tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post4922811374582154865..comments2024-02-13T12:50:30.457-05:00Comments on Rants Within the Undead God: Clash of Worldviews: God and the DevilBenjamin Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00661999592897690031noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-54500801802264394612015-07-13T01:09:02.745-04:002015-07-13T01:09:02.745-04:00Reverend N: futile if you are operating at the lev...Reverend N: futile if you are operating at the level of taking what people say to be harboring some kind of spooky agency called propositional or representational content. If you view it systemically it may just be that faith and ferver are what would be needed as an attractor to draw people into a critical threshold or mass that could force the hand of governments and corporations to actually do something about the environmental catastrophes. People rarely get off their asses without some kind of fervor or heartfelt belief.Jozsef Kelehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12959844958861436338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-20837287711203003212015-07-01T17:22:37.274-04:002015-07-01T17:22:37.274-04:00That's Nietzsche's view, more or less, not...That's Nietzsche's view, more or less, not mine. Creativity (originality) is more important to me than a mere show of force. Nietzsche would have agreed, since the power he had in mind was more existential than physical. It was about creatively overcoming the obstacle to our happiness posed by harsh natural truths, such as by living up to myths that suit our zeitgeist. Still, the word "power" has unfortunate connotations, so it doesn't figure much in my ideals (except in my prescription of a technoscientific, neo-satanic re-enchantment of nature).Benjamin Cainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00661999592897690031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-37150954297261214172015-07-01T14:56:41.972-04:002015-07-01T14:56:41.972-04:00Its only flawed to the extent that they accept non...Its only flawed to the extent that they accept non-naturalist directives...as is everything elsebrianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06132438532341848915noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-32312820341762042332015-07-01T14:55:47.833-04:002015-07-01T14:55:47.833-04:00We will "create" life which is superior ...We will "create" life which is superior to ourselves...why can't Yaweh and Satanael have done the same?<br /><br />Why must sheer "power" define "greatness?"brianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06132438532341848915noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-78330016375378553252015-05-20T10:42:28.459-04:002015-05-20T10:42:28.459-04:00Brilliant. I loved this.Brilliant. I loved this.Welch's Rarebitshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09183345901778644627noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-22373878654470409632015-05-16T20:44:00.434-04:002015-05-16T20:44:00.434-04:00Environmentalism has indeed become part of liberal...Environmentalism has indeed become part of liberalism, and liberalism in general is flawed. But it's an empirical question whether our industrial activities are harming the planet beyond repair. Scientists have reached an overwhelming consensus that we are indeed harming the planet, but it's hard to know what that means, because the North American media can't be trusted in their reports on subjects fit for adults. The media sensationalize the news, because they've been captured by big business. So we don't hear enough about the element of chaos in complex systems like the weather and the climate, nor do we hear about the pragmatic nature of scientific models. <br /><br />I'm not actually opposed to pantheism, to a religion based on worship of nature. The worldview I'm working out on this blog is pantheistic (and atheistic about personal deities, while leaving open the Hegelian door for transhuman personal gods into which we might evolve). The difference is that I side with the likes of Gnostics, Schopenhauer, Lovecraft, Mainlander, and others who say that God (the self-creative power of nature) is amoral and inhuman. This runs contrary to the happy-talking Gaea principle in liberal, environmentalist circles.Benjamin Cainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00661999592897690031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-66177336692997093872015-05-15T15:40:56.274-04:002015-05-15T15:40:56.274-04:00How do you feel about environmentalism? Do you thi...How do you feel about environmentalism? Do you think environmentalists are existentially inauthentic? Personally I think it's a futile endeavor, and has become a new religion to some. The earth/nature has become the god of many secular people. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-24762382646926766282015-05-12T09:50:26.368-04:002015-05-12T09:50:26.368-04:00I think Canadian anticulture is exactly the substi...I think Canadian anticulture is exactly the substitute for greatness fictionalized by Nietzsche's last man:<br /><br />Alas! there cometh the time when man will no longer launch the arrow of his longing beyond man—and the string of his bow will have unlearned to whizz!<br />I tell you: one must still have chaos in one, to give birth to a dancing star. I tell you: ye have still chaos in you.<br />Alas! There cometh the time when man will no longer give birth to any star. Alas! There cometh the time of the most despicable man, who can no longer despise himself.<br />Lo! I show you THE LAST MAN.<br />"What is love? What is creation? What is longing? What is a star?"