Writing used to happen in the moment. It was an act that occurred at the moment of inspiration. Life seems to be getting more complex. Even the simple act of writing has to be scheduled. It happens in those quiet moments that seem to be growing more and more illusive. It happens during that time that seems stolen from other things.
We make contributions in different ways. Some contributions are directly associated with the academy. We truly do stand on the shoulders of intellectual giants that have helped gather the collective insights of our society. Those building blocks set the foundation of how we understand and interact with the world. They build out the very foundations of our social structure. They link us together and set the rules for how work together.
The intersection of technology and modernity is both miraculous and confounding. We have a dense and rich social fabric that brings us together and allows us to work together and it sets the foundation for us to grow apart. Certain elements bring us closer together. Trust for example defines our togetherness and our collective need to strive toward a better future. I can remember reading Francis Fukuyama’s book Trust (1995) in graduate school. That treatise left me thinking about how and why social changes occur. It left me wandering about the foundations of why people elect to work together toward common purposes or why they drift apart. It let me wondering if economics are inherently related to personal choices vs. grand plans or political ideas. It left me thinking about trust as a central social building block.
Posted from WordPress for Android
