The End Is Where We Start From
Joan Westinberg argues that the death of critical thinking will kill us long before AI. I think she’s right that we sorely need to (re)cultivate the ability to think and read more deeply. I’ve thought earlier this week that I’m sure that I need to do that but that I’m reluctant to judge other people or to encourage them to take the steps I’ve taken recently in hopes of regaining the ability to focus. (I hope to write about my efforts on that in a soon-to-be-written blog post.) But I’m thinking now that if I really want our culture and civilization to survive I have to hope for similar changes in others. Of course, I also think that my personality is such that I’m reluctant to engage in a public campaign for this cause – or, for that matter, for any cause. I’m just too shy, too fearful of being wrong.
Another post I just read challenges me on that score, though perhaps in a way not intended by the author. Mike Grindle writes that there is no starting over. Or, to adapt another adage he uses to make his point, there is no such thing as a clean slate. I think I’m inclined to wish that I could start all over and become a different person; reading this post pushes me to realize that instead I need to think about how to start from where I am. Grindle is actually channeling a post from Brandon’s blog that includes a crucial point that could have been written by Whitehead or William James:
What better way to live a new life than to kill your old self and start anew? But once more, I can’t really kill myself and start over. I can change my name, my job, my home, my relationship, and my personality but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m made up as an accumulation of my past experiences. I make decisions, both good and bad, based on what I’ve seen or done in the past.
Well, except for the “killing myself” part. I’m taking this as more encouragement to get out there despite my fears and feelings of vulnerability. Here’s a start.