I'm 50 pages in. Is this book actually a difficult read like redditors say or does Cormac just obfuscate his descriptions of land in poetic runon sentences to make you feel overwhelmed?
>>25185166>does Cormac just obfuscate his descriptions of land in poetic runon sentences to make you feel overwhelmed?Yes
>>25185166The real density only starts around chapter 4. It's rather breezy until then. And it only becomes obfuscatory when the Judge speaks.
Do you guys have any recommendations? Ever since I finished this book I can't seem to get back into other books. The digressions, theology, ahab's speeches where just peak of fiction I ever read. Is there any book with similar depth and breadth?
Paradife Loft
>>25185173>pynchon
>>25185194Got a lifp have we anon?
>>25185222I think you're loft my good fir. Milton is a fuperftar around these partf.
>>25185145American literature sucks
What's the closest real life thing to Spice Melange?
>>25185224a mix of DMT, morphine, and crystal meth.don't ask me how I know this.
Both Patrick Bateman and Mac the Knife are presented as personifications of capitalism as killers. There are some similarities such Bateman being obsessed with high-end brands, and Mac being similarly fussy in making distinctions between high-end furniture.But otherwise they seem to diverge. Mac only kills as business or where it is simply expected of him and proper for a killer to do so. Same thing with fucking underage girls and prostitutes, mostly because it is proper to his class of criminal--the child who is drugged and raped mentioned at the beginning was presumably not even raped by Mac, rather it was suggested he charged others for it. "Off work" he isn't even particularly violent, just a sort of bourgeois who is incidentally a career killer Taken as personifications of evil, Bateman is evil qua mental sickness, whereas Mac the Knife is evil qua banality as Hannah Arendt describedWhich is a more accurate portrait of pure evil? Or capitalism?
>>25184754That's kind of funny considering that is a capitalist mantra tied to the hope that capitalists will deliver on their promises to the working class >>25184771She never claimed to be a philosopher and in truth rejected the label. The work is one of journalism and drew controversy mainly because she didn't think Nazism was uniquely evil, and she was subjected in life, partly as a result of that, to the accusation that she didn't have loyalty to her fellow Jews. Indeed despite being politically on the right, she came to reject Zionism, which she initially supported, on the basis that she found Zionists psychologically similar to Nazis.
>>25184371Fpbp
>>25184348Why does your picture collage have the mummy guy
>>25185072It's from the poster of the National Theatre Threepenny Opera. The actor playing the beggar playing Mac the Knife within the opera is balding in accordance with Brecht's suggestion that the beggar is not extremely attractive but just sort of normal looking and perhaps balding, based on a picture he saw from the Beggar's Opera
>>25184711Gullible boomer take
>Our starting point will be not the modern theory of evolution but the traditional doctrine of involution. We do not believe that man is derived from the ape by evolution. We believe that ape is derived from the man by involution. We agree with De Maistre that savage peoples are not primitive peoples, in the sense of original peoples, but rather the degenerating remains of more ancient races that have disappeared.
It doesn't really matter what's real or not in the conventional sense. Historical matters can never be truly and accurately represented anyway; take ten different people that were all at the same party last week and they will all describe a different version of events. Never mind something that happened ten thousand years ago.All history is aestheticized in that regard, might as well create your own as long as it constructive and congruent with your own goals and beliefs.
>>25185070Birth and infancy are like spring. You weren't born an athletes, but you had the potential to be one. Just as spring is not summer, but will lead to it.When you're old and decrepit and in the winter of your life, you will no longer have that potential.
>>25185099Does the primate have the same potential to be man?
>>25185077Plato argues metempsychosis which is not the same
>>25185177No because the premise of evolutionism as some innate mechanistic process is rejected.Higher consciousness, as observed in humans, didn't arise or emerge via some random process.At most, we might say that apes were used as a base form or foundation on which the human being was instituted. But there is no "natural" progression from apes to man.
ITT: we post pictures and recommendations for liturature based on the pictures.
>>25182494Hogg
>>25173891
>>25181703Invitation to a beheading
Which philosophers have totally 180d on their previous held views and repudiated themselves?
>>25184808>And modernity doesn't equal liberalism, it also birthed nationalism, totalitarianism, and imperialismThe Roman and Persian Empires were not imperialistic? Is imperialism just when America defends its interests proactively and overtly but doesn't actually conquer any territories nor construct entire fake islands in international waters? Also, Nationalism is, for a very real fact, older than modernity and you can see it in Thucydides.
>>25184653>Fukuyama is actually ahead of the curve in recognizing that America under Trump doesn't even operate as a liberal state anymoreHow? Do they no longer have a seperation of powers? Your complainst, much like Fukuyama's complaints about Trump, amount to pearl clutching.Of course, I wanted a fascist state which defines the common good and the good for the individual which then forces said good on the populace and turning them all into stoico-buddhists. But, some german lady called Arendt said that this is not good. Education is le bad.
