Trying to See Through: A Unified Theory of Nerddom(theviewfromhell.blogspot.co.uk)
theviewfromhell.blogspot.co.uk
Trying to See Through: A Unified Theory of Nerddom
http://theviewfromhell.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/trying-to-see-through-unified-theory-of.html
4 comments
My issue with Malcolm Gladwell, and others like him, is that he distills information down to a thesis that is so easily digestible as to make it seem like commonsense. You don't really think when you read a Malcolm Gladwell book. You just sort of scan it, page by page, your critical and evaluative faculties turned off, and nod your head. It's like the highly refined white flour of insight.
I admire Gladwell the man, and I think he probably has a net-positive impact on most people who read him. But he's highly disappointing for those who want a real spark of insight, or an intellectual exercise. (Also, tangentially speaking, his books are pretty repetitive; most of them could be summed up adequately by a single paragraph, if not a single-sentence logline).
I guess the real question is: are we, the self-described nerds of the article, really better off in a world full of Gladwells? Or were we better off when insight was hard to come by, and you had to go off looking for it? We have a lot more information and insight at our fingertips, but have our critical thinking skills atrophied accordingly? I realize you could take this line of thought a little too far and follow a sort of neo-Luddite vein with it. But that's not my intent. Rather, I'm just asking if all this ready-to-eat insight is actually good for us. I think it's good for the averages, but we probably think of ourselves as being at the margins.
I admire Gladwell the man, and I think he probably has a net-positive impact on most people who read him. But he's highly disappointing for those who want a real spark of insight, or an intellectual exercise. (Also, tangentially speaking, his books are pretty repetitive; most of them could be summed up adequately by a single paragraph, if not a single-sentence logline).
I guess the real question is: are we, the self-described nerds of the article, really better off in a world full of Gladwells? Or were we better off when insight was hard to come by, and you had to go off looking for it? We have a lot more information and insight at our fingertips, but have our critical thinking skills atrophied accordingly? I realize you could take this line of thought a little too far and follow a sort of neo-Luddite vein with it. But that's not my intent. Rather, I'm just asking if all this ready-to-eat insight is actually good for us. I think it's good for the averages, but we probably think of ourselves as being at the margins.
I wonder if your admiration would continue if you read his S.H.A.M.E. profile:
http://shameproject.com/profile/malcolm-gladwell-2/
If even half of that is true, then it does indeed taint my opinion of him, and fairly seriously.
Is this article not insight porn itself?
Also I can never get through anything with such broad generalizing statements.
Also I can never get through anything with such broad generalizing statements.
Sure, some concepts are hard to grasp. Once upon a time the same was true of multiplcation. And reading. Then we, as a species, grew up. The only serious question is this: are you content to be part of a self-congratulatory "mostly male" priesthood, or do you consider that a problem to be solved?
whoa. Looks like I have a new addiction: "insight porn". whoa.
The point that stuck out for me:
Do you find yourself reading/watching/listening to things that leave you feeling a little smarter than you know you have any right to feel? Malcolm Gladwell, TED, etc? The author calls these "insight porn", and posits that they trigger some of the same pleasure centers as real learning.
That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it isn't a full replacement for the real thing, either.
I've often felt this, and been bothered by it, but haven't figured out an effective filter. Source is a good negative indicator (skip the Gladwell unless I'm feeling like powdered cheese), but there are lots of amateur gladwells out there too.
The real stuff is harder to locate, identify, and digest.
And honestly, sometimes the cheap alternatives have a greater ROI, since the investment is so much lower, and the return isn't quantified objectively.