No Time to Think

[ProfessorCosmic]

We have forgotten leisure as “non-activity” —an inner absence of preoccupation, a calm, an ability to let things go, to be quiet. Leisure is the form of that stillness that is the necessary preparation for accepting reality; only the person who is still can hear, whoever is not still cannot hear... it means, rather, that the soul’s power, as real, of responding to the real —a co-respondence, eternally established in nature— has not yet descended into words. Pieper, 1948.

[MrStarchild3001]

It's DATA OVERLOAD not information overload---nobody makes the distinction, but it's huge.

[comeonewtf]

"We are at a point where we're thinking how much more do we really want and need?" This guy's an idiotic fool. I'll tell you how much we haven't even scratched the surface of how much we want and need from technology you Neanderthal!

[KeystoneDeKript]

@comeonewtf Which means you just don't understand. Are you an academic? Because you sound like a 16 year old. If you want to know what he is thinking about I suggest a(nother) degree!

[comeonewtf]

@KeystoneDeKript What's not to understand? You sound like an old man who's frustrated and intimidated with technology. Come to think of it you're probably the speaker in the video!

[KeystoneDeKript]

@comeonewtf Heh, I am a nerd so thanks for the compliment, but no I haven't yet been invited to speak at google. His point isn't that technology is bad. Take a cathedral for example, when you are there with only a few other tourists, everyone speaks very quietly because they can hear their own voices extremely well. If you fill that room with people then the echos will drown out an individual. If you design technology in a loud way then you wont be able to think... That's his point

[flowewritharoma]

but I should think this matter.

[mjthomas43]

I'm glad that librarianship was mentioned. LIS of course has much more to do.

[bin1127]

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy All work and no play makres Jack a dull boy All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy All work and ni play makes Jack a dul; boy All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

[hqqdrat143]

downscale your life and spend more time with your kids :)

[blackacidlizzard]

Ya gotta be kidding me.

this guy is claiming that there's a lack of contemplative thought and his solution is to add more "activism" and "social awareness" to one's daily life?

i haven't heard a more self-defeating line of argumentation since the "something can't come from nothing" argument for god.

[cylob82]

@blackacidlizzard how is the "something can't come from nothing" argument "self-defeating"? huh? its proof of something which will forever defy our logic

[blackacidlizzard]

This is projection. People interested in thinking make the time to do it and notice the factors which cause them difficulty. Still, they persevere and continue to think. There is much opportunity for contemplation and consideration, as this lecturer demonstrates. People aren't becoming increasingly hampered in their efforts to think, most people throughout history have not made any effort to think.

[shodanxx]

was watching this video

"ratio" or "intellectus" ? I mean I googled this and youtube is providing the video feed

but watching this felt more like "intellectus" and not information overload

[wanabee100]

....with the internet i don´t need to live near a big city.....and that is "time to think".....and it is cheap to travel to any city if i need to...

[Iratikan]

This talk is very interesting.

Our environment is becoming surrounded with more and more software and machines.

We spend more and more time with computers. Do you spend more time with your spouse or with the computer?

Not only that. We try to mimic software and computers. We try to act as them: fast and in a mechanic way.

It is not just about thinking, it's about behavior. Are we behaving like humans or like computers or machines.

What about the title "No Time To Be Human"?

[ytertyu]

these kind of craps nowadays these idiots teaching at colleges ?? fuck .... you failed , levy boy

[MrPilo303]

@ytertyu obviously you need to take yourself to a college and comprehend on how a sentence is structured and written. I would like to laugh at your idiotic comment potraying that you know what your talking about, when in reality your just a "fail kid". So in reality YOU fail.

[ytertyu]

@MrPilo303 who r u punk ?  levy boy , or his bitch ?? his lectured sucked , so as you his dick ..no cocksucker will tell me if it's worth my time or not

[MrPilo303]

@ytertyu or at least thats what you think. the reality is that at a certain point when you become a bit more succefull will be the moment this video does structure one in being "healed".

[Redshift313]

We have transformed from ***Human Beings*** into ***Human Doings*** !

[cryo1337]

He makes some great points

[FroggEnigma]

Brilliant.

[LachezarTsK]

Great talk! Thanks!

[jayram78]

Really a wonderful talk. The vision is grand and I really think this kind of idea will have much bigger impact in the future.

[Monika22210]

In my life is in real wery offten ))))))))))Is no time to think(((((

[Vmeansvengeance]

A very very long time ago Aisans and Prussians called "Leisure", meditation. They had the original ideas this talk is based on. The powers that be want our minds scattered. I call the rise of preverbial "cake" like pro-sports, video games, TV, porn and the like nothing more than a distraction of the masses propagated my the few powers that steer humanity towards an unknown direction.

