Thursday, August 25, 2022

William Deresiewicz - The End of Solitude - Notes

I wish I could write erudite essays like this.  This writer is now a lapsed academic who never really his English academic career going.

"Technology Culture"

Education should teach us to speak well and write well and to know some of the things that an educated person should know, but just as important, to listen well to cultivate sympathy and understanding of other points of view.

"The Girl with the High-Speed Connection"

She is Lisbeth Salander. Her secret is her computer, but she is aware of the darkness in the background.

"Culture Against Culture"

I prefer the Matthew Arnold definition of culture as high culture. "The best that has been thought and said." As opposed to the newer, anthropological sense of culture as the total pattern of habits, beliefs, and practices that belongs to a particular group of people. So we can speak of things as American culture, youth culture, a culture of narcissism, and a culture of disbelief. This kind of culture is unconscious. Arnold's sense of culture is totally conscious.

Contemporary American culture venerates science and technology and disparages the Humanities because the Humanities do not seem to produce anything.

Science and technology will never be our total salvation. We will never escape from politics which Aristotle tried to tell us.

"All in a Dream"

Having fun with the joke of living in space.

"The Disadvantages of an Elite Education"

The Ivy League author finds that he has nothing to say to his plumber. (Both profound and funny)

No comments: