Figure It Out

[happyfilmluvguy]

As human beings, I believe one of our greatest abilities is to learn. We teach and are taught, and try to learn something from one another. But it is some of a spectacle when a human can learn strictly on their own, without any assistance, or hardly any. I'm sure many of us have been capable of learning something we have no knowledge about without being taught. When my family got our second computer in 1995, we really didn't know much of how to use it. Our first was an Apple IIGS, which we knew well, and it became mine after the new computer replaced it. My sister was the one whom figured out the ins and outs of the internet and parts of the computer.

I've been in contact with computers since I was young, but here I was not of the minority. My sister was. We asked her how to do things, and she showed us. But after many more years of further studying, my sister still does have many computer skills, and so does my mother, but as for me, they come my direction for assistance. How do you learn to install a hard drive into a computer without being shown? How do you learn how to adjust the volume control without being given the step by steps?

I sure wasn't taught how to do these things, so how did I figure them out? I really can't explain. It's one of those many obstacles of the mind that is complicated. How and why we can figure things out is the question, but we have the ability to, and that's amazing in itself. What have you figure out without the assistance of teachings?

 

[Diamondback]

This one's gonna be kinda scary, which explains why I only rarely use it on a "live subject": profiling, basically tearing another person's mind apart to figure out their patterns of behavior and what makes them tick.

As I said, I consider this one most invasive of others' privacy, which is why I generally only use it on three classes of "target": deceased historical figures, candidates for elected or appointed office, or major players in the field of geopolitics.

No formal or informal training, this one just came naturally--and right off a catastrophic nervous breakdown, no less. It may have actually been one of my reasons for taking all that psych study, trying to figure out how and why it works and where it came from.

 

[MrNewportCustom]

My brother taught himself computers - from the ground up. I'm typing this on the second one he's built for me. I don't know how many more he's built, but I know it's many. Anytime I find or am given computer components - monitors, printers, towers, etc. - I bring them to him and he uses the parts to build more computers, which he donates either to friends who need a computer or to a charity.

He studied, tested and passed, on his own, and now has his credentials for Windows, and is working on learning Mac DOS, as well. Whenever anyone he knows gets a virus on their computer, he locates it, converts it to a text file, copies it to disc and then takes it home to study it.

No classrooms, instructors or courses; he's completely self-taught. He's now employed by Santa Barbara Applied Research, Inc., who have placed him at JPLs helpdesk.


Lee

 

[pigeon toe]

When I was about 12, I taught myself HTML just by looking at the sources for other web pages and experimenting with changing numbers and codes. I learned a lot and actually had some of my web design featured a book about young women and media.