MJ's little flock

[Ribh]

I don't care how highly people think of themselves. What I have trouble with is arrogance (to lay claim to that one is not capable of) If someone can do something well then I'm fine with a bit of self publicity. I seem to have met an awful lot of people through my current living circumstances who have trouble lacing their boots up without tying both together, but advertise themselves as a lot of things they aren't.
This sort of arrogance does over time lead to stupidity. If one believes, as in this mans case, that he is of a level of intelligence that he no longer needs to learn then he and anyone like him, stop learning. We used to get a lot of high level academics visit here. It was interesting to watch those who were fundamentally intelligent go about a task and those who it seems had specialized themselves into stupidity on every other endeavored not pertinent to their specialist subject.
There is a phrase that one can't prise out of this person with a crowbar and that is 'I don't know.'

How does anyone get there? There's too much about too many things to learn to think one knows it all! Besides which, even in specialist areas, new stuff is being learnt & found every day that changes our knowledge.

 

[MaryJanet]

I don't care how highly people think of themselves. What I have trouble with is arrogance (to lay claim to that one is not capable of) If someone can do something well then I'm fine with a bit of self publicity. I seem to have met an awful lot of people through my current living circumstances who have trouble lacing their boots up without tying both together, but advertise themselves as a lot of things they aren't.
This sort of arrogance does over time lead to stupidity. If one believes, as in this mans case, that he is of a level of intelligence that he no longer needs to learn then he and anyone like him, stop learning. We used to get a lot of high level academics visit here. It was interesting to watch those who were fundamentally intelligent go about a task and those who it seems had specialized themselves into stupidity on every other endeavored not pertinent to their specialist subject.
There is a phrase that one can't prise out of this person with a crowbar and that is 'I don't know.'

I come across this all the time. I can't begin to estimate the number of times I've been mistakenly attentive to people who speak with a lot of confidence on things they know little to nothing about.

It's got so bad, the minute someone asserts authority I assume they don't know what they're talking about and I listen to critique. Unless the authority is genuine eg "When I was on the board of Telstra, they had a hard time deciding... "

On the other hand, when someone starts by disclaiming their authority and uses a humble tone, I listen to learn.

 

[MaryJanet]

How does anyone get there? There's too much about too many things to learn to think one knows it all! Besides which, even in specialist areas, new stuff is being learnt & found every day that changes our knowledge.

Insecurity is my guess. When people are insecure, they speak like they can tell shit from clay when they can't.

 

[MaryJanet]

Sandy's in hospital tonight with bad diarrhoea. Tests are ongoing. I'm very worried about her. Maybe she ate something toxic, but then why are the others ok?

Janet was touchingly diligent in searching for her at bedtime. It was almost full dark when she gave up and went in to roost.

It upset Mary too, but in a different way. She went to bed early and went all the way up to the new girls' spot in the rafters. I have no idea how she's going to get down. She's a big heavy chook who can't fly and who's really slow to solve puzzles, it takes her weeks to find the water if it's moved a metre - this is why I have so many water dispensers: so Mary can always find a drink and I can gradually move the dispensers one by one to keep them in the shade and the water cool. I might have to help her down from the rafters tomorrow morning.

 

[Ribh]

I'm so sorry about Sandy. She was doing so well.

 

[Shadrach]

How does anyone get there? There's too much about too many things to learn to think one knows it all! Besides which, even in specialist areas, new stuff is being learnt & found every day that changes our knowledge.

I don't think it's a question of believing they know it all in most cases. That is fairly easy to rectify. It's the assumption in the case of many, particularly when dealing with practical problems that they will be able to work it out with intellect alone. Academics are often like this ime. The notion that it may take practice and experience to do what seems a trivial task is beyond their comprehension.

 

[MaryJanet]

They crop fed her some wombaroo but her poops were still very liquid. They're waiting on a gram stain and might give her an X-ray.

 

[Shadrach]

Sandy's in hospital tonight with bad diarrhoea. Tests are ongoing. I'm very worried about her. Maybe she ate something toxic, but then why are the others ok?

Janet was touchingly diligent in searching for her at bedtime. It was almost full dark when she gave up and went in to roost.

It upset Mary too, but in a different way. She went to bed early and went all the way up to the new girls' spot in the rafters. I have no idea how she's going to get down. She's a big heavy chook who can't fly and who's really slow to solve puzzles, it takes her weeks to find the water if it's moved a metre - this is why I have so many water dispensers: so Mary can always find a drink and I can gradually move the dispensers one by one to keep them in the shade and the water cool. I might have to help her down from the rafters tomorrow morning.

I hope Sandy perks up. I hate having sick chickens. It causes me more stress than many other things 'normal' people would consider more important.

 

[Ribh]

I don't think it's a question of believing they know it all in most cases. That is fairly easy to rectify. It's the assumption in the case of many, particularly when dealing with practical problems that they will be able to work it out with intellect alone. Academics are often like this ime. The notion that it may take practice and experience to do what seems a trivial task is beyond their comprehension.

well I took my degree in one of the most useless areas going so practice & experience in trivial tasks is where I usually end up!

 

[LozzyR]

I don't care how highly people think of themselves. What I have trouble with is arrogance (to lay claim to that one is not capable of) If someone can do something well then I'm fine with a bit of self publicity. I seem to have met an awful lot of people through my current living circumstances who have trouble lacing their boots up without tying both together, but advertise themselves as a lot of things they aren't.
This sort of arrogance does over time lead to stupidity. If one believes, as in this mans case, that he is of a level of intelligence that he no longer needs to learn then he and anyone like him, stop learning. We used to get a lot of high level academics visit here. It was interesting to watch those who were fundamentally intelligent go about a task and those who it seems had specialized themselves into stupidity on every other endeavored not pertinent to their specialist subject.
There is a phrase that one can't prise out of this person with a crowbar and that is 'I don't know.'

It’s a bit sad really, when you can’t acknowledge that you never stop learning and usually everyone around you can teach you something, or knows something you don’t. I remember being surprised when my son, who was seven or eight at the time, knew the location of one of the private hospitals in the area and I didn’t. We were visiting the doctor and he was describing where it it was. My son piped up with “I know where that is! It has a big “E” out the front”. His after-school care bus drove past it each week. Our doctor confirmed this was correct. I remember thinking it was the first time I realised he knew something I didn’t and it was a strange sensation. But I certainly didn’t resent it.