"Once men gave their thinking over to machines in the hopes that this would set them free. But this only allowed other men with machines to enslave them."
Cross that Dune quote with the entirety of E.M. Forster's short story "The Machine Stops", and that is our future.
So much of my work when I was an academic librarian was impressing upon students the importance of taking time to think about their topic, ask questions about it, use those questions to find sources, use the sources to ask more questions, and so on. I wasn't an expert in any discipline (save that of organizing and work with information resources themselves) but helping students see that just grabbing the first ten things that matched their keywords was unlikely to help much in building their understanding (or impressing their professors) underlay what I tried to do in workshops. When a student found something really solid and germane to what they were exploring and got excited about it, it was so great.
This exchange between a Touareg nomad and a French rally car pilot in the Sahara desert has remained with me for years.
The French man says to the Touareg: “do you realise that the distance you cover in three weeks, I cover in three hours?”.
I To which the nomad responded: “that is great, what do you do the rest of the time?”
*I’m in my 11th year of a PhD candidacy on the concept of the sublime, I recently decided to learn guitar. Your piece has resonated in more ways than one! Thank you.
"Once men gave their thinking over to machines in the hopes that this would set them free. But this only allowed other men with machines to enslave them."
Cross that Dune quote with the entirety of E.M. Forster's short story "The Machine Stops", and that is our future.
I am grateful for your Forster recommendation. I just wanted you to know that.
beautiful piece! thank you :)
So much of my work when I was an academic librarian was impressing upon students the importance of taking time to think about their topic, ask questions about it, use those questions to find sources, use the sources to ask more questions, and so on. I wasn't an expert in any discipline (save that of organizing and work with information resources themselves) but helping students see that just grabbing the first ten things that matched their keywords was unlikely to help much in building their understanding (or impressing their professors) underlay what I tried to do in workshops. When a student found something really solid and germane to what they were exploring and got excited about it, it was so great.
Thinking as basic unit of intentionality. Wow
Excellent piece. I will be sharing a link in my weekly roundup today.
Very thought-provoking. Thank you for writing this!
This exchange between a Touareg nomad and a French rally car pilot in the Sahara desert has remained with me for years.
The French man says to the Touareg: “do you realise that the distance you cover in three weeks, I cover in three hours?”.
I To which the nomad responded: “that is great, what do you do the rest of the time?”
*I’m in my 11th year of a PhD candidacy on the concept of the sublime, I recently decided to learn guitar. Your piece has resonated in more ways than one! Thank you.