"You see," he explained, "I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skilful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones."
-Sherlock Holmes, in "A Study in Scarlet"
John Watson: Not important? It's primary school stuff! How can you not know that?
Sherlock Holmes: Well, if I ever did, I've deleted it.
John Watson: "Deleted it"?
Sherlock Holmes: Listen: [gets up and points to his head] This is my harddrive, and it only makes sense to put things in there that are useful. Really useful. Ordinary people fill their heads with all kinds of rubbish, and that makes it hard to get at the stuff that matters! Do you see?
John Watson: [brief silence; looks incredulous] But it's the solar system!
Sherlock Holmes: [extremely irritated] Oh, hell! What does that matter?! So we go around the sun! If we went around the moon or round and round the garden like a teddy bear, it wouldn't make any difference! All that matters to me is the work! Without that, my brain rots. Put that in your blog - or better still, stop inflicting your opinions on the world!
-Sherlock BBC, Episode 3: The Great Game
I really identify with the above quotes from the archetypal INTJ that is Sherlock Holmes. I'm curious if other INTJs organize their minds similarly to the way I do, so I have two questions for all the INTJs out there:
1. What do you keep in your "brain-attic"? What subjects have you dedicated yourself to knowing as completely as you are capable?
2. John makes a fuss about Sherlock not knowing that the Earth goes around the sun. What unessential knowledge have you deleted from your brain that other people have commented on?
My answers:
1. In my attic I keep information on cognitive science/psychology, writing, classical opera singing technique and the few people I really value.
2. I have almost no knowledge of politics, world events, celebrity gossip, famous people (not relevant to my fields), economics, geography, art and plenty of other things I can't currently remember. Because I deleted them.
-Sherlock Holmes, in "A Study in Scarlet"
John Watson: Not important? It's primary school stuff! How can you not know that?
Sherlock Holmes: Well, if I ever did, I've deleted it.
John Watson: "Deleted it"?
Sherlock Holmes: Listen: [gets up and points to his head] This is my harddrive, and it only makes sense to put things in there that are useful. Really useful. Ordinary people fill their heads with all kinds of rubbish, and that makes it hard to get at the stuff that matters! Do you see?
John Watson: [brief silence; looks incredulous] But it's the solar system!
Sherlock Holmes: [extremely irritated] Oh, hell! What does that matter?! So we go around the sun! If we went around the moon or round and round the garden like a teddy bear, it wouldn't make any difference! All that matters to me is the work! Without that, my brain rots. Put that in your blog - or better still, stop inflicting your opinions on the world!
-Sherlock BBC, Episode 3: The Great Game
I really identify with the above quotes from the archetypal INTJ that is Sherlock Holmes. I'm curious if other INTJs organize their minds similarly to the way I do, so I have two questions for all the INTJs out there:
1. What do you keep in your "brain-attic"? What subjects have you dedicated yourself to knowing as completely as you are capable?
2. John makes a fuss about Sherlock not knowing that the Earth goes around the sun. What unessential knowledge have you deleted from your brain that other people have commented on?
My answers:
1. In my attic I keep information on cognitive science/psychology, writing, classical opera singing technique and the few people I really value.
2. I have almost no knowledge of politics, world events, celebrity gossip, famous people (not relevant to my fields), economics, geography, art and plenty of other things I can't currently remember. Because I deleted them.