How to Think Without Googling
It’ll be difficult, but it’s possible
So earlier this year I was riding a janky bike alone through Burning Man’s makeshift city grid. Identical military-style tents extended into the darkness on both sides of the “street” in the middle of the Nevada desert. There was a lot of neon. I was lost.
My brain, which is a good brain full of good ideas, invited me to check Google Maps.
“No, brain,” I said, in my head. “There is no signal in the middle of the desert.”
“Sure, but have you checked Google Maps?” my brain replied, in the same way it relentlessly presents me with “Mambo №5” by Lou Bega.
I actually reached for my phone. “Good one, brain! Still no signal though.”
“Oh right sure. Maybe instead you should… check Google Maps?”
“NO, BRAIN, NOT FUCKING GOOGLE MAPS,” I said out loud. And that’s how I came to be audibly arguing with myself in the middle of the desert in a bondage bikini.
If it’s also 2019 where you are, I’m sure you have had a similar experience. Maybe you’ve reached for your phone to map directions to a friend’s house that you’ve walked dozens of times, or calculate the square root of four, or find instructions for making your own mother’s bolognese. Maybe, in the middle of a…
