I am reading my book for my Cryptography class. There was a little story about these guys who invented a cryptographical system that is supposedly unbreakable. Critics said that the system they have proposed would not work, and the guys who designed the system say the only reason they haven’t built one is because they’re sure it would work. As one guy put it “There is no point in going to the north pole if you know it’s there.”
I can understand where they’re coming from. Intellectual discovery is such a fulfilling process that ‘worldly’ concerns can seem trivial and mundane. The thing is, I believe that analytically minded individuals (such as myself) far too often fall prey to the idea that the only things worth experiencing are ideas. That’s just crap. I’d much rather have a discussion with a close friend than develop a new idea. I think it’s important to keep that in mind.
If you’re busy involved in the ‘world aroud you’, you’ll miss all kinds of neat ideas. On the other hand, if you spend all of your time thinking about ideas, you’ll miss the world around you. Personally, I think many people fall into the former category; I would say that the attitude of our society as a whole is aligned with the first pitfall. Intellectuals (or wannabe intellectuals such as myself) often fall into the second pitfal, and I think that’s just as much of a shame.
To all those people who have never experienced mathematical beauty, who do not know the pleasure of chasing an idea and fighting it into submission, you really don’t know what you’re missing.
To those people such as myself who live far too much of their lives in their heads, make an effort to live your life more in the here and now. You’ll be glad you did.