Selfhood
Three-fourths of philosophy and literature is the talk of people trying to convince themselves that they really like the cage they were tricked into entering.
Gary Snyder — poet, anthropologist and ecological steward
“A different view into this, a more optimistic one which i choose to adopt, has to do with what being online helps people do. The original piece in The New Consumer talks about how "younger consumers are also more likely to say they feel “more valued for their talents” online than offline, feel “more appreciated” online, and feel “more creative” online." Which suggests to me the problem isn't necessarily how addictive being online is, it's how unappreciated people feel in the offline world. The internet helps us find our people.
I recently heard a great quote about what is the opposite of depression. It's not happiness. It's expression. And so when you have people say they effectively feel more expressive online, and can bond with others more attuned to their needs and points of view, then this gives me hope that there is a net positive effect of all this time we spend online.
Looking at it this way, i see great news in the idea that people have places where they can feel more like themselves, even if it may not fit into our current worldviews of what personal and collective flourishing looks like. When i grew up, playing video games was going to be the ruin of us all, and yet statistically speaking the vast majority of our generation turned out well enough (if anything, the lack of an economic and social safety net fucked us up later).
So it's entirely possible that a whole generation who feel better online than offline will turn out somehow ok as well. Better or worse than us? Impossible to tell. Different? Most likely.”
When Do We Stop Finding New Music? A Statistical Analysis
statsignificant.com
‘music paralysis’, or when and why our music tastes stagnate as we get older.
From one of my favorite Hacker News comments ever, by @Jonathan_Blow: https://t.co/uJgib4x6El
People often, for example, oppose the actions and belief systems of billionaires, but take jobs at companies that increase the power and influence of those same billionaires. It’s not because these job-seekers are bad people, but because we are all operating in a system that makes aligning our values and our everyday lives seem impossible.
This sepa... See more
This sepa... See more
Why it’s so hard to align our work with our values, and how we justify not trying.
I can move through pain, but I have an intolerance for a life that doesn’t sparkle.
In Pasadena, California, photographer Gregg Segal embarked on a project capturing individuals from diverse backgrounds and ages within his garden. Utilizing three distinct settings - water, beach, and forest - Segal juxtaposed each subject amidst a week’s accumulation of their waste. Participants were tasked with gathering and preserving all their refuse, including recyclable materials, for the duration of a week. Through this unique approach, Segal’s project not only highlights the intimate connection between individuals and their waste but also prompts reflection on consumption habits and environmental impact in a localized context. “The idea was to make the problem of consumption and waste difficult to ignore by personalizing it. I just started with friends, neighbors, relatives, and anyone else I could convince to save their garbage for one week. They would lie down in it and be photographed so you can see their garbage really clearly. We’ve become so immune to the products we consume that it felt like something that I needed to do. And I photograph my own family as well, because I didn’t want to come off as if I am pointing my finger at everyone else. I think of the consumer as both victim and perpetrator; we are victims of the whole system in a way that we are also contributing to that very same problem.” - Gregg Segal #greggsegal #waste #overconsumption
instagram.comcruel optimism: Lauren Berlant’s seminal coinage for “when something you desire is actually an obstacle to your flourishing.” In Berlant’s usage, optimism is “the force that moves you out of yourself and into the world” in search of something—some sense of self or state of being—that you can’t generate on your own. This optimistic relation can feel... See more
— Rayne Fisher Quann
Often we fail to improve our lives simply because things don't get bad enough. If your new job is hell, you’ll leave it, but if it’s just unsatisfying, you’ll likely grind it out. Thus, small problems often threaten our quality of life more than big ones.