Poll of the Day > Whats with societies obsession with learning over the past few years? Has it

(+) Yeah! (+)

Always been like this?

learning

At least your learning something.

Theres so much to learn.

Try to learn something new each time I do [routine task]

Wow, its amazing I never knew that [some minor bug or function of a software]

Its like its something you say to virtue signal intelligence/competence without thinking about the value of what youre doing. Not that you cant draw upon many fields and draw similarities among unreleased fields. And not that learning isnt good for the spirit, but I dont see learning temporary info thats not commonly used as virtuous. Learning should be more general information and allow you to understand the world around you better.

Are people just seeing money comes to people who have knowledge in a subject, and this is just the natural extension of societies love of money?

You think that learning is a new fad?

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blu posted...

Are people just seeing money comes to people who have knowledge in a subject, and this is just the natural extension of societies love of money?

Pretty much

What the hell are you talking about?

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The irony is that if you just observe the way people act, its obvious that none of them learned anything at all.

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Fierce_Deity_08 posted...

The irony is that if you just observe the way people act, its obvious that none of them learned anything at all.

did this sound edgy in your head?

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Learning hasn't been any more or less prevalent in the past few years. For instance, TED Talks have been a major thing for 15 years and, prior to their availability as free content (making them accessible to the masses, they were a highly successful series of conferences going back decades before that where people paid thousands of dollars to learn for the sake of learning.

Great Courses has been around since the 90s and previously charged a good deal of money (looked it up now and apparently there's also a $20/month streaming option -- making it more expensive than most streaming services) for recorded lectures from professors generally on subjects with no direct profit motive. And there are many other successful companies operating in that space.

And, going back further, you'll find that a great many bestselling books have been historical or otherwise factual in nature.

blu posted...

Its like its something you say to virtue signal intelligence/competence without thinking about the value of what youre doing. Not that you cant draw upon many fields and draw similarities among unreleased fields. And not that learning isnt good for the spirit, but I dont see learning temporary info thats not commonly used as virtuous. Learning should be more general information and allow you to understand the world around you better.

That's some disjointed rambling >_>

blu posted...

Are people just seeing money comes to people who have knowledge in a subject, and this is just the natural extension of societys love of money?

Everything in your rather myopic worldview seems to be about money. Given this fact, I'm honestly a little surprised (and disappointed) that you merely chose to pursue a highly-paid vocation rather than trying to become truly rich. I suppose that ties into one of your larger ethos, though, which involves an aversion to work and an idea of min-maxing work to avoid working many years >_>

While I would contend that most learning isn't done out of a profit motive, it's worth remembering that for many people wealth is merely a means to an end. Things like wealth, knowledge, virtue, etc, are often valued for raising one's esteem among their peers, making it more of a status thing. That's also why it's generally the lowest-producers in a society that virtue-signal the heaviest, because they have nothing else to offer the world. That said, there are certainly countless people with a pure interest in learning because learning itself can be a form of entertainment (and one hardly needs an ulterior motive to be entertained)

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Zeus posted...

Given this fact, I'm honestly a little surprised (and disappointed) that you merely chose to pursue a highly-paid vocation rather than trying to become truly rich. I suppose that ties into one of your larger ethos, though, which involves an aversion to work and an idea of min-maxing work to avoid working many years >_>

I never desired being truly rich, just having freedom (which I ironically took a pretty unfree path). The switch to caring more about money didnt happen until partway into grad school, when I realized my field is dull, inefficient, and mostly full of angry dull people. I originally pursued an academic interest that happened to pay well, but interest sort of died a few months into grad school.

I try to see what advantage I gained, but all I see is a stable upper middle class W2 while only having to work 40-50 hours. I guess friendships, RL social skills, and titles. I would have hit my current life goals faster by just working as dental hygienist out of high school, and life would be more aligned with how I wanted it to look. Because my W2 is high and stable it does allow me to take more risk, which does make me think about real estate investing to possibly become truly rich, but it also it possibly lengthens time to retirement for the benefit of more money in retirement and I dont know if I want to make that trade off because I strongly value frugality.

I do tend to forget about knowledge and virtue raising esteem among peers, being in an environment where Id say they have a somewhat negative relationship. Though perceived knowledge and virtue still being positive.

It seems to me that learning has been deemphasized. "You don't need to be a rocket scientist to ...." falls flat with me, in the 1950s we all aspired to be rocket scientists.

