I listened to Elon on #Clubhouse last night. He features fairly heavily in one chapter of my upcoming book b/c a Wall Street Journal piece came out about him that I just couldn't stomach. The man sounded totally burnt out and weary to me, but I would too if I were him.
A few people who read an early copy of my manuscript were really troubled by Musk's presence—why would I "highlight a billionaire," they asked. They wanted me to excoriate him. For the life of me, I don't understand the hatred toward him.
Listening, I couldn't help think how extraordinary it is to have an entrepreneur who dreams so big and inspires others to do the same. I'm not interested in creating another app ~Clubhouse. I'm interested in transcendent things. The irony is that @elonmusk is the Anti-Clubhouse.
It was good of him to join.
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Some key concepts from René Girard's Theory of Mimetic Desires, in pictures:
Mimetic desire is wanting "according to the desire of another"—we want what other people want *because* they want it. But we almost never realize we're doing this. We live under the illusion of the Romantic Lie. The path to the objects we desire is never straight, but curved.
In reality, most of what we commonly think of as "needs" are really "desires." And desires are NOT in any real hierarchy. We can begin to desire almost anything at any time—provided the right model comes along. This is why we live in such a "liquid" modernity.
20 insights into mimetic desire, some of which might save your life:
The fox in Aesop's fable of the sour grapes in a Romantic Liar. The only reason he was able to convince himself that the grapes were sour is that he was alone. Had there been a rival fox who wanted them, he wouldn’t have been able to walk away.
The domestication of dogs probably happened because humans used them for ritual sacrifice.