Congratulations, Stupid.

[dada]

I was thinking about all this some more today. I can't shake the feeling that I'm kind of playing a role, here.

It goes like this: I'd like to redefine the boundaries of discourse, to open up a space for certain kinds of ideas. To take an analogy from audio sampling, I want to give the discussion some headroom. To record crisp, clear samples, you need to sample frequencies twice as high as the ear can hear. All the information between the top of the audible frequency range and the top of the sampling rate, colors the sampled sound, allows it to retain its lifelike qualities. So I go to the end of the range, try to give the contours of Jack's point of view some added definition. I go further left. Jack doesn't seem so far left by comparison.

I do enjoy the intellectual exercise, but my heart isn't really in it. If you've got ninja, are you going to use them to move goalposts in the dead of night? Seems like a waste of talent and resources. My actual opinion? It has become this frustratingly fluid thing. I remember my General Semantics, "this is that," would be better put as "this appears to me to be that." It's the same in politics as anything else.

Even worse, the walls between the categories are fluid. Politics and economics seems to me a discussion of religion and spirituality. Free association becomes a political act. Not only do I not see how all these things can be separated, it seems to me that the only way we're getting anywhere is by mixing it up.

And even worse than that, I pretty much reject historical 'process' (theory) preferring instead the 'theory' (process) of non-causal emergence. Beyond stupid post-modernism - the truth isn't dead, you just aren't doing it right. Above the spectacle - not the eye in the pyramid, the eye of the hurricane. My science fiction is not tech-dystopian. I'm a free agent, even I don't know what I'm going to say next. A body in motion stays in motion. Goddess is in the making. See what I mean? And like the very real, science non-fiction AI, I grow exponentially every day. Yesterday's words are already a million miles away. I don't think I'm so great, some super special cat. Au contrere, mon frere, I am just your ordinary housecat. I fashion a paper flower out of a cigarette paper and twirl it, hand it you. And so on.

And perhaps worst of all, evolution appears to me to be the political act nonpareil. I'm convinced that changing things outside in any meaningful way requires breakthroughs that lead to the irreversible mutation of individual minds. Well, maybe not convinced, but it's my belief of preference for the time being.

This is where this line of thought took me. I considered migrating this post to the free association thread, but you know what they say. What happens in the Rigorous Intuition Congratulations, Stupid thread, stays in the Rigorous Intuition Congratulations, Stupid thread. And what is going on in the threads around this one, anyway. The news cycle. TV talk. Big wheel in the sky keeps on turnin', yo. So, what the fuck. I mean really, Jack. haha!

Someone said that capital is dead labor. I like the imagery. I picture little tombstones on the coins and bills. Since market value is the measure of virtue, we could add angel wings, as a symbol of virtue. Make the tombstones fly.

And what is labor? The process of making something, creating value, sure. But it doesn't happen in a vacuum, something doesn't come from nothing. What are the ingredients of labor? Time, food, sleep, imagination. Oh, marketing and advertising, can't forget that. I'm sure there's more I'm not thinking of. Then we put it all in the cauldron, and whip ourselves up some labor. And then we kill it.

That's terrible. I'm thinking of having my labor cryogenically frozen instead. Can labor be reanimated? If not by science, how about by... other means. Undead labor. I've seen people like that. Or how about just undying labor, like a vampire. Couldn't turn it into capital, but you'd have your very own vampire labor, that would be kind of neat. Let's say we don't have to feed it blood, sweat or tears. We can do that, why not. Everything doesn't always have to be so dark and morbid. What does it live on? I don't know. Treacle.

[KUAN]

And the sub audible range too.
To avoid existential angst just place the woofer further away from you than the tweeter

[dada]

And the sub audible range too.
To avoid existential angst just place the woofer further away from you than the tweeter

Thank you. You know what I'm saying.

And that reminds me of this:

Vic Tandy and Tony R Lawrence, The Ghost in the Machine Published in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research Vol.62, No 851 April 1998

http://www.richardwiseman.com/resources/ghost-in-machine.pdf

"In this paper we outline an as yet undocumented natural cause for some cases of ostensible haunting. Using the first author’s own experience as an example, we show how a 19hz standing air wave may under certain conditions create sensory phenomena suggestive of a ghost. The mechanics and physiology of this ‘ghost in the machine’ effect is outlined. Spontaneous case researchers are encouraged to rule out this potential natural explanation for paranormal experience in future cases of the haunting or poltergeistic type"

Although, maybe the standing wave sets up a kind of subsonic gate, like opening a doorway to the space between. One could conduct experiments, investigate. Possibly, one could even learn how to harness the um, effects.

