Postmoderndism ... "again" seems so weak

classic Classic list List threaded Threaded
1 message Options
Reply | Threaded
Open this post in threaded view
|

Postmoderndism ... "again" seems so weak

gepr

So, having pledged to burn some of my free ear time on it, I'm listening to this episode:

https://jimruttshow.blubrry.net/the-jim-rutt-show-transcripts/transcript-of-episode-117-samo-burja-on-societal-decline/

And right after a rare good discussion about the replication crisis, and immediately after presenting a very good idea, Rutt slips into his typical Void of Reasonless Stupidity ranting about postmodernism. Luckily, Burja deflected competently back to reason. But I stopped listening there because, on another tab in my browser, I have this open:

http://bactra.org/reviews/wolfram/

A fantastic criticism of Wolfram's descent into crackpotism. [⛧] The point being that the very thin line between genius and madness is one of the things postmodernism handles *well* ... and as many point out, postmodern writers eat their own dog food by writing some stuff that's completely unintelligible, peppered with brilliant insight. Unlike the very well-ordered thinkers/writers among us, my tastes run toward the Eddington typewriters <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem>. We covered it a bit in the context of the Uncanny Valley. We each have different tolerances for how similar the artifact is when it enters the valley, at the nadir, and when it re-emerges. But I feel like, for me, the curve is flipped. I really enjoy those artifacts at the bottom that seem to disgust my (rational) friends ... a bit like watching splatter horror films or staring at trypophobia-triggering images.

Simlarly, Rutt pointed out that the same "hunter-killer algorithm" that targets QAnon on Facebook targeted Game B. I don't think that's a coincidence. While Game B might *seem* like it's on this side of the valley to some, it's as thoroughly batsh¡t as QAnon. And his antipathy to postmodernism seems to signal he's missing an important interoceptive organ. What's the old aphorism? Something like: "If you question your sanity, then you're sane." I suppose that argues that those of us who don't question our sanity are at higher risk of insanity.


[⛧] I'm re-readingg it because of Shalizi's latest log entry: http://bactra.org/weblog/sub-re-intermediation.html

--
↙↙↙ uǝlƃ

- .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. .
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6  bit.ly/virtualfriam
un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/
archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
uǝʃƃ ⊥ glen