Zen as nonintellectual, rather than anti-intellectual. But also non-passive.
Kevin Drum dropped an aphorism worth repeating: "When you write, pretend you’re writing for people you respect."
"Beginner's mind" is not something we can impose on others.
An influencer seems more interested in being well-known, being "influential", than in being motivated by a thirst for the truth.
On how Zen and Buddhism are not anti-intellectual, but non-intellectual. Big diff there.
On very stable geniuses and the like.
"Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out."
On the freedom to say "I don't know" and not be punished for it.
I don't think SF authors have an obligation to be scientific authorities, but I do think they have an obligation to be scientifically literate.
On the fine line between "I only believe in facts and logic" and "If I believe this, it must be logical and factual".
Breeding monsters, and all that.
On why taboos aren't just prejudices.
Why artists and thinkers shouldn't consider themselves mutually exclusive entities.
I'd rather have a scrupulous intellectual opponent than an ally with dodgy thinking.