thirdform

pass the sick bucket

Covers many of the foregoing points. Hates Michael Pollan.

very good points but terrible egomaniac writing. Think he's permanently damaged his brain by being around too many deadheads. He needs to go psychodelic and wet his pants.
 

luka

Well-known member
Stan's program- Fallout 4, microchip brain implants, YouTube lecture series, 'the financial panopticon'

Luke's program - acid, DMT, staring at the wall

What they have in common - social isolation, delusions of grandeur, an aversion to gainful employment
 
Have you heard the term extremophile?

Useful way to think about some the motivations for the political shifts we see in influencers

I think it was @craner who said the same thing about Nick lands swing to the right, he has a deep need to be a guru with a cult following, and that need transcends values and political beliefs


Not every internet guru follows this pattern. Some influencers have developed a genuine interest in a single topic and decided to make it into a career. But many other corners of the internet are full of serial enthusiasts who have pinballed from one ideology to another, believing in each one deeply as they go. These flexible evangelists are perfectly suited to becoming online gurus. They believe, and they need to preach—and because of the lack of gatekeeping on social media, the most talented talkers can easily find an audience online.

The common thread between all of these different Toms—Ralis and Torero; ardent atheist, wannabe monk, and YouTube pick-up artist—was a psychological need, a desire to be respected, to be listened to, to be a preacher. It was the role he wanted. The subject matter that he preached about came second.
 

entertainment

Well-known member
Have you heard the term extremophile?

Useful way to think about some the motivations for the political shifts we see in influencers

I think it was @craner who said the same thing about Nick lands swing to the right, he has a deep need to be a guru with a cult following, and that need transcends values and political beliefs


Twitter is an exceptionally extremist field, a pluralism of wackos dug deep into their trenches. You are exposed to too many positions and all these nerds who've spent their youths fortifying their arguments, some of them obviously very clever, knowledgable, charismatic. This self-assuredness produces an adverse effect of disorientation.
 
I thought it was a good explanation for swinging positions - it’s more about the need fulfilled by the role of the guru or the black sheep or whatever, than any particular rational assessment of how the world works . All political positions are relational, emotional at the root
 

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
Interesting that the term extremophile is used here, in that it implies toggling between different radical ideological positions. Maybe togglingg is the wrong word, because that implies a willfulness which these people, who are depicted as just bouncing from one position to another, seem to lack.

Anyway this notion of willfully toggling between ideological positions is something which greatly interests me, and its a method which is arguably suitable for a democratic leader (IE being able to sympathize with a variety of partisan perspectives).
 
Like that advice about reading people who disagree with you - it’s rare that people actually do that in a meaningful way. you're talking about dialling through the FM of ideology at a distance to glean the useful parts, essentially all about the content none of the immersion/ But extremophiles must find a deep sense of connection, validation in the human aspects, gaining a following, being the expert, being looked up to, a heroic outsider, a vanguard... the actual content is secondary
 

sus

Moderator
When I tell people that the community Mark schismed from developed a psychedelic fascism, in contrast with his acid communism, they get very interested. They always want to hear more.
 
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