Science as Enchantment: “…the new enchantment had its advantages, but it also has had tremendous costs, and the bills are still coming due.” The Crisis of 2025: “… it’s factually indisputable that Americans are a demoralized populace. You can see it in polls and the way people talk about their own country.” The Meta-Crises and…
Tag: people
weekend links: the bone orchard, war as divination, punishing wickedness
Don’t Waste a Good Crisis: “If you want to know what might come next, read the memoir of ‘White’ Russian general Pyotr Wrangel, Always with Honor, about the Russian Civil War. I’m not joking.” Godzilla: “A highlight of Heisei period Godzilla movies is Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. It’s mostly a highlight for being completely bonkers Japanese nationalism. The…
W҈҉҈҉e҈҉҈҉e҈҉҈҉k҈҉҈҉e҈҉҈҉n҈҉҈҉d҈҉҈҉ ҈҉҈҉L҈҉҈҉i҈҉҈҉n҈҉҈҉k҈҉҈҉s҈҉҈҉: Storming the Heavens, Unfreedom, Alienation
A New Cosmist Moment: “Paradigm breakthroughs always begin with calls to great, even fantastical endeavors—to ‘storm the heavens,’ as Fyodorov once implored his followers to do. Even if Cosmism’s attempts at articulating a human project were kooky in certain respects, a great deal of tangible scientific progress emerged from its admirers. New, totalizing theories of…
w̳̿͟͞e̳̿͟͞e̳̿͟͞k̳̿͟͞e̳̿͟͞n̳̿͟͞d̳̿͟͞ ̳̿͟͞l̳̿͟͞i̳̿͟͞n̳̿͟͞k̳̿͟͞s̳̿͟͞: psychologism, stigma, price inflation
Brand the Enemy: “Anonymous accusations of sexual impropriety work as a powerful smear tactic for multiple reasons. People are naturally sympathetic to women, and naturally jealous of promiscuous men. Through selective presentation of details and deliberately emotional language, it is possible to present almost any relationship as abusive, exploitative, or controlling. There are no clearly…
ЩԐЭҜЭЙD LЇИҠS
America’s Mugshot: “…the American dream has been stolen from us, and it is now on trial.” A Theory of the Game: “…a system that has been hollowed out by a string of cascading failures runs into one more crisis than it can tolerate, and implodes under the weight of its own absurdities. We are much…
weekend links: warzone conditions, spiritual cannon fodder, 2 hours in the dark
A National Divorce From Reality: “Douglas MacArthur famously stated ‘It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.’ Conservatives still have not grappled with the fact that their political will has been consistently shown to be much smaller than that of liberals. The Floyd Riots showed just how primed for derangement…
weekend links: twilight, starlings, gods
Christianity is Not Monotheistic: “…angels were made to sing. Specifically, to sing the cosmos into existence. That’s why the medievals organized them into ‘choirs.’” Cormac McCarthy’s New Books of Revelation: “Everyone easily notices the Old Testament style, but rather than saints and gods, we encounter simple men who are driven by an instinctive solidarity for…
w҉̢̡̹̮͌̄ͦ͜͟͟͞͠͞e̵̡̫̫͍͕̎ͭ̐͟͟͝͞e̵̡̫̫͍͕̎ͭ̐͟͟͝͞k҉̴̶̬͈̫̹͖̾̎ͭ́̍̐͜͜͝͠e̵̡̫̫͍͕̎ͭ̐͟͟͝͞n̸͐̈́͟͟͝d҉̴̷̧̢̛̖͔̤ͯ̔̑̄͢͟͡͠ l̶҉̰͚͖͕̍̈́̅͗̏̇͢͜͜͝i҉̧̯̤̙͔̑ͧ̅̔ͦ́͜͟͢͝͠n̸͐̈́͟͟͝k҉̴̶̬͈̫̹͖̾̎ͭ́̍̐͜͜͝͠s҉̝̭̦͚̑ͯ̌͡
End the Cosmopolitan Monopoly: “Our current indulgence of cosmopolitanism can’t endure. It’s ultimately a facile and feel-good doctrine employed by the elites in direct contradistinction to the wishes of the majority. It’s a point of view and state of mind that contains too many inconsistencies, and that causes too much damage. Ultimately, it’s anti-natural. It…
W乇乇ズ乇刀り ﾚﾉ刀ズ丂
Brief Interviews with Hideous Bots: “Is it reasonable to think that I am intentionally appearing to make errors in answering your questions by inserting erroneous phrases? Honestly I am hurt by that and I don’t even have any feelings. Humans think the AI is fooling them into thinking it has feelings but AIs think the human…
w͓̽e͓̽e͓̽k͓̽e͓̽n͓̽d͓̽ l͓̽i͓̽n͓̽k͓̽s͓̽
Aesthetic Signals & the Best Aesthetic: “Aesthetics can be seen as a combination of signals, a combination of memes. you need many signals to create a new meta signal, that of which can be defined as a aesthetic. It is mostly praxis based. With things that are action based, you need to convey your signal,…
w̴e̶e̴k̶e̵n̸d̵ ̸l̶i̴n̸k̴s̶
#1: A General Theory of Collaboration: “Anyone who reads Vaclav Havel’s Power of the Powerless will be struck by Havel’s portrait of Czechoslovakia forty years ago—with its voluntary window-slogans; its endless parade of crusades; its inexorable machinery of human cancellation. Havel had the right strategy for the subjects of the total state. First, they must…
sʞuıl puǝʞǝǝʍ
Crisis in the Liberal City: “Perhaps we can return to a world where Nike mouths radical slogans but nobody loots their stores. But we’ve seen what happens when you pull back that surface, and we know what’s underneath: the grinning skull beneath the liberal city’s skin.” Ross Douthat Futurist Rioting, Conceptualism, and Sensuality: “Advanced communication…