Research habits

[shakazulu]

I research constantly. Usually I just look up random things I want to know. The spark comes, then it fades with understanding of the subject at a level I think is sufficient at any purpose I'll need it.

If I need to research more of it, of course I'll do that.

Lately, however, this habit has kind of "degenerated," if there's no better word for it, into me spinning my wheels on information I already know. I sort of feel like I have lost the ability to have that *spark* because I can subconsciously answer most things by the context that they're in. Many concepts seem like different ways to say something I've already come across. Nothing really stands out to me as, OH, this is really new.

So what's this thread about? This:
Reflect on your research habits, your research ruts, your research highs. When you lose that spark, what gets it back? Yeah, any other useful thoughts, too.

 

[Anktark]

I am similar to you in a way that I usually stop going deeper after I have a (subjectively) sufficient understanding of things. I don't see the point in memorizing specifics until the point when I actually start creating something with that information. Even so, I usually do something without knowing all the specifics.

My hunger renews once I find an interesting object or when I find a new way to interconnect different concepts together and I have to see if that's actually doable. Other times I just want to define things more precisely instead of just knowing "it's something like x and/or y, but with differences in i, u and r".

When I lose that spark, that thirst... I value those moments, for they are few and far in between. Usually it reignites itself without my concession. It's s special type of hell when the thing that makes you want to kill yourself is the same thing that doesn't allow you to.

I must leave now and continue on my quest for finding connections between society, Kpop, anarchy and swarm intelligence implementation for governance.

 

[covelent]

Tell me, when you research something and you get that feeling, how are you doing your research?

Edit- I mean in what way are you researching things, generally?

 

[Grayman]

I research constantly. Usually I just look up random things I want to know. The spark comes, then it fades with understanding of the subject at a level I think is sufficient at any purpose I'll need it.

If I need to research more of it, of course I'll do that.

Lately, however, this habit has kind of "degenerated," if there's no better word for it, into me spinning my wheels on information I already know. I sort of feel like I have lost the ability to have that *spark* because I can subconsciously answer most things by the context that they're in. Many concepts seem like different ways to say something I've already come across. Nothing really stands out to me as, OH, this is really new.

So what's this thread about? This:
Reflect on your research habits, your research ruts, your research highs. When you lose that spark, what gets it back? Yeah, any other useful thoughts, too.

Usually just means you need to expand onto a completly new topic or experience.

Also, if all you do is research and never experience you will feel like you have explored everything but really you have only fully explored your 'perspective'. Real life interactions with others, enviroments, and situations bring new perspective adn you can go back to the same information and see new things.

 

[Base groove]

Usually I will start with a fresh web browser and the tabs just load up from there. I have had plenty of hobbies in the past which load up a window pretty good when you're learning something new such as cannabis cultivation or marine aquariums.

The forum can load up an entire window with tabs when I haven't visited in a while (opening everything I want to read at once).

By time I get about 3-5 windows with god knows how many tabs each, I just shut 'er all down if I'm no longer engaged in the material.

I skim the pages I have open in an effort to close them off, taking information in chunks. Often times I skip entire sections that look boring. More often than not whatever I'm reading is also something I've read 1-5 times in the past ... so it can get sort of familiar, but like I said ... the understanding comes in chunks.

So this pattern repeats itself over and over until I have accumulated moderately sized chunks of knowledge about a large number of subjects. Most of it kind of disappears with time but the stuff I do manage to retain gains applicability in other fields as well.

 

[deadpixel]

Usually everything starts with a google search if a specific subject has gotten the best of my curiousity. Ill end up on wiki as one of the pages then ill end up looking at other sources online to get a little more in depth, Ill start reading things along the way and get distracted by something new and interesting i've just discovered from what I just learned and start to get off topic and repeat the process over again. Then maybe after its all said and done ill search youtube or netflix for a documentary that relates.

 

[The Introvert]

When I research I make sure to cite my sources:
[FONT=&quot]1. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Dugdale DC, Vyas JM. Plague. MedlinePlus [Internet]. 2011. Available from:[/FONT]h[FONT=&quot]ttp://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000596.htm[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]2. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Perry RD, Fetherston JD. 1997. Yersinia pestis--etiologic agent of plague. Clinical Microbiology Reviews[Internet]. [Cited 2014 Mar 17] 10(1):35-66. Available from:http://cmr.asm.org/content/10/1/35.short[/FONT]

 

[shakazulu]

Tell me, when you research something and you get that feeling, how are you doing your research?

