That day I came home and when I entered the house, my mother, who was in the kitchen and couldn’t see me, asked, “who’s there?”. To that I responded, “me”.
Then it dawned on me how this interaction would have looked entirely odd on paper, without a given context. It will look as though I didn’t answer the question at all, since I didn’t provide any information of my identity. But the truth is, my voice alone is a good measure of my identity to my mother. The identifying features of my voice make it unique and through these features my mother can tell who I am. This happens through the telephone too, I suppose. How I can call home and have no need to announce who I am.
And this is a point when I feel all is not lost; that science and technology is not the answer to EVERYTHING. I suppose science can never (or at least at this point in time) record and codify the differences in voice quality/identity and account these differences systematically to physiological differences (the different shape of our mouths, miniscule differences in the thickness of our vocal folds, the different size of our tongues …). Maybe one day the phonologists will find a way to put these differences down on paper and come up with an amazing analysis of it, but to what end does it serve? Sometimes I do feel that certain scientific discoveries are pointless. What’s the point in me knowing that one day the sun is going to expand and eventually burn out? I fear the pointless senseless chase of knowledge, and yet half the time I’m engaged in something like this.
(Sigh.)
i think seeking knowledge in itself can be a pleasurable thing if it does that to you. and it’s definitely not a bad thing to know stuff that will not fundamentally change our lives. it’s when you think what’s the point that maybe it starts to be bad for you. :P
True, I like to know that I know STUFF, but at the end of the day I often wonder, “so what?” Apart from fervently hoping that they might bring back Who Wants to be a Millionaire and that I actually make it up to that show, I can’t see a situation where my knowledge can be put to use. :(
Hey…it’s always a great thing to learn about something new each day. In my opinion, a day is wasted if you don’t learn at least one thing. It can range from an issue that was brought up in class or work, to learning something new while surfing the net. Knowledge is never senseless. ;)
Cheers!
Heh, in my opinion not ALL knowledge is pointless. Just that sometimes I feel it’s not like I’m anything less if I don’t know certain things.
Just that sometimes I feel it’s not like I’m anything less if I don’t know certain things.
that’s a great realisation! or piece of knowledge. :P