Great Long-form Articles

[Mordecai]

The New Superfluous Men - American Affairs Journal

It may seem quaint to recall the hand-wringing that accompanied the cancellation of the South by Southwest music and film festival back in March 2020. Yet one of the documentaries slated to premier there has nevertheless resonated in a post-Covid world. Focusing on five young men who channel...

americanaffairsjournal.org

 

[ferball]

Schooling: The Hidden Agenda - The Natural Child Project

Curious to hear anyone's thoughts on this one...

There is alot to talk (or type) about. I agree with alot of it but there's also bit he missed. Like schooling preparing kids to work in factories etc etc ie by anchoring their view of how the world works to 24/7 working days and weeks kids are basically programmed to be working all their life. Indigenous societies (the "Other culture" he is talking about) have been shown to be able to provide survival needs with half or less than half of the working hours we consider standard (35 - 40 hours per week.)

So what else do they do? Play and make art basically.

The author criticises the idea of making kids learn all this stuff they'll never use again, like poetry and whatever, but the reason that happens is the same reason kids in indigenous societies learn all about their culture in terms of stories that are specific to them (and this doesn't end at initiation but carries on throughout their lives. Its not just to keep them out of the job market, its also to create a shared sense of who we are as a people and cos we have so much knowledge and complexity (because of how our massive technological societies work) we have to spend alot of time exposing kids to it even if they then have nothing more to do with it. Its a form of identity politics, or its probably more accurate to say identity formation.

 

[Mordecai]

There is alot to talk (or type) about. I agree with alot of it but there's also bit he missed. Like schooling preparing kids to work in factories etc etc ie by anchoring their view of how the world works to 24/7 working days and weeks kids are basically programmed to be working all their life. Indigenous societies (the "Other culture" he is talking about) have been shown to be able to provide survival needs with half or less than half of the working hours we consider standard (35 - 40 hours per week.)

So what else do they do? Play and make art basically.

The author criticises the idea of making kids learn all this stuff they'll never use again, like poetry and whatever, but the reason that happens is the same reason kids in indigenous societies learn all about their culture in terms of stories that are specific to them (and this doesn't end at initiation but carries on throughout their lives. Its not just to keep them out of the job market, its also to create a shared sense of who we are as a people and cos we have so much knowledge and complexity (because of how our massive technological societies work) we have to spend alot of time exposing kids to it even if they then have nothing more to do with it. Its a form of identity politics, or its probably more accurate to say identity formation.

Great point. It's written focused on the economics of it all but misses out on the "spare" time.

The Burnout Society

The Burnout Society by Byung-Chul Han

apposition.substack.com

 

[ferball]

Great point. It's written focused on the economics of it all but misses out on the "spare" time.

The Burnout Society

The Burnout Society by Byung-Chul Han

apposition.substack.com

The "achievement-subjects" need "Bob" Dobbs more than ever.

I dunno really what to say.

I should go to bed. LOL Merry christmas.

 

[Mordecai]

https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/reading-ourselves-to-death

"A. G. Sertillanges wrote in The Intellectual Life: “The mind is dulled, not fed, by inordinate reading, it is made gradually incapable of reflection and concentration, and therefore of production…. Never read when you can reflect; read only, except in moments of recreation, what concerns the purpose you are pursuing; and read little, so as not to eat up your interior silence.”"

 

[Mordecai]

The "achievement-subjects" need "Bob" Dobbs more than ever.

I dunno really what to say.

I should go to bed. LOL Merry christmas.

Byung-chul Han seems to be having a moment.

part 1

part 2

worth a listen if you have time

 

[ferball]

Mordecai

Man this is great. Thanks.

I just heard the first one and thought - "Yep I agree 100% with that, spot on." Which probably defeats the purpose of what Han was on about lol. Completely agree about the thing with Brave New World vs 1984 too. (Just starting the second pod now.)

 

[ferball]

yep. brilliant.