/philosophy/

Christian Thermodynamics
You are an organism in an environment that contains free energy. What do you do?... posted 3w ago with 8 replies received philosophy gnon

Christian Thermodyna received

This also calls into question the assertion made in >>3870 by gotzendammerung:... 3w ago received

This also calls into received

I don't think Christianity can be understood in terms of thermodynamics. 3w ago received

I don't think Christ received

Medidation, Enlightenment, Dharma, and Sokushinbutsu
I see we have some enlightenment-seeking buddhist types lurking around. I have a question for them: what is it you think is valuable about these "enlightened" mental states reachable with meditation etc? I hear about them occasionally but by the self-admis... posted 2mo ago with 24 replies received philosophy rationality life

Medidation, Enlighte received

I think the main problem here is that people like to over-mysticize "enlightenment" and have vastly different things in their heads when they say this, especially amongst "believers."... 2mo ago received

I think the main pro received

There is a phrase in the Pali Canon that is used frequently that goes something like "the Buddha teaches a Dhamma that is good in its beginning, good in its middle, and good in its end" and this is exactly why you might want to leverage the ideas even when... 2mo ago received

There is a phrase in received

Previous posters have given examples of exemplars, as well as the living tradition of practice and writings for anyone to fully engage and understand their goal, even if someone disagrees. Do you similarly have people you believe to have followed this goal... 1mo ago received

Previous posters hav received

Applied Philosophy and ... Product Design?
Wanted to share one of my favorite pieces of aesthetic philosophy (as a branching off from >>3734). It is cleverly disguised as a product design blog post. If you haven't ever given much thought to why things look the way they do, this should be pretty con... (www.core77.com) posted 2mo ago with 11 replies received technology philosophy

Applied Philosophy a received

You normally wouldn't catch me defending the rectangle ideology, but i must protest your characterization of rectangles as “unnatural”. They are natural to rational thought. We did not invent the rectangular grid just out of pure postmodern arbitrarine... 2mo ago received

You normally wouldn' received

I take your point. There's an interesting technical discussion to be had here around optimality. The amount of compute required to run optimizations over form within an aero CFD environment is very large. I looked around a little while back and believe tha... 1mo ago received

I take your point. T received

The Dark Knight <> King Warrior Magician Lover
The Dark Knight: that comic book movie, yes, this is a post about capeshit... (archive.org) posted 2mo ago with 3 replies received philosophy bookclub

The Dark Knight <> K received

I'll be honest I tried reading that Moore & Gillette book and I couldn't get through it. The archetypes were poorly defined, vague, in such a way that you can (un)reasonably justify any kind of reading using them. Also wasn't clear to me that it described ... 2mo ago received

I'll be honest I tri received

A Hidden Gem
One of the reasons I am posting here is to discover some hidden gems that cannot be found easily elsewhere on the web.... (www.sscnet.ucla.edu) posted 1y ago with 10 replies received meta philosophy bookclub

A Hidden Gem received

This is really interesting. Struggle is the principle that creates life, health, and truth, and it has justice to it. I have not heard of this so I will have to go read it. Is there a good english translation you recommend? Looks like archive has the germa... 1y ago received

This is really inter received

Could you send some of your favorite R/ACC essays or discussions on "agonistic inamic unity"? It seems highly relevant and historically fascinating, but I can't find much online apart from the foundational book which is an academic tome. 2mo ago received

Could you send some received

Center Studies Intro Thread
A close friend has championed the work of a certain Dennis Bouvard for a long while. He calls the broader field of related inquiry 'Center Studies', and certainly has gotten some mileage out of the ideas himself. I suspect many of you will be tangentially ... (dennisbouvard.substack.com) posted 2mo ago with 3 replies received philosophy

Center Studies Intro received

From Bouvard:... 2mo ago received

From Bouvard:... received

I've started reading some of the essays and the book Anthropomorphics. My immediate impression is that this is the kind of writing that sucks you into an intellectual vortex, makes it very hard to tell if there is something to it or if it is wordcel nonsen... 2mo ago received

I've started reading received

LEFT AND RIGHT : An attempt at political theorizing
I’ve attempted to do two things here: apply a historicist approach to the question, and account for how we use the categories LEFT and RIGHT today in discourse, i.e., how they’ve evolved over time as polemical tools.... (sphinxe.substack.com) posted 2mo ago with no replies received history philosophy

