¬Û¤ù

In the context of Covid pandemic I have observed many people expressing their views on this subject in the social media. Unfortunately, more and more people use social media as their sole source of information. Sadly, a lot of lies or conspiracy theories circulate there and are repeated over and over so that they become common beliefs. To ridicule this sort of attitude one scientist created a website about DHMO, dihydrogen monoxide (http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html). It is a brilliant website. The author selected numerous facts about this chemical substance and all of them were presented in a negative light. Whoever does not know anything about chemistry can read the website and believe that DHMO is an extremely dangerous substance, and all scientists and industry secretly avoid talking about it, hiding the truth from the wider audience. For anybody who knows basics of chemistry, this is a very funny website because DHMO is a name for water, the name which is never used but is actually accurate. In conclusion, you have to have certain education to be able to distinguish between truth and lie.

There were moments when I have seen really ridiculous comments about the coronavirus and they were coming from 80-90% of people I know. I tried to educate some people, but it was useless, they knew better. I started to ignore it. Recently when I expressed on FB that I am glad that I am vaccinated, few people started to attack and ridicule me. They used their knowledge which they gained from social media to criticize me, a scientist. I was not sure how to respectfully answer their comments so I turned it all into a joke.

I mention it while showing this photo because it presents an entrance to a university library. Depending on the subject of your study, reading actual books may have become obsolete these days but if you want to gain knowledge you have to read and study a lot. You must pass through this portal and not once but many many times. And there is more. Knowledge is just one step but to reach the wisdom you must supplement it with experience. Those who reach the true wisdom are usually very modest. As Socrates supposedly said: “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing”. If you have studied a lot, you start realizing how much you do not know.
This is why I found beautiful the fact that the entrance to the library is so elaborate. This is an entrance to a real temple where knowledge and wisdom may start. You can start an IT company in garage but if you want to gain a deep knowledge and understanding of the world you must be a frequent guest in a library.

This is the entrance to Biblioteca Joanina, the library of University of Coimbra. To see the whole building please check my other photo here:
https://www.trekearth.com/viewphotos.php?l=7&p=1126898

40.207187, -8.426212