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Tag: philosophy

  • Theme:

    Universal truth depends on Myopia

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    1–2 minutes

    Universal truth (a 100% applicable or capital “T” truth) can only come from a partial, subjective position, a myopic stance.

    An all-encompassing answer can only come from (and be applied to) a limited, singular perspective. Once new perspectives are added, exceptions undermine truth’s universality.

    To comprehend universal truth, one must recognize that it cannot be fully grasped unless one can simultaneously embody all conceivable perspectives.

    “True universality and partiality do not exclude each other, but universal Truth is accessible only from a partial engaged subjective position” Slavoj Zizek

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    Scripted Failure: Emotions as progress

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    1–2 minutes

    Rejecting algorithmic and scientific models for historical prediction leaves communities opting for non-hierarchical, human-centric engagement. They often experience catastrophic breakdowns on schedule; refusing predictive models, they predictably collapse.

    The apparent solidarity and spontaneity in these ‘hippie utopias’ are ironically scripted and performed, ensuring their failure. We have comprehensively mapped emotions heuristics, so retreating into feelings as a basis for progress or escape is the inverse: a truly automated failure.

    Idea from Benjamin Bratton

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    Beyond Linguistic Duality

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    1–2 minutes

    As soon as you start arguing a binary approach is developed from which to consider and oppose. This is often a linguistic move: seeking the antonym establishes distance and distinction.
    Another way of knowing, outside of concepts of language and conceptual understanding, is realizing something in totality. This is a version of wisdom beyond blunt dualities, yet can appear unintelligent: they do not have articulated language or positions, yet they are avoiding the symbolic logic traps that tangle us.

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    nostalgic turn: plastic history

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    1–2 minutes

    As the postmodern present dissolves and becomes increasingly mutable, we find ourselves looking for stability by returning to the past—the nostalgic turn.

    And yet, in our look backward, we find historical movies have a jumpy and grainy unreality, which has now been smoothed into a slick hyper-reality: history is re-envisioned as epically cinematic, which reads as another slick, artificial fantasy.

    The production of the real underscores the fake, further deteriorating our search for stability.

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    feigning agency as free will

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    1–2 minutes

    Subjectivity is about internal preferences and our personal perception of the world, while objectivity acknowledges external, unchangeable facts accepted by consensus.

    However, consider that "to object" is to block or challenge (obstruct), while "to subject" is to submit and limit yourself.

    Žižek argues that in this reversal of language use, we encounter the parallax, where the subject, typically the active agent, is acted upon by the previously passive object.

    Seen from this point of view, our subjective agency and sovereignty is a delusional game. We gracefully feign agency by embracing submission as an expression of free will: amor fati.

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    impossibility of stopping

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    1–2 minutes

    We are the most potent, rapacious animal: we cannot be stopped, even by ourselves.

    Disciplined behavior will not suffice, so we are left with two solutions: 1) creating a parent for ourselves, such as God or AI, or 2) creating a new territory into which our drives can expand, such as space or virtual worlds.

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    Lightness of being

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    1–2 minutes

    As materiality has evolved from the weight of gold to ethereal digital currencies, human connection and interaction also transition from solidity (physical presence, solid character) to the instability of digital relations. The economic transformation mirrors the shift from concrete to conceptual: all things become lighter forms of existence.

    Consider communication, from letters inscribed on paper and ink to instant digital messages. Or physical marketplaces, where goods exchanged hands over handshakes, to virtual transactions and blind clicks.

    This increasing ‘lightness of being’ spins us toward a non-material trajectory: the weight of our interactions mirrors the weight of our values, from physical engagement to ephemeral experience. Once, our presence socially was communally anchored (and bound to mores) but now fluctuates and disperses into the digital ether, yet our flickering agency now takes the form of ghosts wailing to be substantive again.

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    Knowledge vs. truth as failure

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    1–2 minutes

    – often, when we search for knowledge, we are searching for the truth, and when we search for the truth, some people are searching for certainty, the Karl Popper warns us seeking truth is a process of failures disproving our assumptions.

    In our quest for knowledge, we often seek truth, yet this search can morph into a pursuit of certainty for some.

    Karl Popper cautions against viewing "truth" as a straightforward path. He emphasizes that truth is inherently a process of iterative failures, where success lies in disproving our assumptions rather than confirming them.

    This perspective challenges the conventional notion of knowledge acquisition, urging us to embrace complexity and uncertainty as a process toward truth.

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    Stuckness

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    1–2 minutes

    You learn more from stripping the screw than from a straightforward extraction.

    When we can apply our theory or plan and things just work, we don’t really consider what we are doing. Yet when something breaks, reality intrudes, and your plans vanish, you have become stuck.

    The impulse is to get back on track, often with force or money.

    Only after pausing, dropping your plans, and re-encountering reality at its most fundamental aspect do you become open: you become unstuck, which allows us to solve the problem.

    from Robert M. Pirsig’s “Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance“

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    manufactured meaning

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    The quest for meaning or purpose is misguided.

    Meaning is intertwined with intellect and rationality spawning from the mind’s attempt to comprehend. (What is the meaning of this?) In truth, what we seek is experiential.

    Joseph Campbell’s advice, “Follow your bliss,” suggests that genuine meaning emerges from attentive interaction, not through logical construction.

    This exemplifies the error of mistaking an outcome for an attainable objective, of intellectually fabricating a resonant motivation arising from engaging with the world. Such artificial self-development leads to dueling schizophrenic difficulties, paradoxically producing the necessity for therapeutic intervention and realignment.