I wish I remembered where I got the information, but my data intake is so broad-spectrum and voracious…I’ll go on learning binges, and then it’s literally like asking someone who’s gone on an eating binge (and I’ve done that before too) exactly how many cookies they consumed from the second box. Seriously. I’ll be like NEED TO KNOW THE THING, and then ten books, 70-odd wiki articles, God knows how many blog entries and journal articles, a dozen youtube lectures and 32 manic sleepless hours later, I come blinking out the other side able to pass myself as having at least a University minor in the Thing…and because of the way my brain can then build webs and patterns that instantly connect it to all my other Things and create new Things out of that, I can often pass for as much as graduate studies.
Not to sound pissy or arrogant or anything, but I find it a bit insulting when you imply that you doing 32 hours of reading on a subject (no matter how much you cram into that, which I don't doubt is a lot) is equivalent to anyone else spending 3 or 4 years of their life studying it. You're clearly intelligent, but you can't be that much better than everyone else, and if you are it's possibly a bit harsh/tactless to say so. I hope I interpreted the comment wrong or something...
This is why I deliberately phrased it as “able to pass myself as.” It’s like the difference between saying I can build an entire fully functional, furnished, up to code suburban split-level house in 24 hours vs I can build a complete living room/dining room/kitchen open floorplan set that would pass on even the most stringent HD camera as a fully-functional, furnished, up to code suburban split-level house in 24 hours. They’re both impressive as fuck. They both work for the creation of fiction and certain social situations (and yeah, when I was younger, I took advantage of this skill and had something of a Frank Abagnale streak). One’s just frankly not possible and, you’re right, insulting to the people who do build houses.
***
For the curious:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Abagnale
Frank William Abagnale, Jr. is an American security consultant known for his history as a former confidence trickster, check forger, and impostor between the ages of 15 and 21. He became one of the most famous impostors ever,[1] claiming to have assumed no fewer than eight identities as an airline pilot, a doctor, a U.S. Bureau of Prisons agent, and a lawyer.
Andy describes how he passes himself off as an "expert" & admits to conning people
http://andythanfiction.tumblr.com/post/43797085598/hi-there-just-wanted-to-say-youre-awesome-and
I wish I remembered where I got the information, but my data intake is so broad-spectrum and voracious…I’ll go on learning binges, and then it’s literally like asking someone who’s gone on an eating binge (and I’ve done that before too) exactly how many cookies they consumed from the second box. Seriously. I’ll be like NEED TO KNOW THE THING, and then ten books, 70-odd wiki articles, God knows how many blog entries and journal articles, a dozen youtube lectures and 32 manic sleepless hours later, I come blinking out the other side able to pass myself as having at least a University minor in the Thing…and because of the way my brain can then build webs and patterns that instantly connect it to all my other Things and create new Things out of that, I can often pass for as much as graduate studies.
http://andythanfiction.tumblr.com/post/43847485246/not-to-sound-pissy-or-arrogant-or-anything-but-i
Not to sound pissy or arrogant or anything, but I find it a bit insulting when you imply that you doing 32 hours of reading on a subject (no matter how much you cram into that, which I don't doubt is a lot) is equivalent to anyone else spending 3 or 4 years of their life studying it. You're clearly intelligent, but you can't be that much better than everyone else, and if you are it's possibly a bit harsh/tactless to say so. I hope I interpreted the comment wrong or something...
This is why I deliberately phrased it as “able to pass myself as.” It’s like the difference between saying I can build an entire fully functional, furnished, up to code suburban split-level house in 24 hours vs I can build a complete living room/dining room/kitchen open floorplan set that would pass on even the most stringent HD camera as a fully-functional, furnished, up to code suburban split-level house in 24 hours. They’re both impressive as fuck. They both work for the creation of fiction and certain social situations (and yeah, when I was younger, I took advantage of this skill and had something of a Frank Abagnale streak). One’s just frankly not possible and, you’re right, insulting to the people who do build houses.
***
For the curious:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Abagnale
Frank William Abagnale, Jr. is an American security consultant known for his history as a former confidence trickster, check forger, and impostor between the ages of 15 and 21. He became one of the most famous impostors ever,[1] claiming to have assumed no fewer than eight identities as an airline pilot, a doctor, a U.S. Bureau of Prisons agent, and a lawyer.