antonomon

An essay on the global wave of anti-political anger

Unlike “anti-establishment” which a bit vague and overused to the point of meaninglessness, anti-politics describes a mood that doesn’t easily convert into governance. It’s a rejection and/or skepticism of politics as it exists to actualize people’s desires.

The essay documents three different examples of anti-politics historically:

- mass party radicalization after WW1 (rejection of the politics of consensus)

- forming a second culture outside of the state in Eastern Europe (viewing politics as a dead-end)

- today’s internet swarms (negating without a positive program) and the American case

Over a century ago, the world felt anxious and unsettled much like today

How an idea by philosopher Byung-Chul Han helps us reframe our world

As the Soviet Union fell apart, dissident writers in Central Europe came to power, but some had mixed feelings about their newfound purpose

As the Soviet Union fell apart, dissident writers in Central Europe came to power, but some had mixed feelings about their newfound purpose

Rereading Christopher Alexander's classic 1965 essay "A City Is Not a Tree" in the digital age

In his 2017 work Psychopolitics, Byung-Chul Han writes of how power today has grown reliant on manipulating psychological states, uniquely made possible by technologies of control. Its symptoms are of the mind, like burnout and diseases of despair, coupled with addiction and compulsion. Understanding psychopolitics helps us to reframe the time in which we live, where one’s mental state has become a leading place of conflict.

Very true. I like doing this as well. I think the path of least-resistance, sitting in our room, is actually the most harmful. Generative activity only happens when you're engaging with novelty and meeting others, even just in passing.

If you’re interested in reading about historic periods on the edge, times when people had to suddenly start over, then you may like this essay.

It's about the collapse of Austria-Hungary how and a generation of writers came to terms with having their whole world melt away.

In the past decade, the writer Simone Weil has grown in popularity and continues to provoke conversation some 80 years after her death. She was a writer mainly preoccupied with what she called “the needs of the soul.” One of these needs, almost prophetic in its relevance today, is the capacity for attention toward the world which she likened to prayer. Another is the need to be rooted in a community and place, discussed at length in her last book On the Need for Roots written in 1943.

You're eliminating all the nuance. Given that OpenAI effectively has a monopoly and is now suddenly being alarmist, makes it pretty clear this is "for their own gain." They have every incentive to to gatekeep the regulatory environment.

Contrary to the U.S. where they have their foot in the door and dominate, in the EU OpenAI has actively resisted regulation.

This inconsistency shows they just want regulatory capture and it's little more than just self-interest disguised as alarmism.

The New York World's Fair in 1939 promised a dream future unlike any other, but the consequences of its vision were buried beneath the spectacle.

Weekly review #5

Topics for this issue: "Storification" and the Abuses of Storytelling; Humanities on the Decline; and Why Writers Shouldn’t Worry about the Machines

Stories covered from the past week:

Tea with the Mujahideen, What Is "Hyperpolitics?", One Year of War in Ukraine, and a Murder at the Institute for Social Rejection

Based

Ever since it became a superpower, America has suffered from bouts of paranoia over its possible decline. But this time feels different.

Taken from Weekly Retrospective #1

"Jan 28th to Feb 4, 2023 — Introducing This Weekly; Mentions of Distress at Record High; Cold War Victory Syndrome; Weird AI Friendship Ads; and The Long 2010s."

A century ago, many different ideologies tapped into the locomotive as a metaphor in a struggle over the soul of the modern world.

The feeling of modernity, originally described by writers well over a century ago, is today shared by more people than ever.