The Lifelong Pursuit of Knowledge

 

In Japan, both 50 years ago and today, there's a prevailing belief that studying is primarily the duty of students, with less emphasis on ongoing adult education after employment. However, since life after employment lasts much longer than one's student years, adults have plenty of time to acquire practical knowledge and find opportunities to apply it in their daily lives, workplaces, and communities. In 1957, a Japanese social commentator warned about the dangers of passive television consumption, suggesting that it could diminish people's imagination and critical thinking skills, potentially leading to a decline in intellectual capacity among the population. In other words, if you passively accept arbitrarily processed secondary and tertiary information at face value, you will easily become brainwashed. This warning is still very relevant today. In order to build a better society in the future, everyone recognizes the importance of adults actively seeking out reliable information and continuing a wide range of studies. This is something I feel even more strongly now that I am living post-retirement.

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