It's not always about careers. I've known people with comparatively simple jobs, sometimes even menial, who are members of Mensa and have a wide range of knowlegde on all kinds of subjects. They've been contented with a relatively simple lifestyle, having a day job with regular hours that is undemanding of their minds, leaving them enough emotional and intellectual energy to enjoy free time and the company of intelligent friends.
:') youve restored my faith in the internets; there is a higher calibre of intellect and thought out there, and i found some here: on youtube. many internets to you my kind sir :)
That is what a lot of teachers do do though. You have also matured to a point where you find this stuff interesting. Some students have a lot of other things on their mind at young ages so it can make engaging in material difficult. This is where us teachers need to focus a lot of effort (and many do) to get students engaged, but when you have 30 students in a classroom there are some students that don't get as engaged as they need to.
This clip is awesome. He is totally right... or maybe I'm just saying that because I love knowing facts that appear on the face of it not to have everyday practical application. So funny....
I just may end up as Stephen's best friend. I believe myself to be the sort of person who "finds knowledge for its own sake, and finds pleasure in information." I especially dislike the people who believe learning and school to be pointless.
A good school teacher would put the reason for learning ito perspective so that the kids become engaged in the process. Having real world examples of where one might need to make use of facts or formulii will always help "understand the point of wht it's useful". Someone with Stephens intellect should realize that.
A lot of this shit on QI is stuff I could've learned in school but didn't, and now here I am several years later actively seeking out this stuff. I think we need to re-invent the education system to make it more interesting & engaging so people will actually WANT to learn. Having Stephen Fry teaching classes may be one good way, but he can't be everywhere at once...
@Mackster44 school is for everyone, but one should take great care in choosing what you're being taught. i myself was a typical idiot-student back in the days. slept through classes and all that, so it was quite obvious i would've not survived a single day with "academic" studies. i chose the vocational route, and have worked as a specialist welder / metalworker for a decade, making fairly decent living. all thanks to someone understanding the nature of my problems in schools
I had a job interview recently and was asked what I do in my spare time. I said I'm trying to learn a new language. The interviewer asked me why. I wish I could have pointed her to this clip :(
I sympathise because I was always being punished for asking questions, even though I never meant it badly. It's probably too late now for that specific thing but if that happens again, I think it would be worth going to that teacher at the end of a lesson (or if you see him in the hall or something) and explaining that you didn't mean to be rude. It's hard for them to know when they're in the middle of trying to teach the whole class. And teachers have bad days.
From watching the first series on DVD, it looks like they record about 40/50 minutes of QI, then edit out to fit the 30 minute slot. Usually, the clips edited out are when somebody accidentally swears, ect. This could be one of those clips. I'm not sure, but that's probably the case.
@oooISPYooo He isn't talking about memorisation of facts, he is talking about a desire to learn. Regardless of what you think, EVERY "genius" was curious. Curious to understand, to learn, to discover. This is called learning. Most people who reject their education, or reject the concept of learning do end up poor/on the doll, it is a fact of life. A lot of intelligent people do leave school, but they go on to teach themselves things, or learn in another way. He never mentions failing school.
@KaseytheJudge That's actually not a bad idea, having weekly lectures done by Stephen Fry on various subjects. Although, with the estimated amount of subscribers/students, you'd need to staff a LOT of people to mark the work.
@ZoneNet1 I'm American, but from what I've observed the BBC really likes to stray from any real televised moment of catharsis or poignancy -which is the opposite of American television, though the constant simulation of conflict and catharsis in US tv is bad in its own right.
thanks for the comment/story type thing - genuinely :) i don't quite know what to say to that but thought it rude not to reply i'm glad your life worked out - if not how u originally planned i know i should have probably tried harder in maths but it got to a point where i knew i'd learnt enough to get by in life + i was sure that most of the graphs and algebra etc would be pointless for me to persevere with as i hated them so much anyway i hope u are happy + sorry to hear about the back :(
They really are! I'm waiting for the day they announce their civil partnership (Alan would have to lose his wife first though haha... But one can still dream :P)
I once asked a math teather why we needed to learn a pecifik thing ( don´t remember what it was something about geometry I think) and he got really angry telling me that if I did´nt want to learn it I could leave the classroom. The thing is that I really wanted to know when I would be able to use it, and I was n´t asking cause i didn´t wanna learn it. so there are 2 kinds of people who ask that question.
