Turtles and Humans Have Much in Common

[coberst]

Turtles and Humans Have Much in Common

I had once concluded it to be natural that when confronted by a new idea humans tended to do a turtle; withdraw into their shell until the coast was clear.

After some time posting in cyberspace I have modified my view somewhat. I think that we tend to display two types of turtle responses to our encounter with new ideas.

The terrapin withdraws quickly into its shell and the snapping turtle hisses, spits, and snaps when such an encounter happens. I suspect that cyberspace has allowed many people to display a more vulgar attitude than they would in face-to-face encounters.

I think that age is a factor in this equation. The young tend to be snappers and the older tend to be terrapins. I think that our teachers and professors have imprinted on the minds of their pupils that there is a legitimacy aspect to knowledge. That knowledge introduced by the teacher is legit and the rest should be avoided when possible.

Instead of graduates eager to learn and to earn we have constructed an educational system that qualifies citizens for a life of mindless production and consumption. Instead of turtles we need cats as a model for schooling.

A cat travels through the forest alert and curious to all that is in her range of perception. Instead of withdrawing into a shell the cat stealthily examines everything in its path. After a quick examination the cat very well may dart away for cover. The cat is, I think, more likely to survive in a dynamic and dangerous world than is the turtle.

Everyone is ignorant of 99.9999…% of the knowledge in the world. Understanding this fact I think is the first step toward setting each one of us free from any embarrassment we might feel about our ignorance. We should use our ignorance as a catalyst for discovering the joy of learning to understand what ever portion of the world’s knowledge that interests us.

We were born smart enough but we weren’t born intellectually sophisticated enough to handle this high tech world we have invented.

What is the difference between “being smart” and “being sophisticated”? I would say that we can use the handyman and his tool box as a good analogy for comprehending this difference. The number and quality of the instruments in a handyman’s tool box is a measure of his smartness and his experience using those tools is a measure of his sophistication.

If a handyman has only a hammer then every job is a job that will get hammered on. If that handyman has a great tool box but has experience only with a hammer then that handyman will look for things that can be hammered into place.

What’s in your tool box that you can use efficiently?

Do you know how to become more intellectually sophisticated? Become a self-actualizing self-learner.

[Sundae]

My cat likes to creep into empty carrier bags, and be picked up and carried around the room in them.

[DanaC]

That's funny, because my dog likes to climb up to the highest point he can get to (ie the sofa) whenever he feels threatened.

Do you know how to become more intellectually sophisticated? Become a self-actualizing self-learner.

Do you?

[Undertoad]

My friends turtle is adventurous, but slowly. She was overwhelmed when I gifted her a patch of turf from my lawn, when I was digging it up for garden. She meticulously examined every sector, and found several worms, which she ate with turtle gusto.

The average life span of a box turtle is 50 years. Housecat, 15.

[Sundae]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

She meticulously examined every sector, and found several worms, which she ate with turtle gusto.

Is that a kind of sauce?

[glatt]

I saw 7 turtles yesterday. One was competing successfully with geese for some fish food being thrown in the water.

Oh, and you guys are changing the subject, talking about actual animals instead of metaphorical animals. It's just another form of retreating into your collective shells. You turtles!

[Flint]

Originally Posted by coberst

...
If a handyman has only a hammer then every job is a job that will get hammered on. If that handyman has a great tool box but has experience only with a hammer then that handyman will look for things that can be hammered into place.
...

There are 79,500 Google hits for when the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

[Shawnee123]

Originally Posted by Sundae Girl

Is that a kind of sauce?

See, that almost made coffee shoot outta my nose.

Too many funny people dwell here! :p

(Man I luvz you guyz!)

[Griff]

[monster]

Strangely Enough, this thread is not the first hit when you google

"The terrapin withdraws quickly into its shell and the snapping turtle hisses, spits, and snaps when such an encounter happens."

A remarkably similar thread in Physics forums is:

http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=242751

At least we know what to do with such threads.

[monster]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

The average life span of a box turtle is 50 years. Housecat, 15.

but LOLcats live 4eva

[Flint]

I also have a long-winded monologue that everybody has to read! It's all about how I thought up a metaphor for some stuff that I saw and then I liked it so much that I decided to apply the same metaphor to everything because it made life easier to understand but then I realized that it would only really work if everybody else agreed to be part of my metaphor so then I decided I have to go out and tell everybody all about how I have figured everything out and I have the ultimate answer of how everybody can line up in neat little columns for me so the world won't be so scary and complicated.

[lookout123]

so what was the metaphor?

[Flint]

Oh, crap. Am I a snapping turtle?

[Griff]

Oh, snap. Am I a crapping turtle?