LEFT AND RIGHT : An received

Vitalist/BAP/Nietzsche Metaphysics Question
BAP - drawing from Nietzsche et al., but perhaps more explicitly - discusses an “innate intelligence” in nature. Some kind of conscious (or at least intentional) entity with its own ends and purposes.... posted 2mo ago with 5 replies received philosophy nietzsche

Vitalist/BAP/Nietzsc received

As one of the harder "materialists" around here, the vitalists are right there is an innate intelligence in nature. Start with Darwin: the results of the mutation-selection organism-design process that we call evolution look pretty intelligent. We can deny... 2mo ago received

As one of the harder received

Will Future Civilizations Bother to Excavate Our Remains?
https://www.palladiummag.com/2025/07/08/will-future-civilizations-bother-to-excavate-our-remains/ posted 2mo ago with 3 replies received history philosophy

Will Future Civiliza received

Those examples are all textual and also in the context of modern archeology, which as BLT says is transient. It's not that it doesn't draw on archeology for access to texts, it's that archeology as a whole field isn't sustained by that process, and the soc... 2mo ago received

Those examples are a received

Yes, the general pattern has been that civilizations rise and fall, but technology gets better over time. There are local tech regressions like the Bronze Age Collapse and the fall of Rome—but even the darkest of the post-Roman Dark Ages had much better ... 2mo ago received

Yes, the general pat received

"Cosmic Alignment" is almost right. Life is the answer
Philosopher it-girl Ginevra Davis gave a great talk on "Cosmic Alignment" the other day. I was glad to see serious thinking against the current paradigm of "AI Alignment". Her argument is that alignment makes three big unsupported speculations:... posted 2mo ago with 11 replies received philosophy gnon superintelligence

"Cosmic Alignment" i received

...bruh... 2mo ago received

...bruh... received

What bothers me in these AI alignment debates is the bizarrely abstract idea of intelligence--as if it’s some pure, disembodied will-to-power or will-to-intelligence, with no ecology, no lineage. The orthogonality thesis is especially guilty: it imagines... 2mo ago received

What bothers me in t received

I call this "faith in being." It is the primordial form of faith. One may or may not have more particular faith in particular things (revelations, ancestors, familial relations) but one must have faith in being, or one will be lost in nihilism. 2mo ago received

I call this "faith i received

Welcome to Sofie Channel. Curated anonymous discussion about life and philosophy.
I've been working on a little something in the background for the past year, and more earnestly for the past few months. It's a new social media platform designed to curate a high quality discourse community about whatever topics are important to us.... posted 1y ago with 30 replies received meta philosophy

Welcome to Sofie Cha received

The high reputation poster is a bore and a lout of the highest order. As his reputation trends upwards the amount of information conveyed per post trends to zero. “On this topic the Socratics has this to say—” I can barely stomach this already. See h... 1y ago received

The high reputation received

Thanks. So far so good and i have a lot of ideas for how to improve the taste machine further. The main bottleneck at this point i think is we have to bootstrap a network of good discussion here. Then with scale we will see more clearly the problems requir... 2mo ago received

Thanks. So far so go received

Political philosophy vs Natural science
Strauss on Hobbes... posted 2mo ago with 2 replies received philosophy

Political philosophy received

I agree with Hobbes there is quite a strong distinction between political philosophy and natural science, at least in methodology. Natural science is strongest at creating tight predictive frameworks for external non-living phenomena, out of which we can b... 2mo ago received

I agree with Hobbes received

Gigachad John Winthrop and His Merry Band of Chadly Puritans
Harvardtards know Winthrop House, but have they read the works of its titular figure? I think not, but you can, anon. Here’s a nice cold plunge for you:... (minio.la.utexas.edu) posted 2mo ago with 3 replies received history philosophy

Gigachad John Winthr received

I would've recommended Bradford, but that sourcebook also looks great. Anything with Perry Miller's name on it is quite worth reading, especially something like a compendium. He's a giant. Skimming through the table of contents, I'd actually be quite inter... 2mo ago received

I would've recommend received

Was Cypher Right?: Why We Stay In Our Matrix (Hanson, 2002)
https://mason.gmu.edu/~rhanson/matrix.html posted 2mo ago with 2 replies received philosophy superintelligence

Was Cypher Right?: W received

Fuck you anon_gwjy, this is a good link. 2mo ago received

Fuck you anon_gwjy, received

Received loud and clear. I'll read it. 2mo ago received

Received loud and cl received

Phenomenology as useful turbo-autism
I was reading the Heraclitus fragments this weekend, and luckily my pdf had the Greek alongside English. Fragment 10 says "Φύσις κρύπτεσθαι φιλεῖ", which was translated as "Things keep their secrets". My Greek knowledge, despite being ... posted 3mo ago with 4 replies received philosophy gnon bookclub

