wrote:
> On Fri, 8 Sep 1995, technical boy wrote:
> > > This is inadequate: revolutionary action is something you do for your
> > > long-term self interest.
> > fine then. i'm stumped. what would be adequate?
> You may begin with the realization that neither you nor anyone else has a
> legitimate long-term interest, and that those who claim to are either
> delusional or seeking to bolster their immediate interests at your expense.
> Perhaps that can be the foundation of your "mental revolution".
well, those are my contradictions and i own up to them. that particular
imperfection is among my most powerful weapons, and i've found it cuts like
the baruk khazad through the hobgoblins of minds both little and big.
(while you & i tend to be rather obnoxious with each other, i do tend to
count you among the latter.)
it is reasonable to ask, how can i have ``legitimate'' self interests when
the self does not exist, only a society of mind? there is a choice of
either ascetic annihilation--spending one's entire day contemplating The
Shape--versus hedonic indulgence.
but there might be a middle path. and if inconsistency is the price of
completeness, then i consider that a fair bargain.
> > > >> But, after 02/00, will come the inevitable depression. The repressed, no
> > > >> longer able to make reparation for their acts, real and imagined, are
> > > >> gonna make Ivan Karamazov look like a saint. That's our opportunity...
> > > >listening, motley? as the religious fanatics prepare for the Rapture, we
> > > >can loot their businesses with their blessings and a clear conscience.
> > > I can't believe you misread me that way.
^^^^^^^^^^
> > then would you be so kind as to pop the cork offa that Private Reserve
> > Chateau Eusenet Neus, be a sport, and pour me something a little less
> > opaque. who are the ``repressed'' in your opinion. what is ``our'' (or
> > your, if you prefer) opportunity.
> The word "after" should be considered--after the expectations are
> unfulfilled. "Religious fanatics" limits millennialism; it is a
> fundamental concept of American culture informing everything from the
> Puritan foundation to Manifest Destiny to the futurities of science
> fiction to the post-politics and post-industrialisms of the WiReD
> ToFfLeRiTeS to environmentalism to etc...
> "The repressed" is used colloquially, referring to those who have invested
> their energies in millennialism...putting off fulfilling their desires
> today in anticipation of a future reward. There is no future reward.
> They will not be happy campers.
> Their confusion and despair and Karamazovian indulgences are an opportunity
> for the thugs to massacre the lot and set up a functioning society. I
> mean, *their* hopes and dreams might have come to dust, but the rest of us
> have a life...
oh. then i hardly misread you at all, then. you still listening, motley?
Sourcerer says its ok to kill them, too, if we want.
and there's no need to worry, motley. the cyberthugs have got it all
figured out how to ``set up a functioning society''. why, i believe they've
consulted Doctress Neutopia, the Henry Kissinger of cyberspace, on the
matter.
> > > >have you decided for sure that a self-fulfilling prophecy of a millenial
> > > >catastrophe is in your self-interest? its not clear to me if it's
> > > >inevitable or not, not clear if its in my best interest to try to defuse
> > > >it, take advantage of the inevitable, ignore it and it'll go away, or
> > > >what.
> > > >new thread time?
> > > I've proposed that millennialism is deeply rooted in our ideology and that
> > > the occurence of a new millennium is having a profound psychological
> > > effect on our society; that it is enhanced by the condition of novelty --
> > > the hyper-realism of the times, i.e., the tech.
> > i've proposed that all sorts of weirdness will happen because of thoroughly
> > unaccountable psychological factors pertaining to the turning of a calendar
> > page. while paleo-punks may have a field day pickpocketing before 12/31/99
> > and openly looting after 1/1/00, its not clear that there is any benefit
> > for wireheads in having anything to do with the affair.
> I believe the establishment of hermitages and monasteries has been
> effective in previous new beginnings.
i see, the lumpen will not tolerate just any old atrocity to set up a
Functioning Society; we can count on you, not to burn down the hermitages
and monastaries.
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