a secular intellectual monastic community?

[openmynd]

There are many people in the world who would like to have the opportunity to just think. All day, every day, doing nothing but thinking, writing, creating, developing new ideas and rehashing old ones. They don't like dealing with "the real world", since the "real world" is full of greed, hypocrisy, crime, apathy, and indifference. These people want

Comments

[amp23]

i wish there were such a place too. i think it would be a nice counterbalance to the rightwing think-tanks who spend their time thinking of ways to extend and cement their control mechanisms.

[openmynd]

Would you live there? Or would you contribute to it if it were built?

And it would be open to right-wingers, too. ;-) The thing about it is that it would need to be extremely open to new ideas and possibilities. People should be in there because they are intelligent, excited (not just "willing", but EXCITED!) to learn, and can't stop thinking and creating. They may say, "OH! I've got this great process for combating world hunger, but it involves worldwide Rush Limbaugh broadcasts, the blood of a chicken, and a computer program!"; you'd have to say, "Well, OK. I think that's nuts, but publish it." The place would generate a massive amount of information, some of which would be useless and some of which would be astounding - an informational bell curve in action, I guess.

[amp23]

i wasn't suggesting right wingers should be excluded, of course. just that an open collaborative community of thinkers would be the antithesis of the right wing think-tank which is all about hierarchy and control.

certainly all viewpoints should be welcomed and discussed, especially if it were an environment where resorting to personal attacks instead of debating ideas would be seen as a weak position to speak from. i'm sick of people who don't agree with each other resorting to attacks that are irrelevant to the discussion - something all sides engage in to the detriment of the real issues.

if i had the opportunity i would definitely live in such a place (would even put work into it building a media studio for allowing the ideas to be disseminated beyond the community). if i wasn't in a position to move to such a place i would support it in any way i could.

[openmynd]

I wasn't implying that you wanted to exclude right-wingers. I can't stand them, either, but if I can get them to think, so much the better. :-)

And, yes, the peer pressure could be that, if you used personal attacks, you would be considered weak, unintelligent, or that your argument was worthless. That would be easy to foster, I would think.

Thanks for the support. :-) Hmmm....I wonder if a guy with nothing to his name could start something like this? [stroking chin in contemplation]

I'd love to live there

[decibel45]

spend all day doing whatever I like and someone else pays for me to live. I love it! Sign me up!

Just don't expect me to be happy with funding it involuntarily (ie: through taxes).

Re: I'd love to live there

[openmynd]

And you missed the point completely. Figures. Most people will probably think this is a horrible idea. "Damn bums!", they'd scream. "Get a job!", they'd yell. Yeah, thinking isn't doing anything, is it? It's worthless, and produces nothing.

Hell, why try to be nice to humanity, anyway? What's the point? Why shouldn't I go out, earn a shitload of money, oppress those who offend or confront me, and buy the world?

Why shouldn't I? Because that option, currently being pursued by a large portion of the human race, sucks ass.

But, enjoy it, if you like.

Re: I'd love to live there

[decibel45]

I didn't say it's worthless or that it would produce nothing. I said I shouldn't be forced to pay for it (of course there's a ton of other wonderful stuff our government does that I shouldn't be paying for either).

If you can find some other way to fund it, my hat's off to you, and I wish you luck. Who knows, I could even end up contributing to it if the mood strikes me. I just don't like the idea of the government sponsoring it.

[cowquat]

I don't understand why you think this is different from a university, except that there is a peer community that decides who is accepted, i.e. granted a tenure position. These communities are funded by some combination of the 'wealthy' (alumni) and the government.

[openmynd]

This is more freeform. You're not there to "get a degree", only to learn and spread knowledge - that's a very different goal.

As I said, I think universities are somewhat like this, or maybe used to be. Or not.

[equiraptor]

But what about the professors? Sure, they have to spend some time teaching, but that's a chance for them to share their thoughts with a wider array of people. Many professors do a great deal of thinking, experimenting, and the like. And if they have tenure, they can be paid quite well to do it.

Linux-style monastery

[justbeast]

How very, very interesting.
Great (? :)) minds think alike.
I have had a /very/ similar train of thoughts about a year ago, and have started on the (long) way towards making it happen.
I'd love to compare notes as we go along.

~Dmitri

Re: Linux-style monastery

[openmynd]

Please do. I'll drop you an e-mail or catch you on Yahoo Messenger ( openmynded1 ).