Beyond Reason: The Top Ten

[sus]

If she is not doing what you want, maybe it is your job to do it

You're right. I'm trying really hard. But I need to try harder I need to focus.

I feel the need... The need for deeds....

 

[sus]

I'm going to go write a world shattering essay on Aquaman now that Craner believes in me. What does it mean for your mother to be the queen of the sea, yet never come visit your lighthouse, where your adorable father stands mournfully at the pier each morning. That's what we're gonna find out.

 

[Clinamenic]

Has anyone asked you for a custom fey satirization of late millenial atlantean culture suspended?

 

[version]

the Mike Antenna interview

"Part of the problem is that we reflexively feel that certain things shouldn’t be defined—that when they are, analysis’ cold scalpel scares away the interpersonal magic of love and mutual respect."

I sometimes feel this, although not always out of concern for the preservation of the interpersonal magic of love and mutual respect. Sometimes I just feel putting every single thing under the microscope generates too much noise. That Baudrillard book I've been reading, The System of Objects, is great, but I also wonder whether we really need a system of objects. Do we need to know what a particular style of chair signifies, or that various items of furniture used to have a moral connotation? Is this information useful or liberating or are we burying ourselves alive under layers and layers of the stuff?

Another angle's all this analysis strips the mystery out of the world. I used to be more sympathetic to that, but nowadays I don't think it does. Every development generates more mysteries, more questions. The book mentioned above makes objects seem stranger to me, if anything.

 

[sus]

Yeah this gets back to some of the stuff about wonder and magic we were talking about the other day. There's just so much richness to reality I don't think you really hit an end, I think this idea that science has disenchanted the world isn't quite right because (a) no one knows the science (b) our science actually doesn't know much. It's more like the cultural narrative of scientific progress has disenchanted us, this false idea we have that everything is known and accounted for, moreso than any actual knowledge.

 

[sus]

And similar for the social world. When you start trying to apply any framework or understanding there's so much excess that defies understanding, you come out of it realizing there's more richness than you thought, rather than less.

It's an arrogant flinching back, "Oh if I were to understand this I'd disenchant my world"—"You will never understand it and you'll barely get close, you'll only gain a toehold from which you can see how much further there is to climb."

 

[shakahislop]

Yeah this gets back to some of the stuff about wonder and magic we were talking about the other day. There's just so much richness to reality I don't think you really hit an end, I think this idea that science has disenchanted the world isn't quite right because (a) no one knows the science (b) our science actually doesn't know much. It's more like the cultural narrative of scientific progress has disenchanted us, this false idea we have that everything is known and accounted for, moreso than any actual knowledge.

one thing i've been thinking about recently is the next scientific discovery that will make us rethink something basic about our existence. it will come at some point. something as big as the existence of genes. the explanation of the world that we have is missing something, that feels more and more obvious. i think you can see that a bit on the internet as everyone is grasping for ideas that make the world make sense.

 

[version]

Yeah this gets back to some of the stuff about wonder and magic we were talking about the other day. There's just so much richness to reality I don't think you really hit an end, I think this idea that science has disenchanted the world isn't quite right because (a) no one knows the science (b) our science actually doesn't know much. It's more like the cultural narrative of scientific progress has disenchanted us, this false idea we have that everything is known and accounted for, moreso than any actual knowledge.

Right, I think it's about presentation more than anything. A science book with some flair will reenchant as much as a dull one will disenchant.

 

[version]

Stop laughing, Luke. You cunt.

 

[luka]

i thought this was a funny line


Do we need to know what a particular style of chair signifies, or that various items of furniture used to have a moral connotation?

 

[sus]

I actually am very interested in this book. Can you start a thread about it Version? I'd love to hear about the connotations of different chair designs.

 

[sus]

It has no effect for me. They're interchangeable. You're better off asking @Corpsey as he had an alter ego on here he said felt like a distinct persona.

I think a large part of my attitude towards Corpsey has been shaped by his having a hellfire William Blake pfp for quite a while when I was just joining the board

 

[sus]

It made him seem like a very tortured and serious person

 

[version]

It made him seem like a very tortured and serious person

Little did you know.

 

[sus]

It had a boyishness and also a maturity. An inbetweenness

 

[luka]

hes got a tortured bumhole

 

[sus]

Speaking of children

 

[luka]

no, he literally does. it's a digestive tract disorder that leaves his bumhole in agony. ask him.

 

[Clinamenic]

Like fireworks, but not in the good way.

 

[Clinamenic]

Stop laughing, Luke. You cunt.

This is how I feel whenever he laughs at my sincere attempts at intellectual engagement on the board.