something you said you liked follows. it will grow, use as fits.
with all love.
Mon, 6 May 1996
This morning I was hunting for something different to read. Over the past two months I've been putting together a million dollar deal - literally - and reading nothing but fantasy and science fiction - ill-literally. Anyhow, one of my house-mates is moving out of the room where all the interesting books are; I was doubly motivated to poke around in there - snooping is always fun, and, after the deal having turned out a success, I felt as if I'd been reading nothing but escapist trash for a decade - ill-literately.
It's true, by the way. I've read nothing but escapist trash for a decade. Some say when you want something done right, do it yourself. I say if you want something thought out right - or understood - think it out yourself.
The thing is, while working on the million dollar deal - love that cliche - I hadn't been thinking much except what to do, by hook and with crooks, to make it work. Compared to computer programming, that's thinking. Variance between individuals and institutions is less well documented than variance between windows and unix environments. But if one gets carried away and exhibits some creativity, it's game over. The experts and the professionals interpret creativity as a sign of desperation or incompetence. So far as they are concerned - and they are always concerned - creativity is failure to go by the book; tantamount to admitting one abandons the book - desperation - or one does not thoroughly know it - incompetence.
So.. not only have I only read escapist trash for a decade: I felt like I'd been reading nothing but escapist trash for a decade. For a couple of months, I went by the book. I became ill-literate - mortgage documents, financial instruments, legal agreements and escapist trash I could manage. Anything else raised spectres of creativity - spectres of significance.
Snoopiong for books, I found 'Towards a Rational Philosophical Anthropology' by Agassi. I began to read it. Believe it or not, up to that point I had never had a decent conversation with Joseph Agassi.