Learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience.
Author: David Foster Wallace | Source: Farnam Street | Subjects: Education | Scholarship, Thought | Inquiry
The so-called real world will not discourage you from operating on your default settings, because the so-called real world of men and money and power hums merrily along in a pool of fear and anger and frustration and craving and worship of self. […] The really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness and discipline, and being able truly to care about other people … [ Read more ]
Author: David Foster Wallace | Subject: Life & Society
Worship power, you will end up feeling weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to numb you to your own fear. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart, you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. But the insidious thing about these forms of worship is not that they’re evil or sinful, … [ Read more ]
Author: David Foster Wallace | Subjects: Personal Improvement, Psychology | Behavior
…technology’s just gonna get better and better and it’s just going to get easier and easier and more and more convenient and more and more pleasurable to sit alone, with images on a screen given to us by people who do not love us but want our money. And that’s fine, in low doses. But if it’s the basic main staple of your diet, you’re … [ Read more ]
Author: David Foster Wallace | Subjects: IT | Technology, Life & Society, News | Media | Publishing, Personal Improvement
Almost anything you pay close, direct attention to becomes interesting.
Author: David Foster Wallace | Subjects: Education | Scholarship, Learning, Personal Improvement
Almost anything you pay close, direct attention to becomes interesting.
Author: David Foster Wallace | Subjects: Education | Scholarship, Personal Improvement
Twenty years after my own graduation, I have come gradually to understand that the liberal arts cliché about teaching you how to think is actually shorthand for a much deeper, more serious idea: learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to … [ Read more ]
Author: David Foster Wallace | Subjects: Concepts, Education | Scholarship, Intelligence | Knowledge, Personal Improvement, Thought | Inquiry