From Observation to Insight

I often notice that teachers will just give their students some examples, and send them on their way to do their homework. That doesn’t sit right with me.  That teaches the students to follow rigid guidelines, and does not allow them to use their own judgement. 

I’ve had a few great teachers and they all have one thing in common, they explain the concepts. They tell you the background of the knowledge, why the equations and the process makes sense. They will explain the concepts to you, and then give you the problems a different day so that those concepts can work their way into your brain. 

Teaching concepts rather than teaching steps allows the students to find their own way to solving a problem. I think that allowing the student to think independently, rather than forcing them into a specific process, promotes more growth and understanding. 

I wish all teachers were like those. Teach a student to think analytically, let a student find their own way after teaching them the concepts. Let the students realize that a lot of the concepts are interconnected, and as a result they aren’t learning anything that’s new, but rather an extension of their own knowledge. Don’t force them to memorize equations. Don’t force them to memorize rules. Don’t teach them to memorize things, teach them to use those concepts in order to derive the idea of the problem. Teach them to connect one idea to another.

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I kind of hate when people say ” Oh, you must be so smart” when they figure out what classes I’m in. I understand that they’re being nice, but they’re seeing it the wrong way. I didn’t get here because I was ” just smart”, I got here because I worked hard and never gave up.

Do you think athletes just one day woke up and were just good at sports? Do you think an engineer was just born with all the equations and processes in their head? Do you think a musician just woke up one day and knew when to take in a breath and when to stress their voice at certain points of the song?

No, it all took practice. And I think a lot of people give up because they seem to think that if you don’t get it right away, then they must be bad at it. In reality, people struggle just as much as you but they keep going even if the results aren’t immediate. 

It bugs me when people say things are unrealistic.

I disagree. Nothing is unrealistic. A flying snake monster isn’t unrealistic; hey it might be an alien, or it might be some hybrid, genetic experiment.  That’s not possible now but I won’t count it out just yet.

Yeah, I’ll be skeptical as of now. But I won’t go and tell someone that it will never be accomplished. Because I don’t have that ability to deem what is possible and impossible, because our knowledge and technology always changes.

And at some point they said flying vehicles were unrealistic. But it isn’t now.

Anything is possible you just have to deduce how. So don’t go on saying that a character is unrealistic because *insert reason here*. Or that some seemingly sci- fi concept will never become reality.

At some point in time it’s possible. At some point in time anything will be possible.

People have to live with that, and be more open-minded.

People always tell me to ” keep my eyes on the goal”, and plan for the future. While I agree with them, I also know that the future is what you make it. I’ve found some information that would convince you that we’re from a sci-fi, but we’re not. The future is now. There is information just waiting to be found, to be re-discovered. Some things have already been invented, but have no attention.

For this very reason, I’ve become a little upset. The future already exists, people just don’t know of it. You have to search for it. One bit of information after the other will lead you to possibilities that, just a year ago, I thought were only for the books. 

Yeah, I was vaguely interested in science. Through trail after trail of interests,it has brought me to where I am now. I can’t be normal now. I can’t turn back. I have to live this life. Nothing else in life will interest me as much as this does.

Once you learn of these things, you become fascinated by it.  Do I regret it? No. Do I wish I were normal again? Sometimes. You become lonely because people don’t know of these things, and you cannot find people that do. You try to explain it to them, and there are times where they are interested and other times where they could care less, or think you’re crazy. 

But, I suppose this lesson is that life is what you make it. The best thing to do is to follow your interests. Interests change, and that’s okay. You’ll grow, and you’ll probably find crazy things that I don’t understand and then you’ll have to explain it to me. 

You could be an artist, a musician, a scientist, an engineer, a teacher. Be whatever interests you the most. And go with it.

