Imagine a young Isaac Newton time-travelling from 1670s England to teach Harvard undergrads in 2017. After the time-jump, Newton still has an obsessive, paranoid personality, with Aspergers syndrome, a bad stutter, unstable moods, and episodes of psychotic mania and depression. But now hes subject to Harvards speech codes that prohibit any disrespect for the dignity of others; any violations will get him in trouble with Harvards Inquisition (the Office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion). Newton also wants to publish Philosophi Naturalis Principia Mathematica, to explain the laws of motion governing the universe. But his literary agent explains that he cant get a decent book deal until Newton builds his author platform to include at least 20k Twitter followers without provoking any backlash for airing his eccentric views on ancient Greek alchemy, Biblical cryptography, fiat currency, Jewish mysticism, or how to predict the exact date of the Apocalypse.Newton wouldnt last long as a public intellectual in modern American culture. Sooner or later, he would say offensive things that get reported to Harvard and that get picked up by mainstream media as moral-outrage clickbait. His eccentric, ornery awkwardness would lead to swift expulsion from academia, social media, and publishing. Result? On the upside, hed drive some traffic through Huffpost, Buzzfeed, and Jezebel, and people would have a fresh controversy to virtue-signal about on Facebook. On the downside, we wouldnt have Newtons Laws of Motion.
alchemy asperger-s asperger-s-syndrome asperger-syndrome author awkwardness backlash clickbait cryptography depression dignity disrespect diversity eccentric equity expulsion inclusion inquisition intellectual isaac-newton laws literary-agent mania moods mysticism obsessive offensive outrage paranoid psychotic publish social-media speech-codes stutter time-jump time-travelling twitter universe unstable virtue-signal virtue-signalling
Download Image Share on X Share on Facebook

About This Quote

Related Quotes

“The duality and the freewill don't exist. There's only one choice to be made, the one that bring us upwards. Self-destruction is not a choice. And yet, every duality presents exactly that, and not ...”
— Robin Sacredfire
alchemy choices decisions dogma

“The wicked ones make us better persons for those that deserve our attention. Nothing is really lost and wasted in this alchemical dance of life.”
— Robin Sacredfire
alchemy evil evil-people evilness

“Our desires, dreams and hopes, open portals. These portals manifest in our conscience and five senses, in the form of decisions related to the material world but also opportunities. Now, at the exa...”
— Robin Sacredfire
alchemy choices decisions dogma

“My first impression of [Patricia Highsmith] was a loneliness, a sadness in one so young (we were both in our early thirties) with absolutely no sense of joy or balance. Gauche to an extreme, really...”
— Patricia Schartle
asperger-s aspergers-syndrome autism balance

“I [Jacob Hunt, Aspie] see it as the next step of evolution: I cannot take away your sadness, so why should I acknowledge it?”
— Jodi Picoult, House Rules
asperger-s evolution sadness

“I [Jacob Hunt, Aspie] see it as the next step of evolution: I cannot take away your sadness, so why should I acknowledge it?”
— Jodi Picoult
asperger-s evolution sadness