'Knowledge must often molder in our mental warehouses for decades until we figure out what to do with it.'

"Leslie Valiant...calls our ability to learn over the long term 'educability,' and in his new book, “The Importance of Being Educable,” he argues that it’s key to our success. When we think about what makes our minds special, we tend to focus on intelligence. But if we want to grasp reality in all its complexity, Valiant writes, then 'cleverness is not enough.' We need to build capacious and flexible theories about the world—theories that will serve us in new, unanticipated, and strange circumstances—and we do that by gathering diverse kinds of knowledge, often in a slow, additive, serendipitous way, and knitting them together. Through this process, we acquire systems of beliefs that are broader and richer than the ones we can create through direct personal experience." - Joshua Rothman

BOOK REVIEW: What Does It Really Mean to Learn?

'Knowledge must often molder in our mental warehouses for decades until we figure out what to do with it.'

We don’t spend much time imagining all the possibilities the future holds.

The challenge before us is learning to see ourselves, our communities, and the living world not as separate parts, but as participants in a larger web of relationships.

If we only see ourselves as we are now, we miss our ability to imagine, grow, and choose new paths.

What people think they can do together can shape outcomes as much as any policy or formal plan.