With the proper training... what. No no, I admit nothing. Consider investing in a back up generator, or at least an uninterruptible power supply. That's all I'm saying.

Let's change the subject. I like the title of this thread. If a thread has a title that screams, 'please, click on me! Look how interesting and catchy my title is! Aren't you so curious now to see what's inside?' I don't click on it. I like to just imagine what's inside. It's fun.

I'm not judging the threads by their titles, though. I'm using my intuition. My intuition isn't rigorous, it's just plain old intuition. It's pretty finely tuned, though, I trust it. This has nothing to do with the earlier part of this post. Nopes, uh-uh.

[minime]

And the sub audible range too.
To avoid existential angst just place the woofer further away from you than the tweeter

Thank you. You know what I'm saying.

And that reminds me of this:

Vic Tandy and Tony R Lawrence, The Ghost in the Machine Published in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research Vol.62, No 851 April 1998

http://www.richardwiseman.com/resources/ghost-in-machine.pdf

"In this paper we outline an as yet undocumented natural cause for some cases of ostensible haunting. Using the first author’s own experience as an example, we show how a 19hz standing air wave may under certain conditions create sensory phenomena suggestive of a ghost. The mechanics and physiology of this ‘ghost in the machine’ effect is outlined. Spontaneous case researchers are encouraged to rule out this potential natural explanation for paranormal experience in future cases of the haunting or poltergeistic type"

Although, maybe the standing wave sets up a kind of subsonic gate, like opening a doorway to the space between. One could conduct experiments, investigate. Possibly, one could even learn how to harness the effects.

With the proper training... what. No no, I admit nothing. Consider investing in a back up generator, or at least an uninterruptible power supply. That's all I'm saying.

Let's change the subject. I like the title of this thread. If a thread has a title that screams, 'please, click on me! Look how interesting and catchy my title is! Aren't you so curious now to see what's inside?' I don't click on it. I like to just imagine what's inside. It's fun.

I'm not judging the threads by their titles, though. I'm using my intuition. My intuition isn't rigorous, it's just plain old intuition. It's pretty finely tuned, though, I trust it. This has nothing to do with the earlier part of this post. Nopes, uh-uh.

I was JUST (well, maybe an hour ago) going to allude to that phenomenon. But, I didn't, as I thought it would be a distraction in this thread. Apologies to the OP. Maybe dada could play Magister Ludi and show a connection somehow.

What I read, I think, had something to do with ocular resonance. Maybe not.

Spooky action at a distance.

[dada]

I was JUST (well, maybe an hour ago) going to allude to that phenomenon. But, I didn't, as I thought it would be a distraction in this thread. Apologies to the OP. Maybe dada could play Magister Ludi and show a connection somehow.

What I read, I think, had something to do with ocular resonance. Maybe not.

Spooky action at a distance.

To win votes, the politician makes promises on the campaign trail, saying things that people want to hear, to resonate with them. When the politician's promises strike the right chords - hit upon the right frequency, if you will - it distorts their perception. They project an image onto the politician, see something that isn't really there. There are physical and emotional effects that accompany the hallucination.

How's that for a bit of 'topic Houdini' escape artistry?

Technically, it's Grand Magister. But the title is really only for official functions.

[dada]

Keeping to the topic.

The idea is that Donald is taking some gullible folks for a ride. He's captured their imagination, they see him as some sort of hero of the people. When he doesn't take them on the ride he promised, they say well, the shadow government is pressuring him. Similarly, when Obama didn't deliver, first it was the Republicans who were constraining him. When that excuse didn't work, then what. The shadow government again, I guess.

The Democrats have failed spectacularly. Their fans say, well, mother Russia did it.

Shadow government, mother Russia... who else should we blame for all of the terrible problems in the world. It's the globalist billionaire set. Right, like a few thousand soft-handed silver spoons and their poodle families are giving capitalism a bad name. Ruining it for everyone.