What's the value of a liberal education? You can understand the jokes in Monty Python.

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By your own admission, you picked both an education and career path based purely on what you believed to provide the most financial benefit. But you obviously did not think it through or lacked the capability to comprehend the consequences of your decisions. According to your gratuitous repeated claims about your income, you make a decent salary, and even at the top end of your career earning potential, will never make more than a decent salary.

If you wanted to be rich or wealthy, or wanted the prestige that certain careers provide, you've done everything wrong. If you wanted a mediocre career with an OK income, then you would be satisfied with where you are and where you'll end up. Given how often you seem to complain about your job and most other things in your life, it's rather clear you are not happy with your choices.

If your goal in life is to be happy, find out what makes you happy and then pursue it. Otherwise all you're doing is aimlessly complaining and humble bragging about your meh finances while signaling to the universe that you're utterly miserable. Of course, the most miserable people do tend to humble brag, but I digress.

reruns_revenge posted...

By your own admission, you picked both an education and career path based purely on what you believed to provide the most financial benefit.

I never said this and its not true. I chose something that paid well at the 20th percentile and wasnt too risky you get, which gives you a ton of options. This one seemed to align better. Theres a issue in the field going on about misrepresentation and people being in my situation. There was even a recent article published in our major journal regarding this.

reruns_revenge posted...

If you wanted to be rich or wealthy, or wanted the prestige that certain careers provide, you've done everything wrong.

I dont want those.

reruns_revenge posted...

If you wanted a mediocre career with an OK income, then you would be satisfied with where you are and where you'll end up.

Im fine with a mediocre career with an okay income. Im not sure Id call where I am mediocre, its very prestigious and the job itself has prestige. Im not upset with my income or my career prestige at all. Just my work environment. I might like a different in-field environment better, Ive only experienced large centers.

But also, work in general just seems to be life-limiting. Required to live in a certain place, be somewhere certain hours, look a certain way, have discrepancies in who you are and how you act professionally, away from family and friends, not knowing when youll get off, switching careers having huge opportunity costs associated.

damn kids these days always trying to learn shit instead of being content with stuff they already knew, the bastards

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The problem with your posts is that you repeatedly contradict yourself, make absurd exaggerations and easily disprovable claims, and then lie about things you've said in the past when people call you out on them.

The bottom line is you
blu posted...

I never said this and its not true.

I dont want those.

Im fine with a mediocre career with an okay income. Im not sure Id call where I am mediocre, its very prestigious and the job itself has prestige. Im not upset with my income or my career prestige at all. Just my work environment. I might like a different in-field environment better, Ive only experienced large centers.

But also, work in general just seems to be life-limiting. Required to live in a certain place, be somewhere certain hours, look a certain way, have discrepancies in who you are and how you act professionally.

The problem with your posts is that you repeatedly contradict yourself, make absurd exaggerations and easily disprovable claims, and then lie about things you've said in the past when people call you out on them.

The bottom line is you are obviously not happy and are very insecure. There is nothing impressive or prestigious about your academic pedigree, your job or what you do for a living, or your middling income.

You claim it does not matter to you, but then spend all of your time talking about those very things, which show they do matter very much to you and that you are very defensive and insecure about them. To state the obvious, people that are confident and secure with their careers and income and choices in life do NONE of the things that you do.

Work in general is not "life-limiting" when you make smart decisions based on proper motives that align with the things that matter to people in their lives, the latter of which can be found after some self-reflection. Maybe they are for you because the job you have chosen, but that's your own fault. Start taking responsibility for your choices, and if you don't like the outcome, start making the changes necessary for a different one. Anything is better than posting the same thing for the millionth time about your no advancement opportunity job and mediocre income that caps out early and then you're left doing the same rote garbage for the next few decades.

You trained for a vocation. Now that you're doing it, all you do is complain about it. Stop already.

reruns_revenge posted...

The bottom line is you are obviously not happy and are very insecure. There is nothing impressive or prestigious about your academic pedigree, your job or what you do for a living, or your middling income

Are you talking about in general? I still have a top 1-2% income at an Ivy League university in a field with prestige. Its over 4x the median income for my age, which isnt middling. Youre right if you think academics and jobs shouldnt have prestige attached to them, but youre wrong if you say they dont.

reruns_revenge posted...

