«The life of sexuality is the best, the noblest, the greatest opposition
against the drive for divisions. This is demonstrated most clearly in
cooperation between the conflicting social classes for the sake of
production. That which belongs together is torn apart at some point and
desires to be together once again with itself. Love (philia) has the
will to overcome the rule of strife: [Empedocles] calls her Philotes,
Affection, Cyprus, Aphrodite, and Harmonia[.] Innermost to this drive
is the search for equality: with inequality for everyone, Aversion
arises; with equality for all, want.» F. Nietzsche, THE PRE-PLATONIC
PHILOSOPHERS
Saturday, November 29, 2014
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
essentially contested
«And yet perhaps, after all, it is better for a country that its seats
of learning should do more to suppress mental growth than to encourage
it. Were it not for a certain priggishness which these places infuse
into so great a number of their alumni, genuine work would become
dangerously common. It is essential that by far the greater part of
what is said or done in the world should be so ephemeral as to take
itself away quickly; it should keep good for twenty-four hours, or even
twice as long, but it should not be good enough a week hence to prevent
people from going on to something else. No doubt the marvellous
development of journalism in England, as also the fact that our seats of
learning aim rather at fostering mediocrity than anything higher, is due
to our subconscious recognition of the fact that it is even more
necessary to check exuberance of mental development than to encourage
it. There can be no doubt that this is what our academic bodies do, and
they do it the more effectually because they do it only subconsciously.
They think they are advancing healthy mental assimilation and digestion,
whereas in reality they are little better than cancer in the stomach.»
of learning should do more to suppress mental growth than to encourage
it. Were it not for a certain priggishness which these places infuse
into so great a number of their alumni, genuine work would become
dangerously common. It is essential that by far the greater part of
what is said or done in the world should be so ephemeral as to take
itself away quickly; it should keep good for twenty-four hours, or even
twice as long, but it should not be good enough a week hence to prevent
people from going on to something else. No doubt the marvellous
development of journalism in England, as also the fact that our seats of
learning aim rather at fostering mediocrity than anything higher, is due
to our subconscious recognition of the fact that it is even more
necessary to check exuberance of mental development than to encourage
it. There can be no doubt that this is what our academic bodies do, and
they do it the more effectually because they do it only subconsciously.
They think they are advancing healthy mental assimilation and digestion,
whereas in reality they are little better than cancer in the stomach.»
Monday, November 24, 2014
erewhonian rhapsody
«In the following chapter I will give a few examples of the way in which
what we should call misfortune, hardship, or disease are dealt with by
the Erewhonians, but for the moment will return to their treatment of
cases that with us are criminal. As I have already said, these, though
not judicially punishable, are recognised as requiring correction.
Accordingly, there exists a class of men trained in soul-craft, whom
they call straighteners, as nearly as I can translate a word which
literally means "one who bends back the crooked." These men practise
much as medical men in England, and receive a quasi-surreptitious fee on
every visit. They are treated with the same unreserve, and obeyed as
readily, as our own doctors—that is to say, on the whole
sufficiently—because people know that it is their interest to get well
as soon as they can, and that they will not be scouted as they would be
if their bodies were out of order, even though they may have to undergo
a very painful course of treatment.»
«There is one remedy for this, and one only. It is that which the
laws of this country have long received and acted upon, and consists
in the sternest repression of all diseases whatsoever, as soon as
their existence is made manifest to the eye of the law.»
«You may say that it is your misfortune to be criminal; I answer that
it is your crime to be unfortunate.»
«Lastly, I should point out that [...] the more you had been found guiltless of the crime imputed to you, the more you would have been found guilty of one hardly less heinous—I mean the crime of having been maligned unjustly.»
«What is responsibility? Surely to be responsible means to be liable
to have to give an answer should it be demanded, and all things which
live are responsible for their lives and actions should society see
fit to question them through the mouth of its authorised agent.»
what we should call misfortune, hardship, or disease are dealt with by
the Erewhonians, but for the moment will return to their treatment of
cases that with us are criminal. As I have already said, these, though
not judicially punishable, are recognised as requiring correction.
Accordingly, there exists a class of men trained in soul-craft, whom
they call straighteners, as nearly as I can translate a word which
literally means "one who bends back the crooked." These men practise
much as medical men in England, and receive a quasi-surreptitious fee on
every visit. They are treated with the same unreserve, and obeyed as
readily, as our own doctors—that is to say, on the whole
sufficiently—because people know that it is their interest to get well
as soon as they can, and that they will not be scouted as they would be
if their bodies were out of order, even though they may have to undergo
a very painful course of treatment.»
