“Art history reminds us that fame is fickle. Many artists adored in their time are now forgotten, while those once overlooked have become pillars of artistic legacy (van Gogh, Herman Melville, Johannes Vermeer, etc..). Present acclaim rarely predicts enduring relevance.”
“So bullshitting isn’t just nonsense. It’s constructed in order to appear meaningful, though on closer examination, it isn’t. And bullshit isn’t the same as lying. A liar knows the truth but makes statements deliberately intended to sell people on falsehoods. bullshitters, in contrast, aren’t concerned about what’s true or not, so much as they’re trying to appear as if they know what they’re talking about. In that sense, bullshitting can be thought of as a verbal demonstration of the Dunning-Kruger effect—when people speak from a position of disproportionate confidence about their knowledge relative to what little they actually know, bullshit is often the result.”
“Art is not a pleasure, a solace, or an amusement; art is a great matter. But most art of the upper classes is made for luxury, and does not serve the poor in any way.”
“Humans are prone to the principle of least effort, often known as the ‘path of least resistance,’ which means they’ll go for whatever option requires the least work. Hypocrisy allows you to appear principled without having to be so, which is much easier than adhering to strict principles.”
