How many of the following can you check off your list to form at least a mediocre human being?

How many of the following can you check off your list to form at least a mediocre human being?


History: At the very least, a broad overview of Egyptian, Phoenician, Hebreaic, Heroic Age Greece, Roman Republic and Empire periods, and the history of Western Europe from the Dark Ages to today. Given current world events of the last decade, special focus on the origins of Islam, it's original spread and resistance thereto, and the origins of the newer more radical movements (Qutb particularly) are well worth getting a grounding in.

I'd personally suggest supplementing the above by finding some historical reenactors in your area and/or western martial artists and/or a modern soldier up on his doctrine and military history. Not necessarily for the art itself, but to better understand the mindset of the people doing the fighting - since so much of human history has been fighting, sadly.

Economics: Smith, Keynes,Marx/Engles, Friedman/Hayek - know at least the names and summarize their views.

Literature: Work through any 101 or 201 syllabus prior to 1960 or so... the Big Milestones are usually Beowulf, Chaucer, a couple Shakespeare plays and sonnets, maybe Milton or Donne or Spencer.. then a couple Romantics like Byron or Blake, and a 19th c. novel or three. I'm not overly fond of Dickens, but he was popular and gives a decent feel for the age. Maybe Doyle would be more fun. :~

Humanities: "History of Art" and "History of Music" 101 level.
In both literature and the humanities, I'd definitely stick with canons put together prior to the PC era. Not because there aren't great and important works done by people of all manner of minority status, but because you're looking for fundamental milestones in the art - and modern canons frequently give short shrift to the latter so as to give more time to the former.

Other urls found in this thread:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Books_of_the_Western_World)
twitter.com/AnonBabble

I'd also add - have at least one means of artistic expression. Doesn't matter if it's playing Blues guitar instead of Classical violin, or drawing Manga instead of Renoir copies, but have at least one artistic hobby. Just 'cause.

Law: don't know enough to give an opinion. But Roman law and the origins of Common Law (plus if you're American, a good working knowledge of the Constitution and the arguments on both sides leading up to it, along with being able to list the Bill of Rights (if not recite from memory)) should be in there.

Medicine: basic anatomy and first responder level of medical treatment

Physicality: Practice at least one sport or other physical endeavor... better if it has a cultural history with big names to know (be it Owens or Musashi) - but at least something.

wat

...

Post cats and doggos everybody

History: check
Econ: check
Lit: about half of that
Humanities: check
Artistic expression: I'm really good at violin
Law: check
Medicine: check
Physicality: does archery count?

So, am I am Übermensch?

>Economics: Smith, Keynes,Marx/Engles, Friedman/Hayek

I spat out my coffee.
>Smith
A meme. Besides context there is no point reading WoN. It's moral philosophy and not relevant to an understanding of contemporary economics. You will sound like a mong if you drop his name in to a conversation with a student of economics.
>Keynes
I can almost guarantee you did not understand the General Theory. If the only pre-Keynes economists you have read are Smith and Marx you will not understand any of it. Most mainstream economists of the time relied on Hicks' interpretation of Keynes. You will have to had read Ricardo, Jevons, Walras, and Marshall to begin to understand Keynes.
>Marx
KEK, try reading the Grundrisse and Das Kapital with again, no prior understanding of economics, no Ricardo and only Adam Smith as a precursor. You will not make it past the first chapter.
>Engles
Literally no point including him.
>Friedman
Just lol, you're going to jump from Keynes to Friedman. Again you will not understand him with enough depth to carry a conversation with even an undergrad. Don't waste your time.
>Hayek
Not even an economist really, using his name inappropriately will really highlight your ignorance. An Intellectual that wrote about Law and Epistemology mainly.

I don't really like wasting my time replying, but there are very few econ graduates on Veeky Forums and I feel like I need to defend my field. This list is just a list of memes. Only a non-economist could come up with such a boring, predictable, and unhelpful list. You would be better suited to reading some pop-economics books. Do not try to read the key works of economics with no prior understanding.