@soulofshiver No I did not, and I see no reason for you commenting on my spelling when the only thing wrong with it is that I put a k instead of a c and that I missed the s. So what if I made a spelling mistake? And in my defence, though I do not think that I need it, english is my second language and in my language specifc is spelled specifik.
I think what the "we'll never use this" brigade is lacking is context. A good teacher will provide that, a poor one will just spit out names, places, and dates to commit to memory. For example, learning trivia about the US Civil War, or WWII is one thing, and seemingly fruitless. But if you learn how and why those battles or campaigns happened the way they did and their aftermath, it can give you a better understanding of how things work today.
@AlanHilter No matter how good the teacher, a bad curriculum will raise no ones interest, including the teacher, and then no one learns. Which, oddly enough, I would suggest is exactly the boat we're all in now.
@Xanatos712 Weekly lectures by Stephen Fry... they should do a BBC series on them and have it added to the curriculum as a compulsory thing. My teachers always play BBC clips and episodes and such in my lessons and they're so boring so if Stephen did series about everything we'd have children with IQs of 500 by the time they're 12! I think they could always use volunteer markers.... or examiners; give them something interesting to mark :p
I don't know what Best Buy is, or what the four floor equivalent would be, but is it at least better than working at MacD's? Thanks for sharing this, anyway. By the way, Jamie Oliver rather foolishly said in front of the cameras once that he's never read a book in his life. Luckily for him, he's very successful as a cook.
@dexterccf2 Honestly do you really think that this is a fruitful comment? I don't see any reason for people questioning my question for my teacher, a question that I might add was only asked in an attempt to understand and learn a specific mathematical formula, or my spelling. It was simply a question that I felt that I had to ask so that I could learn the formula, and a spelling mistake that anyone that does not have english as their first langage could have made.
Uh-oh. I'm a student right now, and I'm always wondering about the point of it all. If Mr. Fry's right, I'm going to end up a drunk... ...I'm scared now. Mr. Fry's a very good comedian and I respect his views, but I'm seriously worried...
Its usually a person who does a great deal of TV watching that, ironically, asks such stupid questions... What's the point of following football, watching the X-factor, playing video games, eating more than your nutritional needs in food, drinking alcohol, taking a holiday, I mean is any of this useful in your future life? Stephen Fry's response reminds me of this: 'Dawkins vs. Tyson ' on youtube GURANTEED YOU'LL SMILE :)...
@jacksawild First of: thank you for not insulting my intelligence by pointing out my spelling mistake :) and a second thanks for saying that it was a fair question. In truth I asked for an example of a real life situation in which it could be used because I sometimes understand things better when they can be applied to real life situations, but it appears that both my teatcher and most youtubers got the wrong idea, but not you - so again thank you :)
@MrAnonymity oh. okay im a little late on this but anyway - my Chemistry teacher had the "power" to put us to SLEEP with his voice. Im not even talking about drifting off occasionally, i mean a heavy deep sleep. Im not kidding you the only reason anyone stayed awake was that someone managed to break the spell and get him to be, sort of just another guy and just do nonsense in class. Chemistry is interesting but 2words from his mouth and i was snoozing. Crazy.
@joelomax Maybe school isn't for everyone, but how do you find out who it's for if you don't give everyone the opportunity to learn, and make it mandatory to prevent sheer laziness from being the main influence on someone's life? Aside from that, it's clear that an educated society does better economically than an uneducated one,so mandatory education is a prerequisite if you want a successful society.