—so asketh the last man and blinketh.<br />The earth hath then become small, and on it there hoppeth the last man who maketh everything small. His species is ineradicable like that of the ground-flea; the last man liveth longest.<br />"We have discovered happiness"—say the last men, and blink thereby.<br />They have left the regions where it is hard to live; for they need warmth. [Well, that point doesn’t apply, since Canadians endure the cold.] One still loveth one's neighbour and rubbeth against him; for one needeth warmth.<br />Turning ill and being distrustful, they consider sinful: they walk warily. He is a fool who still stumbleth over stones or men!<br />A little poison now and then: that maketh pleasant dreams. And much poison at last for a pleasant death.<br />One still worketh, for work is a pastime. But one is careful lest the pastime should hurt one.<br />One no longer becometh poor or rich; both are too burdensome. Who still wanteth to rule? Who still wanteth to obey? Both are too burdensome.<br />No shepherd, and one herd! Every one wanteth the same; every one is equal: he who hath other sentiments goeth voluntarily into the madhouse.<br />"Formerly all the world was insane,"—say the subtlest of them, and blink thereby.<br />They are clever and know all that hath happened: so there is no end to their raillery. People still fall out, but are soon reconciled—otherwise it spoileth their stomachs.<br />They have their little pleasures for the day, and their little pleasures for the night, but they have a regard for health.<br /><br />Incidentally, I'm writing now about a related topic, the lack of honour in a postmodern world.Benjamin Cainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00661999592897690031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-51056299631031428152015-05-12T09:47:36.385-04:002015-05-12T09:47:36.385-04:00I'm not so sure about this. Self-consciousness...I'm not so sure about this. Self-consciousness strikes me not as an adaptation but as an exaptation, like science or logic. It's something the hosts for genes learn by themselves, behind Mother Nature's back, as it were. In our case, these godlike skills put us largely beyond natural selection's reach. Most glaringly, we have direct access to our genes, through genetic engineering, so we needn't wait for the environment to kill off unfit members of our species to shape our body types, although of course some human mutants still die before they can reproduce. <br /><br />Self-awareness may indirectly kill us all, by way of backfiring against the curiosity that led to its invention, but I don't think that would be a case of purely natural, animalistic extinction. Metaphysically, it would be "natural," like everything else, but the extinction would be highly artificial and above the frays that preoccupy the hoi polloi creatures. <br /><br />For example, we might destroy ourselves as we search for a meaning of life, given the horror of our identities that we can't face: we're living gods trapped in the undead god. This would be an anomaly within natural selection, a virtual miracle as I put it in Artificiality: The Miracle Hiding in Plain Sight, not so much another environmental filtering of an unworthy host of a genotype.<br /><br />I think you're saying that the introverts who are most self-aware are made so by the environment that excludes them, so their hyper-awareness is involuntary. I think that's right, as far as it goes. The world does drive intelligent, sentient beings to retreat into their shells to tinker with their minds while they wait for the storm to blow over. So it begins as an involuntary process of alienation. But the creature that emerges from that seclusion gains autonomy (self-control) and higher personhood (through higher-order thoughts), so that what she does next isn't so involuntary. That is, how she chooses to deal with her detachment from the world via the void of her unified consciousness is up to her, and that's where the distinction between existential authenticity and inauthenticity comes into play.Benjamin Cainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00661999592897690031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-3267263023085731392015-05-11T11:53:08.589-04:002015-05-11T11:53:08.589-04:00Yes, I believe natural selection will phase out th...Yes, I believe natural selection will phase out the level of self awareness, that lead people to the type of conclusions we have about existence. A fair amount of our self awareness is likely environmental, most of us have become outsiders for reasons beyond our control. The political elite have been using propaganda for ages, to varying degrees of success. Do you think that Canadian culture is a bit like Nietzsche's last man?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-24073607687304845632015-05-09T21:52:01.124-04:002015-05-09T21:52:01.124-04:00Yeah, I forgot to reply to that part of your comme...Yeah, I forgot to reply to that part of your comment. I like reading speculations about a coming dark age. There's something exciting about imagining such a vindication of the pessimistic outlook. For me, living in Toronto, part of this excitement is due to the fact that Canada is so boring, a social cataclysm would at least be more interesting than the prevailing anticulture. <br /><br />But will philosophical enlightenment one day disappear? If so, it might be due to advances in cognitive science, which will enable technocratic neoliberals to enslave the rest of us with propaganda, media distractions, and so forth. We might then be headed towards an Orwellian dystopia. I regard these predictions as highly speculative, though.