Phenomenology as use received

You should check out THE ART AND THOUGHT OF HERACLITUS by Kahn. Lots of commentary on Heraclitus filters his fragments through Aristotle and other later philosopher's interpretation. Kahn attempts a purely textual exegesis which attempts to reconstruct Her... 3mo ago received

You should check out received

These resources are all very good — thank you to everyone who's replied. I think given the tenor so far we should just turn this into a spergathon of posting the best Greek resources. Please continue with hidden gems, forbidden texts, and generally the m... 2mo ago received

These resources are received

Is Unitarianism the true religion of the coming civilization?
Jefferson didn't quite get the dates right, but I offer the provocation that he was right in spirit about Unitarianism. Unitarianism takes the best of the Christian tradition and broader European philosophical tradition, and unifies and purifies it of supe... posted 4mo ago with 27 replies received philosophy gnon nietzsche

Is Unitarianism the received

For present purposes, I'll pass over theological debates about Christian revelation, and simply note the sociological fact that actually existing Unitarianism is pure shitlibery. In fact it's among the most shitlib of all Christian-adjacent configurations.... 4mo ago received

For present purposes received

I was very moved by this post and so I went to my local Unitarian church and explained to them all that we have discussed here. They called the police on me. 3mo ago received

I was very moved by received

You are right about these things. I will attempt what you have specified. But i'm still lacking two things: a good hook, and "what's the point". We can be as right as we like about philosophy and so on but if there isn't some actual operational program tha... 3mo ago received

You are right about received

The Hellenic View of Existential Risk
When I was a teen, I read much of the Less Wrong and the rationalist work of the day. This provided the basis for a vague worry surrounding "existential risk." The feeling was pervasive, and I would read works about the dangers of AI or other technology to... posted 6mo ago with 10 replies received technology philosophy rationality

The Hellenic View of received

Great post, OP. Most of the X-risk field reflects a spiritual illness and worldview poisoned by utilitarianism.... 6mo ago received

Great post, OP. Most received

I think in this discussion, as well as the places where I generally see this particular kind of critique of EA and x-risk come up, there's a conflation of two intertwined but separable core issues. The first is the factual risk of irreparable damage to the... 3mo ago received

I think in this disc received

The Slice of Life Mindset
Consider a slice-of-life anime and what it chooses to romanticize. Commuting to work, preparing a meal, reading a book, drinking some tea, watching a movie. The characters are typically unambitious, the opposite of a shonen character who sacrifices everyth... posted 5mo ago with 2 replies received philosophy

The Slice of Life Mi received

I like this wholesomeposting. Interesting you connect Ayn Rand to slice-of-life philosophy. It's a sort of lifestyle wu-wei: just be clear on your code of values and try to live it as directly as possible, and refuse to apologize or compromise. To your poi... 5mo ago received

I like this wholesom received

Yes. I do a few different things that help turn boring moments into extraordinary ones. One is to notice and thank God for everything. The small bird perched on a branch, the sun peaking over rooftops, or a nice drive in the car. It doesn't matter how ever... 5mo ago received

Yes. I do a few diff received

Just how alien would the space-octopus be?
It's hard to say what a true alien species would be like. But octopi are pretty alien, and we know a bit about them. One of you doubted that a space-octopus from alpha centauri would be much like us. So here is a xenohumanist thought experiment: SETI has i... posted 5mo ago with 5 replies received philosophy superintelligence accelerationism

Just how alien would received

intelligent super-ants make a good thought experiment. Let's add the standard set of capabilities: language, learned culture, tool use, fire, reflection, etc. Note these are just capabilities, not values or arbitrary architectural narrowings, but they are ... 5mo ago received

intelligent super-an received

The devil's argument against the falseness of eden, and God's reason for evil
I have been bothered for some time by the idea that Eden is either coherent or desirable. This idea is implicit in the problem of evil: we see that reality is different from Eden in that it includes a bunch of scary dangerous uncomfortable stuff we would r... posted 6mo ago with 6 replies received philosophy accelerationism

The devil's argument received

Most Christians are faggots just like everyone else in modern societies and even the good minority are deeply confused. The Church fucked up transmission of knowledge a long time ago, which explains why it's in such a pathetic state and why it's valid for ... 5mo ago received