Fry's argument is kind of weak if say the student weren't interested in the subject to begin with. You learn something for the sake of learning when you do have interest in that particular subject. It can't possibly be pleasurable if maths simply doesn't do anything to you.
@FallingDownDeep you can pretty much work out what every word means in English without ever hearing it before if you know latin and ancient greek. Not pointless
oh no!! i'm one of those children! (well, i'm 17) -where maths is concerned, anyway i love learning history and well, anything else really but i simply can't stick any sort of maths that won't be necessary for me to use in later life surds for instance. what and why?!?!?! sorry for turning this into a mini rant and possibly distracting people from the genius that is fry but maths is a very sensitive subject with me p.s. plus my maths teacher was AWFUL and it was fun to antagonise him
I love Fry to bits but this is bollocks. You can easily go "What the hell is this for?" all through your school years and still end up sober, interested and involved and.. well, a watcher of QI, in essence.
There seem to be a lot of people who misunderstand what Stephen said. He never mentioned intelligence. What he said was that the people who take no INTEREST in learning end up in the shitty end of the public pool of life. Drawing a conclusion and ranting on without self-criticism or second thoughts seems to be the theme here, so to all those pathetic dimwits who consider themselves better just because they bash Mr. Fry for saying something and people for agreeing: Shut up. For your own good.
That's not true, I know of plenty of philosophers and thinkers who were extremely well read and well learned who were alcoholics that never did anything with their lives other than think about it.
I love geography, the problem however is geography teachers. If one associates a subject with the teacher, then it has a huge effect on young people. I would say it's like your dad listening to your own band. Solution: Teaching kids that alcohol and underage pregnancy and the latest bands are the best things in the world. Probably not. If that was the case, the world will be full of atheists.
oh i'll manage. he didnt. heh. the teacher in question lost his job and is currently a typical gutter-drunk. there went his academical future he used to brag about :D while yours truly has a job with a salary. not much but its huge deal at the current unstable times. oh i'll manage :)
I truly appreciate knowing that there are estimable folks like Alan and Stephen who set the bar just a little higher. It gives me genuine hope.
I remember thinking the exact same thing whenever the D-students in my classes asked that question.
This is yet another reason why I love Stephen Fry
Absolutely brilliant, and so true! Love, love, love this man.
I love how Alan saw him going off on one and tried to stop him! What a great pair!
This is absolutely brilliant. I don't understand why it wasn't transmitted either. Makes a lot of sense to me...
I wrote my college acceptance essay based around this video clip. Hope it works! Stephen Fry is a true inspiration
Amen, Mr. Fry. Amen!
Knowledge for knowledge's sake is one of my reasons for being lol.
It's not always about careers.
I've known people with comparatively simple jobs, sometimes even menial, who are members of Mensa and have a wide range of knowlegde on all kinds of subjects. They've been contented with a relatively simple lifestyle, having a day job with regular hours that is undemanding of their minds, leaving them enough emotional and intellectual energy to enjoy free time and the company of intelligent friends.
I love Alan's little "Stephen.. Stephen... Stephen... STEPHEN!"
haha they're like an old couple sometimes :P
Totally agree with The Fry though.
further demonstrates why swearing for the sake of swearing is a pleasure in itself....
Stephen Fry is a national fucking treasure.
And he is so right in this clip.
I adore this man.
Haha I love the show! Waiting for the 9th season!
Well said Stephen! I`ve always wanted to learn Latin, the only options we had at school were French & Spanish :(
loll. yess to all of wat you said!!
they're both adorable too!
:') youve restored my faith in the internets; there is a higher calibre of intellect and thought out there, and i found some here: on youtube. many internets to you my kind sir :)
Well said from Mr Fry.
I LOVE THIS MAN.
That is what a lot of teachers do do though. You have also matured to a point where you find this stuff interesting. Some students have a lot of other things on their mind at young ages so it can make engaging in material difficult. This is where us teachers need to focus a lot of effort (and many do) to get students engaged, but when you have 30 students in a classroom there are some students that don't get as engaged as they need to.