Economics is an extremely technical subject these days. You cannot read a few authors from 200 years ago and claim to "know" economics. You will look like a moron if you talk to people that actually know what they are talking about.

sorry bro, but it needed to be said.

His "literature" isn't much better.

Yeah, no Goethe or Joyce was pretty pathetic desu..

At the minimum a man should read Shakespeare, Goethe, and Dante. They contain all of Western thought and feeling. There is no reason not to ignore Chaucer and just read the complete Shakespeare, rather than "a couple of his" (two) plays (KEK). So you will read Hamlet and R&J, but no Lear, or MoV, or Tempest, or Coriolanus, Macbeth? give me a break, kid. Chaucer just borrowed Dante anyway. Much better use of your time to read Villon or Cavalcanti over Chaucer imo.

OP is just some undergrad tryhard though I suppose.

Well you certainly sound like an economist, insufferable over-opinionated biased piles of poopy.

...

>archery

maximum autism sport.

>it's just supply and demand bro XD

I learned about a fair share of that in school, apart from lit because English is not my mother tongue. My question however: How does anything outside of medicine make me a decent human being? So I can carry a conversation about economy with non-economists? So if someone sperges about Crusader Kings I can point out how the characters in it ar factually misrepresented? What use do you think I know about intro stuff in things I don't learn as a craft? What does "Just 'cause" mean? How does this make me better than Math autist next door?
Thanks for stating that my education must have made me half a decent human being just by teaching me, I guess.

Intersting. I can check off about 1/30 on your list.

My list would be

>consistent exercise, 1-6x per week, cardio, strength, endurance whatever pick one

>play at least one team sometime in your life, doesnt matter age or competitiveness

>one artistic hobby, create something whatever youre into

>at least know all of precalc

>know at least basic principles of physics such as light, gravity and some classical mechanics

>understand anatomy and physiology at least to the point of what all organs do, what major muscle groups do

>understand enough concepts from health to maintain tooth enamel, not smoke or any egregiously carcinogenic/degenerative shit habitually

>understand a little philosophy, familiar with the concept of asking questions and having logical productive discussions

>enough hygiene, style and etiquette to not make random people hate you and feel confident in the world.

>basic understanding of finance, at least read richest man in babylon

>have any form of income

>maintain at least 3 strong relationships in your family and one platonic or romantic relationship where you have a deep connection and it is 95% mutually beneficial and enjoyable

>be familiar with the basic overview of world war 2, world war 1, the bible, the quran and 1-2 other historical events that interest you

>enough geology/geography to have basic considerations of the world as an energy and geoplitical system

>travel to at least one place that is completely foreign to you

>speak at least one additional language conversationaly, enough that you could meet basic needs in a foreign place where it is spoken

>don't litter or be egregiously consumeristic

>know basic mathematics at least up through abstract algebra, general topology, and complex analysis
>have at least enough of an understanding of physics to be able to read a physics journal comfortably
>read and fully understand at least all of the Great Books of the Western World (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Books_of_the_Western_World)
>have a PhD's level of knowledge of history and philosophy
>have at least enough income to own a house, several suits, and live a comfortable life
>have one (and only one) wife and at least three kids
>keep your children disciplined and well-mannered
>your children are all on their way to Ivy league schools
>be white
>have top-notch hygiene
>exercise at least a little bit
>never get serious illnesses
>be politically moderate
>have a STEM degree
>alternatively, have no degree but be a CEO of a large company

>Veeky Forums - Science and Math

I don't live my life as one big checklist to tick off before I die. I honestly think that's a sad way to live.

this

without even using it as a misguided insult or misappropriating the term where it doesnt actually apply - this is actual, real life fucking autism

OP is definitely on the spectrum, holy shit

kek
stay mad humanities fag

>history
into the trash
>literature
>no manga
into the trash
>economics
that's the only good thing in this list
>humanities

>manga is literature

>I am still an adolescent

I hate academics.
They only know what other people know.
And they only know their arguments.
But they can't make their own arguments.

Write your own fucking books about things you like, once you know them for yourself.

