De-conditioning the mind

Discussion in 'General Philosophy' started by Spellbound, Jun 1, 2016.

  1. Spellbound Banned Valued Senior Member

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    The presence of unimportant knowledge is of no benefit. I call it "junk knowledge".

    The pursuit of important knowledge is wisdom.

    We've spent our entire existence in this western culture and most other first world cultures engraving the "natural" truths of society (which itself in the western culture is so self-alienating and superficial, not that depth is synonymous with meaning unless either is important to the expansion of one's mind) into our minds by ourselves and our parents.

    But how do we begin to de-condition the mind (throw out the junk and keep the best)?

    This website guides me towards this goal.

    Thoughts?
     
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  3. Daecon Kiwi fruit Valued Senior Member

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    Thoughts?

    It seems that this thread is nothing more than you advertising someone's blog.
     
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  5. wellwisher Banned Banned

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    It is not always easy to tell the difference because the truths of human motivation, and the truths of physical reality. For example, say we want people to like us, but the truth will alienate you from your favorite group. Each person may do their own addition and determine the truth of human nature; wanting to intimately belong, many count for more or less than the objective truth; disfunction.

    Say there is political candidate who says he will change the status quo. This status quo allows you to benefit, socially and materially, by its disfunction and inefficiency. One truth is all humans want to feel good and secure. But another truth is efficiency is better. Which of the two truths do you throw out, since they are mutually exclusive? One cannot come to a state of peace as long as these compete. There may be the need for a third truth that may or may not yet exist which can bridge the two.
     
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  7. origin Heading towards oblivion Valued Senior Member

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    Good luck, I guess?
     
  8. Edont Knoff Registered Senior Member

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    Our brains are made to forget things. This is the way how we get rid of junk knowledge. Unused knowledge will be removed after a while.

    If we actually use the junk knowledge, it's not really junk, and therefore alright to be kept - it has some use.

    More helpful than removing junk knowledge is to remove traumatic memories. They are usually burned so intensely into our brains that they won't be forgotten easily nor quickly, even if the victim very much wants that. Usualy these memories are not helpful, and in this case a de-conditioning is really needed (and quite hard to achieve).
     
  9. PhysBang Valued Senior Member

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    Unused knowledge is not necessarily knowledge that one should not have.

    I'm not sure that everyone agrees on what knowledge is valuable and what isn't.
     
  10. Edont Knoff Registered Senior Member

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    It seems ourt brains only consider the usage, and the importance of the memory when it was stored. Things that came with a lot of emotions and have a lot of links to other memories tend to stay longer. But memories that aren't used begin to fade, become harder to remember, and eventually become lost.

    That's what nature gave us. I don't thing we had a word in that, so it's irrelevant if we agree to the scheme or not

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  11. Sarkus Hippomonstrosesquippedalo phobe Valued Senior Member

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    It has served me well enough in many a pub quiz. But we call it trivia, not "junk knowledge".
    I disagree: I find that it requires intelligence to pursue knowledge, whereas wisdom is in applying that knowledge most beneficially.
    As others have said, how do you know what is worth keeping or not.
    Plenty, thanks.
     
  12. Yazata Valued Senior Member

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    Ok. Not everyone is going to agree about what 'benefit' should mean though. That's been a topic of discussion since ancient times.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudaimonia

    Feeling alienated. eh? I don't share that alienation from my own culture. I like it. I don't think that 'western' or 'first world' cultures are superficial. Science isn't superficial, and it's a product of western intellectual culture.

    I'd say by thinking philosophically. (That's how I personally approach it.) But thinking philosophically is most emphatically NOT the same thing as embracing every seemingly 'cosmic' idea that one encounters.

    Weren't you calling this guy the devil a few weeks ago?

    Do I have any thoughts about him and his website? No, I'm not particularly interested.
     
  13. river

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    The ability to Question with the freedom of speech. And that this freedom of speech is allowed to be global . With no edits or redactions.
     
    Last edited: Jun 10, 2016
  14. Retribution Banned Banned

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    And that's where the argument started...
     
  15. river

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    What is junk knowledge ?
     
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  16. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    "Junk knowledge" as you call it is what allows us to be creative, and make leaps beyond what in right in front of us - in all our endeavors, including the science disciplines.
     
  17. mtf Banned Banned

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    Probably because you're part of the privileged intellectual and socio-economic class.
    Don't underestimate belonging to the privileged class.

    It's not clear how this is the case. I can understand how it works for you, but I also understand how it doesn't work for someone who doesn't belong to your class.

    Those who don't have the basic social sense of belonging to the intellectual (and socio-economic) class like yours, cannot meaningfully pursue the cognitive practices of said class.
     
  18. sideshowbob Sorry, wrong number. Valued Senior Member

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    How do you know beforehand what knowledge is "important" and which is not? There's a reason why they tell you to put everything on your resume, not just what seems pertinent to the job you're applying for. I've gotten jobs on the basis of knowledge and experience that I had no idea would be useful to the prospective employer. It's a good thing I didn't junk that knowledge.
     
  19. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    I suggest watching Dreamworks movies like Kung Fu Panda. Lots of wisdom in there.
     
  20. river

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    De-condition the mind ; is to question ; as I said before in my post # 10.

    But also read a book(s) on what interests you.

    Then you get a more through understanding on the subject.

    Any book gives far more details than anything from the Internet.
     
  21. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    Clearly not a MacGyver fan.

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    Or a Sherlock Holmes fan.

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  22. river

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    For example Dave .
     
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  23. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    I like to set a good creative example. I didn't know you'd seen my port folio.

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