«There is one remedy for this, and one only. It is that which the
laws of this country have long received and acted upon, and consists
in the sternest repression of all diseases whatsoever, as soon as
their existence is made manifest to the eye of the law.»
«You may say that it is your misfortune to be criminal; I answer that
it is your crime to be unfortunate.»
«Lastly, I should point out that [...] the more you had been found guiltless of the crime imputed to you, the more you would have been found guilty of one hardly less heinous—I mean the crime of having been maligned unjustly.»
«What is responsibility? Surely to be responsible means to be liable
to have to give an answer should it be demanded, and all things which
live are responsible for their lives and actions should society see
fit to question them through the mouth of its authorised agent.»
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
the at-issue meaning
Dr. Ray Stantz: Everything was fine with our system until the power grid was shut off by dickless here.
Walter Peck: They caused an explosion!
Mayor: Is this true?
Dr. Peter Venkman: Yes, it's true.
[pause]
Dr. Peter Venkman: This man has no dick.
- http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2014/10/30/ghostbusters_and_at_issue_ness_the_hidden_rules_of_conversation.html
Walter Peck: They caused an explosion!
Mayor: Is this true?
Dr. Peter Venkman: Yes, it's true.
[pause]
Dr. Peter Venkman: This man has no dick.
- http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2014/10/30/ghostbusters_and_at_issue_ness_the_hidden_rules_of_conversation.html
Sunday, November 9, 2014
naked lunch #1
«Without wanting to be overly reductive, Kerouac believed in his work
with a single-minded passion, and in refusing to accept cuts, he rejects
the publishers' power to force decisions onto him and to impose
narrative intelligibility — their commercially-driven definition of
aesthetic coherence. In the case of Burroughs, far from writing as if
beyond or outside the context of publishing, he has no illusions
whatsoever about his position, about all the compromises and economic
determinations involved in getting a book to market.»
«Clearly enough, the plan to combine the first person "Junk" with the
third-person "Queer" is not just a formal problem for Burroughs'
publishers. On the contrary, this plan to combine manuscripts is also a
plan for a visibly divided self: not just two books in one, but in
effect two persons with the same name in one book, split by the
difference in narrative point of view. The result would therefore embody
Burroughs' own lack of single-mindedness, his own internal rift, which
he has displaced onto Ace Books and literalised in the image of being
sawed in half.»
«In conclusion, the shift from "Junk" to "Queer" marked by the
appearance in April 1952 of the routine was a turning point in
Burroughs' writing — but what's equally clear is that it arises as a
moment of crisis and self-contradiction — as much the breakdown of a
straight method as the choice of a queer one. This was not the end of
the story, but its beginning.»
- http://realitystudio.org/scholarship/confusions-masterpiece/
with a single-minded passion, and in refusing to accept cuts, he rejects
the publishers' power to force decisions onto him and to impose
narrative intelligibility — their commercially-driven definition of
aesthetic coherence. In the case of Burroughs, far from writing as if
beyond or outside the context of publishing, he has no illusions
whatsoever about his position, about all the compromises and economic
determinations involved in getting a book to market.»
«Clearly enough, the plan to combine the first person "Junk" with the
third-person "Queer" is not just a formal problem for Burroughs'
publishers. On the contrary, this plan to combine manuscripts is also a
plan for a visibly divided self: not just two books in one, but in
effect two persons with the same name in one book, split by the
difference in narrative point of view. The result would therefore embody
Burroughs' own lack of single-mindedness, his own internal rift, which
he has displaced onto Ace Books and literalised in the image of being
sawed in half.»
«In conclusion, the shift from "Junk" to "Queer" marked by the
appearance in April 1952 of the routine was a turning point in
Burroughs' writing — but what's equally clear is that it arises as a
moment of crisis and self-contradiction — as much the breakdown of a
straight method as the choice of a queer one. This was not the end of
the story, but its beginning.»
- http://realitystudio.org/scholarship/confusions-masterpiece/
further to
Several quotes from a recent study.
(http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp1245.pdf)
«If policy-makers care about well-being, they need a recursive model of
how adult life-satisfaction is predicted by childhood influences, acting
both directly and (indirectly) through adult circumstances. [...] The
most powerful childhood predictor of adult life-satisfaction is the
child's emotional health. Next comes the child's conduct. The least
powerful predictor is the child's intellectual development. This has
obvious implications for educational policy. Among adult circumstances,
family income accounts for only 0.5% of the variance of
life-satisfaction. Mental and physical health are much more important.»
