Friday Notes
I should standardize my “notes/compilation” post titles. I’m annoying myself. I think while I’m reading some unrelated stuff, I might spend some more time wrapping up some more UpWing/DownWing archiving before I lose that thread entirely, since I’ve already got the requisite notes for them hanging around anyway. I may get back to that next more »
Fukuyama’s Vetocracy
There was a comedian- and for the second or third time here, I’m referencing a comedian whose name and set I don’t recall- anyway, there was a comedian who had a piece about how funny it is that we as Americans are always all about exporting democracy, but it never happens to be our own more »
Mulling: class, mythologies, performance
Slightly looser theme than usual. I got sick this weekend and botched up my usual reading/writing rhythm. It may be a day or two before another post. I. Downton Abbey I finished the new season of Downton Abbey with my girlfriend this week (it premiers in the US next month, but it’s finished it more »
Mulling: Governing Systems
Curated quotes/notes, mostly spun out of yesterday’s new posts from Ribbonfarm and The Last Psychiatrist. I. Voight Against the Machine First- A story told by Sebastian Deterding, one of my favorite no-bullshit games researchers and Gamification experts (and whom I will eventually talk about at length?) Most of Gamification is bullshit so I’ve been careful more »
The Bicameral Mind
Note: I was structurally changing the blog a bit. Nothing seems to be broken, but who really knows anything. Apologies in advance. — Jaynes: The speculative thesis which I shall try to explain in this chapter- and it is very speculative- is simply an obvious corollary from what has gone before. The bicameral mind more »
Julian Jaynes On What Consciousness Is(n’t)
Again, I’m reading Jaynes’ Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind because it’s an odd and influential work, described as genius and madness by the same people. I’ve found it a very accessible and interesting read, regardless of the literal truth claims. Metaphors and Understanding Generations ago we would understand thunderstorms perhaps as more »
Anatomy of a Metaphor
This week’s post are likely to be mainly about my recent book reading. — Essences and Surfaces argues that analogy is the basis of all thinking. This was an idea I already entertained, so maybe that’s why I have found the book to be a bit too repetitive although some of the examples were fun (ex. more »
November 02013
So ends the month of November. 21 posts in 30 days. Wrote about UpWing/DownWing thought, networks (as a form of human organization), proceduralization of decisions, and a little bit more on the Dark Enlightenment, among some other smaller one-shot posts. I experimented with different ways of writing, compiling notes from my own private online discussions (which more »
In-Flight Notes II
Packing to go down to Atlanta for Thanksgiving. I. Soon, I’m gonna finally reduce my writing frequency here as I start new projects. The norm might return to 2 posts/week. I’m going to launch a second blog on this site specifically for logging project development/production, coming soon. The kinds of stuff I’m working on: some more »
Legitimacy
About a month ago, I wrote this: “Power finds a narrative to justify itself. Humans are naturally social, and so tribes are to humans as ant hills are to ants. Institutions are not called forth by supernatural means- they propagate themselves naturally through coercion, utility, or the appearance of utility. Often a mix of the more »