No machines will ever truly fully figure the brain out, because the brain's performance is constantly altered or else constrained by this inanimate, rogue artifact you can't control, namely, speech.
Tom WolfeRead
I went to see the Beatles last month... And I heard 20,000 girls screaming together at the Beatles... and I couldn't hear what they were screaming, either... But you don't have to... They're screaming Me! Me! Me! Me!... I'm Me!... That's the cry of the ego, and that's the cry of this rally!... Me! Me! Me! Me!... And that's why wars get fought... ego... because enough people want to scream Pay attention to Me... Yep, you're playing their game.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the nature of ego and self-importance in society.
Tom Wolfe's quote emphasizes the overwhelming desire for individual recognition and attention, which he associates with the broader implications of ego-driven behavior. He connects this craving for validation to societal conflicts and wars, suggesting that when many individuals prioritize their egos, it leads to collective turmoil and strife, as they seek acknowledgment and elevation of self over the common good.
Themes
EgoSocietySelfAttentionConflictValidationWar
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on human behavior, I quoted Tom Wolfe to illustrate how ego influences both personal relationships and societal issues.
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All quotes →And - of course! - the Non-people. The whole freaking world was full of people who were bound to tell you they weren't qualified to do this or that but they were determined to go ahead and do just that thing anyway.
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I have discovered that for me - now, maybe it doesn't work for everybody - for me, it is much more effective to arrive at any situation as a man from Mars than to try to fit in.
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There has been a time on earth when poets had been young and dead and famous - and were men. But now the poet as the tragic child of grandeur and destiny had changed. The child of genius was a woman, now, and the man was gone.
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