The most salient example of this I can think of recently is going on a long journey with a friend who couldn't understand how I knew how to give directions without looking at my phone... when I was just looking at the road signs outside the car
Ahahaha... I heard an interview with Werner Herzog last year, where he recalls working with someone who only had to drive five minutes to reach the studio. After weeks of going there every morning, her phone broke and she didn't know how to get there.
I am still under the impression of a collection of thoughts belonging to George Orwell, published under the title "On truth" and this is probably the motive why I read your essay from the perspective of the four reasons that determine the writing of an important text (essay, book), to which something indefinite, mysterious, therefore inexplicable is always added.
My smartphone addiction is reduced, but what I "lose" in the case of it I "add" through the time spent with the tablet and laptop. Overall, the result is the same, although I did not set out to confirm Lavoisier. As if that were not enough, a doctor recently drew our attention not to rejoice when we manage to get rid of any of the usual addictions, because there is one unjustly ignored and from which we will not free ourselves until the last moment, namely that of food :)
My comment was not important - I always think of Umberto Eco's words about the explosion of voices generated by the advent of the internet :) - , but thank you! What is important, however, is Orwell's analysis of the reasons that underlie a text that responds not only to the author's need to expose his thoughts, emotions, but also to the needs of the audience. When I read the four reasons, I had the feeling of someone walking and not being interested in what is under their feet: they only register that the ground is hard or soft, smooth or uneven, and suddenly Orwell comes along, like an expert in geology, and tells me how much sand, silt, clay, what the earth's crust, mantle, core contain, how we read history in rocks...
The first reason he highlights is to make yourself heard, noticed, because you feel that you have something essential to say. He calls it selfishness, but in my perception it is more of a vital, irrepressible need, which of course takes up your time and attention. Selfish – in this sense. Maybe even at the cost of the suffering of those around you. You record everything, even without being aware of it, as a writer or painter, musician, etc..
Then there is the aesthetic motive. You want to reproduce the beauty of the outside world or you want to share a valuable experience.
The third – the historical impulse. You analyze the facts and want to record them for future generations.
And, finally, the political purpose, in the sense that through what you write you want to direct the world in a certain direction, criticize or support a certain organization of society. Anyway, no one is indifferent.
Thank you for elaborating. This seems like a good list of motivations - it certainly resonates with me. As long as the first includes not just an inchoate desire for expression, but a particular wish to create something of value as defined by the practice you are engaged in, whether it be literary, artistic or otherwise.
Welcome to our Luddite gang of 'recusants' -- we're the new nobility
If we are the only ones still exercising our mind then we really will be new nobility!
The most salient example of this I can think of recently is going on a long journey with a friend who couldn't understand how I knew how to give directions without looking at my phone... when I was just looking at the road signs outside the car
Ahahaha... I heard an interview with Werner Herzog last year, where he recalls working with someone who only had to drive five minutes to reach the studio. After weeks of going there every morning, her phone broke and she didn't know how to get there.
I heard this exact interview, or at least anecdote! The Adam Buxton Podcast?
I think so yes, my wife showed it to me. How strange!
I am still under the impression of a collection of thoughts belonging to George Orwell, published under the title "On truth" and this is probably the motive why I read your essay from the perspective of the four reasons that determine the writing of an important text (essay, book), to which something indefinite, mysterious, therefore inexplicable is always added.
My smartphone addiction is reduced, but what I "lose" in the case of it I "add" through the time spent with the tablet and laptop. Overall, the result is the same, although I did not set out to confirm Lavoisier. As if that were not enough, a doctor recently drew our attention not to rejoice when we manage to get rid of any of the usual addictions, because there is one unjustly ignored and from which we will not free ourselves until the last moment, namely that of food :)
I missed your comment, apologies! I am curious though, what are Orwell's four reasons to write something important?
My comment was not important - I always think of Umberto Eco's words about the explosion of voices generated by the advent of the internet :) - , but thank you! What is important, however, is Orwell's analysis of the reasons that underlie a text that responds not only to the author's need to expose his thoughts, emotions, but also to the needs of the audience. When I read the four reasons, I had the feeling of someone walking and not being interested in what is under their feet: they only register that the ground is hard or soft, smooth or uneven, and suddenly Orwell comes along, like an expert in geology, and tells me how much sand, silt, clay, what the earth's crust, mantle, core contain, how we read history in rocks...
The first reason he highlights is to make yourself heard, noticed, because you feel that you have something essential to say. He calls it selfishness, but in my perception it is more of a vital, irrepressible need, which of course takes up your time and attention. Selfish – in this sense. Maybe even at the cost of the suffering of those around you. You record everything, even without being aware of it, as a writer or painter, musician, etc..
Then there is the aesthetic motive. You want to reproduce the beauty of the outside world or you want to share a valuable experience.
The third – the historical impulse. You analyze the facts and want to record them for future generations.
And, finally, the political purpose, in the sense that through what you write you want to direct the world in a certain direction, criticize or support a certain organization of society. Anyway, no one is indifferent.
Thank you for elaborating. This seems like a good list of motivations - it certainly resonates with me. As long as the first includes not just an inchoate desire for expression, but a particular wish to create something of value as defined by the practice you are engaged in, whether it be literary, artistic or otherwise.