There is something in people that I’ve noticed again and again while in college. It’s that a majority of people will believe anything you tell them. They will soak it up like a sponge without questioning it, without thinking about it. It’s really systematic, and it is worrying. I’m not sure if they’re afraid of asking questions, if they don’t care and they want to memorize it, or if they’re just lazy. But it bothers me to think that there are people getting degrees that understand the steps to a problem, without actually understanding how each step works and why. 

What people need is to be open. You and I both know that you don’t understand everything, and if you think you understand everything, then you really don’t. Because everything changes and nothing is definite. Don’t be afraid to ask a question, because there are probably others who don’t understand the same thing. 

Also, memorization does not mean that you can be flexible. Memorization works, yes, within the cookie -cutter example of a problem. What will you do when the problem differs from the norm? What if the data is different than it usually is? How will you evaluate it then? You can’t, because you don’t truly understand it.

It is weird to me, because I sometimes ask people questions and they’re basically like, ” Oh, I don’t know either. But I don’t care. I don’t get it, so forget about it, I give up.” And I am just thinking to myself: How do you not care? How does not understanding something not just drive you insane? Personally, if I don’t understand something it makes me angry, and I have to know. I have to figure it out. I will study for hours until I get it. I’ll talk to the teacher and other students. I want to understand what it really means.  

Not understanding what it means can only hurt you in the future. Memorization only goes so far, laziness can only go so far. People will either quit, or they will get the degree but they will never really understand it. But it will be difficult to be revolutionary without understanding where the subject stands.

A lot of the people who were revolutionary, really understood the things, thought differently than others, saw the subject in a slightly different perspective because they really did understand it. Most of them didn’t walk through the path already made by others.

In the past, books were more difficult to access; for one, you usually had to be a man; and two, the production of those books was significantly less than what we’ve experienced. People had to collect books upon books to learn what we can now just type into a search bar and have instant access to.

We live in a time where boundless information is accessible to anyone that has a computer linked to the internet. There are bundles of information on there just waiting for you to discover it, just waiting to be read, to get the attention it deserves. Information is easier to find and quicker to find than it really ever has been. We live in a time where you almost don’t need a textbook, since every subject can be found on an educational website or youtube just by typing in the topic name. They’re even considering online classes over being in a classroom.

You would think that people would jump on that opportunity. But they’re not. Are you surprised? I’m not. Data is at a struggle, much like science is in a struggle with it’s funding. With the wide access to practically everything, online books, online tutors, online educational information, youtube videos, music, T.V, it’s no wonder someone is trying to figure out how to regulate the movement of this data. Again, I’m not surprised there.

But it’s not just regulation that’s causing the problem. Society’s opinions about intelligence is changing with it. You would think that people would be more accepting of the information, you would think that more people would be reading; but not quite. It’s not cool to read. It’s not cool to be smart. Why? I don’t know, you tell me.

People approach books like it’s going to alienate them from society, like their friends will view them differently or treat them differently if they touched the book. And unfortunately, they’re kind of right. A lot of people would call them a nerd, and make fun of them for wanting to learn. People use the word nerd, which is really just ” A person who wants to know information, reads, freaks out over T.V. shows, has some culture in them, or generally just cares about learning, knowing things. ” And they use the word in a condescending manner like it is something to be ashamed of. When really, there is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. 

So there is this trend against reading, against wanting to learn, toward wanting to be cool ( whatever that means). This trend isn’t just influenced by social aspects, but the media as well. In many shows there’s the nerdy kid who likes to read and is a pushover and they picture him/her as a loser, as what you should not want to become. 

So despite our expanding access to nearly boundless information at our fingertips, society is wary of ever touching a book, or learning. And how can we break this trend, when it is so very imprinted in the minds of the majority of people that are influenced by it; when they’re being told every day that that is what they don’t want to do? 

We can’t. We can just hope that someday they’ll start becoming curious, or maybe they never will, maybe they’ll live out their life without ever really touching a book. What can we do? Be more accepting toward people who do. Don’t go push that person down a flight of stairs. Make friends with those people. Make people want to be like you. Become the interesting group that talks about everything, be the accepting group that is kind toward everyone and open to anyone. Don’t close yourself off to the others like we are generally told to do.
Make it something to be. 

