(author here, hi)
Thanks, glad you got something from the piece!
> My view is that most people cannot know what they want before they have an experience of it.
I feel this very strongly. As I said on my "About" page, anytime I find something I enjoy, I see what it's like to actively create it too -- developing a little more of the San Franciscan School "feel" for the object/experience in the process, and almost always deepening my appreciation for the object/experience.
My writing is itself an example of this. I only started writing these essays because I enjoy reading things like them so much!