Irrelevant? Is it?

[_whispers_]

I was reading this article about INTPs and found this quote quite interesting:
"When he is interested in something, then the INTP must be competent in it. But there are many things which don't interest him, and some of these will be things that others may be very competent in and where it may be assumed that everyone should be competent in them."

My immediate reaction was to deny it, but then I remembered all those little things I don`t know and people can do nothing, but stare when they find out. Are you in the same boat? Is there something that everyone knows/can do, but you don`t since you find it irrelevant? Why do you think it is irrelevant?

An example for me would be Greek and Roman mythology. In my part of the world it is extremely common knowledge, so the fact that I can rarely tell which god belongs to which pantheon comes as quite a shocker. It`s just...not interesting for me...irrelevant... and so is applying make up for that matter! *nods*

 

[Jesse]

INTP have this huge confidence that we can learn anything if we wanted to but we don't exactly try to learn some of the more mundane stuff. I also read somewhere INTP will learn something to be proficient enough to know they can become a master of it and then lose interest. I have no idea if that's true or not.

 

[The Gopher]

INTP have this huge confidence that we can learn anything if we wanted to but we don't exactly try to learn some of the more mundane stuff. I also read somewhere INTP will learn something to be proficient enough to know they can become a master of it and then lose interest. I have no idea if that's true or not.

oh yeah thats true I am a ahh high level in my sport but I am starting to lose interest.

 

[Amor Anti]

Well, I'm 18 and don't have a driver's license yet.
Does that count?
I also know nothing about movies. I don't think that really counts, since it's not in any way academic or intellectual or even a skill, but for some reason people freak out when they start talking about some famous movies or actors from the last 20 years and I have no idea what they're going on about.

 

[Galthian]

I would think it has more to do with INTP's distaste for the mundane details of society. We classify such things as movie stars, pop singers, and anything on Entertainment Tonight as a total waste of our time.

For me anyways.

Where do you live? I hear Greek mythology is pretty common knowledge throughout Europe.

 

[Glordag]

I think there is some truth to this. I think it comes from the fact that we generally perceive things through extroverted intuition and spend a good portion of our energy on introverted thinking. This tends to leave us oblivious to details we don't care about due to poor Se. If I'm out with friends, there will almost always be some point at which someone comments on something about our surroundings, and then I am looked at like a crazy person when I mention that I hadn't even noticed it.

So, generally I think we will know more details about particular things that we choose to focus on, and little to nothing about things that are, as you said, "irrelevant".

 

[_whispers_]

Where do you live? I hear Greek mythology is pretty common knowledge throughout Europe.

I`m from Bulgaria In our school curriculum there is a lot of emphasis on our lovely neighbours. I knew some things about Greek mythology - enough not look like a complete idiot, but then I actually visited the country and felt extremely disappointed, ergo the total destruction of every piece of information I had on the topic.

@Glordag: I agree with you, but I`m curious about what INTP finds irrelevant while everyone else considers important? Personal examples would be lovely ^.^

 

[Glordag]

@Glordag: I agree with you, but I`m curious about what INTP finds irrelevant while everyone else considers important? Personal examples would be lovely ^.^

Hmmm. This could be tough :P. A lot of times it's something instruction based. Like...if I'm at a restaurant and looking at a menu, I might stare at it for 10 minutes and then make a claim like "wow, some of this food looks REALLY spicy!". That's the point when three other people at the table will point out the giant letters on the menu that read "DANGER! Some of this food is REALLY SPICY!"

Or like...some sort of aesthetic detail in a movie. For example, with a movie like Dark Knight, I was busy reading into all of the possibilities and thinking about things. This resulted in a mediocre viewing experience for me. Afterward, my friends might point out a cool explosion that they all remembered or the way someone looked, at which point I have very little to no recollection of what they are talking about.

These are made up examples, but they illustrate the sort of thing that happens to me often enough. Unfortunately, I don't have any examples that pertain to topics of knowledge. Sorry ): .

 

[Anchorite]

I can barely name any popular celebrities or what they've been in.
I don't know the names of bands who do well known songs that I like.
I know virtually nothing about any sports teams outside my own city.
I didn't know a damn thing about Myspace when it was popular, and I don't know a damn thing about Facebook now.
It took me about an extra 4 years to understand division in the way a 5th grader would.

 

[Oster]

As younger, I didn't know anything about celebs or fashion, I used black t-shirts, old jeans and was kinda messy looking.
Then I became interested of clothes - I learnt how to apply make-up, color theory, which clothes to wear on when you want a certain 'image', eventually coming up with all kinds of interesting combinations of different clothes styles. I often got compliments for my clothes. This went on for 1-2 years, then it got boring. Now I walk around without make-up and in clothes that I find first when I wake up. No particular reason, I guess there just was so little of interest to learn anymore.

The thing is that I couldn't have been arsed to know the names in fashion industry that were well-known and appreciated. I wasn't interested of who made the cloth, how much it cost (well, as long as it didn't go over my budget of course) or in the opinion of others - I was merely into it for the sake of learning what looks good and learning why it's such a big deal for some people.

Thus yeah, only learning what interests me, leaving out the boring details.

 

[chuhulil]

INTP have this huge confidence that we can learn anything if we wanted to but we don't exactly try to learn some of the more mundane stuff. I also read somewhere INTP will learn something to be proficient enough to know they can become a master of it and then lose interest. I have no idea if that's true or not.

Oh yeah. I do that for a lot of stuff. Dance and choir to be specific. But I lose interest in them, yet I still do it, just to know I can do it.

 

[IfloatTHRUlife]

Ha this is easy for me to answer, and its a pretty sad example, which im sure you were looking for.

I am absolutely horrible with simple things like filling out job applications and insurance forms, taxes, pretty much any form of paperwork. I dont mind answering questions, i do well on any type of test, but anything that requires i repeat simple things like my name address, social security number and all that shit, i can barely focus. I just cant do it sometimes, i can stare at a pile of forms for 10 minutes just thinking to myself about how much i hate paperwork, the whole system of shit people have to go through just to live their lives, have a job, own a house.

Its sickening

 

[SilentChaos]

Hmmm interesting.
I think that lots of things that the majority population thinks are important are basic simple things, INTP’s have no interest in simple tasks they are interested only in the complex as a result they end up lacking in the capability to perform some simple tasks.

 

[Coolydudey60]

It`s just...not interesting for me...irrelevant... and so is applying make up for that matter! *nods*

Everything g is relative(including time) thus it depends what you class as irrelevant