<br /><br />Why do you think self-awareness will become impossible, I wonder. Is it a matter of natural selection?Benjamin Cainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00661999592897690031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-33112495569442583502015-05-09T21:34:35.061-04:002015-05-09T21:34:35.061-04:00"Anyway, my point is that while I agree that ..."Anyway, my point is that while I agree that self-awareness is rare, I contend that it's not wholly bad." I don't believe it's bad, I just wish there were a bit more of it. I also believe what little there is will slowly disappear. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-85761413286311215262015-05-09T21:18:22.033-04:002015-05-09T21:18:22.033-04:00I think the philosopher Zapffe makes the case that...I think the philosopher Zapffe makes the case that self-awareness has been a cosmic blunder. On my blog I explore a somewhat different view, that self-awareness and thus existential authenticity or real personhood are rare. So while there are billions of biological humans, there are far fewer enlightened individuals. Knowing yourself requires more introversion than most people have time for. <br /><br />The higher, mental self that goes hand in hand with freedom (autonomy) is just an abstract, higher order of thought. To be aware of yourself is to think "This is my thought," attributing the thought to a thing that possesses or contains a series of thoughts. There's no such ephemeral container, though; instead, there's just the introspective discovery that what's posited in self-consciousness is actually an inner void (as in Buddhism and Hume's empiricism), that is, alienation via an enlightened person's peculiar detachment from the rest of the world. That void, however, is the source of our godlike creativity; it's the illusion of a liberated, spiritual self that bootstraps certain emergent properties into being. (Buddhists have a different, nondualist view of enlightenment.)<br /><br />Anyway, my point is that while I agree that self-awareness is rare, I contend that it's not wholly bad. Sure, there's the curse of reason, as I put it, but there's also the tragic heroism of enlightened individuals. For more along these lines, check out these articles:<br /><br />http://rantswithintheundeadgod.blogspot.ca/2015/01/how-horror-begets-mind-from-matter.html<br /><br />http://rantswithintheundeadgod.blogspot.ca/2014/10/qualia-artificiality-and-fractals.html<br /><br />http://rantswithintheundeadgod.blogspot.ca/2013/07/authenticity-and-cost-of-self-creation.html<br /><br />http://rantswithintheundeadgod.blogspot.ca/2013/11/personalizing-ourselves-science.htmlBenjamin Cainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00661999592897690031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-5816247764401270582015-05-09T13:48:35.947-04:002015-05-09T13:48:35.947-04:00I've been thinking a lot about self awareness ...I've been thinking a lot about self awareness lately. It seems that self awareness is likely to diminish gradually, as it really is counter to the perpetuation of the species. I think I'm already noticing this happening. The truly self aware among us are becoming dinosaurs. Philosophy has always been subversive, but now it seems radical. This will likely manifest itself in increased crudeness, violence, narcissism, and decadence. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-19365713083650646482015-05-06T20:18:24.698-04:002015-05-06T20:18:24.698-04:00Thanks! Glad you liked it.
Are you referring to ...Thanks! Glad you liked it. <br /><br />Are you referring to the very last entry from the devil, beginning with "A perfect creator who suffers memory loss..."? It's meant to be a summary, but it does briefly introduce another interpretation (God killed himself to atone for his madness and to apologize to Satan for having doubted the merit of his hostility to God). I wonder which point of the dialogue you think is rushed and should be spelled out more. I'd be happy to add to it, since it was fun to write.Benjamin Cainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00661999592897690031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-48035915445331063852015-05-06T20:13:48.718-04:002015-05-06T20:13:48.718-04:00Thanks! I happen to think Larry King is one of the...Thanks! I happen to think Larry King is one of the worst professional interviewers of all time, but that's precisely why he got such big name guests, so that they wouldn't have to worry about being challenged by an interviewer with even a modicum of intelligence or curiosity. I mean, he came across in his CNN interviews as just dumb, dumb, dumb. We're talking a subhuman level of dumbness here, so that it wouldn't be out of the question for a medical professional to have felt the need to interrupt the taping to make sure the man was still actually alive.Benjamin Cainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00661999592897690031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-88008042835671612812015-05-05T20:56:29.727-04:002015-05-05T20:56:29.727-04:00Awesome! Benjamin. An amusing read.
If you ever ...Awesome! Benjamin. An amusing read.<br /><br />If you ever edit this and formally publish it on dead trees or an anthology of some kind, you might edit the end a bit. It's a little rushed feeling. Brian Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-57446857808983774142015-05-05T01:25:59.956-04:002015-05-05T01:25:59.956-04:00Clever and fun dialogue. You are the Larry King of...Clever and fun dialogue. You are the Larry King of the Undead. ThanksAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com