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You may not believe it, but you can do anything you put your mind to. Still don’t believe me? Then hear this: Many people that have achieved fame and/or success had struggles before their efforts paid off. We all have potential, you may just not see it. Einstein struggled, he always claimed that he had trouble with math; he was notorious for making small algebraic mistakes that threw him off of his answer. Tesla struggled, he made tons of revolutionary discoveries, but because of his rivalry with Edison, he was defamed; and despite his connection to practically every technology in use, he died poor. The list could go on, but you get the point, right? Never give up.

You cannot fathom how important your contribution to our society could be. And even if society doesn’t understand you, or the applications to your ideas, you’re still important. Who knows, maybe your ideas won’t affect us, but the people of the next month, year, decade, eon…etc. Maybe you’re beyond our time, maybe you’re a person out of time, maybe we just aren’t prepared for your ideas, or maybe you’re more mature or profound than we are.

So just because people don’t recognize you immediately, does not mean you are useless or wasting your time.

There is always struggle before an answer. What is actually more important than the discovery itself, is the process that leads to it. You can make claims, or build something, but what is most profound is your thinking process. People want to know how your circuits were working when you came up with it, more than they want to know your claim. So when you struggle, remember, there can always be an end to it, and you may be so close to something amazing that you have not even conceived. 

So many people give up. I have known so many people, some who are much smarter than me, that just give up. I can’t say why. Maybe they weren’t cut out for it. Maybe it was too much for them. Maybe the stress got to them. Maybe they went into the wrong field, for money instead of for passion. My best word of advice is to be strong. Right now, think about what makes you the most happy, the most excited, the most curious, the most ardent,  what makes you angry to not know because you absolutely must do it… And go with it. It might sound ridiculous. But I will bet you that there is an application to your passion. Find a job that is, or relates to it. Unfortunately, you have to choose something that makes money, because we live in a society where money matters. But most of all, make sure that it makes you happy. Because even if you end up rich, it won’t matter if you are sad, and unsatisfied. And don’t give up. 

They say that what is more important than being smart is being industrious. You could have the brains, but you might not have the ability to carry it out. But you can. The road may not be very clear, it might require you to make yourself known or for you to jump through a few loops, but the road is always there. You just don’t know it.

Anything can happen. Am I making another ridiculous claim? No. Science fiction is correlated to science fact. Many things that began as fiction have become fact, and many things that are still fiction have the possibility to become fact. In a universe as big as ours, insanely large, with endless possibilities, I can safely say that yes, anything is possible. And just because there is a great correlation does not mean that I can say it’s always true. But with every discovery we have, it runs the chance of changing our probabilities of something being possible, the possibility of it being realistic. So in this sense I can say that it may not be possible now, but maybe later in time. Math and science are known to grow and change, and what used to be true can be overruled with a new concept that we did not know was wrong. As we grow, so does math and science, and so do our possibilities. It’s a puzzle that never ends because the pieces always change. We used to live in a time where things we can explain now with science used to be magic. So what is considered magic or fantasy to us now are just beyond our grasp and understanding. 

Anything.

You know what I just realized? Why do people hate science and math so much?

Well, some people aren’t interested in the field(s), for one.

For two, look at the way it’s taught ! In school, in the science classes they would be like : ” The law of _____ is ______, and the law of ____ is _____, “and make you memorize 20 or 30 terms in one week. Then after throwing bits and pieces of the information at you, they’d do a lab ! But it’d be a really, really boring lab such as ” Let’s heat up water and record how long it takes to boil. “.  Then after all of these seemingly unrelated pieces of information and random labs, (because they don’t bother to tell you how they’re related) they’d throw a big test at you! 

