coming to know the world

[JaBlue]

As long as I'm here, I think I should know about the world. My body, my mind, other bodies, other minds, how they all interact. All the other stuff I haven't mentioned.

A few general questions, to be answered individually with emphasis on your personal interpretation:

a) what does it mean to know the world

b) how does one go about doing this

c) recommended reading, courses, etc.
note to c: MIT offers open courseware (http://ocw.mit.edu) where one can find a bunch of classes and lectures. General lower division courses like "Physics I: Mechanics" and "Calculus I" are probably offered. So if you took a class in school that made you think you really learned something about the world, please mention it.

[JaBlue]

by the world I mean everything there is to know about how things work. I'd say calculus aids in that endeavor, but calc and physics were just examples of what ocw offers.

[cardsharkk04]

for what its worth, it took freshman calculus and I now undersatnd the world much better than i ever did before. People come up to me and ask me how I know so much about the world around me and I tell them I know calculsu and they are really intersted. So yea, calculus is great? uhhhhh

[Peter Harris]

To know people:

Experience - Travel + Conversations
Academic - Social/Cultural Anthropology + Philosophy (maybe Theology, but the former 2 cover that base)

To know nature:

Experience - Hiking (Forest/Jungle/Mountians/Tundra)
Academic - Geography, Botany and Biology

To understand the elements of constructing the world:

Academic - Physics, Maths, Chemistry and Geology.
(Experientially? Maybe, but don't see how)

It's not as easy as one course or one prescriptive method depending on how you see "the world".

[JaBlue]

guys, I didn't mean to imply that all you need to do is learn some math and take some magic class that will teach you all there is to know about the world. Its just that these are some reasonable options for me to consider right now considering that I'm at a university, am mostly busy, but want to spend some free time pursuing the vague goal of "understanding the world better."

I think its pretty clear that to know the world in a useful way, I should get a job, get out of college, meet people, travel, and so forth. These things just aren't really options at this very moment.

[Brainwalter]

Smoke more P.O.T.

[Golden_Rhino]

[ QUOTE ]
guys, I didn't mean to imply that all you need to do is learn some math and take some magic class that will teach you all there is to know about the world. Its just that these are some reasonable options for me to consider right now considering that I'm at a university, am mostly busy, but want to spend some free time pursuing the vague goal of "understanding the world better."

I think its pretty clear that to know the world in a useful way, I should get a job, get out of college, meet people, travel, and so forth. These things just aren't really options at this very moment.

[/ QUOTE ]

Talk to anyone you get the opportunity to. Everyone has something to teach you. (It sounds cheese, but it's very true).

[EricW]

[ QUOTE ]
As long as I'm here, I think I should know about the world. My body, my mind, other bodies, other minds, how they all interact. All the other stuff I haven't mentioned.

A few general questions, to be answered individually with emphasis on your personal interpretation:

a) what does it mean to know the world

b) how does one go about doing this

c) recommended reading, courses, etc.
note to c: MIT offers open courseware (http://ocw.mit.edu) where one can find a bunch of classes and lectures. General lower division courses like "Physics I: Mechanics" and "Calculus I" are probably offered. So if you took a class in school that made you think you really learned something about the world, please mention it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I can't really help you out with content but I just thought I'd tell you that you're a very handsome man.

[Jeff W]

I'm not sure I really know what you're asking, but I can recommend some courses. Aside from Calculus, these are the three that shaped my world view the most:

Game Theory
Mathematical(Calculus-Based) Statistics I
Quantum Mechanics

You need calculus, linear algebra and a lot of physics(strictly for Quantum Mechanics) if you want to take those courses. My Game Theory class was offered through the Mathematics department, but it looks like MIT OpenCourseWare offers one through the Econ department.

Another good class in this line that I didn't take, but wish I had was Chaotic and Dynamical Systems.