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scientism
@mr_scientism
, 4 tweets, 1 min read Read on Twitter
Human beings didn’t evolve towards intelligence, human beings evolved towards dependence, to being completely useless when not embedded in a complex social/semiotic system.
Our species greatest trick is the fact that we’re born useless and would die of exposure absent an external support network.
Nobody has any choice but to learn how to play a role in the system, to learn how to use its pre-existing signs and norms, because otherwise they wouldn’t be somebody at all. To attempt to fight it as such is an act of self-harm.
Saying “you’re PART of a tradition” is exactly right. Nothing you do would have meaning absent a historically-unfolding social context. It wouldn’t even amount to madness! Just a body twitching, emitting noises, as if in the throes of death.
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scientism
@mr_scientism
The modern conception of mind is as the termination of meaning, the place where interpretation ends. We hear words and translate them into ‘mental representations’ or ‘mentalese’ and then we’re done. Everything flows into the individual mind, like matter into a black hole.
The individual mind is our God, the beginning and the end, that which gives all things meaning.
This conception of mind removes us from society, from tradition, from being a part of something bigger than ourselves. The modern individual sits apart from everything external, the Creator of his own world.
Read 3 tweets
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scientism
@mr_scientism
The basic problem with the modern world is we no longer have a conception of the mind as capable of undergoing qualitative transformation. The cultic-religious form of organization depends on this. Charismatic authority comes from having been so transformed.
The Cartesian-Empiricist conception of mind and its modern pseudoscientific incarnation is fundamentally static. The mind is a set of faculties that process 'data'. The nature-nurture dispute doesn't touch this. Either way, the mind is incapable of genuine qualitative change.
The idea that people can undergo qualitative change has been a commonplace in all other cultures. From this idea you get charismatic authority, you get the idea of a path you too can follow, you get the distinction between mere familiarity and genuinely 'embodying' a worldview.
Read 7 tweets
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scientism
@mr_scientism
Traditional cultures are appealing to us because they form coherent systems of meaning. This is because rulers traditionally ruled THROUGH such systems of meaning.
It’s notable that people in the modern world find traditional cultures appealing even when they’re completely alien. This is because their artifacts, dress, rituals, rules of conduct, arts, etc, form a coherent, aesthetically-pleasing whole, something we’re now deprived of.
Traditional culture was coherent because it was designed for a purpose. Everything was marked with meaning in support of a social system with specific roles, relationships, norms, and institutions. This was only possible because there was a specific conception of the good.
Read 7 tweets

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