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I'm interested in opinions on what Arthur Conan Doyle wrote in, "A Study in Scarlet":

“I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.”

I read this passage earlier and began pondering it.

sfvpool 7 Sep 29
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1

Well, I like the analogy of the brain being an attic; but I prefer to think of it like a Tardis - bigger on the inside.
I Don't know if I'm a craftsman or not - but think that if you know your craft - and that's great! - but you only know your craft, you're missing out on so much.
It's ok to know a little about a lot.
It's ok to be a car mechanic who is also interesting in shakespearean plays and also likes to cook.
It's completely normal to be interested in things other than your chosen "craft".
People who out-of-the-box think, can do so because they haven't limited their "tools" to the ones associated with their "craft".
I don't think there's a limit to knowledge.
Holding on to useless fact may or may not "take up space" but knowledge isn't simply fact - it's understanding and often, facts are just a stepping stone to understanding.

scurry Level 9 Oct 5, 2018
2

Facts are not discrete, unitary objects. Once you know two things it is often possible to deduce a third, Knowledge is a cascading process, not a library of things known.

Gareth Level 7 Sep 30, 2018

@karen112 Hi Karen. You're free to message me. I won't freak out! 🙂

2

This is a rather antiquated analogy that doesn't really hold up very well. Though he studied medicine, A. C. Doyle was not a cognitive scientist, but a fiction writer who wrote this back in 1887. Cognitive Interference Theory provides a better explanation of forgetfulness.

[en.wikipedia.org]

Heraclitus Level 8 Sep 30, 2018
2

The analogy is a bit reductive, and, i think, inaccurate.

Hellas Level 6 Sep 29, 2018
1

I feel this depends quite heavily on what the man is goal is. If his goal is the Mastery of a very specific trade, such as Holmes, it may very well be true. But if his goal is a rich and fulfilling life, or a deeper understanding of the universe, then it may be that there are very few facts which are truly unworthy of notice. All things are interrelated after all. However, as we have a very limited amount of time in which to learn things, it would make sense to spend it studying foundational facts, rather than day to day gossip. Just foundational facts from across a wide range.

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