“Today we talk about Polyptych of Ghentand we are going to do it very quickly.” Carla Serrano, virally snaps her fingers in front of her half a million followers and tells them, in one minute, the duration of a reela very complex work from the 15th century. On another channel, aka “your trusted anthropologist”, former youth actress in the successful Merlinexplains the roots of monogamy or the relationship between tribalism and private property. In five minutes of scrollthese and other very smart, fun, eloquent and verbose communicators will take you through the equivalent of a university History course. On a subway ride, you can take for granted the curriculum of a liberal arts degree. If there is a transfer, you add a master’s degree. Not even Mephistopheles made it so easy for Faust (to get this reference, look for the reel which Goethe explains in a minute).
As I make longer trips, I plug in the . I’m starting a series dedicated to Sparta, made up of four hour and a half sessions. The lecturer, the classicist Adolfo Domínguez Monedero, warns and apologizes: in such a short time he will barely be able to offer a couple of very superficial touches on such a complex and extensive subject, but he hopes to awaken, at least, the listener’s curiosity. And six hours of erudition begin.
What are we left with? Can I know Sparta “very quickly”, in one minute, as the influencers? Or can I suck six hours of master classes and end up just as stupid, or maybe more so, than when I hit the play?
It is a false dilemma: these influencers They have been the smartest in the class and understand, like Socrates, that acquiring knowledge is a path as arid and thankless as the Spartan educational system, and in the end you only know that you know nothing. The answer to every question is always another question. But they have found a good source of income by making millions of people believe that you can learn something with no more effort than pushing the next one with your finger. reel.
Of course there are great people who honor the art of dissemination and explain very specialized matters with humor and rigor, but they disseminate in formats closer to a conference, such as podcasthonest businesses very different from the shell stalls called reelswhere the viewer is encouraged to find the ball of wisdom by pointing to the cup. Protect yourself from them: there is nothing worthwhile that can be learned in a minute. Nothing.
