191–200 of 285 posts
I can't help but feel that this article was written in a format that is the textual equivalent of thin desires… Every sentence is separated into its own paragraph, like each one is supposed to be revelatory (or maybe tweet-worthy). It's pretty common design knowledge that if you try to emphasize everything, you end up emphasizing nothing. The result is that reading the article feels choppy, and weirdly unsatisfying,…
By the time I got to that part my reading had degraded to mere skimming -
a perfectly placed reminder :-)
Here's another angle on the issue: As humans, we evolved these useful litte machines of desire.
Desires to feed, mate, socialize attend and get attended to. All of those came about because they had some utility, a purpose.
Over time we found ways to exploit those machines using substitutes.
- Sweets are a substitute for nourishing food.
- Porn feeds on our desire to mate.
- Social media overloads the fine-tuned machine meant to orient us in the tribe.
I suspect a big part of capitalism is creating ever more efficient and subtle ways to highjack these aspects of our humanity on a grand scale.
Damn.
I really like this article. I bake bread. I have spent a good deal of time optimizing the recipe for deliciousness but also for time efficiency. Proving in a warm oven is a great tip. Also baking two loaves at a time! All this nit picking about writing style is disappointing. I like that this person got their ideas out there. They are good ideas. Legible and easy to parse == good enough. I don't care about the writin…
I’ve heard of “Idiot wisdom” and “wise wisdom”. Idiot wisdom - is generic platitudes that sound nice, but aren’t actionable. Wise wisdom- might not always sound nice, but is actionable. My ego likes this article, if I believe that I pursue thick desires. But some part of me thinks (and perhaps due to the written style ). That this is idiot wisdom. Another commenter mentioned it ties to Tanha in Buddhism. I don’t know…
Desires to consume (create) are thin (thick). Thin: A desire to enjoy a book, video game, movie, musical performance, new technology, love, ... Thick: A desire to make any of the above. The cure for Dementors isn't chocolate, it's becoming a tiny god of creation. Meaning is in making.
True to an extent. But why would you want to create (e.g.) a movie if you don't think watching movies is worthwhile in and of itself? You're putting effort into creating something that you don't think is truly valuable. To a person with this mindset, the desire to create is cynical—they're only making movies in pursuit of extrinsic rewards such as money, fame, or success. If watching movies is thin to them, then maki…
> How could this be, when we've gotten so good at giving people what they want? > Maybe because we've gotten good at giving people what they want in a way that prevents them from wanting anything worth having. This has a political interpretation too. Have you noticed that online "petitions" have mostly disappeared lately ? Maybe this disappearance is based on now-widespread recognition that the way to get the attenti…
Desires to consume (create) are thin (thick). Thin: A desire to enjoy a book, video game, movie, musical performance, new technology, love, ... Thick: A desire to make any of the above. The cure for Dementors isn't chocolate, it's becoming a tiny god of creation. Meaning is in making.
True to an extent. But why would you want to create (e.g.) a movie if you don't think watching movies is worthwhile in and of itself? You're putting effort into creating something that you don't think is truly valuable. To a person with this mindset, the desire to create is cynical—they're only making movies in pursuit of extrinsic rewards such as money, fame, or success. If watching movies is thin to them, then maki…
This definition is compatible with watching some films and not others. I think Alan Watts said something like that his job was that you no longer needed him. This implies that consuming his work would be thick until it wouldn't.
I’ve heard of “Idiot wisdom” and “wise wisdom”. Idiot wisdom - is generic platitudes that sound nice, but aren’t actionable. Wise wisdom- might not always sound nice, but is actionable. My ego likes this article, if I believe that I pursue thick desires. But some part of me thinks (and perhaps due to the written style ). That this is idiot wisdom. Another commenter mentioned it ties to Tanha in Buddhism. I don’t know…
I can't help but feel that this article was written in a format that is the textual equivalent of thin desires… Every sentence is separated into its own paragraph, like each one is supposed to be revelatory (or maybe tweet-worthy). It's pretty common design knowledge that if you try to emphasize everything, you end up emphasizing nothing. The result is that reading the article feels choppy, and weirdly unsatisfying,…