Let's try to clear up a few other things while we are at it. Experience vs. book learning.
As was stated book learning teaches only concepts and can only pass on some other persons ideas. All very good and needed, that is how mankind learns and passes on lessons, but it is only one of the ways. That kind of learning is incomplete.
To use on of my other examples, firefighting. As a kid I read all kinds of books, some included things about firefighting. I read that it was dangerous, hot, scary and exciting. I read how other people talked about all those things. Then I went out to fight a forest fire.
I had never seen a forest fire in person, only pictures. I had no training at all. I talked with some of the guys, (sorry ladies, there were no females in that crew) about what to expect, they all gave me good advice. I had no idea how I would react.
It hit the fan that day. About 7 hours into a 19 hour shift we set a backfire, I knew in theory what that was but now, I was handed a drip torch and was told to light off a line about a mile or so long. I was nervous, concerned etc. I went down that levee lighting saw grass on fire. We were defending an Indian village from the head fire.
Not long after we lit off that back fire the wind shifted. In a matter of seconds the two fires merged and became a 100ft high wall of flames, moving straight as us at about 30mph.
I was scared "stuffless" to say the least. It took everything that I could muster to just stand there, not run for my life, and, with that crew of firefighting vets, defend that village from that fire. We were able to stop it, the village is still there to this day and none of us on that crew was hurt or killed.
I could have never, in a million years of reading, known that I would not run when faced with mortal danger. I could never smelled those smells, grasped the awesome power and beauty of that fire and, at the same time, fathom it's power to both create and destroy.
Only personal experience teaches that. I can only guess that it is similar to someone going into combat the first time, but it is only a guess since I have never been there.
Turtle's example of telling me about his French cooking brings up another point, that is what is known as having a "frame of reference.
You are correct Turtle, you could tell me about your cooking and I would have a very good idea of all of it. Why? I know how to cook. Not to the degree that you do but I know how. I have a frame of reference. What I could never understand by your verbal discription or reading about it is how one goes about applying the art of that kind of cooking. That can only be gained by experience.
That is what I meant when I told Cherii that she would not understand most of what I would tell her about the intelligence world. While I would use standard English words to talk about it, much would just be jibberish. Why? No frame of reference. It has nothing to do with brain power.
As was stated book learning teaches only concepts and can only pass on some other persons ideas. All very good and needed, that is how mankind learns and passes on lessons, but it is only one of the ways. That kind of learning is incomplete.
To use on of my other examples, firefighting. As a kid I read all kinds of books, some included things about firefighting. I read that it was dangerous, hot, scary and exciting. I read how other people talked about all those things. Then I went out to fight a forest fire.
I had never seen a forest fire in person, only pictures. I had no training at all. I talked with some of the guys, (sorry ladies, there were no females in that crew) about what to expect, they all gave me good advice. I had no idea how I would react.
It hit the fan that day. About 7 hours into a 19 hour shift we set a backfire, I knew in theory what that was but now, I was handed a drip torch and was told to light off a line about a mile or so long. I was nervous, concerned etc. I went down that levee lighting saw grass on fire. We were defending an Indian village from the head fire.
Not long after we lit off that back fire the wind shifted. In a matter of seconds the two fires merged and became a 100ft high wall of flames, moving straight as us at about 30mph.
I was scared "stuffless" to say the least. It took everything that I could muster to just stand there, not run for my life, and, with that crew of firefighting vets, defend that village from that fire. We were able to stop it, the village is still there to this day and none of us on that crew was hurt or killed.
I could have never, in a million years of reading, known that I would not run when faced with mortal danger. I could never smelled those smells, grasped the awesome power and beauty of that fire and, at the same time, fathom it's power to both create and destroy.
Only personal experience teaches that. I can only guess that it is similar to someone going into combat the first time, but it is only a guess since I have never been there.
Turtle's example of telling me about his French cooking brings up another point, that is what is known as having a "frame of reference.
You are correct Turtle, you could tell me about your cooking and I would have a very good idea of all of it. Why? I know how to cook. Not to the degree that you do but I know how. I have a frame of reference. What I could never understand by your verbal discription or reading about it is how one goes about applying the art of that kind of cooking. That can only be gained by experience.
That is what I meant when I told Cherii that she would not understand most of what I would tell her about the intelligence world. While I would use standard English words to talk about it, much would just be jibberish. Why? No frame of reference. It has nothing to do with brain power.
