On Intellectual Loneliness
Are you desperately seeking people who are still thinking?
As a scientist, there is a deep joy in trying to understand what is really going on. It’s nothing short of exhilarating to sit down at a dataset you collected to see glimmers of the truth (it’s always glimmers, you never really see reality).
Stepping out into the “real world”, I desperately crave this same sort of excitement for truth exploration but I sadly find it in short supply. I’m not saying everyone needs to be a scientist, but where’s the passion for discovery? These days it seems everyone is set on their opinion, and virtually every opinion these days is seen through a political lens. There are very few intellectual safe spaces these days— places you can go where everyone is totally fine suspending personal judgment (at least for a moment) in the pursuit of figuring out what’s really going on.
The truth is often complex and multi-determined. It’s likely that what you think is the truth is really one piece of it, if that. This is why scientists control for other variables and at least attempt to see which are the most important predictors of a phenomenon out of the universe of predictors.
Not a day goes by where I don’t see people arguing on social media about something. One person says “It’s the patriarchy!”. Another person screams “No it’s not, it’s people not taking responsibility!” Then someone else pops in and is like “Shut up idiots, it’s aliens and we’re all living in the matrix!” There you go, case closed.
What I am so deeply craving are more communities of people who don’t have to make everything about them, or make everything about politics. People who recognize that it’s probably multiple factors that causes a phenomenon, and that it’s possible for there to be both environmental causes and psychological causes. When it comes to politics, I crave discussions with people who are open to being wrong about what is the best policy for most people, and who are willing to entertain things on a policy basis, rather than immediately condemn “the other side” full stop.
Yes, I understand politics is important, and it’s extremely important for some people (i.e., marginalized people). Policies have an important impact on the real lives of real people. I get that. But politics isn’t everything, and politics is rarely about really figuring out what’s going on among a sea of possibilities (and I guarantee the possibilities are not equally likely).
I’ve seen people get shamed for simply not being into politics. These are kind-hearted people who just don’t get lit up talking politics. They are intellectual explorers by nature and get turned on way more by a rich discussion by two good faith people who want to think, rather than a yelling match between politicians who want to be right.
No one should feel shame for having a nerdy dopamine pathway. In fact, I celebrate it! In recent years, dopamine pathways in the brain have been proposed that are strongly linked to the reward value of information. People who score high in the general tendency toward exploration are not only driven to engage in behavioral forms of exploration but also tend to get energized through the possibility of discovering new information and extracting meaning and growth from their experiences. These “cognitive needs,” as the humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow referred to them, are just as important as the other human needs for becoming a whole person.
How active is your nerdy dopamine pathway? Here are a few items that will help you get a rough idea about how strongly the dopamine is flowing to your more recently evolved prefrontal cortex:
I love spending time reflecting on things.
I am full of ideas.
I have a vivid imagination.
I am interested in abstract ideas.
I am curious about many different things.
It would make complete sense that people with a very highly active nerdy dopamine pathway are feeling intellectually lonely in a world where intellectualism and open-minded discussion has taken a backseat to cancelling people for their views and everyone basically feeling like everyone is tip-toeing around everyone else while a few powerful loud-mouths have all the oxygen in the room.
Who here is feeling intellectual loneliness? Who is resonating with this post? Please know you aren’t alone. I see you. Maybe if more communities could be formed where people could have their nerdy dopamine pathway activated on a more regular basis, more people would feel not just less intellectually lonely, but also less lonely in general.
Yes, thank you for naming this malaise of intellectual loneliness and taking a step towrad giving it legitimacy. I know I feel a terrible alienation for remaining in the ever shrinking sphere of those deeply valuing reflective thought. The anti-thought cloud is to me not a political tilt at all, as I think it is often portrayed. Rather it spans all of the parties and sociopolitical attitudes. I know I'm not alone in feeling buried by it and I do find others sometimes who share that feeling. It seems like our value for thought is ever receding from the mainstream where it once drove us in a modest but reassuringly at least visible sphere. Now I have to hunt for other reflective thinkers and serious problem solvers and we have to encourage each other to persist in digging deeper in an insane reflexive anti-intellectual cultural moment full of blind self-righteousness, narrow extreme ideologies, anger, resentments, and desperate reflexive choices.
the etymology of the word CON-VERSATION: it means to Move WITH, or Turn Together. Conversations are not tennis matches to be won by getting something past the other's defense. A conversation is a walking side-by-side. So yes, Yes, YES to all of this, Scott! I am seeking people who still know how to converse from a position of BOTH/AND, who are capable to holding a polarity in their hands and playing with it, looking at pros and cons and balance and movement. Thank you for this post!