RL hermit. MeFite of old. Insomniac. Chronic pain in ass. Breaking down ahead of schedule. Servant to 3 cats. He/him/his. My interests vary widely and wildly.
Apr 27, 2019 • 16 tweets • 10 min read
MetaFilter post on "Making Kin with the Machines" by Jason Lewis @jaspernotwell, Noelani Arista @Noeolali, Suzanne Kite @kite_kite_ and Archer Pechawis. This excellent essay brings Indigenous epistemologies to bear on the AI question. metafilter.com/180600/AI-Indi…2/ This is a great piece by John Basl @johnbasl & Eric Schwitzgebel @eschwitz: "AIs should have the same ethical protections as animals: We give mice and dogs ethical protections, so why not AIs? On the future conditions for robot rights." aeon.co/ideas/ais-shou…
Mar 26, 2019 • 9 tweets • 5 min read
3,000 people died as a result of the hurricane during the months following it because they didn't get the help they needed, and now this: "Puerto Rico faces food-stamp crisis as Trump privately vents about federal aid to Hurricane Maria battered island." washingtonpost.com/business/econo…2/ Eliza Barclay @elizabarclay onthe hurricane deaths: "Make no mistake: The figure of 2,975 deaths is an estimate. But given that it has been so politicized, it’s worth walking through the research that gave us estimate, and why we can be confident in it" vox.com/2018/9/13/1785…
Mar 25, 2019 • 12 tweets • 8 min read
Afternoon post-nap earworm: I woke up from a pleasant nap with "What should I say, Elysium IV" by Elysian Fields @MaraisThemaraisproject.com.au/elysian-fields/ playing in my head. Nice way to wake up.
2/ And here's another lovely piece by The Marais Project & Elysian Fields @MaraisThe ft. Jenny Eriksson which shows the electric viola da gamba in action: "After 'Le Badinage' by Marin Marais."
Mar 23, 2019 • 23 tweets • 8 min read
1/ I woke up out of a wild dream. It started in a beach cove with a platform area with people gathered on it. I was up the beach on some rocks away from the platform, so I dove into the water and started swimming towards it, but I noticed that the water was full of orcas ...
2/ ... I got out of the water and went to the platform, which had rooms at the back, and started telling the unbelieving people about the orcas. Then all hell broke loose: the orcas started attacking the platform, knocking people into the water & killing them. The whole area ...
Mar 15, 2019 • 28 tweets • 18 min read
This is a fantastic megathread (over 70 tweets) of student climate protests #FridaysforFuture#ClimateStrike around the world. Every continent is represented. The protests in the US are growing. Apparently Italy had a million protesters. Retweet plz! This is what hope looks like!
This piece by Rebecca Solnit on #FridaysforFuture is excellent: "Thank you, climate strikers. Your action matters and your power will be felt. Nothing is possible without action, and almost anything is when we rise up together, as you are today" theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Mar 15, 2019 • 79 tweets • 45 min read
1/ Christopher Hasson, the Coast Guard officer who plotted to murder prominent Democrats & journalists, is facing up to 31 years in jail. Prosecutors call him a ‘domestic terrorist’ but he hasn't been charged with terrorism. By Luke Barnes @LukeBarnes_92: thinkprogress.org/chris-hasson-c…2/ This excellent but disturbing piece by David Neiwert @DavidNeiwert explores Hasson's case and the rising numbers of radicalized, violent white supremacists in the US. I recommend this article: dailykos.com/stories/2019/2…
Mar 12, 2019 • 18 tweets • 11 min read
Armand D'Angour @ArmandDAngour on Aspasia of Miletus' influence on Socrates: "If... this thesis is accepted... a woman who has been all but erased from the story must be acknowledged as laying the foundations of our 2,500-year old philosophical tradition." theconversation.com/socrates-in-lo…
Here's more on Aspasia by Joshua J. Mark @JoshuaJMark:
How to combat parochialism in philosophy: great review by Peter Adamson (@HistPhilosophy) of Julian Baggini's (@microphilosophy) "How the World Thinks: A global history of philosophy" and Bryan W. Van Norden's (@BryanVanNorden) "Taking Back Philosophy: A Multicultural Manifesto"
Re: non-Eurocentric philosophy, this piece by L. Sebastian Purcell @lspurcell comparing Greek & Aztec virtue ethics is fascinating: "Aztec moral philosophy has profound differences from the Greek tradition, not least its acceptance that nobody is perfect" aeon.co/essays/aztec-m…
Feb 24, 2019 • 24 tweets • 14 min read
1/ "The foundation of Western philosophy is probably rooted in psychedelics." This is a fascinating piece by Olivia Goldhill @OliviaGoldhill on Peter Sjöstedt-H @PeterSjostedtH & his idea that psychedelics (via the Eleusinian Mysteries) may have played ... qz.com/1051128/the-ph…
2/... a formative role in shaping Western thought, starting with Plato. @PeterSjostedtH is a philosopher of mind with an interest in psychedelic experiences and consciousness. He recently gave a @TEDTalks on the subject: "Consciousness and psychedelics"
Feb 21, 2019 • 20 tweets • 8 min read
Morning earworm: "Sehnsucht" by Einstürzende Neubauten. I woke up out of a surreal, violent dream with this song in my head. Good morning!
