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June 22 - July 17, 2020
Advertisers play on this all the time, selling sports cars as a substitute for freedom, junk food and soda as a substitute for excitement, “brands” as a substitute for social identity, and pretty much everything as a substitute for sex, itself a proxy for the intimacy that is so lacking in modern life. We might also see sports hero worship as a substitute for the expression of one’s own greatness, amusement parks as a substitute for the transcending of boundaries, pornography as a substitute for self-love, and overeating as a substitute for connection or the feeling of being present. What we
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Are advertisers not people?
The derision of the cynic comes from a wound of crushed idealism and betrayed hopes.
This is largely true, although doesn't state whether is possible to get rid of the cynicism
You might say I am preaching to the choir.
Yes
Let me take the argument of interbeing to its extreme. Climate change skeptics often blame climate fluctuations on the sun, which of course is not influenced by human activity—right? Well, I would hazard to bet that most premodern people would disagree that the sun is unaffected by human affairs. Many of them had rituals to thank and propitiate the sun, so that it would keep shining. Could it be that they knew something that we do not? Could it be that the sun is recoiling in pain from the ingratitude and violence humanity is perpetrating on Earth? That it will inevitably mirror our own
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Mythology driven argument - not very logically sound
Although I have firsthand experience with several technologies that conventional science calls impossible, I will not promote them in this book. The reason is, again, if these are to save us, then why haven’t they already? Many have been known and suppressed for decades.
borderline scifi
a lot more touch, a lot more lovemaking, a lot more hugging, a lot more deep gazing into each other’s eyes, a lot more fresh-ground tortillas and just-harvested tomatoes still warm from the sun, a lot more singing, a lot more dancing, a lot more timelessness, a lot more beauty in the built environment, a lot more pristine views, a lot more water fresh from the spring.
Not everyone likes these things
Situationism is also an understanding to which we have direct experiential access. Have you ever had a moment of understanding where another person is coming from, when all of a sudden we inhabit his or her world and everything he or she has been doing makes sense? No longer is that other person some kind of monster, an other. I can understand a little bit of the experience of being her. With this insight, forgiveness arises naturally, and it is impossible to hate. It also shows us that whenever we do hate someone, we are hating ourselves too.
This may be the only paragraph in the book I agree with so far
It is a mistake to blame psychopaths for our present condition; they are a result, not a cause.
Their success is the result - existence of psychopaths is a given, whether they succeed is a result of the environment
“It isn’t only that evil is a product of our institutions, though certainly many of them, such as the money system, elicit and reward evil. The evil is prior to any of those; indeed, our evil institutions were created and imposed on us by evil people. Moreover, such people are still among us today. They will not allow you to change the system. There is evil in the world, Charles, fundamental evil. If you comfort yourself with fantasies about how it can be healed, it will simply take advantage of you. The evil must be confronted and defeated.”
As far as I can tell, this is a strawman
“I will do anything in my power to create a world in which this no longer happens.”
What if evil needs to exist?
“You are not dangerous. I know you are a good person.”
No one is evil. Good people do evil things
Before the choice is made, it is as if the persecutor were in a quantum superposition of states.
subjective reality arguments
