A Survey of Futures
Well, I’ve done it. I’ve burned out my backlog. Scribbled this out on the plane and cleaned it up afterwards, hopefully it makes sense. Futures (By Rate-of-Change) Before moving onto a new sequence of ideas, I wanted to play with some other notes I have, about views of futurism. Quick pick-me-ups before I get started: more »
Spengler on Pseudomorphosis
Pseudomorphosis is one of my favorite surprises in reading notes on Spengler. Quotations are from Decline, and I’ll let the quotations carry the points here. I had some guidance by selected quotes cited by this site. This is my last post on Decline for a little while. I scribbled some notes on my flight, and I’m cleaning that up for more »
Faustian Culture
A brief look at Spengler’s culture names. Same sources as in the previous post, I really ought to do better at linking my sources again. Uncited quotes are all from Decline of the West. “A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart.” -Goethe Spengler’s sense of the essences of different cultures is more »
Spengler’s Meaning of Numbers
I have sometimes talked about numbers as rhetorical devices. I’ve also talked about different concepts and isomorphs (representations of the same “thing”) affording different actions. Simulation Gap: Discrete (hidden) models in games/software attempt to communicate nuanced experiential feedback to players/users. Reducing to Numbers: Numbers are rhetorical devices that can take subtle interactions and make them explicit more »
Spengler’s Winter
The next few posts are on the work and ideas of Oswald Spengler. He’s not a very warm or optimistic guy. Some of this may be written awkwardly- if so, sorry. I wanted to let this post go early and get moving on this topic. A summary of this post: Social reality is as more »
Tribe Dismantling: Confusion vs. Closure
I’m writing this sentence as I started outlining the notes that will become this post, on the 9th of October. I expect that when it automatically publishes, at noon of the 15th of October, the government is still shut down. Unrelated, I swear: Soon I’m switching focus to Oswald Spengler’s Decline of the West for several more »
Tribe Building: Narratives and Social Graphs
I wanted to air two different ideas I’ve been thinking about. One is a set of archetypes for a recurring kind of story, and another is about representation and rhetorical affordances in a more pragmatic sense.
Apologetics II
To understand something is to link it up with a concept or story; to communicate it is to link it up to a concept or story that is shared (and includes the process of building these shared concepts). –Sister Y Earlier this year I read From Jesus to Christ: Origins of the New Testament Images of more »
Apologetics I
– Reflections on First Encountering Ethnomethodology effectively covers a few points I would’ve loved to make (and also re-articulates some ideas I already did mention). It’s a short read that I recommend. I wanted to pay particular attention to how she describes the sculpting of religious/political beliefs. Concepts are socially created and maintained, but they are more »
A (Very Short) Pragmatic Primer
Next week, I’m going back to the topic of rhetoric, writing about apologetics. Today, more quick notes. A simple paragraph on Pragmatism that I hope to return to later. Pragmatism: Philosophical position that replaces Truth and Being with comedy and cold hard cash. -R. Scott Bakker (@theDevilsChirp on Twitter) I was introduced to Pragmatism more »