Mike, so many people with technical knowledge lack the ability to convey it in writing. Your writing skills are extraordinary in form and content. It's what drew me in initially.
My favorite metaphor in this piece: "They’re trying to direct a murmuration of birds using Robert’s Rules of Order..." It says so much in so few words!
The most thoroughly lost in my mind are the Accelerationists. We will never transcend biology, and the urge to do so is pure terror at the thought of the death of the ego.
you truly blow me away. I have similar thoughts floating around in my brain but not the skill to organize them and write them down. You are amazing. Also, oddly enough this essay gives me some hope.
My first thought was, “By God, I wish I had written that!”
My second thought was to realize that it wasn’t the writing that I envied, or even the publication of the writing.
It was the seeing, the experiencing of the insight — that moment of clarity that produces a head ‘high’ that simply can’t be duplicated by any other means.
Yes, I envy that.
But then you did the work. You wrote about it.
You held the thought in freeze-frame long enough to capture an outlined skeleton.
And then you did the work needed to make it into something recognizable, describable, … and something you could share.
Rubbing shoulders with those guys has provided you with a great insight into what they're doing, but as someone a little closer to the ground -- a lifelong public servant -- I believe we are more capable as a people -- once aroused and again following our deeper, easily-assumed and taken-for-granted values. I do find it astonishing. Yes, too many so-called "leaders" are as you say, but guess what -- they're only leading the like-minded minorities prowling the surface. Deeper thinkers and communitarians have a different leverage on the body politic, one that is completely missed by those who try to interpret the results of pretenders, so it's important to keep clear, keep communicating, keep listening, and start building together. You're a great asset, don't get sandbagged. We had good leadership, so good that we took it for granted, and the bobbleheads have caught us off-guard and made a meal of us, backed by well-heeled Jacobins.
Excellent essay: I love the insightful content and the way it flows.
Have we got any cultural tools, current or traditional, besides ridicule, for encouraging humility and not-knowing? Too bad everyone's not Irish: Laura Kennedy's substack title (Peak Notions) refers to Irish tendencies to disapprove of people who call attention to themselves with "notions"— a difficult environment for someone with lots of original notions.
And yet, what if the tech oligarchs had been checked now and then with a few frowns of disapproval from their superiors? Perhaps humility is even the highest tool of criticism: if you have the ability to question your own thinking at all its levels, you cannot avoid becoming very good at recognizing shortcomings in others' mental frameworks.
As for culture, maybe Arabic ultimate submission to the will of Allah or Asian resignation to fate can provide balance. Western science and reason have been so successful in letting us build the world we have that it's impossible for even the most intelligent to understand their limits. (Good old Christian humility is probably off the table at this point.)
This essay was an easy read: it efficiently draws together a set of well-expressed, succinct ideas that lead up to a useful takeaway about play.
I haven't finished reading it. I need to set aside more time for it. But my hot take is that you seem to be describing an evolutionary situation in which our environment is changing faster than our ability to adapt. In the past, that has led to the extinction of species. Ironically, we are primarily responsible for the accelerating the rate of change. We seem to have expanded scientific knowledge far faster than we developed the wisdom to use it without destroying ourselves in the process.
Thanks, Mike. More push back on Yarvin & the technomonarchy from multiple fronts is needed. How can your messages get to a wider audience? Scott Galloway? Joe Rogan? Ezra Klein?
Some great analogies in this piece. Too many people these days thinking so technically that they fail to capture/understand the nuance of practical wisdom and the artistic nature of language. Art as the imitation of life is essentially the best analogy for living virtuously and creating greatness. Leaders who have become obsessed with calculations and controlling interests are failing us in this vital concept of understanding human nature. Glad to find someone else who actually gets it. Cheers Mike
The evolutionary theory described by Darwin and updated with modern genetics is not the same as social evolution of society as promoted by Spencer and his delusional accolytes; it doesn't compute.
Excellent essay. Spot on. You've articulated (quite well) what I've been thinking and feeling for decades...especially now that I'm retired from 40+ years in the information technology industry.
One pattern seems to me to be clear. People (part gene part meme, as you say) are part intelligence and part feelings-machine. An event occurs, the feelings/machine feeds a direction/motive to the intelligence, and action/speech follows. These responses are usually in well-worn grooves, though where there is novelty there is random chance. Millions of these beings populate the world, giving rise to currents/swarms of behaviour, often following populists or cultural norms. A problem is how to influence these currents into good outcomes, when - as you say - we don’t really understand where the memes are taking us anyway! Anyway, best wishes in your endeavours.
Anyone claiming to know civilization's purpose is full of shit, let alone how to run it. The "experts" as defined here want adoption of their particular view of human purpose. Like the 12th century Catholic Church reinforcing the purpose of life is to serve God's plan. Purpose enables power.
Mike - what's your take for conservatives under the "The Fundamental Pretense" section?
Mike, so many people with technical knowledge lack the ability to convey it in writing. Your writing skills are extraordinary in form and content. It's what drew me in initially.
