Remember you may be smart but why gamble on “maybe being right”, when you can ask.

That might just be the best bit of advice I've seen on Hive (or that other place for that matter).

Education. What a morass of bullshit if I may speak frankly. I have a really good friend that has 2 PHDs and a third that he didn't write the dissertation for when he got back from Vietnam. I've never seen them, he doesn't have the ego to need them hanging around where he is.

He is perhaps the smartest guy I've ever met, which is saying something. He is unquestionably the most curious. Which is the ultimate difference between education and learning. Curiosity. He is also a very vocal critic of higher education (but never of higher learning).

I like his style for the same reason I like yours. You both make me think about things that I normally wouldn't consider. Like the cesspool that is 'the law' or education.

You ought to take a walk with him some day. Botany is one of his PHDs (the other is Education) and you will learn way more about what you are seeing than you can possibly imagine. Last time we were out (couple of weeks ago) he found a plant he couldn't identify. He took maybe 20 pictures and when I see him later today I can guarantee he'll not only know what it is (and why he'd never seen it) but it's entire taxonomy.

So. Let slip the dogs of war. I'm ready for the next learning opportunity.