Biology & Me

Why Study When We Have Google?

We can look up everything - so why learn anything?

You can read any book in any language. All the words can be found online. There are dozens – no hundreds and thousands, of translation machines and dictionaries. The grammar rules can be looked up and applied.

You shouldn't encounter any problems reading any book in any language - everything you need is online.

Now, we realize that isn't true. Yet, it's the same case for other domains of knowledge. But then we say "Why should I learn this? I can Google it!"

Knowledge is of practical use. That's why.

Take looking up a definition. Having a solid base gives you two important abilities:

1) You know where to look

2) You can understand the explanation

Why Google Is Insufficient

Let me give you two examples from when I was studying botany. I had to know what cellulose was precisely. So I went to Wikipedia.

"Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula (C6H10O5)n, a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to over ten thousand β(1→4) linked D-glucose units."

 

Woa. That didn't help me. Even worse, it confused me and killed half of my frontal cortex cells, causing lifelong short attention spans when confronted with cellular components.

So I decided to ignore cellulose and read on in my syllabus. But then I encountered this:

"Hemicellusoses are heteropolymeres: after hydrolyses they appear to be composed of hexoses (glucose, galactose, mannose), pentoses (xylose, arabinose) and uron acids (glucuron acid and galacturon acid)."

Woaaaaaa. Wait a minute. I kinda understand some of the words. 

Hemithingies are heterothingies and heterothingies are composed of things like hexoses? So if I look up the hexose thingies, I'd understand what the rest means, right? ...right?

So I googled "hexose". Again, Wikipedia:

"In organic chemistry, a hexose is a monosaccharide with six carbon atoms, having the chemical formula C6H12O6. Hexoses are classified by functional group, with aldohexoses having an aldehyde at position 1, and ketohexoses having a ketone at position 2."

No. No, no, no. That isn't helping me at all.

What did I have to do? I could look up every word in every definition I encountered till it all made sense somehow... Heck, I have a final coming up right here, I don't have time, goddammit!

The problem was: I lacked knowledge. I did not have enough of a background in biochemistry to start on this part of botany. Which meant I was fucked, since I had that final lurking around the corner.

If I had enough knowledge, I would at least understand the explanation of things I had to look up. Secondly, there'd be a whole lot less I'd have to look up in the first place!

Cellulose versus Music

This example might not ring home for everyone. So hey, ever wanted to look up a song you didn't know the title of?

There are a few ways to go about this: do you know the album title? Then you can just check the track list. You could also look up the artist's name. If it's one of his popular songs the answer pops up directly. If not, you can sift through his discography.

If you know a few lines from the lyrics, it gets easy. Put those in a search engine and the song lyrics page will turn up, complete with artist and title.

Those are all bits of knowledge.

You memorized the album title, the artist's name, part of the lyrics... and use that to get to the desired piece of information.

If you don't know any of the above, what are you going to do? You could hum the melody for a friend and hope they recognize it.

Them recognizing it, means they have the required knowledge...

Knowledge and Internet

I believe that the internet makes it easier to 1) puzzle pieces of knowledge together 2) look up the missing pieces.

But once you memorize bits and parts of it, your limits expand. Basically, the more you know, the more you can look up.

You can always put knowledge to use - from writing a paper to telling funny anecdotes on a party (hey, did you know there's a disease that disables your automatic breathing?).

The more you know, the better.

So when you are reading/watching fun stuff online, why not remember some of it? I'm sure falling cats can teach you something about physics.

In short, the internet is a great, amazing, fabulous resource. And the greater you are, the greater the internet is for you. Makes sense?

Turning a Cookie Habit into a Walking Habit

                               romanticized version of walking                     

Yes, I like to walk. But I'm also a busy, responsible person. I can't walk around aimlessly!

I have to be productive. I have to be a good student and work work work. Walking doesn't fit into that.

I forbid myself to walk. And that's when my brain starts to trick me.

I should go to the store.

I really need a coke right now. And cookies.

C'mon, I can't concentrate when feeling this craving.

Hey, and there's caffeine and sugar in it, that'd help me study.

Going to the store right now is necessary for being productive.

So yeah, my brain finds a reason to go outside. Some purpose.

No, I'm not someone who goes on silly, useless walks. I go out to buy something. I'm super efficient, just going to the nearby store for some essential supplements to my studies!

The brain has succesfully tricked me.

To be even more productive and efficient, I ride the bicycle to the store.

SUPEREFFICIENCY

...

And in the end, I haven't had a walk at all.

In Need Of Change

This got so bad, that I hadn't gone out for a walk in months, yet I went to the story on a daily basis, to buy things I didn't need.

I could foresee my future as a hyperefficient person...

Something had to be done.

It was time for an intervention.

I told myself:

You will go outside every night, whether you like it or not!

It worked. My whole attitude towards walking changed.
This was one of my duties, just like studying.
So during the day I'd eagerly wait till the evening, when I could go out and have my walk. I didn't have to go to the store anymore. I knew that I'd have my walk. No choice. Even if I didn't want to, I would still go outside and wander aimlessly.
Such a relaxing idea! I turned walking from a treat into an obligation, but I am enjoying it more than ever. :)