David Foster Wallace’s introduction to The Best American Essays 2007 , as its editor. In typical Wallacean fashion, he spends most of the time unpacking the meaning of the collection’s title, and expounding on his selection methodology as “the Decider.”

Part of our emergency is that it’s so tempting to do this sort of thing now, to retreat to narrow arrogance, pre-formed positions, rigid filters, the “moral clarity” of the immature. The alternative is dealing with massive, high-entropy amounts of info and ambiguity and conflict and flux; it’s continually discovering new areas of personal ignorance and delusion. In sum, to really try to be informed and literate today is to feel stupid nearly all the time, and to need help.

(thx, kyosti)