Originally Posted by JayJamJah

I think the problem is people draw conclusions and form opinions much more by reading about things as oppose to doing them. Reading about something used to force you to ask questions, to put what little portion of the entire puzzle you've learned into practice. Now instead we just click on the next link and draw another conclusion.

There are a lot of talkers and a lot less doers.

To me I've always looked at the progression as information (when combined with experience leads to) knowledge (when combined with experience leads to) wisdom.

The previous post makes some good points and draws some conclusions I disagree with.

I do think the wealth of information at our finger tips is dumbing us down, is discouraging us learning how to do things. I do think that is a generalization but anything but an ignorant one. Of course their are expectations, but they're are a lot more people who don't even understand how much they are missing out on. When you read something online, you share in someone else's learning experience, when you do something yourself you create your own expereince which has an abundance more or relatblei information that you can turn into knowledge and wisdom.

I don't think people should be faulted for taking advantage of the wealth of information so readily available to them, but I don't think they should confuse information with knowledge. I can read an article on how a helicopter fly's and explain it perfectly, that doesn't know anything about why it fly's, it means I can read and relay information.

Now lets say I never learned to read but spent my life fixing helicopters, I might not be able to explain how it flys, but I could fix it if it wasn't flying.

Where we go astray is we tend to trust the first guy still because in the past if somebody knew enough about something to explain it or break it down in great detail it was because they had knowledge about the subject, expereince and wisdom. Today there are a lot more of those first types however and most of them couldn't tell there ass from a hole in the ground unless they did a Google image search.

I also feel like there is an unwillingness to admit a lack of knowledge now, the same curiosity that used to fuel learning and growth is now looked at as a weakness by a lot of young people who'd rather lie about what they know and go look it up.