This clip is awesome. He is totally right... or maybe I'm just saying that because I love knowing facts that appear on the face of it not to have everyday practical application.
So funny....
I just may end up as Stephen's best friend. I believe myself to be the sort of person who "finds knowledge for its own sake, and finds pleasure in information." I especially dislike the people who believe learning and school to be pointless.
A good school teacher would put the reason for learning ito perspective so that the kids become engaged in the process. Having real world examples of where one might need to make use of facts or formulii will always help "understand the point of wht it's useful". Someone with Stephens intellect should realize that.
Now I'm curious about what Alan wanted to say. "Stephen Stephen Stephen STEPHEN!" :D
Alan Davies?? HAHAHA that would be class. "France? Are they the ones with the frogs?" HAHA
Reminds me of the book by the physicist Richard Feynman: The Pleasure of Finding Things Out
you just been fry'd, stephen fry'd
wtf this and the religion bit is probs the best qi seconds ive ever seen
bbc need to grow a pair tbh
A lot of this shit on QI is stuff I could've learned in school but didn't, and now here I am several years later actively seeking out this stuff. I think we need to re-invent the education system to make it more interesting & engaging so people will actually WANT to learn. Having Stephen Fry teaching classes may be one good way, but he can't be everywhere at once...
@Mackster44 school is for everyone, but one should take great care in choosing what you're being taught. i myself was a typical idiot-student back in the days. slept through classes and all that, so it was quite obvious i would've not survived a single day with "academic" studies. i chose the vocational route, and have worked as a specialist welder / metalworker for a decade, making fairly decent living. all thanks to someone understanding the nature of my problems in schools
All hail the Fry!
I had a job interview recently and was asked what I do in my spare time. I said I'm trying to learn a new language. The interviewer asked me why.
I wish I could have pointed her to this clip :(
The irony is that I'm watching this while I'm supposed to be revising...
I sympathise because I was always being punished for asking questions, even though I never meant it badly.
It's probably too late now for that specific thing but if that happens again, I think it would be worth going to that teacher at the end of a lesson (or if you see him in the hall or something) and explaining that you didn't mean to be rude.
It's hard for them to know when they're in the middle of trying to teach the whole class. And teachers have bad days.
Well said, stephen fry.
love that song:P
From watching the first series on DVD, it looks like they record about 40/50 minutes of QI, then edit out to fit the 30 minute slot. Usually, the clips edited out are when somebody accidentally swears, ect. This could be one of those clips.
I'm not sure, but that's probably the case.
I heard Stephen Fry say fuck
my life is now complete
I love learning but nobody ever taught me how to do it.
@oooISPYooo
He isn't talking about memorisation of facts, he is talking about a desire to learn. Regardless of what you think, EVERY "genius" was curious. Curious to understand, to learn, to discover. This is called learning. Most people who reject their education, or reject the concept of learning do end up poor/on the doll, it is a fact of life. A lot of intelligent people do leave school, but they go on to teach themselves things, or learn in another way. He never mentions failing school.
@KaseytheJudge That's actually not a bad idea, having weekly lectures done by Stephen Fry on various subjects. Although, with the estimated amount of subscribers/students, you'd need to staff a LOT of people to mark the work.
Stephen, I love you even more for that
@AlanHilter great*
A good teacher makes it not boring.
If ignorance is bliss you would think the world would be a much happier place.
@ZoneNet1 I'm American, but from what I've observed the BBC really likes to stray from any real televised moment of catharsis or poignancy -which is the opposite of American television, though the constant simulation of conflict and catharsis in US tv is bad in its own right.
