David Foster Wallace on being alone

excerpt from an original interview.

[mattheh]

Wallace speaks as though he has thought about everything before.

[batfink]

The more we indulge our senses, the greater our appetite for stimulation.

[Ekiel]

The irony is as soon as the video ends, youtube has another waiting to pounce onto our screens..

[luigipati]

"When I come back home after mixing with the crowd, I return that I am meaner, nastier, and greedier.". -Seneca
 ''They get fed up with bad behaviour and stupidity, which are
characteristics most people have. Great minds are like eagles: they
build their nests on the peak of a lofty solitude. To say that so and so
is 'unsociable' is almost tantamount to say that he's a man of GREAT
CAPACITY." - Schopenhauer

[thescapegoatmechanism]

The source of man’s unhappiness is that he does not know how to sit in his room quietly. -Blaise Pascal

[GeorgeVanGrieken]

Just read his essay on Kafka in the collection "Consider the Lobster." It includes the following "funny" story from Kafka /// "Alas, " said the mouse, "the world is growing smaller every day. At the beginning it was so big that I was afraid, I kept running and running, and I was glad that at last I saw walls far away and to the right and left, but these long walls have narrowed so quickly that I am in the last chamber already, and there in the corner stands a trap that I must run into." "You only need to change your direction, " said the cat, and ate it up. /// I wanted to compliment him on the essay, until I found out that he's no longer around. I wanted to share that the story gave me insight into Anthony Bourdain's end after his own long, public "running" with friends, fame, and food. It appears that the cat ate him. Now I find that the cat also ate David Foster Wallace. Perhaps it is not-running that makes the cat unnecessary.

[bobdole]

How did you manage to mess up the sound quality even more?!

[tommythevenot]

He’s so right about culture today. I have trouble getting my kids to sit and enjoy an old classic movie like Rudy, or Wizard of Oz, or Willy Wonka . If the movie starts out slow, they just lose interest. They are so used to being fed entertainment so quickly via YouTube videos and what not nowadays. It can be frustrating.

[RossCass]

this man was decades ahead of his time, his wisdom feels like clairvoyance into the modern world --the vicious cycle of hyper stimulation in an effort to suppress that anxious feeling, which only serves to amplify ones loneliness

[Nick]

I think this applies to the growing popularity of podcasts and watching livestreamers too. I'm always listening to podcasts either during or in between tasks, and I feel like I'm (and others who do the same) are using it to avoid that feeling of being alone. So instead you can listen in on a conversation or activity and act like your part of it

[rogersyversen]

the irony of cutting this out of the interview context

[AnnaLVajda]

If you are a sensitive person being surrounded by and thus influenced by obnoxious and or ignorant people is hell on earth. It stifles all creative inspiration for someone who is unwilling to reflect such disgusting behaviour. Sure you can continue to look for beauty but if it is not really there then the art will be fraudulent. It is better to be alone than in bad company.

[qwertyqart]

reminded me of when Louis CK spoke on Conan about being alone while driving and seeking distraction, how hard people try not to be alone...

[jamesmiller]

It’s true. The modern human has the attention span of a gnat. Tens of thousands of years in painstakingly acquired knowledge only to have produced the modern human Gnat, sitting on top a mountain of technology that is so powerful That it could be likened to putting a loaded gun in the hands of a small child.

[milosvideos]

Solitude is a powerful thing, with discipline you can turn it into something something strong and beautiful

[Pedleh]

DFW is making a resurgence on youtube and I love it this generation needs to hear some of this ✊🏽

[Autogenification]

I don't know this guy's literary work. I hate to say that I'm one of those people that doesn't read, but I am the sort of person that's managed to stay on the outer circles of so many social media advancements, even my connection to the internet and my own digital footprint has thought behind it (for the most part). I love longform films, I often listen to entire albums, which to me is its own system of reading. What Wallace says here is a fantastic observation, and he would've absolutely laughed if someone time-travelled to that moment and shoed him TikTok. In this increasingly loudening world, it's no wonder he picked up on what he called the hostility, it's ironic that people are putting themselves further into secluded bubbles in the most densely populated places (cities), but the most sparsely populated places are the ones where people still value patience and long-term gratification.

Also as a side note to this: It absolutely is NOT the kids faults. They are the result of an over-consumerist, algorithmically driven, content world that older generations have essentially paved the way for. It's annoying to hear boomers complain about over-diagnosing ADHD in Gen Z kids, complaining about their attention spans etc., when they built the framework to roll this kind of industry out into modern society, then have the gall to complain about it

[scarecrowprowler]

I think that you're never really alone in today's society and that is why you get frustrated and desperate because you can't get healed in solitude since you can't reach it. We're in a constant limbo between crushing loneliness and stupidity of noicy crowds.

[leonewman]

How ironic is it that we listen to David Foster Wallace talk about stimulation dependency while we all try to do our work

[happyforestgump]

2 and a half minutes is a nice sweet spot for a video. Who has the patience for anything longer?