[sabashsabash]

@Vmeansvengeance: Good point. Contemplation in some cultures is practiced in religion as well (like regular prayers, especially praying in the morning in silence).

[notbored12]

Good talk, picks up about 20 minutes in.

[Nosforit]

Giving that advice I suspect you've missed the point of the talk. :o)

[zoryaodin]

everyone should read Distracted: The Coming of the Dark Ages...scary and true

[caveboy0000]

18:50

simply looking,

the truth presents itself as landscape presents itself to the eye!

------------------------------­----

what if there is no certain truth unless the one we choose?

[DickTheFiddler]

I'm a classical musician. In order to find the inner inspiration, one needs to stop time mentally. Ideas have to be tossed out the window as soon as they come up, and peace discovered. Then one takes the instrument and creates in art. If any prayer is made, it's to become a vehicle for divine expression; and that it's not about yourself, but maybe about the experiences which make up the person you call yourself. You have to get out of the way just as much as any ideas and concepts. He's right.

[notonewhit]

Let us work hard to find a way to make leisure useful to the means of production. Huh?

[twebb72]

You don't have to work hard to make time for leisure, and isn't usually a means of production. Its the typically the description, or outline, of the mechanism for production.

[notonewhit]

"Creative work" is almost an oxymoron, more typical: "creative play". Perhaps creativity seeks what's missing in what is here (the space for growth?). One preoccupied with work pops his head up and feels something essential is missing; one at play might equally feel unease in not working harder, more seriously. The whole talk somehow smacks of the neurotic structure it seeks to escape. The only suggestion: "balance" - a homeostatic term that belies the natural struggle.

[florgat91]

what crap .

[spqr90277]

Ygtertrteerer

[slickbnx]

wtf is he saying !

[prahlad2006]

God! This talk is too long winded!

I really wish the abstract on the right, contained a short summary of his talk, because some of his points are interesting.

[cDima]

Am I the only one that thinks this speech is mostly pointless?

He doesn't define the "contemplating thinking" into something with a result. This is plainly not in our culture for a reason - it's called differently, known as "relaxing", it's an activity opposed to work.

Watch the theory of play at TED instead.

[phxfreddy]

Read Feynman. Think Feynman.

[INConcentration]

STAY HUNGRY, STAY FOOLISH!

[FullCircleMentor]

Wow! very informative

[microfactory]

We have more time to think.

All what we need is to improve our filter.

With a good filter and all this good, extensive information available in very short time, we have much more time to think.

[vrshowdown]

well we have so many distractions these days.

[incessantmace]

1 funny point I would like to make is the enviromentalism list. Assuming the steps are in order, there is a public debate before education ie ignorants argueing. Although that doesnt matter much since 'education' equates to idiots regurgitating propoganda. The human population is so dumbed down; i've encountered no more than 10 people in my life whom I would deem intelligent out of 8000-in the USA! My IQ is only a modest 150. Quantity is its own quality, pray for H5N1 to thin out our numbers :/

[SBARTSTV]

After I got my Ph.d in Computer Science at Stanford. I decided to move to London to Write in Old Calligraphy and Bind Books... lol...

[freddiecox]

Great talk. I have really enjoyed all of these Google Tech Talks. I feel this talks goes well with David Allen's and Merlin Mann's Getting Things Done philosophy to clear the runway so that we can get back to thinking at 40,000 ft.

[JoelHough]

I believe Christopher Alexander hit on the qualities of contemplative spaces in his pattern language books. I highly recommended them.

Great talk. Thanks to Dr. Levy and Google.

[Metophile]

Nice Talk.

I think the answer he keeps seeming to look for is at least partially found in the act of creating, blogging, commenting and all the other aspects of content creation that exist and support the model he mentions a lot, information retrieval and sorting, which he also mentions, google supplies so well.

[Winsucker]

Tnx for that talk.

[johnsharer]

I first met Dr. Levy in 1970, when we were suitemates at our undergraduate college. Dr. Levy is one of the most thoughtful and profund thinkers I had ever met. From this talk, it is apparent that Dr. Levy still amply deserves that distinction.

[particulateman]

What if, the entire "problem" of information overload is not "work load" but rather our current wealth.

Today, we can choose to buy what was never available to individuals before. Two hundred years ago a successful person might need to labor or study for 14-16 hours a day to attain a life we would now consider poor.

Today, it's possible to be relatively successful with very little effort. We can use this spare time any way we wish, but most choose to remain "busy" rather than still.

[particulateman]

There are several problems with this talk. One of his points was that "productivity decreases" because of our "information overload." However, every measure of productivity over the last 150 years (the time period he says that this has started) shows productivity increasing.

[vgraupera]

Quite slow