My favorite metaphor in this piece: "They’re trying to direct a murmuration of birds using Robert’s Rules of Order..." It says so much in so few words!
The most thoroughly lost in my mind are the Accelerationists. We will never transcend biology, and the urge to do so is pure terror at the thought of the death of the ego.
I agree. In effect, it's like the ultimate genocide.
you truly blow me away. I have similar thoughts floating around in my brain but not the skill to organize them and write them down. You are amazing. Also, oddly enough this essay gives me some hope.
Effing Brilliant!
My first thought was, “By God, I wish I had written that!”
My second thought was to realize that it wasn’t the writing that I envied, or even the publication of the writing.
It was the seeing, the experiencing of the insight — that moment of clarity that produces a head ‘high’ that simply can’t be duplicated by any other means.
Yes, I envy that.
But then you did the work. You wrote about it.
You held the thought in freeze-frame long enough to capture an outlined skeleton.
And then you did the work needed to make it into something recognizable, describable, … and something you could share.
Nice!
Thank you.
I couldn't agree more.
Rubbing shoulders with those guys has provided you with a great insight into what they're doing, but as someone a little closer to the ground -- a lifelong public servant -- I believe we are more capable as a people -- once aroused and again following our deeper, easily-assumed and taken-for-granted values. I do find it astonishing. Yes, too many so-called "leaders" are as you say, but guess what -- they're only leading the like-minded minorities prowling the surface. Deeper thinkers and communitarians have a different leverage on the body politic, one that is completely missed by those who try to interpret the results of pretenders, so it's important to keep clear, keep communicating, keep listening, and start building together. You're a great asset, don't get sandbagged. We had good leadership, so good that we took it for granted, and the bobbleheads have caught us off-guard and made a meal of us, backed by well-heeled Jacobins.
Mike, I love reading your posts because they are so thought provoking. But, I ask the question, “do you ever sleep?”
I sleep well!
I find myself with so many Mike Brock quotes, I’ll just restack.❤️
Excellent essay: I love the insightful content and the way it flows.
Have we got any cultural tools, current or traditional, besides ridicule, for encouraging humility and not-knowing? Too bad everyone's not Irish: Laura Kennedy's substack title (Peak Notions) refers to Irish tendencies to disapprove of people who call attention to themselves with "notions"— a difficult environment for someone with lots of original notions.
And yet, what if the tech oligarchs had been checked now and then with a few frowns of disapproval from their superiors? Perhaps humility is even the highest tool of criticism: if you have the ability to question your own thinking at all its levels, you cannot avoid becoming very good at recognizing shortcomings in others' mental frameworks.
As for culture, maybe Arabic ultimate submission to the will of Allah or Asian resignation to fate can provide balance. Western science and reason have been so successful in letting us build the world we have that it's impossible for even the most intelligent to understand their limits. (Good old Christian humility is probably off the table at this point.)
This essay was an easy read: it efficiently draws together a set of well-expressed, succinct ideas that lead up to a useful takeaway about play.
I haven't finished reading it. I need to set aside more time for it. But my hot take is that you seem to be describing an evolutionary situation in which our environment is changing faster than our ability to adapt. In the past, that has led to the extinction of species. Ironically, we are primarily responsible for the accelerating the rate of change. We seem to have expanded scientific knowledge far faster than we developed the wisdom to use it without destroying ourselves in the process.
Thanks, Mike. More push back on Yarvin & the technomonarchy from multiple fronts is needed. How can your messages get to a wider audience? Scott Galloway? Joe Rogan? Ezra Klein?
Some great analogies in this piece. Too many people these days thinking so technically that they fail to capture/understand the nuance of practical wisdom and the artistic nature of language. Art as the imitation of life is essentially the best analogy for living virtuously and creating greatness. Leaders who have become obsessed with calculations and controlling interests are failing us in this vital concept of understanding human nature. Glad to find someone else who actually gets it. Cheers Mike
The evolutionary theory described by Darwin and updated with modern genetics is not the same as social evolution of society as promoted by Spencer and his delusional accolytes; it doesn't compute.
It is technology run amuck.
Excellent essay. Spot on. You've articulated (quite well) what I've been thinking and feeling for decades...especially now that I'm retired from 40+ years in the information technology industry.
One pattern seems to me to be clear. People (part gene part meme, as you say) are part intelligence and part feelings-machine. An event occurs, the feelings/machine feeds a direction/motive to the intelligence, and action/speech follows. These responses are usually in well-worn grooves, though where there is novelty there is random chance. Millions of these beings populate the world, giving rise to currents/swarms of behaviour, often following populists or cultural norms. A problem is how to influence these currents into good outcomes, when - as you say - we don’t really understand where the memes are taking us anyway! Anyway, best wishes in your endeavours.
Thank you.
Very educational.
Anyone claiming to know civilization's purpose is full of shit, let alone how to run it. The "experts" as defined here want adoption of their particular view of human purpose. Like the 12th century Catholic Church reinforcing the purpose of life is to serve God's plan. Purpose enables power.
Mike - what's your take for conservatives under the "The Fundamental Pretense" section?