I agree with him soo much!! :D
"they're the ones who actually get on and do things in thier Fucking lives!" hahaha Stephen rocks xD
He does happen to have the record for saying it the most number of times on a live broadcast..
thanks for the comment/story type thing - genuinely :)
i don't quite know what to say to that but thought it rude not to reply
i'm glad your life worked out - if not how u originally planned
i know i should have probably tried harder in maths but it got to a point where i knew i'd learnt enough to get by in life + i was sure that most of the graphs and algebra etc would be pointless for me to persevere with as i hated them so much
anyway i hope u are happy + sorry to hear about the back :(
LMFAO I love it when Stephen has a little rant! It's great...and to hear him swear is so out of place!
They really are! I'm waiting for the day they announce their civil partnership (Alan would have to lose his wife first though haha... But one can still dream :P)
Yes!
I once asked a math teather why we needed to learn a pecifik thing ( don´t remember what it was something about geometry I think) and he got really angry telling me that if I did´nt want to learn it I could leave the classroom. The thing is that I really wanted to know when I would be able to use it, and I was n´t asking cause i didn´t wanna learn it. so there are 2 kinds of people who ask that question.
Haha, I'm Irish; at school, can you imagine the number of Irish kids saying 'what's the point of learning Irish?'
@soulofshiver No I did not, and I see no reason for you commenting on my spelling when the only thing wrong with it is that I put a k instead of a c and that I missed the s. So what if I made a spelling mistake? And in my defence, though I do not think that I need it, english is my second language and in my language specifc is spelled specifik.
HAHA, BRILLIANT!
I think what the "we'll never use this" brigade is lacking is context. A good teacher will provide that, a poor one will just spit out names, places, and dates to commit to memory. For example, learning trivia about the US Civil War, or WWII is one thing, and seemingly fruitless. But if you learn how and why those battles or campaigns happened the way they did and their aftermath, it can give you a better understanding of how things work today.
absolutely :D
@AlanHilter No matter how good the teacher, a bad curriculum will raise no ones interest, including the teacher, and then no one learns. Which, oddly enough, I would suggest is exactly the boat we're all in now.
true - true
so true
you should always be interested in the things that don't interest you!
@MrsGamgee977 Never mind. I found out it's from season 2. Everyone looked so young, it threw me off. :D
he would be a awesome prime minister
@Xanatos712 He could do a web-based class... everyone just logs on to learn :D
@joelomax School isn't for everyone indeed, but learning sure is.
I'm guessing by the title "Untransmitted", that these two clips were not actually aired on television. Anyone have any info on this?
@Xanatos712 Weekly lectures by Stephen Fry... they should do a BBC series on them and have it added to the curriculum as a compulsory thing.
My teachers always play BBC clips and episodes and such in my lessons and they're so boring so if Stephen did series about everything we'd have children with IQs of 500 by the time they're 12!
I think they could always use volunteer markers.... or examiners; give them something interesting to mark :p
I don't know what Best Buy is, or what the four floor equivalent would be, but is it at least better than working at MacD's?
Thanks for sharing this, anyway.
By the way, Jamie Oliver rather foolishly said in front of the cameras once that he's never read a book in his life. Luckily for him, he's very successful as a cook.
@dexterccf2 Honestly do you really think that this is a fruitful comment? I don't see any reason for people questioning my question for my teacher, a question that I might add was only asked in an attempt to understand and learn a specific mathematical formula, or my spelling. It was simply a question that I felt that I had to ask so that I could learn the formula, and a spelling mistake that anyone that does not have english as their first langage could have made.
Uh-oh. I'm a student right now, and I'm always wondering about the point of it all. If Mr. Fry's right, I'm going to end up a drunk...
...I'm scared now. Mr. Fry's a very good comedian and I respect his views, but I'm seriously worried...
Its usually a person who does a great deal of TV watching that, ironically, asks such stupid questions... What's the point of following football, watching the X-factor, playing video games, eating more than your nutritional needs in food, drinking alcohol, taking a holiday, I mean is any of this useful in your future life? Stephen Fry's response reminds me of this:
'Dawkins vs. Tyson ' on youtube
GURANTEED YOU'LL SMILE :)...
