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My whole life I avoided knowing anything about the news; ie, the state of the outside world in terms of real events. (I'm happy to know about science, writing, music.) The past months I followed the news some. I think it's time to stop again. Does anyone follow the news? I could only imagine doing so if one were committed to feeling miserable all the time, or if they just took it as purely, morbidly amusing. |
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Latter. |
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I try to keep up, but with my TV not working, it's getting harder. I still read newspapers, though. I kind of feel it should be a responsibility for people to keep up with the news; ignorance changes nothing. Maybe, one day, if you're sufficiently appalled, you may get active..? |
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heh, that's how I was handling it. |
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That's actually the Norwegian word for laughs (as a noun). |
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I see, yes it could be a good motivator to be try and make a positive mark on the world. Myself, I have other ways I'll contribute to the world (science), I'm just going to ignore this other shit as much as possible. Please don't drop bombs on me or throw me in jail for no reason. Hopefully naivete doesn't imply death. |
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Let's all be morons and not watch or read the news! |
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what a shit attitude |
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why |
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those two do not correlate |
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i think its a selfish attitude. why cant you do both? how can you effectively contribute to science without knowing whats going on in the world? the news does get on my nerves at times but i think its important to know about what happens because theres less fortunate people than you that could do with some help, e.g. Darfur. |
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As long as you're making an effort to contribute, I have no problems (I hate stuff like the logician philosphers who only do logics, and who do it just for its own sake and "pure" mathematicians in the same vein. I'm not saying you shouldn't do what you'd like, but I'm saying people with education have an obligation to contribute, and to actively strive to do so, not just babble on within their own little sphere of highly specialised irrelevant ramblings), but I'd still call it a bit irresponsible to avoid the news. |
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Firstly, it's arrogant to assume that one knows what really is good. I've frequently made the mistake of helping someone only to realize it wasn't something they wanted. Ignoring that though, yes there are cases like darfur. I know I'm being flawed; the news makes me sad, though. It's possible that ignoring it I'll do better science and help others more. |
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I'll agree with the accusation of irresponsibility. I am trying to contribute in a way I see useful. I don't see an obligation of those with education to do so, however. What differentiates their moral obligations from those of the un-educated? |
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Ah, I was a bit unclear.. I didn't really mean that uneducated people didn't have the obligation, I was referring to what academics do in their research; the obligation is to make your research a contribution, and not some self-realisation project. |
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but how can you determine such a thing! For instance, for about 150 years prior to the advent of the computer, mathematics went through a rigorous formalization, culminating in formal logic and development thereof. People may have considered this academic navel gazing (as compared with 'real' developments like differential calculus), but the existence of computers is completely dependent on these advances! Similarly, advanced number theory, which was a 'mathematician's plaything' for hundreds of years, is the basis for cryptography! |
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yeah the news is pretty much always sad, isn't that just life? couldn't that help your scientific quest though? - inspire you to make it better in some way through science. |
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As I said to torbjorn (drunken mastash), it's hard to see which direction to research. For instance, what if the best possible thing I could do for darfur would be to design a portable fusion reactor? what if that takes more than a lifetime? There are clearly bad things of course.. like army killbots. |
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well maybe that isnt what darfur needs.. perhaps the design of an awareness programme more effective than the news would be in order.. even if it took more than a lifetime you would have conceived it and started it. if your not sure what to research then why dont you just follow your heart? |
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i somewhat follow them, though i should probably pay more attention to them... for some reason, i'm finding it difficult sometimes to get moved by terrible things happening to dozens of thousands of people, whereas something terrible happening to one person or a few persons can make me feel really sick. i guess it's "normal", you can easily relate to a particular person, not so much to a crowd, even less to a number... but i know it's wrong. i also find that, even though this thought may be even wronger and more sickening, some situations (like in the middle east) are so apparently hopeless and going wrong all the time that i end up getting used to it and stopping caring about it, no matter how horrible the situation there is. i feel used to the world going wrong in a gazillion different ways all the time and don't have much hope in humanity in general, yet (or maybe because) i've never been myself in big trouble. |
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I'm talking about the motivation for the research, not the research as such; as you say, you can't always determine beforehand what the results of your research is going to be, but the motivation shouldn't be purely masturbatory, but rather to actually make a contribution. You believe you can make a contribution by your research, you're not doing it simply to satisfy your own desires. |
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Also, note that the contribution is non-specific; you contribute to what you think is important, whether that's political or scientific (though, if it is scientific, the field should also kind of be something not geared only towards itself. Like how certain analytical philosophers seem to think). The main point I'm making is about the attitude of researchers towards their research. |
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I read The Times, when I'm away with work. Occassionally I'll read the local paper over my parents' house. I read most issues of Private Eye. Sometimes I read Motorcycle News (Newspaper covering motorbike news, rather than a magazine format paper, bit tabloidy though). I tend to view it as Ecnadniarb does and take it as a source of amusement. I actually like Bush, because although he's clearly a criminal fuckwit, at least he's entertaining to watch. Same goes for Boris Johnson. Most politicians are criminal fuckwits, but most aren't half as funny as that pair. |
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Private Eye is great. I don't understand why it isn't more popular. |
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I read the newspaper most days, but it's a bit too Canadian-centric. Just like our TV stations, there's a minimum amount of ''Canadian content'' that they have to include, very annoying. Very boring and sober country. Otherwise I like sites like digg, for better or worse. When I read a news story, I immediately feel the need to read what others have to say about it, informed and otherwise, even if I'm not concerned about the original story. See what other stories and subjects and arguments it breaks off into. |
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I think most people aren't bright enough to get the humour of it and/or aren't sufficiantly incensed at being lied to by the people whose wages they pay (politicians and public service officials) to get it solely for the exposes. The recent NHS IT system thing they did should have been front page news on a more widely read paper. |
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Oops, it's 5:27 am. I better go to sleep or whatever that thing is that humans normally do. |
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Here is some news: about 30 seconds ago I drank some apple juice |
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i read the news. but it really doesn't matter, everything is so manipulated nowadays anyway, if you want to contribute just do your own thing live your life, vote and whatnot, try to be happy. |
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