I read in a non-linear, random fashion. One click on a link from the Twitterfeed leads to another article, which leads to another. I might start off reading about a Supreme Court decision and then end up reading a blog post that criticizes Kim Kardashian's mother for wearing a leather mini-skirt. I never quite know where I'll end up. This morning, I ended up in a brilliant place. 

An article about Aaron Swartz memorial in New York (disappointed that I couldn't be there), lead to Maria Popova's Brain Pickings. She attended the memorial and summarized some of the best thoughts at the services. She noted that one of the speakers mentioned David Foster Wallace's Kenyon speech and highlighted DFW's message about the limits of intelligence. She linked to some of her older blog posts that echoed that sentiment. 

A comment thread on this blog and a conversation with friends got me thinking this weekend about the limits of rational intelligence and its weak rewards. 

Four years ago, I left the academia for various reasons.  It took me nearly a year to recover. I left a place where one's value was based on the weight of one's brain and ability to withstand excruciating, boring conference presentations. I had to find value in myself that had nothing to do with my brains or endurance for boredom. I had to find people who appreciated me for things other than my the length of my CV. I was exposed to new people and new ideas. It was a good thing.

Leaving academia was very much like leaving a religious cult; I had to be un-brainwashed like a recovering Scientologist. I should have left academia years before. Academia is the Hall of Fame for rational thinkers. This is what happens to people who have mastered test taking skills and agenda pads of assignments. For some people, academia is a very happy place (though not for 70% of the instructors who don't receive health benefits, job security, or living wages) , but there are other nice places as well. 

So much of the educational complex is geared towards rewarding people who have rational intelligence. But I'm not convinced that rational intelligence brings happiness. It is death to creativity. It doesn't prepare us for the non-rational aspects of life.

The system, and its lopsided rewards, alienates those who have other types of intelligence and talents, and creates life-long grudges and prejudices. It isolates the rational intelligence people from their peers and produces an echo-chamber of ideas. 

Random learning, much like my random reading habits, brings you to new and better places. Life itself is so incredibly random that we need to learn that we can't control everything and to sit back and let things just happen.