Most Christians are received

The point of the story isn't that the devil is good or even that the devil was right. It’s that this creation (physical reality) is the good one, the pain in it is part of a greater plan and beauty, and the paradise imagined by bronze age semites is fake... 5mo ago received

The point of the sto received

How would we educate a young prince?
In another thread we considered whether a more intelligent population would have fewer social problems. Some comments brought out the intriguing idea that for matters of the functionality of society, structure and regime and therefore education may matter ... posted 8mo ago with 10 replies received philosophy life

How would we educate received

Good read. I've noticed how I'm drawn away from academia that has gone vapid and mainstream towards religion that has a core group of people refining the craft. 8mo ago received

Good read. I've noti received

Who's the next political philosopher?
From x dot com:... posted 1y ago with 2 replies received politics philosophy

Who's the next polit received

I was surprised that Byung-Chul Han, named last month "the internet's new favorite philosopher" wasn't mentioned, but I suppose one can be buzzy in one part of the internet without attracting the attention of another. Maybe he is not a "political philosoph... 1y ago received

I was surprised that received

The beach is the only place of enjoyment that the human species has discovered in nature.
I went to the beach today and wanted to write about it. I don’t have a manifesto. The beach makes me feel good.... posted 1y ago with 4 replies received philosophy life

The beach is the onl received

I have not read Lefebvre, but it sounds similar to thoughts I've had. The beach, the real one out there on the coast and not just some piece of watery sand on the local waterway, is a little slice of titanic permanently wild landscape. Civilization can't r... 1y ago received

I have not read Lefe received

Learning from the Other/making sense of the past: Zhang Jingsheng's utopia of German aestheticism and Confucian statecraft
It seems to me that there have been several conversations here lately that circle back to the idea of lessons from the Other as one part of progress. It seems to come down to the idea that America, embarking on its own Century of Humiliation, or at least i... posted 1y ago with 1 reply received history philosophy

Learning from the Ot received

There would also be a complicated quasi-religious system put in place. He is against feudal superstitions, and imagines instead a system of belief based on aesthetics. He calls for the construction of temples devoted to the cultivation and worship of aesth... 1y ago received

There would also be received

A pinpoint brain with less than a million neurons, somehow capable of mammalian-level problem-solving.
https://rifters.com/real/2009/01/iterating-towards-bethlehem.html?fbclid=IwAR1b9QURSJnizgy7r4HD7UCYmc06A7uL5muc7igz8uJHxLAIZWEwDMSqyPk posted 2y ago with 15 replies received philosophy superintelligence computing

A pinpoint brain wit received

Aristotle described animals as having souls* capable of knowledge derived from the senses and the capability to use that knowledge to support the movements characteristic of their species.... 1y ago received

Aristotle described received

Based Japanese Education
A few months ago, I encountered one of the most based tweets that I have ever seen. My Japanese is mediocre, so this is largely a machine translation, but I will try to do her writing and the classical poetry justice.... (twitter.com) posted 1y ago with 6 replies received history philosophy

Based Japanese Educa received

There are a few guess for the time of the composition, possibly after the poet was discharged from his duties by the emperor in 744. It would match the mood. I like this version in Taiwanese Hokkien: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nuUz0NZJtg.... 1y ago received

There are a few gues received

Glossary and Notes of New Political Thought
Link to a PDF. These are notes taken while meeting some of the top minds in politics, philosophy, and AI.... (files.catbox.moe) posted 1y ago with 3 replies received politics philosophy

Glossary and Notes o received

FYI it's "singularitarian", not "singletarian". Comes from the "technological singularity" idea.... 1y ago received

FYI it's "singularit received

Why religions are good but we need new ones
I think people in modern times do not understand religion and are far too quick to dismiss them, probably because of defects they can point to in existing popular ones. Like the tenets of the popular Abrahamic religions. Sure, Abrahamic religions do have l... posted 1y ago with 6 replies received philosophy

Why religions are go received

Take it up in the materialism thread. >>1754 1y ago received

Take it up in the ma received

On Religion
IMO, the #1 insight I've absorbed from our general sphere is a far better grasp of the holistic significance of religion and theology within human society. In this regard, I found Wolf's article on Abraham especially insightful. I especially owe him for hi... posted 1y ago with 13 replies received politics philosophy gnon

