The Futility of Knowledge

[matrixman]

Ha ha! Fist & Faith's famed funny bone fires up another one.

Sounds to me like you're a very level-headed, well-balanced person, SQ. Putting up with all the things you put up with in your life and still having the strength to be a caring, responsible mother...well, what can I say? Your kids are lucky to have a mom like you. I was never emotionally close with my own parents, so I admire your close bond with your children. I see your story as something to be acknowledged and appreciated. Whether your efforts are "phenomenal" (quit embarrassing her, Fist! ) or merely mundane work for any good mom, I salute you regardless.

Hey, I'm a bachelor, so what the heck do I know about parenting?

What were we talking about? Oh, the futility of knowledge. Well, what about parenting knowledge, huh, Avatar? Ya calling that futile, huh?

My idea of futile knowledge: knowing the dog really did eat your homework, but realizing it's futile to try and convince your teacher of it.

[Avatar]

Nah, I'm certainly not calling parenting knowledge futile. Perhaps I should have been clearer in my first post and referred to knowledge which has no apparent application in your everyday life?

My idea of futile knowledge is knowing that the Everret-Wheeler-Graham model describes a theory of multiple universes. In other words, knowledge that you have made an effort to assimilate, but which you'll never do anything with except (maybe) talk about.

Knowing that doesn't alter the way I live. There is nothing that I can do with it, especially as I'm ill-suited to work in quantum physics, but I still think that knowing it improves the quality of my life. (How, I'm not sure. But it must.

--Avatar

[Loredoctor]

And yet, my perceptions show me a universe of order, to complex and too balanced to have come into being without planning.

Isn't that circular logic? Understanding the universe would require an ordered organism. It doesn't necessarily require a God to explain order. If we had no order, there would be no understanding - so therefore no God?