Edit- I mean in what way are you researching things, generally?

Via the internet.

Or do you mean "what is the process?"

 

[shakazulu]

Usually just means you need to expand onto a completly new topic or experience.

Also, if all you do is research and never experience you will feel like you have explored everything but really you have only fully explored your 'perspective'. Real life interactions with others, enviroments, and situations bring new perspective adn you can go back to the same information and see new things.

This is very true. Most of my problem is that nothing is really "new" anymore. I look at one concept, and it is good enough to be interested for a few seconds, but there isn't much to it. There aren't very many BIG things that I don't know about(this is the way it seems, regardless of reality). When I create big things for myself, there isn't much of a reward, since it simply seems obvious.

Sometimes I can get that spark back by educating someone not as well versed as I am in something that interests me a lot- and that can get me to go back and learn the entire internet, including papers, wiki, videos, whatever. However, once I get all excited and teachy... people stay away from me lol.

 

[Socra Maat]

"An INTP who uses their Extraverted Intuition function in a diminished way is one who perceives information for the sole purpose of feeding Introverted Thinking, rather than taking everything in objectively. They are less concerned with understanding something for the sake of understanding than they are with feeding a piece of data into their Thinking function."

I certainly understand both this, and your description. Most of us have the seemingly perpetual "THIRST" at some point in our lives. There are a variety of ways to UP that Ne. I've found a few that work for me. Get to thinkin' !

 

[covelent]

Via the internet.

Or do you mean "what is the process?"

I'm quite like you in the sense that I like to "teach" the new things I've learned and people would be a bit like "oh, here we go." I also have experienced the occasional loss of the thirst for knowledge and I didn't like it.
A good tip is to imagine your learning things with the intent to teach, this will help you get by the main points of a specific subject and focus more on the finer details, thus keeping you interested for longer. I have found that although you might think you fully understand a subject and it has nothing more to offer you, digging a bit deeper can reveal amazing things you hadn't even considered.

I used to watch a lot of documentary's on quantum mechanics and physics and what not and thought I had a pretty good grasp of the overall concepts, until I realized that when I was attempting to teach my friends about things I would be unable to answer some of their questions. So I bought a couple of good books on the subject and realised that I had to learn more mathematics to fully understand the concepts. Now I'm learning more about maths its shown me things I could never have known just by some light research/documentary's. I recommend digging a little deeper with the subjects that interest you.

Just out of curiosity, what sort of things do interest you?

 

[shakazulu]

I'm quite like you in the sense that I like to "teach" the new things I've learned and people would be a bit like "oh, here we go." I also have experienced the occasional loss of the thirst for knowledge and I didn't like it.
A good tip is to imagine your learning things with the intent to teach, this will help you get by the main points of a specific subject and focus more on the finer details, thus keeping you interested for longer. I have found that although you might think you fully understand a subject and it has nothing more to offer you, digging a bit deeper can reveal amazing things you hadn't even considered.

I used to watch a lot of documentary's on quantum mechanics and physics and what not and thought I had a pretty good grasp of the overall concepts, until I realized that when I was attempting to teach my friends about things I would be unable to answer some of their questions. So I bought a couple of good books on the subject and realised that I had to learn more mathematics to fully understand the concepts. Now I'm learning more about maths its shown me things I could never have known just by some light research/documentary's. I recommend digging a little deeper with the subjects that interest you.

Just out of curiosity, what sort of things do interest you?

(Warning: Spacey, so this may be hard to understand at once...)

Man....too many things to remember all at once. Few things that pop in my head are historical trends that can be explained into the present, physics, like you stated, and just random observations I make. Which someone pointed out a few posts ago, has to do with Ne. Damn shame I can't find many people to shoot the shit with me on an intuitive level.

I do like philosophy a lot, I drive myself to the brink of insanity with how much I break down my thought processes. Not to literal insanity, but I wouldn't be surprised if I had made myself more susceptible to it.

I am interested in almost anything, as long as I can trick myself into correcting whatever it is. Doesn't matter if it is practical or abstract, I can deal with it and analyze it, as long as I don't give in to thinking that other people have it figured out. So...everything, in some context or another, as long as it's a legitimate thought.

To the side:
Now that I think about it... my thinking has almost always revolved around how it benefits people. The lack of curiosity when I don't have external stimulation to prompt it may indicate I'm not a T, as well as other things, or it could indicate a lack of extraversion, since I'm a loner. Dunno, exactly. It is also a little disappointing, because things don't mean much to me unless I can see the need for it somewhere outside of myself.