{"id":256058,"date":"2023-08-07T21:50:40","date_gmt":"2023-08-08T01:50:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/index.php\/2023\/08\/07\/the-importance-of-ignoring-strenuously\/"},"modified":"2023-12-31T22:46:39","modified_gmt":"2023-12-31T22:46:39","slug":"the-importance-of-ignoring-strenuously","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/2023\/08\/07\/the-importance-of-ignoring-strenuously\/","title":{"rendered":"The importance of ignoring strenuously"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From AyJay’s “Homebound Symphony”<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robin Sloan<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

I want to under score it here: where the internet is concerned, we are in a crisis of discovery. Anyone with interesting new work to share\u200a\u2014\u200atheir own or someone else\u2019s\u200a\u2014\u200arummages in the tool shed, looking for a seed spreader or a slingshot, and emerges with an egg beater and a single unmatched glove. Is this all we\u2019ve got?? <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Every now and then I realize that there\u2019s something going on, somewhere on a random corner of the internet, that I have unaccountable and lamentably missed. Doesn\u2019t happen often, but often enough to keep the flame of hope flickering. And curiously enough, the only site associated with the Big Tech firms where this happens is YouTube. (Make of that what you will; I\u2019m not sure what to make of it.)  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robin continues: \u201cThe strategy is the same as it always was: cultivate small, sturdy networks of affinity and interest. Connect them to each other. Keep them lit.\u201d When I find something, I make a point of sharing it, usually on my newsletter<\/a> \u2014 but I bet I could do a better job of that. And at the end of Robin\u2019s post, this vital word, which I\u2019ve been preaching for a long long time: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

I would add: there is power and leverage in not being inter\u00adested in the stuff everybody else is inter\u00adested in\u200a\u2014\u200athe stuff other people insist is urgent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Map the regions of your own affinity and interest, across all relevant dimensions: intellectual, aesthetic, moral. The rest, you can ignore freely. Ignore strenuously! <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I want to add that to my small hoard of encouraging declarations: Practice Hypomone<\/em><\/a>! Read at whim! Festina Lente<\/em>! (That\u2019s one of Robin\u2019s faves also.) Ignore strenuously! <\/p>\n

<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From AyJay’s “Homebound Symphony” Robin Sloan: I want to under score it here: where the internet is concerned, we are in a crisis of discovery. Anyone with interesting new work to share\u200a\u2014\u200atheir own or someone else\u2019s\u200a\u2014\u200arummages in the tool shed, looking for a seed spreader or a slingshot, and emerges with an egg beater and … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The importance of ignoring strenuously”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crsspst_to_mathewingramblogwordpresscom":true,"mf2_syndication":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-256058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-misc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256058"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":257729,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256058\/revisions\/257729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}