Power of the Internet: 4-Year-Old's View

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

My grandson Eli is 4 years, 4 months. Here’s a story from Casey (my daughter) that I hope you find interesting:

Yesterday on the way to your work, Eli had his hat pulled down over his eyes and said “I can’t see!”

I asked “Are you blind?”

E: No, I Just had my hat over my eyes. What is blind mean?

C: If a person is blind, it means that their eyes don’t work at all and they can’t see anything.

E: If a person has blind eyes, then can they see later on?

C: No, not usually. If a person is blind they are usually blind for their whole life. Scientists haven’t figured out how to fix eyes yet.

E: Why not?

C: Because bodies are made very special, and they are complicated and hard to fix.

E: Oh.

(This was all when we were driving in Ashland toward the freeway)

(Later, around Talent ) btw, that’s 7 miles down the road…

E: Do some people in the world not have computers?

C: Yes, a lot of people don’t have computers.

E: Why?

C: Computers are very expensive and there are a lot of people in the world who don’t have enough money to own a computer.

E: Are there scientists who don’t have computers?

C: I think most scientists have computers or can go somewhere that they can use one.

E: I have an idea! Why doesn’t the scientist just look it up on the computer how to fix eyes? Then they could know how to do it and make people not blind?!

So then I had to try to explain how the computer didn’t know anything that we didn’t already know, that everything you find in the computer was made or written by people. And so if people didn’t know how to fix eyes, then computers wouldn’t know either. I am not sure he got it,though.

Plus we talked a little bit about “eye transplants”. and how sometimes they could fix blind eyes.

Casey

2

Cute.

Not meaning to be rude, but is this in the wrong forum, or something?

3

Cute story. The kid’s a problem solver. Not really a GQ, methinks.

4

I don’t see a general question, so I’ll move this thread to MPSIMS.

5

Oh, my, I’m sorry. I did not intend to put this in GQ!!! I’d give you my excuse, but it’s too mundane.
Thanks for the move, bibliophage.

-Another

6

In a similar vein, I’ve encountered kids who think that money comes from ATMs, so “we can’t afford it” is never a legitimate reason for not buying something. Try explaining to a 5-year-old that their parents have to work to get the money, then they deposit it in the bank, etc., etc.! With direct deposit, they never even see a bank deposit being made.

Come to think of it, I’ve encountered a couple of adults who don’t quite understand how it all works, either!

7

Hey, no worries! :slight_smile:

If only computers really did possess limitless knowledge…

8

Another Primate: Ever go through Applegate?

9

I remember when I was a clueless stupid kid too… When my mom said “we don’t have the money for that”, My idiotic 4-year-old brain identified money as just bills and coins. So, of course, my response was “just write a check!” After all, there were plenty of checks in the checkbook.

It’s interesting that I could not differentiate checks from money, and this kid cannot differentiate real knowledge from “looking it up on the computer”. It’s the same thing, I guess.

10

You never know. With a conversation like that, even at such a young age, the kid may decide one day to be someone who *does * learn how to “fix eyes”. And the world will be a better place. It’s happened before, great events turning on the basis of some seemingly little thing.

11

Oh, yes, you betcha. Why do you ask?