I should better internalize that sometimes an activity is not valuable for its direct content, but the direction of thought that it evokes.
H commented that the Tyler Cowen podcast with Paul Graham was not particularly interesting, and judging by my lack of memory regarding their podcast interview, I’m inclined to concur. But I do remember them discussing Eickler houses and the relative lack of effort/artistry put into modern housing development, and that reminded me of a theme that seems to be emerging in my head.
Last week, I had a conversation with a friend where it was made salient that I am not confident that you can create a system of financial incentives where the rational thing is reliably the right thing. I think this is why ‘civic virtue’ is important, to make up for incongruencies that financial incentives.
And then I’ve recently been reading “Team of Rivals” whose narrative has high concentration of this idealism – abolitionists, politicians who believed deeply in upholding the Constitution, etc.
These days, it feels like it’s mostly cynicism or idealism that is relatively locally scoped and optimized.
Is this true, or is it just how things tend to look like in retrospect? Has there been a historical precedent for the ‘lay flat’ phemonena, a generational trend for a want of aspiration? (I’m inclined to think not, I’m guessing you need sufficient economic prosperity for this, and don’t know if there historically has been enough).
Why does this seem to vary between people? How did Lincoln develop his “higher and profound sense of ambition”?
How does idealism arise?
(I have no answers here, but I guess it’s a placeholder in case I do come across compelling structures).