In the May 2nd issue of the Guardian Weekly a regular contributor, Oliver Burkeman, says that people are not motivated by the truth, but by people and facts that are “interesting”. A theorist, writer, politician, he says, is considered great, not because what he says is right and true, but because it is “interesting”. Interestingness is addictive. Why? Because what people want, above all, is not to be bored.

i don’t believe it! I can’t remember when I was last bored, nor do I read The Guardian or any other publication in a desperate attempt to avoid boredom. Is the human race really that badly motivated and dull. My late father-in-law used to say that anyone who is bored is nothing but a bore himself. Epicureans are never bored.