Maybe yes and no. I agree that retaking many institutions is a lost cause, as the institutional structure, the rules and goals of the institution, are what's broken. These institutions are like the game Diplomacy: their very design creates the problems associated with them, and only exceptional people can be part of it without those problems. Fixing Harvard or the EPA means making them no longer Harvard or the EPA. You could save the name, but the inner workings would have to be entirely different because the institution itself is what drives the inner rot, not the people.
With Civil Rights law, it is probably true that adding Republicans and Libertarians to the protected classes list would fail for the same reasons. Adding more special exemptions to the rules doesn't fix the underlying problem of Civil Rights law, namely treating people differently before the law based on their skin, sex, etc.
On the other hand, conditional on having Civil Rights law because you can't abolish it, adding everyone as a protected group might be a second (or third) best option. It's a kludge, but it might get one through till better solutions are at hand, like peeing in the shower until the plumber comes to fix the toilet.
Method has been very under appreciated, and I think you are right that the return of a reasonable epistemology is going to be what gets us out of a lot of our problems. Nothing drives evil like a faith that promises certainty and makes epistemic humility a sin.
"I suspect most people would find something to do, and chances are it would turn destructive. Some would turn to mischief, some would turn inwards towards self destruction, but deprived of all interest and agency, deprived of meaning, just about everyone would turn to whatever is left: social group politics."
Some would read Doc Hammer's latest missive on their work computer....
At school I thought that reading Camus would make me interesting to girls. It didn’t. Therefore I read Camus at the wrong time, for the wrong reasons. I haven’t read Camus since.
This has little to do with your entertaining thought train, but it just needed saying, in the context of struggling to grow.
That raises an interesting question: how much of adulthood being like high school revolves around trying to find a mate? Maybe that is a sub-set of the nervous about fitting in and status inside the group, but man, people do a lot of things to try and be more attractive to the opposite sex, most of which are fairly high cost signals. I wonder if most people feel a big step change after getting married such that the high school never ends thing seems less relevant.
Then again, I never read Camus. Is there a right time to read Camus? A quick Wiki read makes him seem pretty interesting at least.
ALSO! I liked your last essay but am not a paying subscriber so I couldn't tell you so there. So, there! I told you. Write more like that :) I am thinking even shorter posts, say 3-4 paragraphs, on those sorts of partially baked ideas would be good. I agree that there is a lot to be said for just putting out those sorts of "This seems like a thing, but I am not entirely sure about it" ideas, and I have a hard time writing them up myself. My ideas just seem half baked because I don't rewrite enough, probably.
Now! Right now! This very era is the time to read Camus. I’m going back to read The Plague when I’ve finished what I’m on.
I can only speak for myself but I’ve only just stopped doing things because they might have girl appeal. Being married never stopped me. Which is why I’m no longer married. But I’m still like I was long ago. Being 60 and listening to abstract & dub techno is just like being 16 and the only kid listening to Kraftwerk.
Sincerely appreciate your view on the recent post & the idea that it unlocks shorter, pithier ones. Good call, that 👍
I was thinking, a few of us should do a reading club blog circle, where we all read the same book and every other week talk about the same chapter or two on our blogs. Especially for headier stuff like Camus, Smith, stuff like that it might make it more fun to see each other's thoughts on "what was important here?" without leading each other. Like all posts are scheduled to come out 9 am on Friday morning, so we can't spy on what everyone else was thinking.
(Why yes, I was a professor and had to come up with ways to see if students actually did the reading... :D )
Maybe yes and no. I agree that retaking many institutions is a lost cause, as the institutional structure, the rules and goals of the institution, are what's broken. These institutions are like the game Diplomacy: their very design creates the problems associated with them, and only exceptional people can be part of it without those problems. Fixing Harvard or the EPA means making them no longer Harvard or the EPA. You could save the name, but the inner workings would have to be entirely different because the institution itself is what drives the inner rot, not the people.
With Civil Rights law, it is probably true that adding Republicans and Libertarians to the protected classes list would fail for the same reasons. Adding more special exemptions to the rules doesn't fix the underlying problem of Civil Rights law, namely treating people differently before the law based on their skin, sex, etc.
On the other hand, conditional on having Civil Rights law because you can't abolish it, adding everyone as a protected group might be a second (or third) best option. It's a kludge, but it might get one through till better solutions are at hand, like peeing in the shower until the plumber comes to fix the toilet.
Method has been very under appreciated, and I think you are right that the return of a reasonable epistemology is going to be what gets us out of a lot of our problems. Nothing drives evil like a faith that promises certainty and makes epistemic humility a sin.
Yes, I'd agree that the last 50-60 years are really what saw this shift, with much of the universality settling in in the last 30 or so.
"I suspect most people would find something to do, and chances are it would turn destructive. Some would turn to mischief, some would turn inwards towards self destruction, but deprived of all interest and agency, deprived of meaning, just about everyone would turn to whatever is left: social group politics."
Some would read Doc Hammer's latest missive on their work computer....
Mischief abounds!
Some data points to reflect on.
At school I thought that reading Camus would make me interesting to girls. It didn’t. Therefore I read Camus at the wrong time, for the wrong reasons. I haven’t read Camus since.
This has little to do with your entertaining thought train, but it just needed saying, in the context of struggling to grow.
That raises an interesting question: how much of adulthood being like high school revolves around trying to find a mate? Maybe that is a sub-set of the nervous about fitting in and status inside the group, but man, people do a lot of things to try and be more attractive to the opposite sex, most of which are fairly high cost signals. I wonder if most people feel a big step change after getting married such that the high school never ends thing seems less relevant.
Then again, I never read Camus. Is there a right time to read Camus? A quick Wiki read makes him seem pretty interesting at least.
ALSO! I liked your last essay but am not a paying subscriber so I couldn't tell you so there. So, there! I told you. Write more like that :) I am thinking even shorter posts, say 3-4 paragraphs, on those sorts of partially baked ideas would be good. I agree that there is a lot to be said for just putting out those sorts of "This seems like a thing, but I am not entirely sure about it" ideas, and I have a hard time writing them up myself. My ideas just seem half baked because I don't rewrite enough, probably.
Now! Right now! This very era is the time to read Camus. I’m going back to read The Plague when I’ve finished what I’m on.
I can only speak for myself but I’ve only just stopped doing things because they might have girl appeal. Being married never stopped me. Which is why I’m no longer married. But I’m still like I was long ago. Being 60 and listening to abstract & dub techno is just like being 16 and the only kid listening to Kraftwerk.
Sincerely appreciate your view on the recent post & the idea that it unlocks shorter, pithier ones. Good call, that 👍
I am adding him to my reading list!
I was thinking, a few of us should do a reading club blog circle, where we all read the same book and every other week talk about the same chapter or two on our blogs. Especially for headier stuff like Camus, Smith, stuff like that it might make it more fun to see each other's thoughts on "what was important here?" without leading each other. Like all posts are scheduled to come out 9 am on Friday morning, so we can't spy on what everyone else was thinking.
(Why yes, I was a professor and had to come up with ways to see if students actually did the reading... :D )
I’d be rubbish at this because it takes me forever to read a book and I tend to experience obligations with unreasonable negativity 😥