A Most Bizarre Encounter
Posted: May 26th, 2010 | 11 Comments »
I was having an interesting discussion with a friend on the different ways people learn. I shared that I learn best through conversations, and believe in the the contagious nature of knowledge
“You must then meet a lot of smart people?”
“Talking to futurists and the intellectuals are definitely fun, but there’s really something to learn from everyone.”
“I just knew you’d say that..”
And as if to test my point, I had one of the most bizarre conversations minutes later with a most unlikely person. It was an elderly security guard who walked up to me. He was standing just slightly taller than me, and had a very distracting set of teeth -
“You seem to be very busy”
“Oh no, I’m just killing time, while waiting for somebody”
“Don’t spend too much time on these things, the radiation will kill you”
“Thanks”
“Do you do programming? How do you do programming? How long does it take to learn programming?”
“Oh no, I do design, not programming. To do programming you have to understand the language of the computer, and learn to speak it to tell the machine what to do… it really differs for different people, and it’s a never-ending process of learning…” as I tried to tailor my explanation into something I thought he would understand judging by his age.
“I know you see me as a security guard, but I’m an inventor. Sorry for interrupting, but can I talk to you?”
“Sure” and we exchanged introductions.
“I’ll skip the boring physics stuff and… ”
“No, I want to hear what you’re passionate about. Tell me the physics.”
“Do you know classical physics?”
“Well, I know physics, but what’s classical physics?” I was pretty dumb-founded.
“There’s classical mechanics, you know the nuts and bolts? Newton’s theories of relativity…. Anyway, I invented a new form of basic mechanics using the concept of a spring, it’s patented, and has made the creation of things so much more elegant. And more recently I’ve discovered some new theories that will disprove Newton’s laws. He says the mass of an object increases when it approaches the speed of light. It’s flawed! I’m not like those scientists who do research the whole day. I just think of them in my mind, and pay people to build prototypes and evidence. I’m going to announce these soon.. these theories have infinite potential and will change the way we live…. “
He went on, and on, and it was a fascinating conversation. I didn’t know what to make out of the content of what he was saying (it could be revolutionary or utter hogwash), but his resolute and belief was astounding, and the whole manner in which the situation crafted itself was simply extraordinary. I eventually found out he’s from eastern Europe, married a local, and chose to be a security guard because it gives him time to think. The conversation ended when he said he had to get back to work, but I’ve this twitch to go back and find him.
I then had a field day Googling classical physics and Einstein’s special theory of relativity just to contextualize all the jargon that he was throwing at me.
Sometimes I love life simply for these little chance surprises and variety. And truly, there is something to learn from everybody.
Did you ask whether or not he was Hungarian?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martians_%28group%29
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min Reply:
May 28th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
That’s hilarious fun. I’ll definitely ask him the next time :)
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Absolutely agree. Confucius says “among three people walking together, there must be someone I can learn from”, but I think we really can learn from just about anyone. That’s also why life is never short of serendipitous stories.
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min Reply:
May 29th, 2010 at 4:16 am
Ah, I think I vaguely remember that one.. there’s so much I’m missing out by not being in touch with old Chinese wisdom you have to start your show soon! :)
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You guys and gals are great too.
Martians and Confucius, interesting….
Min, thanks for the effort to share the bizarre encounter. Would you pm me where you met him (the possible Martian? Don’t worry, I am not the “Man in Black” and do not know of any)…. if it is ok with you, I am curious. :)
In the matter of fact, we can learn from anything and anyone around us. No doubt about it.
Can you learn anything from a falling apple?…. Newton did… yah, now you roughly know my generation.
Yes, Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity was a hit during my time too. If you change the perspective from science relativity to social relativity, you can find something there as well.
For example, you may know me, and I know someone whom you do not know but that someone knows someone who knows your friend …. and go on and on… the only thing is I am wondering had anyone derived a formula for that …. according to Albert Einstein, everything on earth is predictable based on science and can be calculated… down to the electron….wow…
Just to share, not only we can learn from the great minds and great happenings, we can also learn from those small and tiny ones.
Many years ago, I remembered I was extremely down and depressed over some failures in life. Then I saw a child crawling and was trying to stand and walk. For so many times, he fell and he pick himself up, over and over again. The best part was, he kept smiling and laughing. Only once, when he banged his head on the wall, he nearly cried, but held back, with tearing eyes, he looked at me, and he pick himself up and try to stand and walk again… he quickly forget his pain and started the whole process of falling, smiling, laughing, standing and walking… the scene still vividly cast in my memory… I indeed learned a big lesson from a tiny situation and from a baby who was trying to walk…. don’t worry about falling as long as you pick up yourself quickly and gracefully, you start to stand up and walk again, over and over again….. you will eventually walk and then run. Never ever give up!
Agree with you guys, life is great because we just encounter so many situation around us…. unpredictably…. “its a wonderful world… “… (as the song goes)…
apologise for the long comment
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min Reply:
May 29th, 2010 at 4:10 am
Not at all, thanks for sharing Jaywin! I think we can learn so much from children – there’s so much goodness, curiosity, and tenacity that we have lost. But that’s the beautiful part about life being a journey, I see the only purpose of set-backs being there for you to appreciate good times even better :)
Interesting you mentioned social relativity – empirical studies revealed the 6 degrees of separation, but I’m not sure how much depth has been explored in algorithmic terms. I think a lot of work is being done on virality / network effects – that would be a good place I would start researching.
Will PM you on location!
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jaywin Reply:
May 29th, 2010 at 9:11 am
Interesting…. “empirical studies revealed the 6 degrees of separation…. virality / network effects…”
I am catching up with the Internet viral marketing methodology though… for my business…. playing catch up…
anyway, maybe data from social network like linkedIn and facebook will be useful… yah, easier from facebook as you can just buy from Mark.. (just kidding)
by the way, is there a way that we will receive an email notification when there is a reply in the comment from here? thks :)
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kewl … good artists copy, great artists steal :-)
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jaywin Reply:
May 29th, 2010 at 8:46 am
wow, “chimonology” (profound)…. Picasso…
google it and learned something again…. thks
http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100123160859AASb4Sf
Good teachers teach, Great teachers inspire.
……. yah, anyway, you pple must have heard or know it already. In case someone google it and he or she can find it here :)
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min Reply:
May 29th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
One of the most beautiful quotes of all time:
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jaywin Reply:
May 30th, 2010 at 3:10 pm
好句, 好句. thanks :)
Happy Learning Always