Mencius Moldbugman

12/ Whether the purpose is creativity or organisation, the incompetency created by Obsessive Stationery Disorder is still the same. It’s a surrogate activity. It’s a replacement for action itself.pic.twitter.com/Lhg8Lkw9xK

13/ It’s avoiding what really needs to be done but pretending you’re doing it. It’s putting an almost magical belief & faith in objects rather than confronting ones own strengths & weaknesses. And that’s why the women in the office with the most stationery are the most useless.pic.twitter.com/SYEJ8ZsIyo

14/ It’s also my belief that there is something very fundamental being expressed in female stationery obsession and that it is connected to both gender and genius. This goes much deeper than a love for pretty pens.pic.twitter.com/s8hYF56ZZb

15/ Edward Dutton (@jollyheretic) and Bruce Charlton in their book The Genius Famine talk about the differences between “The Head Girl” and “The Genius”. The genius is typically a high-IQ male loner with low social agreeableness but who is talented or compulsive in one area.pic.twitter.com/8cj50ikPm5

16/ The Head Girl is your average office female. An all-rounder with high social agreeableness and who cares deeply about what others think of her. The Head Girl can never be a creative genius because she only does what other people want by the standards they most value.pic.twitter.com/Xd6b3vVl44

17/ “She will work harder and at a higher standard in doing whatever it is that social pressure tells her to do - and she will do this by whatever social standards prevail, only more thoroughly.” Stationery is this. It allows the Head Girl’s work to be “seen” by others.pic.twitter.com/poI46jbRMv

18/ The bright colours of marker pens and Post-Its show those around her that she is “working” when really she isn’t. Gathering around a flipchart and writing words in bubbles is really about social validation and intra-group cohesion building. Not work.pic.twitter.com/CqVr4o694j

19/ The lone genius meanwhile doesn’t care about social validation so quietly grinds away without the need of stationery to announce his work. This is how geniuses create great work. This is how good workers get things done. This is why the woman with 5,000 pens is useless.pic.twitter.com/D2Jo46ztD3