Work in general is not "life-limiting" when you make smart decisions based on proper motives that align with the things that matter to people in their lives,

It depends on the type of life you want to have. If you dont want to have much of a life, its not limiting to your life. If you do, its hard to deny something that takes up 40-50% of your waking hours between preparation and performance is not limiting how you can live life, even if you enjoy what you do.

reruns_revenge posted...

Maybe it is for you because of the job you have chosen, but that's your own fault. Start taking responsibility for your choices, and if you don't like the outcome, start making the changes necessary for a different one.

Thats what Im doing. It was even posted about in this topic...

reruns_revenge posted...

The problem with your posts is that you repeatedly contradict yourself, make absurd exaggerations and easily disprovable claims, and then lie about things you've said in the past when people call you out on them.

Ahh, I suggest you log a few and disprove them at sometime then. I really dont do this.

Daaaaaaaaaamn reruns_revenge is dropping some truth bombs

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Theres really not much truth in his post other than its boring I post about jobs and money a million times.

Ive put my life onto the path to the best job (which is no job) in the amount of time it takes to get a new degree.

blu posted...

I really dont do this.

youve been called out on it by several different users about it at this point

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Mead posted...

youve been called out on it by several different users about it at this point

Youre right.

Its been that way for like a decade now. They claim the income is fake, I ask if they want to see a paystub, they say no. The claim the numbers change....they do as you factor in bonuses/matching...theres multiple ways to report. Ive posted my degrees on here before. Ive met up with three now-former PotDers in person and sold physical items to two others. Ive been blogfaqsing about each stage of my career and life since high school.

Though also, a lot of PotDers are called out by several different users. Unless its something obviously fake like the tinder babes topics by knight, I tend to believe people. Others here...dont and have similar reaction of just believing people. Maybe theres still some Chelle-pain eight years later.

People do give similar hate/accusations towards people, like Jen and sunny, for other topics. There was a time over half the board thought I was Balor because Bardi brought the accusation up so often that others started. Then some significant portion thought I was an alt of Thunders. Its just PotD.

blu posted...

Are you talking about in general? I still have a top 1-2% income at an Ivy League university in a field with prestige. Its over 4x the median income for my age, which isnt middling. Youre right if you think academics and jobs shouldnt have prestige attached to them, but youre wrong if you say they dont.

It depends on the type of life you want to have. If you dont want to have much of a life, its not limiting to your life. If you do, its hard to deny something that takes up 40-50% of your waking hours between preparation and performance is not limiting how you can live life, even if you enjoy what you do.

Thats what Im doing. It was even posted about in this topic...

Ahh, I suggest you log a few and disprove them at sometime then. I really dont do this.

You are so god damn delusional and dishonest and a truly pitiful person. Stop exaggerating everything in a futile attempt to make yourself seem like someone important and successful. You are neither.

You don't work "at an Ivy League university". You are employed as a staff member at an unimportant, run of the mill, mid-sized regional community hospital that just happens to be affiliated with one. That's a big fucking difference.

You don't have anywhere near "a top 1% to 2% income". Not even close. That claim is easily disproved by a simple google search of US income percentiles and your middling claimed annual income of approximately $150k. Your are especially delusional and dishonest on this fib. Laughable, really. And you apparently on't understand what the word "middling" means, but it sure seems to have provoked your insecurity considering your response.

You don't work in a "field with prestige". You are functionally a glorified x-ray technician that measures the performance and accuracy of medical devices, or as you have put it, a "quality assurance" technician. A job that no one gives a shit about. But don't take my word for it - I think you'd agree that this description of your job is accurate considering it comes from you:

Medical physicist at a mid-sized center. Work with a talented team of physicists utilizing a wide array of clinical techniques.

Now that sounds like some super impressive pressssteeeege shit right there.

Instead of coming to a video game message board to humble brag and trying to show other people how super successful and better you are than them - all as part of some weird, vain effort to ameliorate your insecurities, unhappiness and deeply embedded inferiority complex - how about you learn to accept and be satisfied with who and what you actually are.

A guy that spent a lot of time at undistinguished, lower tier state schools to get a specific type of job that now makes middling money as an equipment calibration monkey staff member at a regional hospital in an area that's not a particularly desirable place to live.

If you don't like that reality, do something to change it. But for the love of god, stop making up bullshit and coming on this board to lie in order to make yourself feel superior to other people. Because I'm pretty sure almost everyone else here is superior to you in the way that matters: they're not so fucking insecure and miserable that they have to brag about themselves every damn day.