthesise. I could spend my life travelling the world (so long as it's somewhere sunny and they don't object to green men) and never have to work again. |
Like a Triffid. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
nomilieu n00b


Joined: 22 Nov 2011 Posts: 24
|
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 1:58 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Prenj wrote: | When the company I worked for (too much I must add, was shareholder too, talk about addict) went bust in 2010, I moved to Balkans, and went from 125kg to 92 in one year. No diet, except access to fresh fruits and vegetables (there is still large organic market, traditional kinda), warm climate, plenty of mountains to climb, and lots of water to drink. Haven't eaten anything that comes out of the box or geometrically shaped package in 2 years. |
Oh yeah, I forgot this is an international board. My numbers were in pounds (being in the USA and all) and took place over about four months.
Fruits and vegetables are fine and tasty, but I have trouble balancing them in my diet. I tried for a few days to go without meat and realized I was starving myself even though I was stuffing my face with veggies all day. I just couldn't get enough calories. So, I eat a lot of chicken and probably way too many egg whites. Sometimes I dump a bunch of egg whites into a bowl, swirl in some hot sauce, and just microwave it (stirring in the middle of cook time).
Maybe "healthy eating" would be a nice skill from the mind upload. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Dr.Willy Guru

Joined: 15 Jul 2007 Posts: 502 Location: NRW, Germany
|
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 2:37 pm Post subject: Re: I know Kung Fu! |
|
|
BoneKracker wrote: | You know that scene in The Matrix where Neo is plugged into the learning machine, and he suddenly says, "I know Kung Fu!""?
If you could have one go at that machine, to learn one subject (of current human knowledge), what would you choose? |
I thought about this for a while and all I came up with were things that earn money one way or the other. Boring.
Ignoring all these, we get to the fun stuff.
Like languages. If I had a chance to just 'know' all major languages plus some antique languages, boy that would be awesome.
Oh, and drawing. Drawing because it's something that I always kinda wanted to learn but never had enough incentive to actually sit down and grab pen and paper for more than a little scribbeling.
That said, Kung Fu isn't such a terrible choice either. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
notageek Tux's lil' helper


Joined: 05 Jun 2008 Posts: 133 Location: India
|
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 2:43 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Sheesh _________________ "Defeat is a state of mind. No one is ever defeated, until defeat has been accepted as a reality." -- Bruce Lee |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Old School Apprentice


Joined: 20 Nov 2004 Posts: 245 Location: West Bank of the Coast Fork
|
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 3:35 pm Post subject: |
|
|
mcgruff wrote: | I want to learn how to photosynthesise. I could spend my life travelling the world (so long as it's somewhere sunny and they don't object to green men) and never have to work again. |
You do remind me of a vegetative state at times. _________________ The Future Ain't What It Used To Be
Christmas Lights Are Like Jeffrey Epstein, They Don't Hang Themselves.
The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.
George Orwell |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
McGruff Tux's lil' helper


Joined: 28 Dec 2004 Posts: 148
|
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 3:47 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I heard that. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
BonezTheGoon Bodhisattva


Joined: 14 Jun 2002 Posts: 1379 Location: Albuquerque, NM -- birthplace of Microsoft and Gentoo
|
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 9:10 pm Post subject: |
|
|
mcgruff wrote: | I want to learn how to photosynthesise. I could spend my life travelling the world (so long as it's somewhere sunny and they don't object to green men) and never have to work again. |
Must resist temptation to reference taking being "green" too far . . . . . _________________
pjp wrote: | The greater evil is voting for the "lesser evil." |
|
|
Back to top |
|
 |
pjp Administrator


Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 18159
|
Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 1:49 am Post subject: |
|
|
BoneKracker wrote: | That's a good answer. | Interesting. I was thinking you meant more within the laws of nature, etc. _________________ Those who know what's best for us must rise and save us from ourselves. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
McGruff Tux's lil' helper