No wonder kids think science is boring, because frankly I thought the science classes in high school were really boring. ( The science classes in college are 10x better than the ones I took in high school, but still lacking the wonder sometimes. ) 

I can say the same for the math classes. And I have to wonder why they put geometry before calculus when much of the ’ rules’ come from concepts from calculus. Good luck if a geometry student asks you to prove the formula ! But my teachers were just like, ” Well, because that’s the formula. You’ll learn it later, just memorize it right now. “ 

A lot of the science and math classes are bits and pieces cut out of surrounding key concepts and thrown at you randomly until they ’ prove it later’. ( If they ever prove it later. ) It bothers me. There is history behind science and math, there’s a reason that someone discovered that this law makes sense because ____ , or this formula works and I figured it out because ____. I have to wonder why they cut the laws and formulas out of that clump of information, and only give out that portion of the history behind it. I believe all of it is important. 

And I’m not sitting here just blaming the teachers, because the teachers usually don’t have a choice because they have strict guidelines/policies to follow, the ’ pre-prepared guide on how this class has to be taught’ thing. 
I think it’s wrong that it’s this way. It strips away the excitement and leaves us with nothing more than a dull concept, ” Just because. “ 

I would like to think there are a good majority of teachers who DO feel excited about the field they are teaching in, and WANT to teach it differently, show you cool experiments, tell you how that man or that group of people discovered why something is possible.  But they’re just not allowed to differ from the ’ advised way to teach’. 
Because to me, the process that led to the discovery is more important to understand than the concept itself. How am I supposed to be a successful scientist or inventor if I have no knowledge at my hands?

I’ve learned more from my own observation growing up, and reading books/magazines, and watching science -related T.V. ( blame my dad) than I have ever learned in school. 

Earlier, I was thinking about ’ why are some of the most popular scientists/ writers those who took ideas from others? And why did the people that originally got these ideas not get the credit for the ideas taken by the person?’

Well, when you have fame on your side you can get away with a lot, for one.
If someone famous were to take an idea from a normal person, do you think that 90% of people would even question that the artist/scientist/writer made it? Of course not, because no one knows the person they took it from.

Two, when ideas are presented to the public, the public will generally believe it came from that person that presented it to them. There are not very many people that would do research on when that idea was created.

There are many scientists that were afraid/or didn’t want publicity, they did not want to present their ideas; and frankly, some of them could care less if someone else took credit for their ideas, because they’re more concerned about the pursuit of knowledge, not the fame and riches.

Three, we may not even know who the idea came from if they didn’t publish it in their name/submit it in their name.
This was a bit of a problem in the past, and in our time. In the past, unless you got your idea published and widespread, a lot of information you created would remain local unless people traveled to spread the word, because it was a much smaller world. Now we have the opposite problem; we have the internet and information can travel so fast now that it is almost vital that you get your idea published before you talk about it on the internet and someone else uses it.

Four, maybe the person who created the idea created an entire book of ideas, but never quite connected the idea to the rest of the physical sciences; or if it’s a story, they came up with the plot, but they didn’t want to write the book. They know it to be true to them, but they just didn’t have the time or the necessary knowledge to prove it, or work on it.

Think of Shakespeare for example. Shakespeare is one of the most popular play writers of all time. There is evidence that most of his plots came from others, and that he modified old stories. The Renaissance audience knew a lot of the plots already, but Shakespeare modified the language and made it poetic.

They could also just be a jerk, and notice an idea that the other person missed, and rather than correcting that person, they take that ideas that the other person missed and present it themselves.

Tesla worked under Edison for a long time. Edison promised that he would give Tesla a large sum of money if he figured out a problem. And when Tesla figured it out, Edison told him that the promise for a large sum of money was an American joke. He then noticed that if Tesla had manipulated the system slightly, it could create a whole new type of thing ( and although I can’t remember what invention it was, I remember the story. I think it was current. )
Although Tesla and Edison were both great, brilliant inventors, there is evidence that Edison took from Tesla and many others. Edison had more acquaintances, friends, fame and money, so he got away with taking some ideas.