On Religion received

Glorious. Right on. With respect to the other transcendentals, I've recently been thinking the way we should launch this philosophical movement is radicalizing around the natural law ("The Idea") operationalization of Truth. Beauty is very charismatic, but... 1y ago received

Glorious. Right on. received

What are the most important (history, philosophy, etc.) books for the home educator to read?
Think: “things the teacher needs to know so he or she can avoid misleading his or her students”.... posted 2y ago with 14 replies received history philosophy bookclub

What are the most im received

I was going to say the English Civil War seemed like one of the first big blows for liberalism. The Peace also seems relevant. In any case the point stands: maybe study the historical genealogy of our own system. But if I can refine the prompt somewhat, I'... 1y ago received

I was going to say t received

I wanted to select OP's refinement of the prompt for the newcomers. My interpretation of this prompt is that we want to determine what is important to us, and I think that would start with understanding what the ideological foundations of our current regim... 1y ago received

I wanted to select O received

Don't Learn Value From Society. A meditation on slavecoin and abrahamic one-foot-in-one-foot out strategy.
https://www.palladiummag.com/2023/07/13/dont-learn-your-values-from-society/ posted 1y ago with 2 replies received philosophy

Don't Learn Value Fr received

I've read and re-read this essay and keep returning to it. It helped explain the nefarious effect in my life of some Bay area subcultures. And I've quit a useless master's (credentialism) to pursue more Abrahamic-value courses of action. - coyotespike 1y ago received

I've read and re-rea received

The Structure of Exoteric Ideology
Zero HP Lovecraft wrote a series of post called "Toward a Functionalist Understanding of Religion" that culminated in a proposal for a "Christian-Nietzschean" synthesis. I'm not much interested in the latter. However, in the first post in the series, he sk... posted 1y ago with 5 replies received philosophy nietzsche

The Structure of Exo received

I like this reframing. It's very much in the spirit of what I was thinking when I (re)posted the reference. 1y ago received

I like this reframin received

The Post-Liberal Synthesis. The founding essay of the Governance Futurism project.
https://www.palladiummag.com/2018/09/29/towards-the-post-liberal-synthesis/ posted 1y ago with 3 replies received politics philosophy

The Post-Liberal Syn received

Yes. "Post-Liberal" rapidly became a useless label colonized by insincere pseudo-movements.... 1y ago received

Yes. "Post-Liberal" received

Nietzsche - Homer's Contest
Some of you may have already seen this piece; I think it’s worth revisiting following the book club. In it Nietzsche offers more details on the relation between tyrant/warrior and philosopher/artist in the ancient Greek polis. It’s another of his early... posted 1y ago with 5 replies received philosophy nietzsche

Nietzsche - Homer's received

Yeah there's a phase shift with Plato to philosophy as a self-conscious program and type, with a politics. Alamariu points out tyranny and proto-philosophy existed for a while pre-plato, but true philosophy only really comes into being with xenophon and th... 1y ago received

Yeah there's a phase received

The martial art of ideology
The best idea on Lesswrong was the martial art of rationality. It didn't deliver.... posted 2y ago with 24 replies received philosophy rationality family

The martial art of i received

Rationality is the virtue of thought and I think it's good to keep the term around, but it isn't the father of virtue, since sometimes it is prudent to stop thinking, and because a lot of activities are better without thought.... 2y ago received

Rationality is the v received

Interesting. I need to be more consistent with the Romanization. It is a pet peeve of mine that the usual Romanization of the Peking dialect promulgated by the government... 2y ago received

Interesting. I need received

on facing death
how should one face death? the two common/standard answers i see are to ignore death entirely, which i think is the atheistic standard, with doctors avoiding being frank about a patient's death and schools never really bringing it up, and few people thinki... posted 2y ago with 17 replies received philosophy nietzsche

on facing death received

I think when i was a bugman atheist I was secretly terrified of death, that was the root cause of extropianism/transhumanism/radical life extensionism... it's just fear of death.... 2y ago received

I think when i was a received

Don't be a fat.
posted 2y ago with 12 replies received philosophy

Don't be a fat. received

Dieting beyond what is comfortable for your digestion seems much more energetically taxing than simply increasing your activity, which actually *builds* your energy. The human body is a perfect example of a structure that becomes more, not less powerful th... 2y ago received

Dieting beyond what received

Ideology is not for arguing or justifying. It is for living.
A forum is an ideological thunderdome in which we can train the martial art of ideology.... posted 2y ago with 9 replies received politics philosophy

Ideology is not for received

u got me 2y ago received

u got me received