I’m genuinely surprised by the number of religious people who read me. While I’m not a militant atheist like Dawkins etc, I make no effort to pre-empt merge conflicts with religion in my writing This is the strongest personal evidence I have in for the robustness of pluralism.https://twitter.com/vgr/status/1167857737532751873 …
-
-
A basic huge distortion in the possibility space here is large impersonal institutions, strong class boundaries and entrenched cultures of manners.
Show this thread -
They all make it harder to be open to, find, and invest in, deep+NEW common ground to increase the dimensionaloty of mutuality. This is btw a subtle point. Finding common ground is not enough. You must CREATE *new* common ground.
Show this thread -
In fact seeking existing common ground is a bad idea because it rapidly degenerates to diminishing returns zero-sum matching-pennies games. “Oh you like green curry more than red curry, so do I!”
Show this thread -
A particularly tedious kind of common-grounding game is trying to find common acquaintances and then discussing them. “Do you know X?” “No, do you know Y?” “No, do you know Z?” “Yes!” Cue dull discussion of Z whom neither know very well or care for.
Show this thread -
Tldr: don’t debate, don’t seek common ground. Just try to keep the game going as long as possible exploring common NEW ground.
Show this thread -
Btw, do not fall for aspirational mutual growth trap where you try to find lofty new common ground together (“let’s go to classical music concerts together”, “let’s learn Python together”). Random low-brow shit works FAR better. Taco hunting this weekend, B-movie next weekend.
Show this thread -
In discworld Pratchett has the notion of “dungeon dimensions” where dark forces and creatures lurk. A parody of Cthulhu type mythology. Human sociability rests atop a much more positive sort of dungeon dimension space. You just have to dig to unleash goodwill monsters.
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.