Boredom is the Mother of Invention

Monday, September 25th, 2023

I jotted down the phrase "boredom is the mother of invention" probably when writing about my attempts to homeschool the kids during the summer (Libraries, Homeschooling and the Future of Learning). That was a bit of a flop.

Much of that failure came from the boredom my kids experienced. And this is why I wanted to sit with it, for my own boredom should be a superpower and often is.

In many cases, I am often not bored when I am left to my own devices.

I do get bored if I am forced to be in a meeting, or be in a social situation, and that's largely different.

With my children, I gave them free reign in the library, on the bus, even as part of the planning process to make a decision on how they want to spend their time.

Unfortunately, they all just wanted to play Roblox, and now I have a bit of a love/hate relationship. From looking at the future, the concept of a metaverse could belong to them (Why Roblox Beats Meta (Facebook) at the Metaverse).

It's unclear whether that will largely be a good thing, and whether betting against it or striving for an alternate future is worth it.

The dopamine loop is too strong, and for my kids, it's definitely strong. And so I am exploring ways for them to not have to experience that with the non-stop stimulation of the game and to figure out games that engage real-world dopamine effects.

I don't know if this is possible because our brains probably need a reset and boredom is that space.

Some people fight off boredom by filling it with busyness. My wife, when there's free time, fill it with things that, yes, aren't bad for the house but start to fall off the Eisenhower matrix.

I might be on the other extreme and wait for things to become urgent and important before I move on things, because I'd rather spend time thinking about what is interesting, following my curiosity, building and making thing.

This seems right because, AI will certainly remove the mundane more and more. Unless you are in a situation where economically you cannot take advantage of it and end up falling into the negative doom cycle.

Which is entirely possible. There are distractions which can keep anyone there, and the alternative is to train one's mind to sit in the boredom, explore the curious and unexpected.

Boredom is another word for "not distracted."

But all of us have within an infinite wealth of ideas and explorations we can do just on our own by ourselves.

Living in the boredom, though, does need inputs. Very high quality inputs (Signal to Noise) and a willingness to chase down ideas and rabbitholes (The Personal Idea Maze).