This is permission to find comfort in knowing that we cannot, and will not, know or change everything .

this is not about anti-technology or anti-ambition. It is pro-focus, pro-intention, and pro-discernment in how we understand broader historical contexts and apply the affordances of modern technology and media to our own ambitions. This is a call to reclaim our attention as a finite, precious resource.

Francis Bacon warned that when we have no clear “prenotion or perception of what we are seeking, we seek and toil and wander aimlessly, as if in infinite space. Whereas, if we have a particular prenotion, infinity is at once interrupted.” When our attention narrows, we can move forward with purpose.

Restraint is a winning strategy.

Understanding reality isn’t about infinitely chasing truth with our finite attention. It’s about understanding which worlds are becoming more or less consequential .

Much of today’s commentary now looks less like real cultural analysis and more like white collar fan fiction and conspiracy theories about what’s happening “backstage.”

reality can’t be fully understood without curiously wandering beyond a feed and paying attention to the physical world, to people, places and knowledge uncaptured by the internet.

Our online environments only appear infinite. The deepest, most nuanced knowledge still lives beyond any device. Everything we see through search, social media, or AI is limited to what has already been indexed, posted or trained. For example, Google may index hundreds of billions of web pages, yet that still accounts for <5% of the internet.... See more

Information expands to fill the space available, and in our 24/7 culture and modern media environment, the space available is infinite. This means there are now more news stories than there is actual news. W. David Marx calls this the Parkinson’s Law of Media.