Rather great Paul Graham essay on adult treatment of children.

This resonates :

Innocence is also open-mindedness. We want kids to be innocent so they can continue to learn. Paradoxical as it sounds, there are some kinds of knowledge that get in the way of other kinds of knowledge. If you’re going to learn that the world is a brutal place full of people trying to take advantage of one another, you’re better off learning it last. Otherwise you won’t bother learning much more.

Very smart adults often seem unusually innocent, and I don’t think this is a coincidence. I think they’ve deliberately avoided learning about certain things. Certainly I do. I used to think I wanted to know everything. Now I know I don’t.

Update : and another good one on the internet as dangerous distraction for procrastinators. Twitter is ridiculously addictive. In the wrong state of mind I can find myself trying to refresh once a minute.

Mind Traffic Control is partly meant to try to harness that dynamic for good … or at least for work. It gives you something to click manically hoping for new surprises to pop out, but it’s only ever work which pops (assuming you only put real work or necessary tasks in).

Note, at some point I may import RSS feeds into MTC … but remember, it’s vitally important you do not connect MTC up to some kind of “news” feed. Don’t drink from the fire-hose, as they say.