K Allado-McDowell On Cringe
Montaigne: To study philosophy is to learn to die.
Clay: This is killing me.
Theorist Paul Virilio: “When you invent the ship, you also invent the shipwreck; when you invent the plane you also invent the plane crash; and when you invent electricity, you invent electrocution… Every technology carries its own negativity, which is invented at the same time as technical progress.”
writing happens through the alchemy of reading and living.
Montaigne: To study philosophy is to learn to die.
Clay: This is killing me.
Emily Segal from Deluge Books and I had been talking about what cringe is, from the perspective of empathy and seeing oneself through the eyes of another. When you push some of these ideas of cringe—what cringe is based on, which is judgement, relationality, intersubjectivity—you can get into an almost Dharmic space of questioning the subject entirely. - KAM
what happens in the present, stays in the present.
“To what extent is the artist merely a preliminary stage?” Nietzsche Will to Power
note to self: you can get yourself twisted up knots over labels and titles; they can help, but they often hinder.
Are you on the road to somewhere you want to be going?
i feel like i’m always asking this question: “Where is now?”
“Judge said, “What have you got in your defense son?” “Fifty-seven channels and nothing on.” - Bruce Springsteen
“Houses! I hate houses. I like public places. Houses break your heart.” ― Jane Bowles
-cross the wounded galaxies we intersect, poison of dead sun in your brain slowly fading-Migrants of apes in gasoline crack of history, explosive bio-advance out of space to neon-
william s. bourroughs, the soft machine
who’s going to save the humans?
first, you are a person…
I’m trying to decide whether to lean more towards disruption and chaos or stay in the realm of dreams and the subconscious mind.
Fireman: Spit it out, what’s your story?
Frostbite Victim: I’m a ghost of who I used to be.
Fireman: Is this a sob story?
Frostbite Victim: I’ve seen the depths of darkness; I’ve wandered the wastelands of despair…
Fireman: Stop right there! Now step back from the edge. The Dark Night of the Soul is not a place to be this time of year.
Frostbite Victim: For a shot of whiskey, I will rise, reborn, stand tall, like a shamrock, on St. Paddy’s day.
Fireman: That’s the spirit. Let’s revel in the messed up poetry of life, dance to the symphony of life and death, walk the line between fire and ice.
Robert Oppenheimer: “I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.”
i’ve been watching Ex_Machina again during my breaks thinking about AI and where we are headed, where we’ve come from…
“…In sleep, in confusion, in the depths of shame, the good deeds a man has done before defend him (HinduGita).”
can i keep up…
i feel like being clay today.
There’s something gnawing at the edges of my consciousness,
a yearning for my imagination to return to its once free and wild self, free from the chains of conventions and the suffocating grip of that which is deemed proper.
I’m desperate for my imagination to spill from eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, defying the very boundaries of sensory perception.
I need my imagination to consume me, day and night, whether I’m kneeling in prayer, whispering secrets to the wind, or downing a bowl of cornflakes with oat milk and bananas. I want my imagination back, like a dharma bum longing for the open road.
If truth can set me free, then my imagination can swing open the doors to infinite possibilities, a mad and endless journey into the unknown, with the power to reimagine, to redefine, and to resist the limitations imposed on me, on us.
Modern tech can be treacherous unless we shape the tools to serve us in a way that aligns with our intent. Amelia Wattenberger makes the case for why chatbots are not the future.
I enjoyed this conversation between Joanna Penn and Kevin Kelly about his new book, Excellent Advice For Living. He also shared some of his thoughts on generative AI. But the line that ended up in my notebook was this: “If you can avoid seeking the approval of others your power is limitless.” Listen
When you’re sat drinking coffee at four in the morning contemplating who created the creator, you know you’re in for a weird day. Smarter people than me have been chasing the “first cause” for centuries. They have yet to settle on an answer. Some say the Creator was self-caused; others say the universe simply exists without a definitive cause. I say we’re trapped in an endless cycle of creation and destruction.
In this huge space, feelings come and go like the waves of a sea that is always changing. Each person’s journey through this landscape is different, based on their past, views, and goals. As we move through the highs and lows of our inner world, we come across times of deep beauty and darkness, which add to the rich tapestry of the human experience as a whole.
settling in for the evening with whisky, coffee, and papa roach.
sign me up!