Daniel Miller recently posted a piece on IM-1776 that’s deserving of high praise. It’s a provocative assessment of how the decades-long aftermath of World War II resulted in the gradual transformation of the West into something increasingly sinister. This transformation annihilates any posturing about the West (and perhaps America specifically) being an “anti-fascist” prototype. The…
Tag: René Girard
The Passion of the Christ
I watched The Passion of the Christ for the first time ever on Good Friday this year. I think it’s worth watching and many parts are very well done but I do think Mel Gibson went too far with the blood, the gore and the violence, which apparently has been a recurring criticism of the…
▇ █ WEEKEND LINKS █ ▇: Imitative Passion; Debasement; Mob Rule; Wolves
12 Things I Learned from Rene Girard: “By desiring the same thing as our neighbor, we are drawn into inevitable conflict. Mimetic desire turns into mimetic rivalry—in everything from love to war. That’s the reason for the injunction against ‘coveting your neighbor’s wife.’ Girard claims this is emblematic of how mimetic impulses destroy a community….
w꙲꙲e꙲꙲e꙲꙲k꙲꙲e꙲꙲n꙲꙲d꙲꙲ ꙲꙲l꙲꙲i꙲꙲n꙲꙲k꙲꙲s꙲꙲: the Portents of Spring; King Rex; Ritualistic Death
Comes Thermidor: “America is headed for its own Thermidorian Reaction. It’ll end up being called something else, of course, because it is a different time, place, and set of circumstances. But it feels close, doesn’t it? Everybody I know or correspond with mentions this feeling that something is going to blow in our country, and…
weekend links: death cults, wilderness, eternal tension
Beyond Thaumatophobia 3: The End of the Age of Reason: “[My father, a] lifelong materialist…was startled one day to hear his mother’s voice from the ground floor of his house, calling his boyhood nickname. That was a bit of a surprise, since she was 300 miles away at the time. Startled, he went to look,…
ШЭԐԞЭИD LЇЙҚS: Engines of Wrath, Human Violence, De-Extinction, and the Lost Wilds of Earth
AI Pluralism: “We’ve seen in real life, in both legacy institutions and AI, that institutions tend to be captured by ideologies far more irrational, delusional, misinformed, and power-hungry than the average person. The technical details of AI make it so that it is asymmetrically easy to fight for AI to be open to customization and…
w҈҉҈҉e҈҉҈҉e҈҉҈҉k҈҉҈҉e҈҉҈҉n҈҉҈҉d҈҉҈҉ ҈҉҈҉l҈҉҈҉i҈҉҈҉n҈҉҈҉k҈҉҈҉s҈҉҈҉
The Putney Spoons Interviews: Malcom Kyeyune – Knowing Me, Knowing Kyeyune (Fisted by Foucault) There’s a scene in the old Jurassic Park movie that is pretty instructive… After the hacker Dennis Nedry basically knocks out the entire computer system necessary to run the park in order to disable the security and cameras so he can…
w̴̫̫̬͎̘̻͍̜͉̥̪͇̃̾̑̅̅ȩ̵͚̝̜̣̖͍͈̞̹̼̭̼̯̟̍̃͋̚ȩ̷̦̦̫͉̃̎͒̉̉̊̎̊͠͝͠k̷̡̛̛̯̲͍͉̤̯̦̪̫̳̪͎̦͒̍̂̍̈́́͌́̇̈́̐̈́͜e̸̲̖̝̝͉͈̽̈́ņ̷͈̻̱͙̱̺̣̘̼̰́͊̀͠ͅd̸̰̲̯̤͙̰̮͔̼̯̈́̊͊̀̋͗͠ ̴̠͉̯̗̀̀̓͗̀̍̃̀̋̍̀̈́͒̏͝l̷̢̡̛̟̱͈̰̼̟̜̝͍̝̫̣͔̒̓͘ǐ̴̧̦̝̤̟̙̘͔̼̙͚͌̐͐̔̀̅̈́̕͝n̴̨̦͍̟̺̲̣̻̱̦̥̺̠̜̑̀͌͗͑͌̌̀̽͑́̚ķ̶̡̲͓̪̱̬͇̯͎͈̎͜s̶̩͙̗̆̾̃̑̔̉̾
All Tomorrows Parties: “…What we are catching glimpses of is what [Jacques] Vallée, and indeed [William S.] Burroughs—the greatest American philosopher since William James—described as Control or the Control System (which, as per Burroughs, needs ‘words,’ ‘time’ and ‘opposition’ to unfold).” Covidian Aesthetics ——— Girard and Digital Technology: “The public mainstreaming of runaway social psychosis may…