"..the notion...that all these wondrous machines that, in one way or another, now allow us to avoid overworking our brains, will somehow diminish our capacity for thought, in much the same way that underused muscles with tend to atrophy, will stop working in the absence of need".
"But what if the opposite is true? What if the mind does not work at all like a muscle? What if not having to tax our minds with such tedious matters as arithmetic and geography and spelling and memorizing so many facts actually frees our mind? What if mental leisure gives it the time and space to suppose, ponder, ruminate, consider, assess, wonder, contemplate, imagine, dream? What if by removing the storm and stress of daily mental need, lowering the mind's noise-to-signal ratio, we instead clear the mind and allow it, now less clouded, taxed and troubled to seek out the potential it always had? To be thoughtful, considerate, patient - and wise."
- Simon Winchester, Knowing What We Know
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