131–140 of 247 posts
Xenia plays a very important role in both the Iliad and the Odyssey. The idea of obligations running in both directions makes it a much richer concept than simple “hospitality.”
Such a beautiful word, too. It's great to see it in a context outside of a tornado that destroyed a city in Ohio.
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I don't know if we're talking about the same thing, but to me it seems like there's potentially two issues at play here: self control to act in accordance with one's supposed morals, and, the changing of the presumptive morals of a society. For self control, I feel like it's universal human experience to always find this falling short. Throughout history we do things we know we shouldn't, as in, we agree they're bad…
> What examples of people being offended, for being called out for what, did you have in mind? Just very simple things, like if you were to suggest to someone evidently overweight to perhaps move around a little more or watch their diet, they (or other people for that matter) are likely to call you judgemental and be offended.
It’s one thing to state that collectively, people are more obese these days than in the past, and that certain proscriptions (food intake type and quantity, activity type and quantity) are called for. In most cases such statements would be unremarkable and get broad agreement. But you don’t know me or what I’ve been doing/trying etc, so on what basis do you think you can make a comment like that about me and expect me not to be offended? I find that expectation quite remarkable. It’s not that people are more offended these days as much as it is people find it perfectly acceptable to do and say what in the old days would be considered “rude” or “impolite”. Civility has been upended by “truth telling”. Can’t say I’m a huge fan tbh.
While you are at it, consider reviving the term democracy as well. Ancient Greeks didnt just invent it, they thought deeply about all systems of power and their failure modes. Techniques they used feel still a thing from the future for us modern "democrats". For example, take the term ostracism/ostracize . Today the term has degenerated to mean a certain negative cultural phenomenon. For them it was a democratic proc…
Greek democracy was very different, as you suggest. It was not a system of universal suffrage. Only free male citizens with military training (roughly 30% of the population) were permitted to vote. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athenian_democracy
"Reviving" means obviously the good bits, unless you claim that the only possibility is an all-or-nothing replica.
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> The more we study chimps the more we realize that we, as their descendants we are not descended from chimps
What's our closest relative animal, not gone extinct, which is alive in the world today, if not chimps?
An example from daily life, binging random digital content is not Pleasure, enjoying a documentary or music is.
I have been several times confused by the word "arete" - because in French (arête) it's a kind of rock formation and has been taken up by the rock climbing community, and in Greek (ἀρετή) it's "excellence." There's a coffee shop near me, attached to and co-operated by a climbing gear store, called arête. The proximity to the climbing store suggests one interpretation, but it is an excellent coffee shop.
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I've heard a regional English construction for this: "needs X'd". For your examples: - The pull request needs reviewed - The trash needs emptied - The dog needs walked Just one(ish) extra syllable!
They might be just removing "to be", that's what I love about English you can break and abuse it and it still mostly makes sense. You could even drop the "the" and "-ed" from those phrases and most people would still understand what you mean by "dog needs walk".
I've always liked "akrasia" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akrasia > Weakness of will to act against one's own better judgement. It's everywhere in modern society, and I'd love to see it called out more.
And there you go 12 ways to name your new software :D. My favorite (not in there) is ‘metanoia’ and it explains a bit the humanity current status
From a fun book I have “Philosophy in 40 Ideas” Eudaimonia THIS IS AN ANCIENT GREEK WORD, normally translated as 'fulfilment', particularly emphasised by the philosopher Aristotle. It deserves wider currency because it corrects the shortfalls in one of the most central terms in our contemporary idiom: happiness. The Ancient Greeks resolutely did not believe that the purpose of life was to be happy; they proposed that…
“With artificial intelligence we are summoning the demon” — Elon Musk
Let’s hope for good demons! I’ve been thinking about it lately, and in a world that many believe is filled with intelligence and consciousness at different levels, it might make sense to dust off our Platonic and Neoplatonic philosophy. There are a lot of intriguing ideas there, like the immaterial world of forms.
I know that many people reactively disbelieve in immaterialism—but it is a quite common perspective among physicists. There, most probably agree that the basis of the world is not material stuff, but rather immaterial mathematics.
Just don’t anthropomorphize the daimonia. Human consciousness and intelligence clearly isn’t the only type of intelligence or consciousness in this world.
If you are interested in the intersection of the esoteric and AI, I’ll be giving a lecture June 1 at the Ritman Library of Hermetic Philosophy in Amsterdam. I just got tenure so I’ll be trying to push the envelope :) https://embassyofthefreemind.com/en/plan-your-visit/agenda#D...