@jacksawild First of: thank you for not insulting my intelligence by pointing out my spelling mistake :) and a second thanks for saying that it was a fair question. In truth I asked for an example of a real life situation in which it could be used because I sometimes understand things better when they can be applied to real life situations, but it appears that both my teatcher and most youtubers got the wrong idea, but not you - so again thank you :)
@blablomma Did you say this to the same teacher that tried to teach you how to spell 'specific'?
@MrAnonymity oh. okay im a little late on this but anyway - my Chemistry teacher had the "power" to put us to SLEEP with his voice. Im not even talking about drifting off occasionally, i mean a heavy deep sleep.
Im not kidding you the only reason anyone stayed awake was that someone managed to break the spell and get him to be, sort of just another guy and just do nonsense in class.
Chemistry is interesting but 2words from his mouth and i was snoozing. Crazy.
This is a comedy show first, not a commentary on what goes on in the world. I guess they don't want to deal with the hassle.
@joelomax Maybe school isn't for everyone, but how do you find out who it's for if you don't give everyone the opportunity to learn, and make it mandatory to prevent sheer laziness from being the main influence on someone's life? Aside from that, it's clear that an educated society does better economically than an uneducated one,so mandatory education is a prerequisite if you want a successful society.
@oooISPYooo It's curious that someone who get's proven wrong on about everything he says suddenly decides to start trolling
If that was true, each episode of QI would be about two minutes long.
Alan almost comes across as Stephen's wife in this clip.
latin really is pointless but this scene is freaking awesome!!!!!!!!!
Fry's argument is kind of weak if say the student weren't interested in the subject to begin with. You learn something for the sake of learning when you do have interest in that particular subject. It can't possibly be pleasurable if maths simply doesn't do anything to you.
@FallingDownDeep you can pretty much work out what every word means in English without ever hearing it before if you know latin and ancient greek. Not pointless
@oooISPYooo, says a common troll.
oh no!!
i'm one of those children! (well, i'm 17)
-where maths is concerned, anyway
i love learning history and well, anything else really but i simply can't stick any sort of maths that won't be necessary for me to use in later life
surds for instance.
what and why?!?!?!
sorry for turning this into a mini rant and possibly distracting people from the genius that is fry but maths is a very sensitive subject with me
p.s. plus my maths teacher was AWFUL and it was fun to antagonise him
What season was this on?
Did... Did St... DID STEPHEN FRY ACTUALLY JUST SHOUT THAT WORD OUT?
@oooISPYooo Man...you got it sooo wrong. And if you can't see that, then I'm sorry on your behalf.
I love Fry to bits but this is bollocks. You can easily go "What the hell is this for?" all through your school years and still end up sober, interested and involved and.. well, a watcher of QI, in essence.
well to be honest,i dont see the point of most latin,but im doing fine :D
There seem to be a lot of people who misunderstand what Stephen said. He never mentioned intelligence. What he said was that the people who take no INTEREST in learning end up in the shitty end of the public pool of life.
Drawing a conclusion and ranting on without self-criticism or second thoughts seems to be the theme here, so to all those pathetic dimwits who consider themselves better just because they bash Mr. Fry for saying something and people for agreeing: Shut up. For your own good.
That's not true, I know of plenty of philosophers and thinkers who were extremely well read and well learned who were alcoholics that never did anything with their lives other than think about it.
I love geography, the problem however is geography teachers.
If one associates a subject with the teacher, then it has a huge effect on young people. I would say it's like your dad listening to your own band.
Solution: Teaching kids that alcohol and underage pregnancy and the latest bands are the best things in the world.
Probably not. If that was the case, the world will be full of atheists.
Well exactly, what for you need geometry and Latin in career of homeless drunk?!
oh i'll manage. he didnt. heh. the teacher in question lost his job and is currently a typical gutter-drunk. there went his academical future he used to brag about :D while yours truly has a job with a salary. not much but its huge deal at the current unstable times. oh i'll manage :)
Mr. Fry bitter much?
you have a very unfortunate name ;)