Thank you. Your essays are very rich in interesting content, blending together, for example, philosophy, art, science, and practical suggestions. I’m wondering, here, about ‘novelty’ and how two broad kinds of novelty may have different underlying mechanisms. One kind, for example, may be something that catches your eye and your attention when you’re out for a walk. This is perceiving novelty from something arising in the outside world. But when we are in the ‘flow’, when reading a book, for example, we are shut off to novelty arising in the outside world but open to novelty stimulated by the written word, by new ideas that cause us to stop and think. I think different mechanisms may underlie novelty arising from outside or inside the flow. Open to correction.
Thank you. Your essays are very rich in interesting content, blending together, for example, philosophy, art, science, and practical suggestions. I’m wondering, here, about ‘novelty’ and how two broad kinds of novelty may have different underlying mechanisms. One kind, for example, may be something that catches your eye and your attention when you’re out for a walk. This is perceiving novelty from something arising in the outside world. But when we are in the ‘flow’, when reading a book, for example, we are shut off to novelty arising in the outside world but open to novelty stimulated by the written word, by new ideas that cause us to stop and think. I think different mechanisms may underlie novelty arising from outside or inside the flow. Open to correction.