understanding is rare

To me, the takeaway is that understanding is worth pursuing, even though we almost always fail. There’s a David Graeber line that always make me cry: “The ultimate, hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently.” I don’t actually think it’s true that we can easily make it differently. But ... See more

“More and more, we’re dependent not just on other people, but on differently specialized other people. You can literally no longer understand specialists in other fields; they work to standards you’re unable to make sense of, and which in any case aren’t your standards….This is true of everyone: experts rely in just this way on experts in other fie

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Since we can’t gain a complete understanding of ourselves, we have to settle for the next best thing: an incomplete understanding that requires constant updating—hopefully in the right direction—as we continue to take in more information from our peers and life experiences. The key phrase here is “in the right direction.” One could interpret inform... See more