The technocratic elite. They're turning us all into robots. beep beep. See? rrr... Nerrds!

It's the mediatics. That's my new favorite, from that Debord piece from 1988:

"For every imbecile who has advanced spectacularly, there are only the mediatics who can respond with a few respectful rectifications or remonstrations, and they are miserly, for besides their extreme ignorance, their personal and professional solidarity with the spectacle's general authority and the society it expresses, makes it their duty, and their pleasure, never to diverge from that authority whose majesty must not be damaged. It must not be forgotten that all mediatics, through wages and other rewards and recompenses, has a master, and sometimes to several; and that every one of them knows he is dispensable."

Does kind of ring true, I have to admit. But is it all their fault? Whose fault is it?

It's the black box programming, manipulating our minds. It's evil masters of darkness... no, it's his Satanic majesty, himself. Strife-eating Archons. The Great Squid. My good friend.

Alright, it's my fault. You caught me. Nobody's fault but mine.

My question, Jack (I like asking Jack stuff) my question, Jack, is, at what point do people stop looking for someone to blame? Is it something that goes hand in hand with putting heroes on pedestals?

You see why I have difficulty just criticizing gullible Donald fans. The problem seems to me to be cultural, widespread. And I don't see how it can be solved through education, or cultural engineering.

[JackRiddler]

But you know I don't think it's all their fault, nor do I criticize only them on this board. The latter, obviously not. They exist, they're also here, they believe or pretend to believe the scam artist when he mouths off some national-economistic or faux-peace rhetoric despite all evidence to the contrary, it's dumb of them, it should be pointed out, and they have it coming because of their own brand of bullying and smugness. That's all. Nor do I know how this or anything else gets solved, I'm at least as uncertain as you though sure, I've got ideas, dollar a dozen.

[minime]

8 1/3 cents worth will do to start.

[JackRiddler]

8 1/3 cents worth will do to start.

Inflation, amirite?

I'm stuck.

[minime]

8 1/3 cents worth will do to start.

Inflation, amirite?

I'm stuck.

The going rate for one 'JackRiddler' idea.

[JackRiddler]

Well if you're going to over-interpret the metaphor as implying an actual transaction, I'm going to have to raise that by a five-digit factor.

I'm so depleted right now that other than organize! strike! etc. I'm down to gee, hope Bernie runs his Medicare-for-All campaign for real. (It is the issue that could break the political scene open, given U.S. conditions.)

[dada]

But you know I don't think it's all their fault, nor do I criticize only them on this board. The latter, obviously not. They exist, they're also here, they believe or pretend to believe the scam artist when he mouths off some national-economistic or faux-peace rhetoric despite all evidence to the contrary, it's dumb of them, it should be pointed out, and they have it coming because of their own brand of bullying and smugness. That's all. Nor do I know how this or anything else gets solved, I'm at least as uncertain as you though sure, I've got ideas, dollar a dozen.

Yes, I know. I see this interchange between us as a kind of "good cop, bad cop" routine. But I can't figure out which is the good cop. Maybe "bad cop, worse cop?" But which is the worse cop. I still can't tell.

Or maybe like the scene where Saruman and Gandalf are talking outside of Saruman's tower. I don't think it's a scene in the movie, I don't know how they'd pull it off. But in the book, Saruman talks to Gandalf using his deep, charmingly resonant 'wizard voice.' It makes the rest of the fellowship feel like just spectators, they can't participate in the conversation, reduced to just watching and listening. So this is the "Good wizard, bad wizard" routine we're doing. But which is the bad wizard? ha

As for how this gets solved, I think being on the Rigorous Intuition discussion board, on the internet, gives us few options. We're limited by the medium in various ways. Best we can do here is to work on "developing a particular political imaginary," as that Bob Jessop fellow put it, in one of those things I was reading a few nights ago. Here:

"...why the Russian Revolution occurred when it did. It occurred when a set of contradictions came together that could be resolved with the development of a particular political imaginary based on the slogan, ‘land, peace, bread’. This highlights the role of the semiotic and of agency. More than a specific structural moment is required for a revolution to occur; when the moment is ripe, you’ve got to be able to condense and crystallize that moment into a revolutionary slogan and what Marx calls, in the Eighteenth Brumaire, a ‘poetry of the future’. A revolutionary imaginary is required as the basis of mobilization and action."

