QUOTE(Jon Awbrey @ Fri 4th February 2011, 2:32pm)
Ah, Milton, still livin' der Traum …
Jon (IMG:
smilys0b23ax56/default/tongue.gif)
No, it's quite real. You can read Britannica, but not nearly as much will stay with you as if you concentrate hard enough to EDIT Britannica. I've probably learned as much from editing WP part time these last 4 years, as from a year of college. It's probably been approximately the same amount of my time (though distributed completely in otherwise recreational holes in my schedule), and cost me no more than the time (zero tuition). Some people learn by watching, some by listening, some by doing. Some by writing; guess what sort I am?
Now, the opportunity-cost for this, was would I would have been doing otherwise. I could have been doing noble things like advancing human knowledge and writing papers and patents. The Ultimate Cat Litter Box has yet to be invented. I could be volunteering as a T.A. at the local community college (wanna REALLY learn Newton's Laws?) Or I could have been vegging out in front of my TV watching
Lie to Me and
Bones.. Or I could have spent it scuba diving in the South Pacific, or other travel or social interaction with real people at home or near it, doing exercise, or something else to improve my life. It's all very nebulous, but if WP is an MMORPG, I'm pretty sure WP has been better for me than any OTHER MMORPG. It certainly beats hell out of Farmville.