24 August 2010

Don't Search Information But Seek Knowledge

There is no doubt that this world has a lot of information and by now most of the information that we seek are already indexed by search engines. One needs to just search it and start reading. As information is available 24X7, many of us fail to understand the importance of seeking knowledge. We don't want to undergo even slightest labor to experiment and write our own HOWTOs. Sometimes laziness puts us off and sometimes someone says "don't reinvent the wheel". We spend time by searching. If we are unlucky, we find the piece of information. I m saying that we are unlucky simply because it stops us from experimenting. Generally, we are not of exploratory in nature but according to nature we are supposed to be exploratory of nature (what an irony?). If we don't find some material, we give up and knock the doors of experts. Searching is sick.

Seeking is quite different from searching. Seeking involves searching but not vice versa. While a student is seeking for knowledge, he never cares about amount of time he spends on searching and experimenting. He enjoys the hard work. If he doesn't find information, he creates it by experimentation. Seeking student never tries to get all information from someone. He just asks for directions and puts in efforts. He is self made man. Once he seeks knowledge in a particular domain, he understands and masters the process of acquiring knowledge in other domains. His knowledge base expands. Seeking is powerful.

So, let us stop searching information and let us seek knowledge (and wisdom).

Looking forward to hear your opinions

Have a Fantastic Day.

We can certainly use NPTEL video lectures as a starting point to seek knowledge in Engineering. For more info, please refer my older post on contribution by IIT/IISc - NPTEL.