Pill Pod 186 - Singularities Everywhere (Patreon Exclusive)
Added 2024-10-15 19:31:13 +0000 UTC(Sorry for the late edit, it was Canadian Thanksgiving) Today we take the temperature of all the new futures popping up—the various Acc/s, the radical democracies, the Christofascists, and the Magacomms—and psychoanalyze them as a lump having read Zizek's article that they're all too optimistic to be believed. https://www.compactmag.com/article/the-dialectic-of-dark-enlightenment/
Comments
The problem is that when the liberal centre inevitably fails because of the planet’s physical limitations and the ever widening inequality/economic crises, the mass is then going to turn to a fascist strongman to save them as they’ve done in the past. And accelerationism is happening whether you’re for or against it. Liberalism and capitalism are incredibly robust, you’re right there, but even they have their limits, as recent western political developments are increasingly showing. And yeah the normies are blissfully unaware of all of this, but the rise of fascism is far from a twitteroid’s fantasy, unfortunately.
anacidcommie
2024-11-25 18:22:28 +0000 UTCIf there were no global warming (what a euphemism), rampageing AI right now, CRISPER redesign of all living things, -- not to mention apparently unboundable divelopment and deployment of evermore catestrophic weaponry worldwide, and a handful of Ayn Randian super-rich, Nazi-idealizing uber-oligarchs owning and operating the planet -- well. I think you guys would understand our times remarkably well. Sadly the astonishingly optimistic future you seem confident is coming your way is far too real for your on-line simulacrites to even speak about. Oh, yeah. Trump.
steve willis
2024-11-17 19:05:08 +0000 UTCExactly. I'm an immigrant living in Germany, if the AfD takes power here I'm probably getting deported. So I am rather worried about that.
Zadine Lenin
2024-10-22 07:19:44 +0000 UTCFucking great episode, the only thing I’d slightly disagree with is the point about right wing populism mostly causing psychological harm more than actual day to day harm. While that’s definitely the case for a ton of people it’s important to remember that it isn’t just psychological harm for a lot of people. Women have already died as a result of abortion bans stemming from right wing populism, which is sort of the tip of the iceberg in terms of actual day to day harm.
Matt
2024-10-21 22:46:29 +0000 UTCDudes will just hear these terms in an analysis of the societal mass and say "hell yeah": inertia, mass. HELL YEAH (great episode) The Mass is where the Rubber meets the Road. Jesus took The Wheel. He bopped It, turn't It, spun It. Without a License to Kill, He did anyways. Drove off a cliff, died on impact. Such are the insurance claims of He Who is Born Again. Lol whatever that was
ageOfBumFires
2024-10-21 13:52:39 +0000 UTCI understand a singularity to be the point beyond which a model's trajectory defies its laws, so black holes, big bang, etc. Superintelligences would exist beyond current models, but as fellow posthumans they'd likely update our models as they develop. If intelligence is redefined, and there is a total schism between it and flesh, which one would be the human?
Alex B
2024-10-18 18:17:07 +0000 UTCWhat the fuck is lacrosse?
Florian F.
2024-10-16 19:11:24 +0000 UTCI still think land's book on bataille (thirst for annihilation) is great fun to read, probably his best work. The chapter "the death of sound philosophy" is i think my favorite thing land has written.
N0THANKY0U
2024-10-16 15:31:01 +0000 UTCReally awesome episode thank you!
Matt S
2024-10-16 14:45:55 +0000 UTCGreat episode- a random thought that this episode brings to mind. Re “reality is the contradiction” and “how do these issues really hurt people.” Maybe the “trauma” so to speak, is related to the disjuncture between the “mundane” individual life and the “crisis defined” collective life. We are bombarded by images of the worst tortures imaginable (many seek it out by choice- either as a test of your personal capacity to “black pill” or as a reason to believe that the world is about to end.) As we are bombarded by these images, our lives continue in an incredibly boring way. The only through line between “collective crisis” and “individual mundaneness” is the fact that life is gradually but measurably becoming more difficult. Within the logic of the “mundane individual life”- these issues are both prosaic and intractable (issues that liberal technocracy is supposed to appeal to but doesn’t.) Within the logic of the “crisis of the collective”- political and social issues become potentially heroic and solvable (or at least resolvable through some cataclysm- of which we are offered an endless list of realistic and imaginary apocalypses.) The “trauma” or “need” MAGA Com chuds, right wing populists, or muscular liberals respond to is the need we all have to connect our mundane lives to a greater, potentially heroic narrative. The simpler the narrative (ie the easier it is to identify “heroes and villains”) the wider its appeal. The allure is all the more because the “activism” these movements entail are purely aesthetic and mostly symbolic (violence in a way is the ultimate form of the simple and aesthetic.) I suspect that the rise of these movements, and the appeal of “accelerationism” is a low key will to self destruct. Since destruction offers a spectacle, entertainment and an interruption of the mundane- bored, isolated, and angry people flock to it. The trauma arises from the fact that this “heroic myth” is deeply impoverished, another version of modernity (too “optimistic” as Zizek says) and every individual has to contend with how hollowed out they’ve become. Even their dreams are hollow (unable to fill the gap between the “boring individual life” and the “crisis collective reality.”) Schopenhauer is likely laughing in his grave- the “will to live” is still alive and well 160 years after he wrote about it. i hope that makes some sense- keep up the good work!
Isaac Suárez
2024-10-16 00:34:54 +0000 UTCToday, we rode a ship with no captain. Wild ride though 😜
Mrityunjay Awasthy
2024-10-15 20:51:29 +0000 UTC
