Be curious. Read widely. Try new things. What people call intelligence just boils down to curiosity.
With enough of us, around the world, we’ll not just send a strong message opposing the privatization of knowledge – we’ll make it a thing of the past.
There is no justice in following unjust laws.
Think deeply about things. Don’t just go along because that’s the way things are or that’s what your friends say. Consider the effects, consider the alternatives, but most importantly, just think.
No, you can’t force other people to change. You can, however, change just about everything else. And usually, that’s enough.
Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves.
Real education is about genuine understanding and the ability to figure things out on your own; not about making sure every 7th grader has memorized all the facts some bureaucrats have put in the 7th grade curriculum.
Books are totally useless unless you take their advice. If you just keep reading them, thinking “that’s so insightful! that changes everything,” but never actually doing anything different, then pretty quickly the feeling will wear off and you’ll start searching for another book to fill the void.
I don’t want to be happy. I just want to change the world.
As the Internet breaks down the last justifications for a professional class of politicians, it also builds up the tools for replacing them.
Reality is painful – it’s so much easier to keep doing stuff you know you’re good at or else to pick something so hard there’s no point at which it’s obvious you’re failing – but it’s impossible to get better without confronting it.