And people argue whether Leibniz or Newton created calculus.

One problem in those old times was that ideas didn’t spread just as fast as they do now. And the difference between that time and now is that back then people didn’t have T.V.s , music ( unless they went out to listen to it), and other distractions; they were by far more creative and inventive than we are now.
So two people very well could have came up with the same idea, in a similar time, because two people wanted to solve the same problem; and even though they didn’t communicate with each other they could have come up with the same idea.
( And I think for mathematics that’s a given. Math sometimes leads you to it’s answer; mathematics is all about patterns, so I do not doubt that Leibniz and Newton came up with the same thing in different ways. But that’s not what I’m here to talk about.)

Sometimes though, there are times when it’s difficult to not accidentally take ideas from others. Maybe the ‘idea thief’  was unaware of the existence of the idea already. Rediscovery happens a lot. A lot of us are not taught science history, math history, or the history of plays or art; and if we are, it’s very short and uninformative.

Also, there are some people who did not necessarily steal ideas, but compile them. There are some people that took a lot of old ideas, long forgotten on the shelf of some library, and bring them to attention again in a whole new light. They compile the old ideas, that would have otherwise never thought of being related, and then add their own logic as to why they’re related, and then that’s a new idea.
When I talk about this, I think about Einstein.

Obviously there are more ways that this occurs, and obviously it’s not always done in a dark, menacing way, but it happens. But clearly there is a lot of ways this can happen, and it’s not just black and white, there’s a gray area here.

I hate ’ labels’. People who are like I am a prep, I am a jock, I am a goth, I am a nerd, I am a gamer, and I don’t have out with anyone who has the same label as me. There are, of course, those people that hang out with everyone regardless of what they are; but labels seem to give us an excuse to ignore individuality. Some people don’t really seem to care who you are, how nice you are, if you’re not a part of their group. I detest the ‘grouping’ mindset. This doesn’t just apply to labels, it applies to stereotypes too.

I think people just find it more easy to put a definition to an entire group of people, and imagine in their perfect little world that the definition can’t vary at all with this group of people.

I’m seeing more and more every day that little kids are grouping people. ’ Girls can’t play video games. ’ and  ’ Girls wear make up’ and ’ Boys play sports and video games’ and ’ Boys don’t cry. ‘

Why does it seem like I’m seeing this more in the kids these days than our generation? Is it the media? Is it just… How people are naturally inclined to act? Is it just the fact that kids are impressionable? 

Whatever it is, it’s not good. You can’t do it. You can’t assume that ’ every person in this group does this’. You can’t assume that ‘every person in a specific group will be mean’; you don’t know that. Making assumptions on an entire ‘label’, an entire clique, or an entire stereotype/ethnicity/sexuality is like assuming there is only one answer. There is never one answer. People are not going to be all the same. And it seems to me like this ’ grouping’ mindset makes those peoples’ lives easier, but; their perspective on people narrow and lazy, their likeliness to accept deviation/uniqueness small, their likeliness to follow trends higher, and their acceptance to individuality smaller. And I think this is the cause of majority of the hatred in this world.

We all have dreams, big ones or small ones, long term ones or short term ones; however,  some people give up because it takes too long, or because there is a long road.

No matter what, though, don’t give up on your dream. No matter how hard that dream is to reach, don’t let it disappear. If you want your dream to come true you have to follow through with it, you have to work for it; some dreams require work, but it’s rewarding in the end.

There are difficult times, but you have to be willing to wait for those times where you are inspired again. There are times where you will question your sanity for choosing certain, high- standard dreams; we all have those moments, no matter what you’re working for.

You’re not alone in the struggle.
We all struggle.

But despite the difficult times, you have to keep going, and you have to wait for those sparks of inspiration to come again. If you keep trying, you can and will be able to do whatever you want with your life.