Full transcript
0:00The question how is this useful may
0:02secretly be destroying your intellectual
0:04life because once every idea has to
0:07improve your career, raise your status,
0:09or make you more productive, you begin
0:11eliminating an entire category of
0:13knowledge, namely the kind that actually
0:15makes life more worth living. And I know
0:17because I did this myself. Years ago, my
0:20sister introduced me to the French
0:21artist Jean Dubuffet, and I ignored him.
0:24I had more practical things to learn and
0:26more productive things to do. But
0:28eventually, I realized that the word
0:30useful had secretly taken control of
0:32almost everything I allowed myself to
0:34study. And so, we need to distinguish
0:36between three kinds of knowledge. First,
0:39economically useful knowledge that helps
0:41you perform a job, produce something, or
0:43earn money. Second, socially useful
0:45knowledge that gives you a credential,
0:47raises your status, or makes you appear
0:50educated. And third, what you might call
0:52knowledge for its own sake, knowledge
0:54that makes you more perceptive, enriches
0:57your experience of being alive, or which
0:59simply reveals some beauty, structure,
1:02or possibility that previously was
1:04invisible to you. Now, there's nothing
1:06wrong with the first one. We need to
1:07earn money, and we need some practical
1:10competence. But the knowledge that most
1:12enlarges your inner life might in fact
1:15add nothing measurable to your resume.
1:17So, conduct a learning audit on
1:19yourself. Write down everything you're
1:21currently trying to learn and classify
1:23it as livelihood knowledge, status
1:25knowledge, or knowledge for its own
1:27sake. Then ask yourself, "If every
1:30economic and social reward disappeared,
1:32what would I still want to understand?"
1:34If almost nothing remains, you might
1:36have become highly educated for the
1:38purposes of the market while allowing a
1:41significant part of your intellectual
1:43life to just disappear.