Okay, so I’m looking for a subject of any type for personal study.
It can be anything… statistics/particle physics/classical mechanics/the stock market etc.
My only real criterion are:
*It has to be relatively specific (e.g. so don’t just say “physics”… it has to be a particular branch of physics, like “fluid-flow dynamics”)
*It has to have a potential payoff. So if I learn about the stock market, I will recieve lots of ----> money! (Yeah I know this particular example may not occur, but you get the picture)
So can you think of any type of knowledge that has paid off for you - or someone else you know? It can be in any subject… be it making acids or electronic devices - so long as it can be studied.
i don’t think this is what you had in mind… but i feel the need to stress, the skill which will bring you the most payoff is…people skills~
you need not be an exceptionally smart person to get ahead if you have them social skills. dazzle and woo the crowd. intrigue and charm individuals.
psychology, sociology…
Your criteria are already flawed. You are asking what can you get out of certain knowledge. What the payoff is. I could be very smart when it comes to Environmental Psychology - my field of work - and at the same time know a lot about pulsar behavioral systems.
Why do you need to get something out of it? That is a terribly limiting criteria, and in my opinion, makes the question circuitous
How to seduce women. Yeah, I’m feeling a certain stigma admitting I needed a website to teach me this, but what the hell. I’ll take some flack. I’m pretty confident that if we meet somewhere I’ll be the one walking out with the hottie.
How has this benefitted me? I’m happy in a way that isn’t tied down to the traumas of my childhood. I’m becoming a full person. I’ve got a super hot girlfriend with an understanding that I’m hers, but I have certain lady friend liberties.
People treat me differently. The phrase “cult of personality” comes to mind. Guys who wouldn’t have a chance with my girlfriend treat me with a respect that I’m really getting a kick out of. Girls are competing for me. People consult me instead of vent to me.
In an invisible way, I feel as though things are easier for me now. I remember a doper saying sometimes he felt as though he were receiving privileges for being white, blonde, and blue eyed. People move for me, people volunteer to do things for me, people go out of their way to have me around them. I like it, truthfully.
The best part is, I feel as though I’m just beginning.
The coolest knowledge is the one that is required at the moment.
One time I was buying some lumber and I waiting to get it cut to size. One the workers commented how the other wasn’t a rocket scientest. I told him I didn’t really need a rocket scientest but would settle for a carpenter.
So maybe you are asking what skill will be in the most demand in the future.
From your perception maybe. I wish for attainable knowledge that will help me in the future.
For example, I spent loads of time reading something useless (about the historical ruins of a specific place - which fascinated me) for well over three hours.
In the same amount of time, I had read a computer manual that allowed me to operate a particular program I was loading. It turned out that I could use this program for an assignment I was doing. Much more relevant and, at least from my perspective, much more useful.
I’m sorry but where does this link in to what I’m saying? If you know lots of stuff that is great. Good for you. I’m only saying that I want to learn about a new topic that can be useful in a practical way.
Could you explain how? Are you referring to my OP? By “cool” I was kinda indicating it meant “could be used for something”. So learning something with a desired purpose at the end - like driving.
Well sure. Under ideal circumstances. But those don’t really occur. I’m thinking of something that is pre-planned ahead of time with the intention that it can be used later - like knowing how to hot rod a car. But rather than just one individual skill/knowledge, I’d like to learn something that gives me multiple benefits.
Interesting story my Anal Scurve. Make sure you keep packing in those lime ribbed condoms. It promotes better circulation in that general area.
If you just want the coolest type of knowledge per se, without considering relevance to society, I would say lock-picking. Always wanted to know how to do that after reading Surely You’re Joking, Mr Feynman.
Other than that… social skills definitely. Reading nonverbal cues accurately, learning to listen and pick up on what’s going on in the other person’s heart even when it’s not explicitly expressed.
Being able to make sense of anything you have to read-- maps, architectural plans, accounts, legal documents, technical specs etc.-- would be a valuable life skill. They should offer courses on this.
I hear sophisticated sexual knowledge can be very helpful too.
Being a truly good cook really is a great skill to have, and the benefits are many. Not only do you get to eat the results yourself, it does wonders for your social interactions and reputation. You get credit for having the patience and dedication to master something most of us don’t have the time, energy, or interest to do, which can make people look at you in a whole other light.
Besides, if you’ve got lots of good food around, you can be surrounded by family and friends whenever you please. Just pick up the phone and say, “I’m making jambalaya and fresh bread,” and people will flock to your door. Cook for dates and women will throw themseves across your bed with their legs in the air. Trust me.
Sounds like you are discovering you like to learn. And that the more knowledge you gain the more you feel good. The better you feel the more you are conscious of the knowledge you have gained - you probably have a good memory, this will help in the future - so now it is time to use it. But I must say the knowledge you gain is never finite. Sometimes the things you do in your life i.e. smoking pot, drinking, and dilluding your body, can have an effect on how well you are able to recall said knowledge. But I am of the school that thinks it never goes away. One just needs to learn how to be good at recalling it. Those who are very good at recall are said to be photographic in their processes of memory - a more modern term for this is iconic memory.
With any luck this should happen to you every day. READ READ READ !!!
All forms of learning have a desired purpose in the end…to be more knowledgeable than before you learned it. If it does not have some practical use right away, it may in the future.
As for your OP: want ing to have the pre-knowledge that what you are learning will help you at some time in the future…Try reading the series known as The worse case scenerio … It is very fun and you can read it having the knowledge that the info therein may save your life some day. Or help ya get a date…
As for Anal Scurvy though your username is disturbing enough ->
This is a dangerous mix to get used to. Some people who have enjoyed it in the past include Stalin, Bundy and Greg Brady. I’d say level your head a tad, and one day the really smart ones will see your cerebral cortex as cute and not your blond hair and blue eyes… The reason I mention this, is I happen to be a tall blond hair blue eyed man who had to prove at one time or another that my looks would not get me through graduate school…In the end my Magna status proved me right. But be careful, I almost had to get good grades out of spite, because some prof.s were willing to give me the grade simply if I went out with them.
Now I am 33 and happily married. I relish to think how my life could have come out…
Yup, definitely; the requirement for fluid physiscists and optical consultants is bound to fluctuate, but people gotta eat; tonight I made a Tiramisu variant for a party of 12 people; their souls were mine (for a while at least) when they had finished eating it, while writhing in delight, I could have asked them to strip naked and dance before me and they would have complied(although this only occurred to me later ).
It’s cool to be a jack of all trades, a master of none. But even that is a subjective answer.
IMHO, I’d answer that if it had to be limited to one, it would be “outdoorsmanship:” this would consist, at its most basic level, of being able to survive in some the harshest environments on earth; and on its most accomplished end the ability to read nature signs and to track any living thing over any terrain. This latter skill would afford you a profitable, interesting and philisophically rewarding livelihood in modern society rescuing the lost good people and finding the fleeing bad people.
You want a cool skill to learn? Learn to read people. Know when they are lying, bluffing, agitated, horny, loving, unsecure, lonely, plotting or anything. what griffs call the tell. Take a psychic hotline lesson to learn how to talk to people to tell them what they want to know. I cant give you a cite, but you gotta admit reading other people like they were an open book is cool knowledge to have.
If you think this suggestion is useful, let me know how to do it too.
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