Reading and Agency
@readwithai (substack, X, youtube)
Agency is a subtle thing, but I think an important thing. Agency represents the ability to act separately from a world that would seek to define you, to define your own truth, to know what is worth doing and how to do it. I feel like agency is in short supply in this world and that many systems will try to crush it, if the things that you know to be true and important run counter to shared values. Or rather, the world often highlights the execution part of agency and less the worthwhile ideas.
Reading can crush agency, if all you are to find if things that are to disagree with you. A *close* critical reading can even in the face of material that seem to seek to constrain and control free you by giving you the ability to contextual and build your own understanding in the face of material.
“Extrinisic” reading where you read a number of sources can help reach into the world of carefully written academic text can provide you with your unique understanding. It is important to understanding that “what’s on the internet” in blogs etc often represent a simplified and one-sided consensus of what is actually out there, and if you are able to dig deeply into the literature you can find valuable nuance that is hidden to you by the mainstream.
It is my opinion that notetaking while reading and close reading can help increase agency while reading. But bringing a full critique to a text rather than just ignoring it you can learn from it. I think AI might be able to help here.
I think that being able to quickly read a book within the context of other texts can increase an individual’s agency. It aids in the interpretation of the book within a context of ideas and thereby frees you from just thinking through this one topic.
It is of course to be noted that some material is objectively true, and there are some skills that should be learned in this cases the importance of “challenging” the material, applying it and forming one’s own view becomes less important. In this case, being able to understand the material, give it meaning, and finding sources that explain it well to you become important.