«The second strand of work so far has used cohort data to explore the
distal influence of childhood and adolescence upon adult
well-being. [...] Such an approach could lead to an excessive focus on
childhood and adolescence as determinants of well-being, with little
role left for policies relating to adult life. [...] In this first
attempt at such a combined "path model", we take adult life-satisfaction
as the measure of a successful life. This is determined partly by
"adult outcomes", and partly by family background and childhood
development. But these "adult outcomes" also have to be explained
themselves – and childhood development may be crucial to this. Our
family background in turn profoundly influences development in
childhood.»
«How far can we predict adult life-satisfaction at different earlier
points in a person's life? So how far does the child "reveal" the adult?
Or can we all be remade in adulthood?»
«[W]hen to intervene – earlier or later. If childhood well-being
matters as much as adult well-being, then the main issue on the benefit
side is how long the effects last. For language learning for example
the answer here is clear (it lasts longer if the intervention is
earlier). But for emotional learning there is still much to be
discovered. On the cost side adult interventions generally produce
immediate flow backs to public finance as more people go out to work and
earn. Child interventions can produce massive savings to public
finances but these are often quite delayed. Clearly we need
interventions at all ages and the optimum balance will remain unclear
until we have better life-course models.»
«The model we develop is a recursive path model in which
life-satisfaction at each age can in principle depend on everything that
happened before that.»
«Policy-makers need models which show them the impact of all the main
factors affecting adult life-satisfaction, in a consistent framework
using the same metric.»
(http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp1245.pdf)
«If policy-makers care about well-being, they need a recursive model of
how adult life-satisfaction is predicted by childhood influences, acting
both directly and (indirectly) through adult circumstances. [...] The
most powerful childhood predictor of adult life-satisfaction is the
child's emotional health. Next comes the child's conduct. The least
powerful predictor is the child's intellectual development. This has
obvious implications for educational policy. Among adult circumstances,
family income accounts for only 0.5% of the variance of
life-satisfaction. Mental and physical health are much more important.»
«The second strand of work so far has used cohort data to explore the
distal influence of childhood and adolescence upon adult
well-being. [...] Such an approach could lead to an excessive focus on
childhood and adolescence as determinants of well-being, with little
role left for policies relating to adult life. [...] In this first
attempt at such a combined "path model", we take adult life-satisfaction
as the measure of a successful life. This is determined partly by
"adult outcomes", and partly by family background and childhood
development. But these "adult outcomes" also have to be explained
themselves – and childhood development may be crucial to this. Our
family background in turn profoundly influences development in
childhood.»
«How far can we predict adult life-satisfaction at different earlier
points in a person's life? So how far does the child "reveal" the adult?
Or can we all be remade in adulthood?»
«[W]hen to intervene – earlier or later. If childhood well-being
matters as much as adult well-being, then the main issue on the benefit
side is how long the effects last. For language learning for example
the answer here is clear (it lasts longer if the intervention is
earlier). But for emotional learning there is still much to be
discovered. On the cost side adult interventions generally produce
immediate flow backs to public finance as more people go out to work and
earn. Child interventions can produce massive savings to public
finances but these are often quite delayed. Clearly we need
interventions at all ages and the optimum balance will remain unclear
until we have better life-course models.»
«The model we develop is a recursive path model in which
life-satisfaction at each age can in principle depend on everything that
happened before that.»
«Policy-makers need models which show them the impact of all the main
factors affecting adult life-satisfaction, in a consistent framework
using the same metric.»
Thursday, November 6, 2014
yum
And he would feed them from the shock
With flowr of finest wheat,
And satisfie them from the rock
With Honey for their Meat.
- https://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/psalms/psalm_81/text.shtml
With flowr of finest wheat,
And satisfie them from the rock
With Honey for their Meat.
- https://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/psalms/psalm_81/text.shtml
Saturday, November 1, 2014
one or many turtles
«This reflects our belief that a self-watching system should not be
organized as a rigid hierarchy of distinct levels, with each level
responsible only for detecting and responding to patterns occurring at
the level immediately below it, implying the need for an infinite stack
of separate "watcher" mechanisms. Instead, a single set of mechanisms
should be capable of detecting first-order patterns, higher-order
patterns within these patterns, patterns of patterns of patterns, and so
on, with all levels fused together and no limit in principle on the
potential complexity of the patterns involved (Hofstadter, 1985a).»
organized as a rigid hierarchy of distinct levels, with each level
responsible only for detecting and responding to patterns occurring at
the level immediately below it, implying the need for an infinite stack
of separate "watcher" mechanisms. Instead, a single set of mechanisms
should be capable of detecting first-order patterns, higher-order
patterns within these patterns, patterns of patterns of patterns, and so
on, with all levels fused together and no limit in principle on the
potential complexity of the patterns involved (Hofstadter, 1985a).»
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