There are 3 ways of making meaning. By market share:
Superego methods: 90% (religion, Straussianism, Science! genocides, etc)
Ego methods: 9% (rationality, ethics, manifestos, etc. It doesn’t work at all but it doesn’t stop people from trying)
Id methods: 1%. Aka gonzoing.
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Id methods allwork the same way:
1. Seek out input that forces strongly discriminatory instinctive responses (strong yes/no)
2. Systematically choose aversive response as much as you can handle
3. Move as fast as possible to the next such decision, preferably nauseatingly fast
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The trick is to move fast enough that second guessing dwell time is minimized, and the third guess of the previous choice blues into the first guess of the next choice.
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No important decision is ever made by computing a choice out of a model. We do something because we have no objection from a “why not” first guess checkpoint. Then second-guess “why” crisis of faith during, third guess “why” regret question after, if it fails.
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Id methods fail via a stall mode, when you find yourself unable to create a strong yes/no response. This is anomie.
Superego methods exist primarily to bridge anomie gaps in id methods. They don’t really work any better than ego methods but they at least keep id on life support
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Most people don’t move fast enough, or irreversibly enough to experience gonzo meaning between long periods of superego-supervised treading water. Brief adult moments of id-in-charge driving feel like out-of-control, dangerous, exhilarating rides. Which they can be (aka hedonism)
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The trick is to survive long enough into adulthood that the hedonistic core of id-in-charge quietens enough that it can be sidelined by a mature gonzo life stream
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Hedonism is like the conventional explosive that implodes the radioactive core of a nuclear bomb to create the nuclear explosion,which is the gonzo phase proper
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You conflate values with meaning, methinks.
Everything described works with values production.
Meaning production is rather pragmatic and local and is governed by external forces of the context
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