Joined: 28 Dec 2004 Posts: 148
|
Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 2:26 am Post subject: |
|
|
Although we don't know how to do it - yet - it is actually within the laws of nature to engineer human skin cells with photosynthetic organelles. Organic chemistry is a whole little lego-land of lego bricks which can be assembled into almost anything you can imagine. Assuming we can continue to maintain a technological civilisation (not something we should take for granted), it's only a matter of time before we start genetically-engineering ourselves.
Probably not to photosynthesise though. I'm pretty sure that, with the energy requirements of a large mammal, we wouldn't have anything like enough surface area. We'd have to grow giant, bat-like wings and hang them out in the sun to feed. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Bones McCracker Veteran


Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 1609 Location: U.S.A.
|
Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 3:44 am Post subject: |
|
|
pjp wrote: | BoneKracker wrote: | That's a good answer. | Interesting. I was thinking you meant more within the laws of nature, etc. |
Yeah, I did. You're right; I said "contemporary human knowledge".
Sorry, mcgruff, but fail. How about something currently known? _________________
patrix_neo wrote: | The human thought: I cannot win.
The ratbrain in me : I can only go forward and that's it. |
Last edited by Bones McCracker on Fri Oct 05, 2012 4:22 am; edited 1 time in total |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Old School Apprentice


Joined: 20 Nov 2004 Posts: 245 Location: West Bank of the Coast Fork
|
Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 4:01 am Post subject: |
|
|
Interesting thread BoneKracker. The more I think about it, the more I am tending towards languages.
I just learned Shoshone. _________________ The Future Ain't What It Used To Be
Christmas Lights Are Like Jeffrey Epstein, They Don't Hang Themselves.
The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.
George Orwell |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Old School Apprentice


Joined: 20 Nov 2004 Posts: 245 Location: West Bank of the Coast Fork
|
Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 4:04 am Post subject: |
|
|
I just learned how to fly a Super Hornet. _________________ The Future Ain't What It Used To Be
Christmas Lights Are Like Jeffrey Epstein, They Don't Hang Themselves.
The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.
George Orwell |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Bones McCracker Veteran


Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 1609 Location: U.S.A.
|
Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 4:21 am Post subject: |
|
|
Learning to fly would be a good choice, I think.
I think if I were limited to one choice, I'd pick something I could actually make use of that I could/would not otherwise learn. Maybe a fine art that I lack the talent for, like playing the violin.
I suppose investing might be a more productive thing to have mastery of. _________________
patrix_neo wrote: | The human thought: I cannot win.
The ratbrain in me : I can only go forward and that's it. |
|
|
Back to top |
|
 |
dmitchell Veteran


Joined: 17 May 2003 Posts: 1159 Location: Austin, Texas
|
Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2012 4:30 am Post subject: |
|
|
The problem with this idea is that mastering something is an achievement, but using such a machine is not. In skipping over years of hard work, you also miss the sense of accomplishment.
That said, probably either math or piano. _________________ Your argument is invalid. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
pjp Administrator


Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 18159
|
Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 12:17 am Post subject: |
|
|
dmitchell wrote: | In skipping over years of hard work, you also miss the sense of accomplishment. | I don't think I have ever pursued something for the sense of accomplishment. Ever. _________________ Those who know what's best for us must rise and save us from ourselves. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Dr.Willy Guru

Joined: 15 Jul 2007 Posts: 502 Location: NRW, Germany
|
Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 12:24 am Post subject: |
|
|
dmitchell wrote: | The problem with this idea is that mastering something is an achievement, but using such a machine is not. In skipping over years of hard work, you also miss the sense of accomplishment. |
I'd disagree. First of all we pretty much agreed that you can't just use this machine and dump the entirety of human knowledge into your head.
Secondly how do you feel (re: sense of accomplishment) towards picking up the english language? |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Muso Veteran


Joined: 22 Oct 2002 Posts: 1002 Location: The Holy city of Honolulu
|
Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 7:08 am Post subject: |
|
|
Liszt's technique. _________________ "You can lead a horticulture but you can't make her think" ~ Dorothy Parker
"It's not a big truck. It's a series of tubes." ~ Senator Ted Stevens describing the Internet |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
aidanjt Veteran


Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 1118 Location: Rep. of Ireland
|
Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:39 am Post subject: |
|
|
dmitchell wrote: | The problem with this idea is that mastering something is an achievement, but using such a machine is not. In skipping over years of hard work, you also miss the sense of accomplishment. |
To a degree.. But there's far more knowledge in the world than a human being has years available to absorb it all, and even when you have learnt a large chunk of what the world knew up until your birth, there's another 100 years of knowledge which your old brain would struggle with very badly. Something like this reducing the learning curve to near zero lets you just get on with doing whatever practical thing you were doing before you got stuck. So there'd still be a sense of accomplishment, just not in the learning. Although that can be satisfying too. _________________
juniper wrote: | you experience political reality dilation when travelling at american political speeds. it's in einstein's formulas. it's not their fault. |
|
|
Back to top |
|
 |
petrjanda Veteran


Joined: 05 Sep 2003 Posts: 1557 Location: Brno, Czech Republic
|
Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 10:55 am Post subject: |
|
|
pjp wrote: | dmitchell wrote: | In skipping over years of hard work, you also miss the sense of accomplishment. | I don't think I have ever pursued something for the sense of accomplishment. Ever. |
You're not a human then. What are you?
Sense of accomplishment is the key to wanting to know more. For example, you learn italian. Nice. If you don't feel like you have accomplished something, you'll just stop at that and probably forget it in the next 12 months if you don't practice it. But if you feel you've accomplished something, you might then move to learn Spanish. Sense of accomplishment drives us humans to want to know more and achieve ever greater goals.
Also, if you feel like you have accomplished something, you're more likely to remember what you learnt during the following years because you'll keep reminding your self that accomplishment. _________________ There is, a not-born, a not-become, a not-made, a not-compounded. If that unborn, not-become, not-made, not-compounded were not, there would be no escape from this here that is born, become, made and compounded. - Gautama Siddharta |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Bones McCracker Veteran


Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 1609 Location: U.S.A.
|
Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 2:44 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I wouldn't say somebody who's never pursued something for the sense of accomplishment, ever, is "not a human". I'd say that, if it's really true (which I doubt), then they ought to get some psychotherapy, or they will probably never develop into a self-actualized person. _________________
patrix_neo wrote: | The human thought: I cannot win.
The ratbrain in me : I can only go forward and that's it. |
|
|
Back to top |
|
 |
nomilieu n00b


Joined: 22 Nov 2011 Posts: 24
|
Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 1:20 pm Post subject: |
|
|
He may have merely meant that he is concerned with the result of an ordeal, not the sense of accomplishment.
For example, one learns Spanish to know Spanish, not to feel good about knowing Spanish. One loses weight to weigh less, not to jump for joy about meeting a weight-loss goal. The feeling of accomplishment comes when you feel like what you did required effort; it makes you feel good about not being lazy. It could help you maintain your gains (in whatever area), but you can still use what you've learned or done without feeling especially accomplished about it.
An example of accomplishment for accomplishment's sake would be something like beating your top score at Super Mario Bros. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
sikpuppy n00b


Joined: 12 Jun 2012 Posts: 34 Location: Central Coast, NSW
|
Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 1:25 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Some people's idea of an accomplishment is finding something to read while on the toilet before accidentally shitting themselves. Not me of course, I am far more highly evolved than that. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Bones McCracker Veteran


Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 1609 Location: U.S.A.
|
Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 2:49 pm Post subject: |
|
|
sikpuppy wrote: | Some people's idea of an accomplishment is finding something to read while on the toilet before accidentally shitting themselves. Not me of course, I am far more highly evolved than that. |
 _________________
patrix_neo wrote: | The human thought: I cannot win.
The ratbrain in me : I can only go forward and that's it. |
|
|
Back to top |
|
 |
|