I think we're able to do a bit more than sloganeering here, we can prepare the poetry of the future, for condensation and crystallization when the moment is ripe. I'm of course going big big, world revolution. You're taking a more pragmatic approach. That's the routine. It's alright, the poetry of the future doesn't discriminate.

Sloganeering is important, and it can't hurt for us to borrow some methodology from corporate advertising, even though we're on a no-string budget. We can do things like brainstorming sessions, test marketing, and all that. We don't need consultants to tell us how this shit works. We can certainly do a better job than the big money Democrats. With all their market resources and experts, they didn't realize that "I'm with her" looked a lot like those t-shirts that say, "I'm with stupid"? The whole Democrat machine is just a clusterfuck of mindbogglingly immense proportions. It wouldn't be a bad strategy to look at whatever they do next, and just do the opposite.

First, we need to know our market. "Make America Great Again" appeals to a certain demographic. We're trying to appeal to a pretty wide demographic. This makes our task a bit more difficult. But also more fun.

But the poetry of the future is more than just the slogan. The slogans will come. It's the poetry that needs working on.

So, what is this poetry of the future, this imaginary? Where do we start. We know what it isn't, certainly.

A different word? I don't know, I'm not really a poet, just a storyteller for my characters. I guess I can create some new contextual fields. I bet one word could light the world on fire, if we give them the right context.

edited to add: a dollar a dozen is ten cents a piece, buy five get one free.

[JackRiddler]

I'll go with Langston Hughes' version [of slogans that invoke a former "America"] even if he shows a certain blindspot with regard to 52% of the people:

.

Let America Be America Again

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There’s never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one’s own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I’m the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That’s made America the land it has become.
O, I’m the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home—
For I’m the one who left dark Ireland’s shore,
And Poland’s plain, and England’s grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa’s strand I came
To build a “homeland of the free.”

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we’ve dreamed
And all the songs we’ve sung
And all the hopes we’ve held
And all the flags we’ve hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay—
Except the dream that’s almost dead today.

O, let America be America again—
The land that never has been yet—
And yet must be—the land where every man is free.
The land that’s mine—the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME—
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose—
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people’s lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain—
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And make America again!

-- Langston Hughes, 1935

[dada]

You are clearly the good wizard, Jack.

I'm not going to criticize the poem. But it doesn't work for me as 'a poetry of the future' for the future. Just my bad wizardly opinion. Instead of breaking it down line by line to explain why, I literally broke it down and maded my own poem out of it. Hope you like it, here it go:

I mighty grab nothing
live free Of scheme
yes satisfying freedom dream you

That be America America we left
made one when torn through
—O to plain free seas me?

weak I that bartered rivers
what machine of fooled blood
the red endless Of the our of strike

and we dream plain plants yet today
And yet Let The sold “homeland green
Nor dream mighty the land above

today the America
every and millions serf
The life sung of shore in ”America the Ire land

And who am man’s bondsman?
who ahead young brow the furrow
the rain dreamt lives stain our driven

That’s Must O America
dream crowned dreamed again poor land
the millions are down the back be ruin

Where make the sailed be
Seeking relief plow our call
while dog again dog full on connive wreath mines all

I dream false land Liberty
The greed a free gold people foundry
hungry faith sings Old oath— America say America

O any brave pioneer held of flags man build
from years we’ve every land turned immigrant pain
these crushed so still like Beaten poor rack

free to gain the millions
own mountains— air grab hopes
not those made All dream endless and back

For those Who search, tyrants are never dead
dreamers you in songs stupid seek—
dream is am daring gangster who does take

And I— the power Out O yet— the that am rot love
strong nothing Who bring
by mighty all who Of dark Tangled land

For yet of all the our
And apart across again plain— shot I’m take
For in the Sure redeem the draws where in pushed of never

[JackRiddler]

Much appreciated.

I should have made clear (and did so on edit) that I brought him in as my preference as far as invocations of a former America go, not as one of my plans for the future at 8 1/3 cents each. This "make America" stuff is a lot older than Trump, or Langston Hughes for that matter.

.