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Anti-mimetic tactics for living a counter-cultural life (2021)

epsilontheory.com

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Re: Anti-mimetic tactics for living a counter-cultural life (2021)

#11

Post by ssivark »

ttctciyf wrote: post #3

> The sooner you kill this beast within yourself, the sooner you can get to the real work of creating something that the market itself will validate Highly anti-mimetic then, so long as you're committed to entrepreneuring and being validated by the market. Wait, what?

> "the sooner you can get to the real work of creating something that the market itself will validate — or not."

I think the "or not" (that you've skipped) is crucial. In my reading, it emphasizes the irony that market validation might be just another flavor of social validation.

Re: Anti-mimetic tactics for living a counter-cultural life (2021)

#12

Post by Scuds »

dtx1 wrote: post #6

Counter Culture is not valuable in and itself. Sometimes your government is doing the right thing. Sometimes corporations create new things that have immense value for society and the individual. Being opposite of the main narrative doesn't mean you are closer to the truth.

Tell that to Q-anon or anyone whose sense of self-worth is derived from being able to see 'The Truth'.

Re: Anti-mimetic tactics for living a counter-cultural life (2021)

#14

Post by jrflowers »

asplake wrote: post #4
ttctciyf wrote: post #3

> The sooner you kill this beast within yourself, the sooner you can get to the real work of creating something that the market itself will validate Highly anti-mimetic then, so long as you're committed to entrepreneuring and being validated by the market. Wait, what?

To be fair there was an “–or not” at the end of that quote, and I assume that the dash was for emphasis. Not clear what was meant by it though

It is meant to hedge against anyone mistakenly interpreting the sentence as having any meaning.

Re: Anti-mimetic tactics for living a counter-cultural life (2021)

#16

Post by mcpackieh »

Scuds wrote: post #12
dtx1 wrote: post #6

Counter Culture is not valuable in and itself. Sometimes your government is doing the right thing. Sometimes corporations create new things that have immense value for society and the individual. Being opposite of the main narrative doesn't mean you are closer to the truth.

Tell that to Q-anon or anyone whose sense of self-worth is derived from being able to see 'The Truth'.

I will happily tell any q-anon devotee that their opposition to the 'main narrative' is not not valuable and they are not closer to the truth for it. It may be a mentality from which they derive a sense of self-worth, but that does not make it a net positive influence on their own lives or society generally. Delusion is perhaps the worst way to derive a sense of self-worth.

Re: Anti-mimetic tactics for living a counter-cultural life (2021)

#17

Post by amanaplanacanal »

xyzelement wrote: post #10
Zetice wrote: post #2

Of all the things humans participate in to try and forget we eventually die, rejecting the one thing that makes humans special (our society, culture) seems to be to be among the most myopic viewpoints to take. Mostly because it's so self-defeating. Counter-culture is a culture, just a different one. All of the stuff you hated about human culture and want to eschew also exists in the "counter" culture!

Maybe off topic to what you meant but I find the "to forget we will die" an unfortunate frame. I find some of the best people are motivated by the knowledge that they will die and therefore try to make good and impactful use of their limited time here. I recently had a thought : I know a rabbi who has 11 children. If all of his children follow suit, he will get to meet 121 of his grandchildren in the next 20-30 years…

I think my feeling would be “The planet cannot possibly stand having 100 grandchildren for every current person. What have I done!?!?”

Re: Anti-mimetic tactics for living a counter-cultural life (2021)

#18

Post by doctor_eval »

Scuds wrote: post #12
dtx1 wrote: post #6

Counter Culture is not valuable in and itself. Sometimes your government is doing the right thing. Sometimes corporations create new things that have immense value for society and the individual. Being opposite of the main narrative doesn't mean you are closer to the truth.

Tell that to Q-anon or anyone whose sense of self-worth is derived from being able to see 'The Truth'.

I woke up this morning still angry about a “discussion” I had with an denialist nutbag and this was my first thought when I read that comment.
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