The essential bond.

List are my thing. Since my earliest times in life I have made lists for different purposes: To Do lists, Goal lists, Shopping lists, contact lists, music (play)lists, and -of course- reading lists.

There's a secret desire implicit in all this, and it's the idea of knowing it all. Not only having a vast knowledge, also the gift of clarity and pragmatism. Needless to say, that it was -and still is- too much. But Life-long learning isn't a bad philosophy of life. In fact, there are many reasons to believe that the possibility of knowing-it-all is more accessible in the internet era. At the same time, just by appraising the task on the screen, we can clearly see how unreachable that is.

Still, many people like me can't just get rid of their secret ambition. And, when browsing the web, sooner or later we run into sites that give us the sense of empowerment: "this is possible!", we say again innocently. Wikipedia started it for me, then places like Khan Academy or Coursera gave to the whole idea a sense of hierarchy. 

But after several cycles of signing up, trying, failing, quitting and starting again; something started to be clearer for me. My failures weren't about slacking or being plain lazy. And then it hit me: internet is a great tool, knowledge is available almost anywhere at any time, but is the human interaction the responsible for putting all this necessary information in motion. Ultimately, only by interacting with others we can internalize data and create more knowledge.

I know that many are thinking that I'm trying to invent the wheel for a second time. This isn't a ground-breaking finding. It is perhaps a warning to myself. It is easy to believe in the chance to acquire knowledge just in front of a computer, but learning is a completely different thing. A professor will never be replaced by a bunch of YouTube videos. Only by enhancing those essential bonds with the people we can see and talk every day we will be able to move beyond the mere act of making a list and attempt to complete it.