# I want to know everything **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 16, 2006, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-know-everything/380608 "2006-11-16T00:51:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-know-everything/380608/1 "2006-11-16T00:51:56Z")
I want to know everything. I want to see how it all ends, how it all began. I want to see who, if anyone, is right about all of the political debates today. I want to know what happens at the end of our nation, the end of Western civilization, the end of humanity. I want to know what caused the end, and what comes next. I want to know what happens with the end of life as we know it. I want to know the beginning end of life as we don’t yet know. I want to know how it all happened. I want to see the answers that science gives us in fifty, a hundred, a thousand years from now. I’d almost settle for learning everything that science has shown us so far. I want to learn the answers to every question. I want to find all of the questions that nobody has thought to ask yet, and I want the answers to those as well. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-know-everything/380608/2 "2006-11-16T01:06:10Z")
You will go mad. **Mad,** I tell you! _ **Mad! MAD! MAAAAAAD!!!1!** _ ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-know-everything/380608/3 "2006-11-16T01:49:32Z")
Eh. I bet it’s a lot more fun to be a mad scientist anyways. Normal scientists don’t get to do their research in nifty spooky old buildings with secret passageways and giant pipe organs. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-know-everything/380608/4 "2006-11-16T02:08:56Z")
[QUOTE=lazybratsche] I want to know everything. [/QUOTE] Your choices are: 1. To know little or nothing about everthing, OR 2. To know everything about little or nothing! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-know-everything/380608/5 "2006-11-16T02:30:11Z")
[QUOTE=lazybratsche] Eh. I bet it’s a lot more fun to be a mad scientist anyways. [/QUOTE] Oh it is. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-know-everything/380608/6 "2006-11-16T02:45:09Z")
You can’t. Sorry, daddy’s busy. Would you like some ice-cream? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-know-everything/380608/7 "2006-11-16T02:53:06Z")
Anybody else thinking about it? I’ll post it then: > [@](#): > > First Pepperpot: How does Doctor Bernowski know which zoo [the penguin on the television] came from? > > Second Pepperpot He knows everything. > > First Pepperpot Oooh, I wouldn’t like that, that’d take all the mystery out of life. Also going through my head is Antonio Banderas singing [Guido’s Song](http://www.lyricsondemand.com/soundtracks/n/ninelyrics/guidossonglyrics.html) from _Nine_. ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-know-everything/380608/8 "2006-11-16T04:11:57Z")
[QUOTE=Rigamarole] You can’t. Sorry, daddy’s busy. Would you like some ice-cream? [/QUOTE] Oh, fine. And give me the damn ice cream. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-know-everything/380608/9 "2006-11-16T05:58:41Z")
I tried knowing everything once. I enjoyed it, but the people around me didn’t so much, and kept calling me an arrogant prick. Now that my mind is going and I can’t even remember what I had for lunch today, those people who will still have anything to do with me (are the number is vanishingly small) are much nicer to me. So take your choice. As Elwood P. Dowd once said, "Years ago my mother used to say to me, she’d say, ‘In this world, Elwood, you must be’ - she always called me Elwood - ‘In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.’ Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me. " (My problem is that I’m too old now to learn how to be pleasant.) ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-know-everything/380608/10 "2006-11-16T06:00:30Z")
:smack: … **and** the number is vanishingly small… ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-know-everything/380608/11 "2006-11-16T06:16:09Z")
[QUOTE=spingears] Your choices are: 1. To know little or nothing about everthing, OR 2. To know everything about little or nothing! :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] I second this. The more I’ve learned (specifically, about the physical sciences), the more I’ve realized what I have yet to learn. I’ve always thought that 250 years ago, it might be possible to know everything that everybody else knew, at least concerning physics, chemistry, ect. (More properly stated as "all the knowledge humans in my part of the world are aware of) However, today, that is not possible. Heck, for all I know, maybe one person hasn’t known “everything” since humans made the leap from hunter-gatherers to an agricultural society? ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-know-everything/380608/12 "2006-11-16T06:31:28Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] You will go mad. **Mad,** I tell you! _ **Mad! MAD! MAAAAAAD!!!1!** _ [/QUOTE] Wasn’t there a novel where someone _does_ learn everything, and it drives him (her) totally crazy? Or am I thinking of the Cthulu mythos where if you truly understand the nature of the Old Ones your mind automatically melts down? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-know-everything/380608/13 "2006-11-16T13:31:01Z")
It’s really not all that great; knowing everything. I mean, yeah, I know _everything_. It’s just that I can’t remember it all at once. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-know-everything/380608/14 "2006-11-16T13:56:04Z")
[QUOTE=lazybratsche] I want to know everything. [/QUOTE] No, you don’t. Really. Trust me on this – it all ends badly. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-know-everything/380608/15 "2006-11-16T14:05:52Z")
It might be boring to know everything. But I’d like to know enough about ‘everything’ (at least the ‘olgies’ and ‘ics’ and such) to be able to pursue further study. And I’d like the time to study them and also engage in my hobbies. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-know-everything/380608/16 "2006-11-16T14:15:35Z")
I don’t want to know everything, I just want to remember everything I’ve ever learned but have since forgotten. All that info I learned in school and then forgot once the exam was over? I want it back. All the stuff I researched to allow me to delve into one project or another, used during the project, then disappeared upon completion of the project? I miss it. ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-know-everything/380608/17 "2006-11-16T14:25:03Z")
Can I at least know why the hell this thread has “Democrats Suck” showing up as the only google ad? ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-know-everything/380608/18 "2006-11-16T15:37:53Z")
You can get a good start knowing everything by reading [this](http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything/dp/076790818X/sr=8-2/qid=1163691445/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/102-5260455-1196922?ie=UTF8&s=books). ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-know-everything/380608/19 "2006-11-16T15:39:16Z")
[QUOTE=lazybratsche] Can I at least know why the hell this thread has “Democrats Suck” showing up as the only google ad? [/QUOTE] Oh it’s showing up everywhere today. You’d think they’d try knowing the audience before paying money like that. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-know-everything/380608/20 "2006-11-16T16:42:25Z")
You want to know about [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_site#Goatse.cx)? Or [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_site#Tubgirl.com)? Or [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_site#Hai2U.com)? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-know-everything/380608.md?page=2)