Thread by @kenakennedy

The transcendant power of paradox👇🏻:

It's trippy to see the arrival of #metamodernism from the world of art and social theory into the important frame it is today.
I remember watching @Luke_Turner and @thecampaignbook have conversations with students in oxford 5 years ago.

🧵

They chilled in a lift for 24h, open for anyone to join.

Barriers broken by proximity dissolving concepts of status and celebrity through open conversation.

Much like boiler room videos capturing natural human dynamics in good vibes, I found myself glued to this IRL clubhouse

Today metamodernism is beginning to pose itself as an aggregator of emerging communities seriously playing around the transcendence of our culture and systems.

For those unfamiliar with the ism, Brandon Dempsey really breaks it down well here.

I have a theory there's an important shift that occurs in our mind once it's able to comprehend paradoxes.
And that these mindset shifts are spurred by our understanding of the fundamental laws of nature.

Though there's a lag time to influence the rest of society.

The theory of general relatively was published in 1916, though it was only until "around 1960, general relativity became central to physics and astronomy"

And so as it becomes cultural known, it subtly informs our understanding of relationships.

We begin to seperate ourselves from the rationalist perspective of absolute truth and begin to empathise with other perspectives.

Ushering in a new cultural mindset shift towards more egalitarian sensibilities over the coming decades.

I certainly felt a shift in my perception of the world once I learned about quantum mechanics.

And as I connect with those who'd consider themselves system thinkers I notice this ability to really sit in the liminal and hold that interplay between parts.

There may be some problems that could be transcended simply by recognition and true empathy of both sides to allow us to go deeper to the root causes.

Perhaps upgrading culture could be as simple as practices in theory or embodied empathy, giving awareness to paradoxes. 🤔

For the kinds of communities I'm referring to who loosely associate around the metamodern frame, @VincentArena has been mapping the space and it's adjacent groups on the Catalyst Platform.

catalist.network/community-open…

It is through metamodernism and the holding of paradox, that I believe lies cultural keys for shifting societal behaviour, in response to climate change.

Helping us share messages of despair with hope, destruction with salvation, sincerity with absurdity.

Helping us see both sides with true empathy and acknowledgement.

Seeing ourselves in everyone and opening paths to go deeper into the problem landscape.

Dystopia and Utopia exist in probability space between our apathy and courage.

Plato’s term poietai refers to the artists, inventors and makers of culture.

How do we bring ourselves to play at the finale of this civilisation?

How do we perform worthy of an encore?