Ie, I saw myself as the full-time uber driver equivalent of thinking work, who’d have to do driving chores for others for a while, and less driving (and less interesting driving) for others for a while. Good description of my life till I finished my PhD, ~ 2003, age 29.
Conversation
Postdoc on, I was basically in charge of my thinking life and could think as much as I liked about almost anything I liked, within very broad limits set by employers. That’s really what a PhD buys you — right to own your thinking because nobody else is competent to.
2
4
41
If you do it right, you become intellectually ungovernable. There are other ways to get there but a PhD is the easiest, most lucrative way, if you can get on that path. It’s framed as a sort of orderly manumission, but it’s really more of a jailbreak with collusion from warders.
1
2
34
Most people never realize that the default state of your brain/thinking skills is one of captivity/bondage. Like life without a drivers license in the US. Even if you don’t drive much, it’s nice to have the *option*
to be contd. lunch break
1
1
22
What about Option 4? It’s a kind of reactionary response to failure to make thinking a worthwhile part of your life. While there are days I’m tired of thinking and perhaps more in touch with the underdeveloped emotional or somatic side of my life, it will never be core for me.
1
9
Curiously enough, with actual driving I’ve almost turned into an Option 4. But I think that’s bad so I make myself drive a bit every few weeks. Sometimes I enjoy it, other times it’s just a chore to maintain muscle memory. I no longer “see like a driver”
1
9
But back to thinking, at some point merely being ungovernable in otherwise governed thought spaces peopled by types 1-4 and non-jail broken non-thinkers. I got attracted to unthought “wild thoughts” spaces. It’s been a theme on my blog for years now.
1
1
8
When I went free agent in 2011 my launch slogan was “where the wild thoughts are”. More recent bit of writing on this theme (from 2016):
1
2
21
Ok another break. Cliffhanger for later: can you hit the edge of a thought space? Not just off-road but have to exit car because your learned sustainable thought habits can’t go any further?
4
1
13
Will continue this another day. Went for a walk and had lunch so a bit sleepy now and the next part, how to be an ungovernable thinker-feeler in unmapped territories requires two 2x2s I have to draw first.
1
10
Show additional replies, including those that may contain offensive content
Show
