Thursday, September 6, 2012

Derusting Rings on the Coolant-Spouting Turntable













WHAT I KNOW ABOUT EPISTEMOLOGY

John Surowiecki

As the light goes, go.
Be the rustling in the grass, the fall from
convention's good graces: learn, or someone
will have you filing files or writing writs,
demonstrating cutlery or selling knowledge

door to door; someone might even drop
your lovely life into a factory and have you
derusting rings on the coolant-spouting
turntable of a vertical lathe.
It's best for everyone that what you know

is generally thought of as general knowledge.
You can find it in pool rooms and roadside bars,
in meadows as inviting as beds, in bedrooms
where it whispers like a ribbon untying;
you can even find it in schools. But be careful:

it's dangerous, inescapable and exact
down to every atom of everything there is,
to every name each thing goes by and every
law each thing obeys. And the best part is,
you always know more than you know.


4 comments:

  1. Is it wrong that I care more about people getting blown up halfway around the world than perceived threats to the autonomy of my lady parts? Because that's what I'm being told by most people in my world that aren't Randal.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You aren't alone, you aren't wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ya'll won't be saying that when Romney wears some chick's uterus as a hat.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I hope nobody believes that Romney won't start the three wars he has already announced.

    ReplyDelete