23/ American Gods is treating Platonically / spergtastically the idea that things have patterns. Which, to be fair, might be the origin of the gods of ancient history. Sort of like pareidolia, but different.
-
-
34/ This works when there are two agents (two employees at the theater). Likewise, decoupling, in time, the two agents inside your own head: the decision maker and the decision follower, is a cognitive / social hack that makes collusion harder.
Show this thread -
35/ so, in the individual case, you get to decide which heroes you want to study and emulate. Heracles? George Washington ? Isambard Kingdom Brunell? Malcolm X? However, this is not an unbounded person decision. The menu of heroes you see is curated by society.
Show this thread -
37/ It will not surprise you to learn that I (a socialcon, a rationalist (broadly speaking, not Big Yud trademarked version), and a Catholic) am absolutely appalled by the post-civilization / anti-civilization slate of heroes and tropes that our current cultural betters prepare.
Show this thread -
38/ I talked earlier about fixed points in computations. Societies can not be static, and so they will always evolve, and their tropes and heroes and gods will change over time. We have seen, in the New Ideology, a huge act of myth/hero/god-making in just a few decades >
Show this thread -
39/ Stonewall Riots, Summer of Love, 1960s radical nubian goddess activist, etc.pic.twitter.com/vD8egBpeyO
Show this thread -
40/ the right has created far fewer new hero-gods during this period, but it has done one or two e.g. Tony Starkpic.twitter.com/lK2Eiazf5c
Show this thread -
-
-
-
44/ I suspect that the left's new gods, while much louder and bigger, are not fixed points. childless-gay-sports-woman seems like she can peel off a lot of believers from older gods in societal iteration #498, but I'm not sure how many believers she'll have in iteration #499
Show this thread - End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.