“Vibes” culture is a sign. Vibes are pre-conscious, pre-moral, and pre-pre-narrative. They don’t stand for anything, let alone catalyze a grand journey based on it. You can’t be “pilled” from one vibe to another. There are no moral valences to flip, shockingly or otherwise.
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When there is no consciousness there is no false consciousness. Only larps on top of vibes.
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I get a surreal feeling watching the minority still excitedly sharing “insights” about various things like it is 2013 and they’re trying to audition their way from Twitter to TED. Nobody cares because there’s no coherent default caring context.
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The “insights” that succeed do so not on the strength of their surprisal, but the intensity of vibe shifts. Ukraine war insight threads still land strong because the war is a vibe of such horrifyingly pointless pain. It can shock you out of more anesthetized vibes.
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But such vibe shifts (vibe shocks?) are not narrative bridges in a “pill” sense. They are primitive emotional key shifts. Meaningless without narrative structure. So you’re shocked about what Russia is doing. What next? Fold it into “software eats world” theory? Not even wrong.
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“Software eats world” is a good example since it was a powerful grand narrative for 2000-15. In part because it accommodated the emotional and moral valence ranges of world events. But it feels mismatched to post 2016. It’s now just a subplot with limited explanatory power.
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Plausible for a certain messed-up personality type, but I think humans who’ve once had their consciousness expanded by a global perspective can never be truly “local” ever again. Tbf I think there’s something wrong with frogs who climb back into wells after learning about ocean.
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Replying to @vgr
I suspect this is part of the drive towards local/YIMBY style organizing. Much easier to care about your neighborhood than what goes on in DC.
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This is an unresolved problem with “city state” futures. Historically, city-state eras (Italy, hanseatic league) still had coherent global sensibilities. They weren’t frogs in wells trying to run culture larps in bubbkes.
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This is a good example for this thread. It is a good insight. 10 years ago, you could have spun a 4000 word feature out of this that would have gone viral, because it would have made meaning out of the ML moment. Now it just sits there.
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Replying to @vgr
The next iteration of "bicycle for the mind", decoupling artistic skill from artistic expression and unlocking the creative potential of folks who haven't spent a lifetime honing their skills. You won't have to be a highly skilled (painter/musician/dancer/etc.) to make great art.
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Replying to
You sure you aren't just depressed?
(Not saying this judgmentally. Depression, as Guru Singh says, just shows you're paying attention.)
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Yep, been there, don’t that, this ain’t it :)
I’m confident I’m picking up on a broader malaise
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Got it. Broader malaise could also include opioid America, Trumpistan, zero-hour contracts, financial system even more detached from on-the-ground reality than in 2007, self-development at the expense of everyone else etc. etc.
Jung's collective unconscious at play too, perhaps
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