Blind to seeing life as more than a series of goals. Blind to seeing the world through the eyes of, say, a medieval christian mystic, a french existentialist, or a crazed 19th century Russian. Blind to seeing how things we've come to view as obvious truths are simply manipulations by the powerful meant to keep them in power.
Now, I realize I may have come across as an arrogant prick in
my previous comment, but it pains me to see that because some aspects of technology have become so easy to pick up, it is programmers, of all people, that start viewing (institutional) education, for all its flaws, as superfluous. I think I wrote a comment on a something Paul Graham said in a conference keynote, that it's become almost obvious that all hackers care mostly about money and "success". I think this is a direct result of looking at the world through "hard data" and "logical conclusions" that's become the norm in this community. Now I see that instead of developing our healthy amount of curiosity, hackers are shutting themselves off from some important avenues of knowledge because they think the have all the "data".
I totally agree with you about the importance of perspective and deep thinking. I hammer on about those, myself.
But that has to be a fire you already have, something you seek on your own, or all the clever, insightful, Robin Williams-Oh Captain My Captain-heavy university classes in the world won't help you. And if you seek it on your own, you don't need the university classes to find it.
If you seek it on your own you may not need university classes to find it, but it sure is the easiest way to start - have someone who's traveled this way before point out some good starting points.
Now, I realize I may have come across as an arrogant prick in my previous comment, but it pains me to see that because some aspects of technology have become so easy to pick up, it is programmers, of all people, that start viewing (institutional) education, for all its flaws, as superfluous. I think I wrote a comment on a something Paul Graham said in a conference keynote, that it's become almost obvious that all hackers care mostly about money and "success". I think this is a direct result of looking at the world through "hard data" and "logical conclusions" that's become the norm in this community. Now I see that instead of developing our healthy amount of curiosity, hackers are shutting themselves off from some important avenues of knowledge because they think the have all the "data".