culture
mostly of the internet kind
culture
Tpot — sometimes used interchangeably with “postrationalism” — is a loose subculture, notorious for its love of introspection, that grew out of the tech-adjacent rationalist movement. Where rationalists emphasize the use of logic to govern their decision-making, tpot believes that “vibes” and feelings are unaccounted for by pure logic and advocate... See more
asteriskmag.com • Manufacturing Bliss
How many of us actually identify the public good with our own good? For most of us, the outside world exists for our income and our enjoyment. We have a using-based relationship with the world, not a caring one. Again, this is not entirely our fault.
Omar F. Najjarine • Why modern life feels meaningless
So the loss of autonomy, of self-reliance, is the primary driver of the meaning crisis. Work itself is not the problem, it’s 'wage' work: work we don’t care about, work we’re forced to do for the majority of our lives. Everything else follows from this. When we are alienated from our labor—when our best creative energies are spent on meaningless... See more
Omar F. Najjarine • Why modern life feels meaningless
Philosophy is bad because you think thoughts that you think are your own thoughts, and you think you’re in charge of those thoughts, and you’re figuring things out.
But the reality is, our thoughts are almost entirely drawn from the soup in our culture of thoughts that people have had before. And all we’re doing is repeating them. We think we’re... See more
But the reality is, our thoughts are almost entirely drawn from the soup in our culture of thoughts that people have had before. And all we’re doing is repeating them. We think we’re... See more
David Chapman • Myth, adult developmental stages, and entrepreneurship
I’ve said this many times before. Most people don’t actually know what thinking is. Instead they have thoughts. Thoughts occur to them. What David adds here is the perspective of where thoughts come from, which is basically our environment, our culture, all of our conditioning. Everything is a remix, as Visa likes to say. What does recognizing this do for us?
The internet-ification of our lives is not a response to the hostility of the built environment to communal life but a continuation and intensification of that hostility.
Celine Nguyen • In Defense of San Francisco
As a musician, listening to a song can teach you a lot, but it’s not the path to rigorous learning. Mastery comes through practice, discipline, and the often uninspiring grind of didactic instruction.
The same principle applies to gaining wisdom. Art and literature are secondary sources to wisdom, philosophy is the primary source.
The same principle applies to gaining wisdom. Art and literature are secondary sources to wisdom, philosophy is the primary source.
Omar F. Najjarine • Why modern life feels meaningless
This is where I disagree. At least on the surface. If the implication is that you go and read the primary texts themselves, of philosophy, which is often considered “Great” philosophy, then you will be doomed. Great philosophy is not always good, helpful, useful. It is great as a result of stirring attention, thought, etc. I think most people do fine without studying philosophy itself. I do think, though, we need to think more, rather than prescribe philosophy as the sole source of wisdom. Wisdom is something learned and gained in action and reflection. Philosophy (as a field) can inspire that, but I do not think it is the only way.
A lot has been written about how the internet radicalizes people. But the same dynamics that turn a slightly lonely young man into a seething misogynist—recommendation algorithms; social contexts that concentrate and intensify discourse—are also the dynamics that turn a young person who “likes reading” into someone who spends a year reading Proust,... See more
Celine Nguyen • In Praise of Writing on the Internet
Anywhere from 90 percent to 97 percent of vanilla-flavored products are made with vanillin , a substance found in small quantities in natural vanilla but made synthetically for processed commercial foods. Real vanilla contains hundreds of different components that contribute to its nuanced taste and aroma. It is as different from vanillin as sugar... See more
Amanda Fortini • How Vanilla Became Shorthand for Bland
On the richness and complexity of real vanilla. Vanilla is not vanilla.
I think the best default answer to leftist ideology is to point out the arbitrary, sweeping assertions using proprietary abstractions, without evidence, and say "Let us know when you have something." As in, something we can even work with or evaluate, because this is just arbitrary junk.