Waking earworms: I woke up out of a dream again to one song ending and another beginning, both by Einstürzende Neubauten. The first, which was the end of the song, was "Fiat Lux" from their 1989 album Haus der Lüge. Here it is + 2 other songs from the LP:
Feb 21, 2019 • 12 tweets • 5 min read
Thread: 1/ This is a great piece by Michiko Kakutani @michikokakutani on the hyperreal media world of pseudo-events we live in: "The Vanishing of Reality: Politicians had always spun reality, but television—and later the Internet—gave them new platforms on which to prevaricate."
2/ For an intro to pseudo-events, see Megan Garber's @megangarber great piece: "The Image in the Age of Pseudo-Reality: Daniel Boorstin’s 1962 classic on celebrity, fame, and America’s tenuous relationship to facts remains as poignant as it is prophetic." theatlantic.com/entertainment/…
Feb 19, 2019 • 18 tweets • 8 min read
1/11 Thread: On cats and music. My dad loved classical music, and he became enamoured with the viola da gamba after seeing the film "Tous les Matins du Monde." Most evenings he'd spend the last hour on the couch listening to viol music while petting... medieval.org/emfaq/misc/tlm….
2 ... our cat Grisette as she lay on his lap. That was the only time & place she allowed herself to be petted for more than a minute. She'd started life as a stray cat & never got totally used to being touched (it took me a month of daily feeding to earn her trust when we met...
Feb 16, 2019 • 19 tweets • 8 min read
'Capitalism on Psychedelics: The Mainstreaming of an Underground.' Great piece by Erik Davis @erik_davis: "... Translation: for MAPS’ global effort to succeed, even in its largely nonprofit terms, corporate players (and the shareholders behind them) are part of the team..."
"... This is not a comfortable stance for those of us who believe that, as Nickles later put it, today’s dominant culture is not a reality to be accommodated, but an existential threat to be resisted. Along these lines, Geoff Bathje followed up Doblin’s presentation..."
Feb 11, 2019 • 20 tweets • 6 min read
When I grow up, I hope to have the courage of this goose...
... And the tenacity of this dog...
Feb 9, 2019 • 42 tweets • 22 min read
Excellent article by @_MikeTremblay on the potential synergy between the martial art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and the philosophy of Stoicism, and how BJJ is an excellent form of askēsis, or training, for Stoicism. Check it out if you're interested in martial arts and/or philosophy.
The author also wrote a handy Introduction to Stoicism which is on his website. Check it out if you're interested but unfamiliar with it. Here's Part 1: "The Good, the Bad, and the Indifferent" tremblaymichael.com/2018/12/21/par…
Jan 30, 2019 • 20 tweets • 8 min read
These tweets put the polar vortex into perspective as far as global warming is concerned:
(Thread) "The remarkable brain waves of high-level meditators." @DanielGolemanEI talks about his and #RichardDavidson's research on the neuroscience of meditation and how extensive meditation practice can alter and enhance the functioning of the brain. bigthink.com/videos/top-10-…2) "The effect of Buddhist meditation isn’t just momentary; it can alter deep-seated traits in our brain patterns and character." This article goes more in depth into Davidson's and Goleman's fascinating (imo) research with Tibetan monk @mingyurrinpoche. lionsroar.com/how-meditation…
Jan 22, 2019 • 20 tweets • 11 min read
(Thread) @MortuaryReport describes 6 years of unnecessary pain, suffering & medical bills in pursuit of a hysterectomy. "Doctors refused to take me seriously when I requested a surgical hysterectomy... And nothing I said could change my doctors’ minds..." huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-…2) As every woman knows (but fewer men do,) the biased treatment Ace Ratcliff endured is the norm for women seeking medical help, as this informative piece by @achronicdose expands upon, and updates with new info on implant failures (via @speakingabtpain) wbur.org/cognoscenti/20…
Jan 21, 2019 • 46 tweets • 24 min read
(Thread) This is a good piece by @speakingabtpain on the plight of chronic pain patients, people whose pain can't be cured & who've had their pain meds arbitrarily tapered down or taken away: "The clampdown on opioid prescriptions is hurting pain patients" latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/…2) This is the @hrw report, written by @lauraphylmills, which looks at untreated chronic pain in the US as a human rights issue: “‘Not Allowed to Be Compassionate’ - Chronic Pain, the Overdose Crisis, and Unintended Harms in the US” hrw.org/report/2018/12…
Jan 19, 2019 • 21 tweets • 12 min read
(Thread) Here's an excellent @TheSideViewCo article on how secular mindfulness meditation in the West evolved out of Buddhist meditation traditions: "Deconstructing Mindfulness: Embracing a Complex Simplicity." @bodhidave3 also discusses the states of absorption called the jhānas
This piece by @BradWarner, who describes Buddhism as "a meditation system with 2,500 years of research and development across multiple cultures and eras," complements the first one well: "Mindfulness Meditation is Buddhist Meditation" hardcorezen.info/mindfulness-me…
