Tuesday, July 8, 2003

Fear of knowledge: Matt Richtel in the NY Times: The Lure of Data: Is It Addictive? [...] This is high-priced Orlowskian stuff, lathering about yet another red herring issue, all but calling for a Detox Center for the Overwired. ...technology dependence could have its down side, Richtel snarks. [...] I'm not going to sit here and have human curiosity — our need to know, our intellectual passions, our extreme generosity with knowledge and knowhow [...] trivialized and dismissed as yet another addiction. [Doc Searls] It's especially curious that a technology journalist, who should be supremely sensitive to the value of surprising connections, unexpected tidbits, serendipitous juxtapositions, should be belly-aching about information and attention. He might need to read The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdös and the Search for Mathematical Truth to understand better the interplay between attention and inattention in creativity. 1:55:27 PM