Free Naïve Super by Erlend Loe Page B

that everybody who signs up for the philosophy foundation course be issued a hammer-and-peg along with their syllabus. An agreement between Brio and the university would be beneficial to both parties. Brio would gain valuable publicity, and the university would see a generation of students with perspective and an ear to the ground. In the long run, the entire nation would benefit.
    I walk in and sit down in a room where there are lots of computers at the students’ disposal. My password (Vann 6 ) still works, and I get on the Internet. I think it is over-estimated. It consists largely of information I am better off without. It gives me the sense that many people are in a position similar to mine. That they know a helluva lot, but don’t quite know what to do with it. Nor are they certain
    about the difference between what is wrong and what is right.
    I’ve found frightening amounts of worthless information in there. For instance, I think I was a little happier before I knew all the organisations of which Norway is a member. Not a lot happier. But a little. Enough so that it matters.
    You try.
    Norway is a member of the following organisations: AfDb, AsDB, Australia Group, BIS, CBSS, CCC, CE, CERN, COCOM, CSCE, EBRD, ECE, EFTA, ESA, FAO, GATT, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, LORCS, MTCR, NACC, NAM (guest), NATO, NC, NEA, NIB, NSG, OECD, PCA, UN, UNAVEM II, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNIKOM, UNMOGIP, UNOSOM, UNPROFOR, UNTSO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, ZC.
    It’s really tiring. Nobody can make me believe that this could be worth knowing, except possibly in a quiz context (at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Christmas Gala). Never otherwise.
    Somehow, knowing that Norway is a member of the Australia Group is stealing my thoughts. I have enough trouble with useful information, never mind being burdened with what is useless.
    But many seem fascinated by the fact that this information exists not where we do, but somewhere else. A place that is not here, but everywhere and at the same time always somewhere else. And none of us can be there. Not with our bodies.
    It’s a bit exciting to think about. I’ll agree with that. But it’s not damned fascinating. And I look forward to when people will stop saying that it is.
    There are two good things about the net.
    The first good thing is that one can be surprised, the same way one can be surprised by a newspaper article or a product in a shop, and then one’s day changes a little and one becomes glad.
    For example, I was glad when I came across a psychology student asking this question: From a Lego modelling perspective, what is happiness? How would you describe the feelings that you experience through your involvement in Lego modelling? In your opinion, is there a difference between these ‘happiness’ feelings and pleasure? Does your involvement in Lego modelling help you to attain long term happiness and well as short term happiness?
    The other good thing is that one can easily make contact with people all over the world. That’s why I have come here today. I want to try to contact Paul. I want to ask him something. All professors can be contacted electronically nowadays. I feel certain Paul is out there somewhere. I’m doing a search with his name now, and his e-mail address is appearing on my screen. It only takes a few seconds. I’ve got him now. This is what I’m writing:
    Prof. Paul Davies
       
    I am a young man and I don’t feel so good. I have a good friend and a bad friend, and I have a brother who is less sympathetic than me. I don’t have a girlfriend.
    I used to be a student, but I quit. Most days I just sit in my brother’s apartment and think, and in the evenings I throw a ball against a wall and catch it when it comes back. And I have a toy that is a hammer and some plastic pegs that go through a wooden plank, and I knock the pegs down and turn the plank around