In which Wolf discusses why ignorance is the key to productivity, and reads the Last Page of the Internet.
In which Wolf discusses why ignorance is the key to productivity, and reads the Last Page of the Internet.
Released April 6, 2021
We live in a Golden Age. Each of us has the modern-day Library of Alexandria in our pocket. The Internet contains the sum of human knowledge, as well as a myriad of enticing rabbit holes down which we can lose ourselves: trivia we've always wondered about. Friends we haven't seen (or cared about) in years. The latest celebrity and political drama. Games the size of worlds. Endless memes. That thing that you've always sort of wanted that you just know if you go searching for it, you'll find it. And enough hyper-cute cats, dogs, and ferrets to just, "literally" die over. And that's a huge problem: because every one of us is literally counting down the days of our lives. How many of those days are we choosing to actually live?
Prejudice, ideology, bias, distortion, mindlessness: bad thinking is everywhere. The world needs heroes to lead the way to better, higher, more valuable ways of thinking. These ways are timeless, and never more needed than right now. Some claim that these timeless ways of thinking are now dangerous. To them I reply: BEWARE OF WOLF.
One of my favorite single-panel comics is titled, "Life before Google: A Short Story." Two out-of-shape guys are sitting on a couch watching TV, snack bowls at hand. Without looking away from the TV, the first guy suddenly says, "I just thought of something I'd like to know more about." Without taking his eyes off the TV, the second guy matter-of-factly replies, "That's a damn shame." That's it: that's the gag. Before the modern Internet we often did just give up on knowing more about something, because to learn more about it would have required the effort of calling someone, or pulling an encyclopedia off the bookshelf, or taking a trip to a library, or taking a class. I'm not saying that life before Google was better, and we certainly had enough pointless distractions to fill our time. But back then it was easier to simply say, "Hey, I guess I'm not going to know more about that," and get on with watching the game.
These days, there's simply no excuse to not know something. You can easily learn any fact, or learn how to practice any skill. People still make excuses of course. "Why don't you make movies?" "I don't know how!^" But these excuses ring increasingly hollow. The real reason for not knowing things that one claims to want to know often come from deeper insecurities that I've discussed in previous episodes.
Right now, I want to examine what I consider to be the one valid excuse for not knowing something you're interested in: what I call, "choosing your ignorance."
Ignorance gets a bad rap, because it's often used as a pejorative: "Well, you're just ignorant^." In many cases, it should give us pause when we hear that, because if we are trying to discuss something of which we are truly ignorant, then perhaps we ought to listen more than we talk. Then again, sometimes the word is tossed out as a way of shutting people up who actually do have something of importance to contribute to the conversation. If the person saying this uses it as a conversation stopper, then they're probably playing power games. But if they're truly offering an open door to you learning things you really don't know, then you'd do well to pay attention.
But I digress. Ignorance is a natural state. We all start out life pretty much ignorant, and learn as we go. There's should be neither shame nor pride in being ignorant. But as we go through life, we definitely should become more and more aware of how much there is to know, and of how much we still don't know. That's intellectual humility, and is a true mark of maturity. I've had people call me a know-it-all as if it's some kind of indictment. In fact, I am a proud "know-a-lot," and an important part of what I do know is a lot about what I don't know. As the physicist James Clerk Maxwell said, "Thoroughly conscious ignorance is the prelude to every real advance in science."
About a dozen times a day I'm presented with interesting topics I could know more about, but that would absorb a significant amount of time and energy. And while the exploration would undoubtedly be pleasant or exciting (or even enraging), I recognize that the effort would most likely bring no positive result to my personal or professional life. At times it can be quite a battle to assert my intellectual boundaries and say "No," to going down that glowing rabbit hole when it presents itself. If you also have this problem, then I want to give you permission to say No a dozen times a day, or a hundred. I want you to know that it's not only okay to choose that of which you will remain ignorant, but that it is vital to your well-being.
Why are these distractions so seductive? The famous psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi ('me-hi 'chick-sent-me-hi) popularized the idea of Flow as a psychological state where one is entirely engaged in an activity such that everything else ceases to matter. When we're in a state of Flow, we are the opposite of bored, and time passes effortlessly. The rabbit holes I've listed are gateways to wonderlands where we find it effortless to lose ourselves, whether it's playing a world-encompassing game or going deeper and deeper into esoterica on Wikipedia. These activities are conducive to Flow, but an unproductive Flow. They have their place in recreation of course. But if you spend a third of your life asleep, a third making a living, and a lot of the remaining time going down unproductive rabbit holes, then where is the time and energy to actually make yourself a better person and add greater value to the world? If you're listening to this, then most likely you are being called to that path of greater purpose and value, so it's important that you actively make the space in your life to pursue that calling through productive Flow.
I'll have more to say about Flow in future episodes. For now, I want to highlight that the single most important thing you can do to achieve and stay in your productive Flow as much as possible is this: eliminate distractions. Anything that throws you out of Flow will require significant time and effort to restore it. Too many distractions, too much loss of Flow, ultimately becomes dispiriting. So, make your Flow time sacred time. Sacred is one of those words that makes you think of religion, but it's a concept that has a much wider use. For something to be sacred means simply that it has been set aside for a particular higher purpose. Anything that violates that sacredness needs to be eliminated, or at least moved aside. And all the seductive rabbit holes that put you into that Flow state but that don't promote that higher purpose are just as much in violation of that sacred energy in your life. And the way to eliminate these "rabbit holes to Wonderland" is to recognize them for what they are and choose to remain ignorant of what's inside them.
One encouraging trend right now is that many smart and inquisitive people I know are starting to build antilibraries: consciously collected books about which they are curious, but haven't yet read. These books serve as inspiration, a resource for research, and a reminder of how much we don't know. My wife and I have started to build our own antilibrary, with an emphasis on great works of literature and non-fiction that are being widely suppressed around the world, or that contain deep lessons that we feel the world especially needs. As much as I love the portability of e-books, the bound book still has its place: the books I deem worthy to have in my living space are symbols of statuesque beauty, even if unread. In Japan this practice is known as Tsundoku, which can be loosely translated "piles of things to read." Children who grow up in an environment with many books experience a positive pressure to gain from them. I certainly benefited from such an environment growing up. The philosopher and novelist Umberto Eco had an extensive library of thirty thousand books, many unread, and reportedly divided his visitors into two groups: the ones that marveled at how many books he must have read, and those who understood that his library was a research tool and a reminder of his chosen ignorance.
If you do a search for "last page of the Internet" you'll find quite a few pages claiming the title. They all contain some variant of the meme: "You have read the last page of the Internet. We hope you have enjoyed your browsing. Now go outside." The fact is, the last page of the Internet is the last page you choose to read. But the best page of the Internet is the one you learn from and act on. The rest, while enticing, truly do not matter. And, I'm pretty sure you already read that page, so what are you waiting for? Choose your ignorance, and get on with what matters.
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