Then we'll talk.

>Decent human being
>Wants you to only know things about the West and/or are relevant to the West

Yep. OP is still a fag. So ignorant that he doesn't realize that the world was very different 1000 years ago.

All of those things are worthless, impure piles of trivia. Here's the real list:

>Mathematics
>Programming

>muh eastern culture
>muh diversity

Okay.

It makes sense, for most academic fields, to understand where the field is at currently before innovation can be made though.

There's a big difference between being a decent human being and being someone well-versed into Western history.

A decent human being will look at mankind in an unbiased view. As a start, he will read about the beginning of civilization in Mesopotamia. Then he will be interested by mankind's first conquerors, such as Sargon of Akkad. Then reading up on the glorious history of Babylonia and Anatolia. Just a minor example.

Of course, that is nothing but a start. However, you put a large emphasis on Western history even thought in terms of relevance to human history, Eastern history takes up a slightly bigger chunk. In other words, you're just an ignorant twat who only cares about the mainstream pop history subjects. Nothing here to qualify you as a decent human being, a title reserved for one with intellectual curiosity that spans beyond his cultural and social bias.

This.
Though I'd recommend some of Engels' work to people who want to begin to gain a basic understanding of the fundamental concepts used to build a foundation for how to begin understanding the most basic of basic concepts required to fail at reading Marx

Get the fuck off of this board you fucking pieces of shit.

This entire thread has nothing to do with science you mongol.

>in terms of relevance to human history, Eastern history takes up a slightly bigger chunk
AHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAA

>a mediocre human being
I gladly leave mediocrity to you, OP. In the meantime I pursue polymathy. In particular this implies transcending the pseudo-intellectual need to boast about lists of common high school topics. Enjoy being a wikipedia scholar, appearing pedantic and annoying to the uneducated plebeians as well as shallow and ridiculous to the actual academics.

PS: my IQ is 168

>only study white men

How was the first day of college?

What? Laughing at your own ignorance? It's a subjective answer but a very reasonable one. You wouldn't understand though, I'd be surprised if you knew anything beyond what you learned in high school about Western history or something.

Here's a little something to strike a nerve here, just don't forget that the Sumerians already had a functional and civilized society, with merchants trading, advanced irrigation systems, a developed writing system and a functioning bureaucracy while the "Godly" Romans were still building mud huts.

>I pursue polymathy

Teach me your ways, user.

Who gives a damn tho?

The English are the true builders of modern civilization. The contribution in the past 300 years of the Anglo world dwarfs anything, even if you lump all else in the West with the rest of the world.

BB-B-B-B-B-B--B-B-BBUT MUH IRRIGATION SYSTUM

MUH CUNEIFORM

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

>The contribution in the past 300 years of the Anglo world dwarfs anything,


Maybe because that's all you know about history? Only those 300 years? Maybe if you bothered to learn anything about human history before the 1700's, you might reconsider? But no, that would require you to actually learn something new, something you can't handle. Even Western historians would laugh at your severe ignorance. Rest of Europe still did more than the Anglos did. Still though, anybody that actually knows shit about history knows that apart from our modern time (end of ww2 to today), these last 300 years years weren't anything special. The Romans probably thought they did more for civilization than you do today, considering they lead wars against "barbarians" and thought to civilize the world, so in contrast you're not that special in your beliefs that you built civilization, when countless other peoples throughout all of history thought the same.

Your severe mental retardation is already easy to spot, no need to make it so obvious.

99% of anybody I've ever met in STEM seemed like a borderline autists with no interests outside of their field of study and video games.

This. Many STEM folk are miserable people to talk to. They seem to be very intelligent, but they sperg out if you attempt to talk about anything outside of their field of interest.

...

>the intelligence of someone is to be evaluated by the amount of useless trivia they can spout about things they know nothing about
fuck off normie

It's almost as if people chose to specialise in a certain field of interest!!

>ad hominem

drink bleach

>pretends to be culturally educated
>doesn't include modern feminism

This.

Thanks for writing it for me