Reasons for "engaging in conversation"

sculptor said:
The happiest time of my life was the 13 years I spent at various universities. I loved accumulating knowledge. I once said of my professors that I had a knowledge sucking straw... I would find a likely candidate, and knock him/her down and pull out my knowledge sucking straw, and suck their brains dry. (perhaps as a means of getting rid of me?) More than one professor told me that they had already taught me everything that they could.
(those were good times)
Click to expand...
What did you study at the various universities?
 
I wondered, too. 13 years is a long haul, unless you're in medicine and include the residency phase. sculptor - were you working and then attending university as a part-time student?
 
TheVat said:
I wondered, too. 13 years is a long haul, unless you're in medicine and include the residency phase. sculptor - were you working and then attending university as a part-time student.
Click to expand...
Bsc could be four years with a placement, one to two years MSc then 5-6 years PhD is there or there abouts.
Throw in a gap year inter railing in Europe with his buddies you can get to 13.
 
Could be, though I had earlier gotten the impression that Sculptor had not chosen a PhD track. I have artists in the family tree, and they and their cohort tended not to linger at university. Not saying there can't be exceptions. Or, as I alluded to, the sort or "career student" one occasionally encounters, who likes to take just a couple credit hours each semester and stay tethered to a campus culture scene.
 
I think there are so many reasons why many of us engage in conversation - social interaction, bonding, venting, ranting, to be understood and to learn from others. I prefer journaling though, getting my thoughts out in writing or even online, is easier(?) for lack of a better word, than a “face to face” opening up of my soul. I wonder if it’s easier (what word am I looking for?! :rolleyes:) for extroverts to engage in meaningful conversations, than introverts, in general. I’d say that human interactions all have nuances, because not all conversations in life hold the same weight.
 
wegs said:
I think there are so many reasons why many of us engage in conversation - social interaction, bonding, venting, ranting, to be understood and to learn from others. I prefer journaling though, getting my thoughts out in writing or even online, is easier(?) for lack of a better word, than a “face to face” opening up of my soul. I wonder if it’s easier (what word am I looking for?! :rolleyes:) for extroverts to engage in meaningful conversations, than introverts, in general. I’d say that human interactions all have nuances, because not all conversations in life hold the same weight.
Click to expand...
I don't know if it's easier for extroverts to engage in meaningful conversation. But it is obviously easier for them to engage in conversation. From my observations, extroverts jump in with the first thing they think of while introverts actually think about the topic. By the time they have sorted out their ideas, the subject has moved on and their response is no longer relevant to the current discussion.
 
gmilam said:
I don't know if it's easier for extroverts to engage in meaningful conversation. But it is obviously easier for them to engage in conversation. From my observations, extroverts jump in with the first thing they think of while introverts actually think about the topic. By the time they have sorted out their ideas, the subject has moved on and their response is no longer relevant to the current discussion.
Click to expand...
Great point! To that, I'll add that most conversations (in my experience), whether online or in person, tend to ''reward'' faster reactions/input, over reflection.
 
Ma
parmalee said:
In person, online, doesn't matter. What need or desire does engaging in conversation with another person or persons fulfill? Is it more a social thing or an intellectual thing? For this discussion, let's just ignore conversations which emerge of necessity.

I like to read, I like to read conversations even, but as for engaging in conversation? Honestly, I can take it or leave it. That said, I like engaging in conversations of a sort with non-human animals, and I like playing music with people and engaging in other ways sometimes, I guess; but as far as conversation goes, I've got limited time and patience for such. I really wish that people had an "off" switch or something, or that I could just tell them to shut the fuck up whenever I feel like I'm done with it; but as I don't like being rude and uncivil towards people I actually like and respect (I have a different attitude towards those I don't, obviously), I've arranged my life such that I don't really have to converse all that much if I don't really feel like it.

And yet, at the same time, I'm really kind of impressed by people who are capable of having tremendously long, sustained conversations with others--again, whether that be in person, online, or via some other means of correspondence (letters? Oh my!)--or, at the very least, I'm somewhat fascinated by the phenomenon. I've just never been able to figure out what people are really getting from it. I know the answer is complicated, probably a bit like Maurice Martenot's "secret formula" for the carbon compound used in the "lozenge" pressure sensor on the Ondes Martenot (he supposedly used a bit of
parmalee said:
In person, online, doesn't matter. What need or desire does engaging in conversation with another person or persons fulfill? Is it more a social thing or an intellectual thing? For this discussion, let's just ignore conversations which emerge of necessity.

I like to read, I like to read conversations even, but as for engaging in conversation? Honestly, I can take it or leave it. That said, I like engaging in conversations of a sort with non-human animals, and I like playing music with people and engaging in other ways sometimes, I guess; but as far as conversation goes, I've got limited time and patience for such. I really wish that people had an "off" switch or something, or that I could just tell them to shut the fuck up whenever I feel like I'm done with it; but as I don't like being rude and uncivil towards people I actually like and respect (I have a different attitude towards those I don't, obviously), I've arranged my life such that I don't really have to converse all that much if I don't really feel like it.

