What used to be “enter­tainment” has become background noise. It’s every­where, it’s plentiful, and it’s effortless. Instead of being something to do that adds value to our scarce free time, enter­tainment is becoming a generic mind-filler when we’ve got nothing better to do.

In my home, there are parapher­nalia that are of no worth whatsoever to anyone but me. They take up space in my house and in my mind, and offer precious little practical value in return. But throw them away I will not.

There is a whole host of perfectly acceptable dead people whom you never knew and who can still be of service. They are the artists and philoso­phers, scien­tists and vision­aries whose presence is still felt long past their due date.

Humans are not the only animals to use tools, but we are the one species that has come to rely on technology more than any other. But the fruits of our progress towards ever more advanced technologies have been a double-edged sword.

On the whole, doubt often gets a bad rap. We don’t like it; we prefer certainty. But the ways in which we deal with doubt may reveal some insights into what makes us human and how to find your way in a life in which uncer­tainty will always play a part.

Humans are deeply social creatures—we can scarcely imagine a life for ourselves that doesn’t involve being part of a community. But a sense of community membership is much more than an objective assessment of which qualities “we” do or don’t possess.