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It's not what the world needs right now

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Re: It's not what the world needs right now

#131

Post by mycologos »

NoboruWataya wrote: post #52
mycologos wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Deliberately making art that people think sucks seems like kind of a low bar?

It don't think the aim was to write a piece that people think sucks, it was to write about a person who people think sucks. There is a difference, or at least there used to be: I feel like increasingly people are unable to separate the literary value of a piece from the moral value of its protagonist. This piece reminds me of Charles Bukowski's books about the "lowlife" Hank Chinaski. Another more extreme example of…

Fair point. I think a lot depends on how "real" the protagonist is. I have read and enjoyed several works with protagonists who make choices that extremely different from my own. Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson comes to mind. Hardly any character in it is good or admirable, but it is written well enough to illuminate why they behave that way, and the rewards that offers. IMO, TFA doesn't pull that off.

Re: It's not what the world needs right now

#132

Post by strken »

bsder wrote: post #100
jyunwai wrote: post #31

Most other comments so far have viewed this artist's lifestyle negatively, as he wrote that he got by via abusing various policies and tax fraud (via "[hallucinating] a DJ software skin" to claim as a business expense). But he's an interesting person for sticking to his craft for close to a decade now: he has persisted in working hard to produce artwork and submit it for exhibition. However, to what extent is this li…

It's pretty sad, actually, how much negative vibe is here. This man is hustle culture personified. What's the problem? Alternatively, he's the epitome of a "disruptor". What's the issue? Oh, perhaps it's that he's holding up a light at what is at the end of the tunnel if we keep going the way society is--complete instability for the peons who are completely at the whim of a small number of the rich.

He got drunk, did a bunch of coke, and stole a brass penguin from the hotel he was staying at; also a spot of tax fraud and theft of a suit, but I care less about that.

I get that the lobby of the Hilton is not an art gallery, but an artist stealing a sculpture is not hustle culture personified, it's theft of the exact kind he should hate most.

The story is great and I appreciate it on its own merits but he's kind of a dick.

Re: It's not what the world needs right now

#135

Post by animal_spirits »

labrador wrote: post #128
anal_reactor wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really don't know what to think. Sure, there's 8 billion people on Earth, the chances that I am the main character are tiny. But at the same time whenever I try treating people the same way I treat myself, I quickly get into misunderstandings and disappointments, and navigating the world with an assumption that most people are NPCs while just a handful are actual sentient beings has proven way more practical.

I know what you mean. Since I've been using ChatGPT4 and now Claude Opus to answer questions I think of while day dreaming, I find myself drifting further away from ordinary people. I don't know how to describe it yet. Maybe people who don't agument their thinking seem more like an NPC and say NPC like things? I don't want to get to far out there, like in Kurt Vonnegut's "Breakfast of Champions." The protagonist want…

Let's please reframe how bad it is to treat another person as an NPC. It is dehumanizing. It encourages losing focus on why people behave the way they do, rather than learning to hold empathy for the reality of life for the millions of people that surround us. Life isn't easy for many. Many don't have the opportunities to learn or are at least encouraged to do that.

Re: It's not what the world needs right now

#136

Post by subjectsigma »

underlipton wrote: post #82
subjectsigma wrote: post #17

> A gallerist who wants to work with me says she can’t add a white man to her roster. Pretty fucking disgusting that someone would openly say that to him.

As a black man, I'd appreciate the lawsuit-opener over my reality, which is just people seeing my alma mater and name and pretending I don't exist.

That would make me pretty mad as well. I'm sorry if that happens to you.

Re: It's not what the world needs right now

#137

Post by fsckboy »

dnissley wrote: post #122
nothercastle wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not just money they made so much money they actually dislodged and eliminated the conditions and opportunities that created hacker culture in the first place

That doesn't seem true to me. But say more about this.

from my pov, the autistics used to find each other in the STEM departments and then hang out.

then demand and programming platforms that take care of the heavy lifting opened the door for normies.

how can you tell an extrovert at MIT?

he looks at your shoes when you talk to him

Re: It's not what the world needs right now

#138

Post by hattmall »

labrador wrote: post #75

I used to be similarly lost in the drama of my own life, hanging on to things that I felt made me special. It's an ego trap in my opinion, as there are millions of people around us who have extrodinary lives that we never hear about. The word "sonder" applies: Sonder is defined as the profound feeling of realizing that everyone, including strangers passing by on the street, has a life as complex and vivid as your own…

Do they though? I mean I certainly feel like the author's life has a lot more moving and disturbing parts than most people.

Re: It's not what the world needs right now

#139

Post by hattmall »

anal_reactor wrote: post #124
labrador wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My life is special to me too, but I don't feel like the main character anymore. My family appreciates my move out of self-absorption towards giving them the attention they deserve from me.

I really don't know what to think. Sure, there's 8 billion people on Earth, the chances that I am the main character are tiny. But at the same time whenever I try treating people the same way I treat myself, I quickly get into misunderstandings and disappointments, and navigating the world with an assumption that most people are NPCs while just a handful are actual sentient beings has proven way more practical.

There's no way to get around the feeling that many people are NPCs if you spend time in sterile urban or suburban environments. The amount of people whose existence consist of very little more than work to fuel consumption is really high.

On the contrary if you are in a place where no one really works a normal job and things you bought or paid money to do are rarely topics of conversation then the interactions feel much more living.

Re: It's not what the world needs right now

#140

Post by labrador »

animal_spirits wrote: post #135
labrador wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know what you mean. Since I've been using ChatGPT4 and now Claude Opus to answer questions I think of while day dreaming, I find myself drifting further away from ordinary people. I don't know how to describe it yet. Maybe people who don't agument their thinking seem more like an NPC and say NPC like things? I don't want to get to far out there, like in Kurt Vonnegut's "Breakfast of Champions." The protagonist want…

Let's please reframe how bad it is to treat another person as an NPC. It is dehumanizing. It encourages losing focus on why people behave the way they do, rather than learning to hold empathy for the reality of life for the millions of people that surround us. Life isn't easy for many. Many don't have the opportunities to learn or are at least encouraged to do that.

I think we're in agreement ITT that viewing others as NPCs is not good.
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