With regards to insight porn, I was actually a bit surprised to see EY say “change your outlook on life”, which seems very strong. (He did say, “more than” the alternatives, so perhaps it’s a bit uncharitable to critique that.)
Acknowledging that its not a substitute for real understanding, I like insight. There’s no reason why I can’t have them both.
Also, I’m not sure that it is always true that cheep, quick insights aren’t the way intellectual growth happens. There have been many little realizations (and even just exposures to new ideas or topics), that, taken together, made for a more intellectually competent me. Sure, it’s harder to “act on that knowledge in our society” (that takes self-discipline), but I consider that separate from “intellectual growth”
I guess I don’t view “intellectual growth” separately from “personal growth” (perhaps I should?) And I view personal growth as a kind of chemical reaction, where the input ingredient in smallest amounts is the limit to how far the reaction goes. In (modern, Western, internet-enabled) society, intellectual insight/knowledge is usually not the limiting ingredient. The limiting ingredient is generally the motivation to get work done. Without it, the standard failure mode for “too much insight” is online wankery, basically.
With regards to insight porn, I was actually a bit surprised to see EY say “change your outlook on life”, which seems very strong. (He did say, “more than” the alternatives, so perhaps it’s a bit uncharitable to critique that.)
Acknowledging that its not a substitute for real understanding, I like insight. There’s no reason why I can’t have them both.
Also, I’m not sure that it is always true that cheep, quick insights aren’t the way intellectual growth happens. There have been many little realizations (and even just exposures to new ideas or topics), that, taken together, made for a more intellectually competent me. Sure, it’s harder to “act on that knowledge in our society” (that takes self-discipline), but I consider that separate from “intellectual growth”
I guess I don’t view “intellectual growth” separately from “personal growth” (perhaps I should?) And I view personal growth as a kind of chemical reaction, where the input ingredient in smallest amounts is the limit to how far the reaction goes. In (modern, Western, internet-enabled) society, intellectual insight/knowledge is usually not the limiting ingredient. The limiting ingredient is generally the motivation to get work done. Without it, the standard failure mode for “too much insight” is online wankery, basically.