This is something I've been 'feeling' for a while but couldn't or hadn't been able to articulate. I'm not sure what a human life is or becomes if it is deprived of meaning, and I'm not sure how we find meaning if we are constantly reacting to stimuli and working to stay on an ever accelerating treadmill in a system where the benefits don't seem to trickle down.
As I read your post one author popped immediately in my head: Habermas. We have lost not only the ability to pause and reflect, but also the basic tenet of the enlightenment: People should engage in mutual questioning and testing of claims to arrive at shared understanding. We live now in the world of strategic rationality, where all we care about is to achieve an outcome.
You can engage in research, deep thinking and context-building to write a text, or you can use Claude or Perplexity or ChatGPT and have it done for you. Outcome achieved, thought process denied.
How many people care, for example, about how LLMs work? Or how many people bother to fact-check a politician's claim?
We must try hard to keep a core number of people engaged in rational, deep-thinking, free flowing exchanges. They may save humanity one day!
As I get older I have a much more visceral sense of the constant passage -- spending -- of time. It's unstoppable and every moment cannot be retrieved one it's over.
The current digital moment seems to be built in the premise that there is infinite attention to be monitized which couldn't be further from the truth and represents, in my opinion, a fundamental misunderstanding of human existence. An industry built in the idea that AI content creators can create vast amounts of mediocre content to be consumed ... by who? For what purpose? That seems like the definition of a bubble!
I do find myself more thoughtful with how I spend my time these days. I'm looking less for meaning and more for pleasure and contentment in the now; time in the country on my bike; time sipping on a morning coffee reading a thought-provoking post; time snuggling with my partner. It's all time that going to be spent no matter what, so may as well enjoy its passage!
Gwynne Dyer does weekly columns that react, but does books with "Deep Work" behind them: I just got his new 'Intervention Earth', which is based upon hundreds of interviews. Interviews with the scientists, engineers, economists, historians are all Deep Work, building new structures as you interview.
There is an understandable difficulty in finding the time to think deeply in a world where information flows so rapidly and abundantly. However, the difficulty is exacerbated by an environment where many malignly respond with obfuscation and outrage. This makes it harder to generate a real discussion that enables information or analysis seeking which may benefit one’s own deep thinking. Moreover, the information sources we once relied on to assist with deep thinking now either slant deliberately to one side in order to support one outcome or are stretched so thin that most of the information and analysis provided is veneer deep and follows the rest of the media herd.
On the other hand, while reading self-help books may not solve the problem, the act of reading them still, I find, helps to maintain a focus on deeper thinking. I read many parenting books, for example, as a young father. I never found a single book which provided me with a foolproof parenting system. However, whenever I was reading one of these books I was a better parent simply because my brain was also occupied with the goal of being a better parent. I found myself, at a minimum, less likely to react angrily or in haste when faced with a challenge because parenting thoughts were more top of mind. That said, when I now add in TED talks and podcasts to self-help books it does mean that more of my time is probably being devoted to such thinking than is wise.
I like the beginning about development books. More please. The thoughtful handwringing not so much. How did bemoaning and catastrophizing become the benchmarks of liberalism? We need to start listening to the right.
Thank you for Thinking and writing about Thinking. What passes for deeper thought does take Time, Nature & Silence.
This is something I've been 'feeling' for a while but couldn't or hadn't been able to articulate. I'm not sure what a human life is or becomes if it is deprived of meaning, and I'm not sure how we find meaning if we are constantly reacting to stimuli and working to stay on an ever accelerating treadmill in a system where the benefits don't seem to trickle down.
As I read your post one author popped immediately in my head: Habermas. We have lost not only the ability to pause and reflect, but also the basic tenet of the enlightenment: People should engage in mutual questioning and testing of claims to arrive at shared understanding. We live now in the world of strategic rationality, where all we care about is to achieve an outcome.
You can engage in research, deep thinking and context-building to write a text, or you can use Claude or Perplexity or ChatGPT and have it done for you. Outcome achieved, thought process denied.
How many people care, for example, about how LLMs work? Or how many people bother to fact-check a politician's claim?
We must try hard to keep a core number of people engaged in rational, deep-thinking, free flowing exchanges. They may save humanity one day!
As I get older I have a much more visceral sense of the constant passage -- spending -- of time. It's unstoppable and every moment cannot be retrieved one it's over.
The current digital moment seems to be built in the premise that there is infinite attention to be monitized which couldn't be further from the truth and represents, in my opinion, a fundamental misunderstanding of human existence. An industry built in the idea that AI content creators can create vast amounts of mediocre content to be consumed ... by who? For what purpose? That seems like the definition of a bubble!
I do find myself more thoughtful with how I spend my time these days. I'm looking less for meaning and more for pleasure and contentment in the now; time in the country on my bike; time sipping on a morning coffee reading a thought-provoking post; time snuggling with my partner. It's all time that going to be spent no matter what, so may as well enjoy its passage!
Every day we r exposed to non thinking! Thx for reminding us there still is real thinking I think!
Well spoken!!
Gwynne Dyer does weekly columns that react, but does books with "Deep Work" behind them: I just got his new 'Intervention Earth', which is based upon hundreds of interviews. Interviews with the scientists, engineers, economists, historians are all Deep Work, building new structures as you interview.
There is an understandable difficulty in finding the time to think deeply in a world where information flows so rapidly and abundantly. However, the difficulty is exacerbated by an environment where many malignly respond with obfuscation and outrage. This makes it harder to generate a real discussion that enables information or analysis seeking which may benefit one’s own deep thinking. Moreover, the information sources we once relied on to assist with deep thinking now either slant deliberately to one side in order to support one outcome or are stretched so thin that most of the information and analysis provided is veneer deep and follows the rest of the media herd.
On the other hand, while reading self-help books may not solve the problem, the act of reading them still, I find, helps to maintain a focus on deeper thinking. I read many parenting books, for example, as a young father. I never found a single book which provided me with a foolproof parenting system. However, whenever I was reading one of these books I was a better parent simply because my brain was also occupied with the goal of being a better parent. I found myself, at a minimum, less likely to react angrily or in haste when faced with a challenge because parenting thoughts were more top of mind. That said, when I now add in TED talks and podcasts to self-help books it does mean that more of my time is probably being devoted to such thinking than is wise.
You're an execrable fool.
I like the beginning about development books. More please. The thoughtful handwringing not so much. How did bemoaning and catastrophizing become the benchmarks of liberalism? We need to start listening to the right.
Well done, as always.