And yet, at the same time, I'm really kind of impressed by people who are capable of having tremendously long, sustained conversations with others--again, whether that be in person, online, or via some other means of correspondence (letters? Oh my!)--or, at the very least, I'm somewhat fascinated by the phenomenon. I've just never been able to figure out what people are really getting from it. I know the answer is complicated, probably a bit like Maurice Martenot's "secret formula" for the carbon compound used in the "lozenge" pressure sensor on the Ondes Martenot (he supposedly used a bit of gunpowder), but, yeah, whatever. Surely, someone's got some insights?
Click to expand...
Conversing with a fellow human requires you to listen not just talk. And it won't always be about you. I suspect this has something to do with it?
Click to expand...
 
parmalee said:
In person, online, doesn't matter. What need or desire does engaging in conversation with another person or persons fulfill? Is it more a social thing or an intellectual thing? For this discussion, let's just ignore conversations which emerge of necessity.

I like to read, I like to read conversations even, but as for engaging in conversation? Honestly, I can take it or leave it.
Click to expand...
Likewise! My idea of relaxing is listening to some great 50's/60's music while sucking on a can of VB, and chewing peanuts.
Indulge certainly with next door neighbour on occasions, and certainly at our old boys reunions. On the phone, 5 or 10 minutes before signing off. The Mrs on the other hand, has been in conversation on the phone for more than 2 hours! And when her and friends get together its constant chatter.
 
James R said:
What did you study at the various universities?
Click to expand...
Hi guys: Please pardon the delay in my response.
James: (It was a long and winding road)
I suppose the core curriculum was anthropology, and the subjects which I considered sub-sets thereof eg psychology, philosophy, archaeology, history, art, architecture, and urban planning and etc..., and climatology-esp paleo-climatology (in a seminar on h.s.Neanderthalensis I stated: "We really can't say a lot about these people without knowing the climate in which they lived"---mia culpa---so, i headed to the library and one of my favorite people on the campus---the reference librarian(really wonderfully kind and helpful woman)---a few hours in "the stacks" and I had several requests for her---amazingly, very little was known about paleo-climatology---back then Cesare Emiliani was the "go to guy"for climatology. So, understanding climatology became an unanswered question. And, still is, though I am indebted to Lorraine Lisiecki and Maureen Raymo---and also Julie Brigham-Grette---but still---questions remain...
..............
The vat, et.al.
The "13 years"--actually, closer to 14 years was not uninterrupted. I was a poor boy who kept running out of money. My 1st; Oklahoma University--in one year I spent all of the money I had saved over the previous 4 years....I was looking for ways to earn enough to go back when that rotten bastard L.B.J. drafted me into McNamara's war (gee darn)"Greetings from the president and people of the United States" ...and I thought:"Gee, all of them?"... during induction, I refused to swear the required oath---I had to promise to uphold the constitution---and to obey the orders of the commander in chief -----ok even at 19 and not yet well educated i saw that as a likely impossibility "give me one"----
no one cared. (Just words)......
as/re: "take just a couple credit hours each semester" alas, I could not do that. I tried working at the universities recommended pace(course load)-but it made me a bad student. I discovered that if I worked at my pace I was an excellent student (habitually on the president's list or dean's list). One of the reasons that I have the degrees(I never went to the universities to get a degree--I went to get an education---and, some of the time, I did) was my standard "overload" of 34-37 hours---I had a cottage in the country to which I would go between semesters--while there, I checked my post office box and discovered that I had no courses--The universities computer threw my courses out---their requirement was that a student needed to take at least 12 credit hours and no more that 18 --eeek, oh noooooooooooo----so I drove back to the city and sought out a dean---
The one I found(a junior dean, insisted that I had to take some(at least 1 per term) required 100 and 200 level classes--I agreed to his terms and he got my courses back for me---so, there I was, taking graduate level seminars 5 days a week and 100 level classes 3 days a week---surrounded by people(students) who were 10-12 years younger than me---(all on it's own, that was quite the educational experience). Eventually, I bought a house with the girl who had let me move in with her after the building in which was my apartment burned(between semesters), then she got pregnant and I married the woman, then left the university to earn money.... 10 years later, as she was getting hooded, she encouraged me to contact the university to get my degrees. So I went to the u. and sought out a dean---it took awhile as my records had been sent to the salt mines for long term storage----after she received the records, I went back to visit with her ---and she queried "What would you like your degrees in?" -----so, there I was sitting in a crowd of hundreds of young people all wearing dark blue robes who were at least 10 years younger than I, while my beloved phd spouse was up on the stage wearing the brightly colored robes of her college. Again; quite the educational experience.....
And so it came to a close.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top