I'm not sure why people keep propping China up to be this new burgeoning global leader when virtually all of its significant allies are opposed to Marxism in some way. The Iranian regime is officially opposed to marxism. Hell, you have iranian scholars publishing comprehensive critiques of marx and historical materialism.
>>25185129America doesn't conquer new territories, it just imposes a puppet government on them, transforming formally independent nations into vassal states that have zero control on any internal or external policies. And if they get uppity and try to elect an anti American leadership you either have a million new parties form against you all funded with US money, US financed colour revolutions, sanctions or if all else fails an invasion in the name of "democracy" where a puppet is installed.
>>25185160>virtually all of its significant allies are opposed to Marxism in some wayChina isn't Marxist anymore, Deng turned into ino a state-capitalist economy, and it's going to abandon communism as it gets richer and richer.
>WE WUZ HAVIN SEX AND SHIT
>>25183475>>25184065What's even more fun is that Italian writer Goliarda Sapienza apparently had a sexual encounter with Kundera and described her experience here in an interview, around 16.00:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqvhOl_4nRA&t=329sApparently, Kundera had gigantic dick, and it was very painful to her. She didn't enjoy it at all. She also makes fun of the whole thing.Goliarda is the pinnacle of based btw, and the only truly Nietzschean novelist you will ever read (see pic related). I really think she should be read more widely here.
>>25185050She seems annoying as hell
Somebody recommended this book to me once, for whatever reason, and all I remember is the part where a woman is blowing a guy in a car when someone crashes into them, causing her to bite off his dick. Yeah don't wanna try that
>>25185054She's actually a lot of fun, I recommended watching the whole thing. If there's one genuinely deep, vitalistic writer, it's her. It also puts me in a good mood to hear her talk because she goes through the most gruesome detail of her fairly tough life and never stops smiling. I wish I had a person like this in my life.Her novels are great btw.
>>25184382I don't and I won't.
We should be more like the Japanese
>>25180424>NTR>The Japanese art of enjoying the transient nature of relationships
>>25184635>The Japanese art of sharing; of generously offering your fellow man the opportunity to taste the same lips that you have.
>>25173586So hoarding, essentially.
>>25173586What pisses me off about this, on the same level as hygge or lagom, is that tsundoku is not some “concept” invented to describe a specifically Japanese practice. It is an ordinary word. Once you purchase a book, it is 未読 (midoku), “not yet read”, and once you read it, it is 既読 (kidoku), “read” and if you're a compulsive buyer, it becomes 積ん読 (tsundoku), “piled up”. Japanese is keen on forming various compounds on the fly, it doesn't have any meaning lost intranslation. There's no reason to use a Japanese word. It's shorter than “accumulating unread books”? Duh, most words are.
>>25176597Do you not have flyscreens in your country? I've literally never been inside a house in mine that didn't have flyscreen doors on every front/back entrance. They're so ubiquitous you'd think they're required by law, but they're about the one thing in this shithole nanny state that isn't
Are Hunger and Growth of the Soil any good?
>>25184447So as a Hellenic polytheist, will I like it or not?
>>25184530you will love it
knutzi
>>25184447I am a Christian and I loved it.By the way Christianity has a strong existentialism at its core. Read any of the gospels and tell me that there is nothing existential about them.
Is Wayfarers any good?
Can some Aristotle Christcuck please explain to me what differentiates Aristotle from Plato? From everything I've read of Aristotle, it just seems like he was embarrassingly filtered, like a 12 year old atheist. Please, if there are Aristotle tards out there, justify this nigga's existence. I'm at the point where I believe that the only reason he exist is because Jews want to portray Christianity as a consequence of his metaphysics which are ultimately retarded.
>>25182930chicken thing mainly
>>25182930Aristotle:>A is APlato>A is whatever you think it is unless youre retarded
>>25183000>metempsychosisI can only think of Ulysses now when I hear that word, hah.
>>25182930Very simplified but i'd frame the evolution from Plato to Aristotle as something like:Plato: 'truth must be eternal and unchanging, and since empirical reality is changing, whatever truth is to be found in it must have some independence from this empirical reality. Because truth seems to have some independence from it, we must consider empirical reality as having less reality than its independent truth of it.' Aristotle: 'By conceptualizing change as something moving from potency/matter into form/actuality, we can coherently think the truth of empirical reality even as it is changing, and so truth is no longer something we have to think as independent from this changing empirical reality, but rather as something within it.'
>>25182930The core difference is Aristotle has forms and matter and Plato has ideas and creation. Forms, for Aristotle, are hylomorphic, i.e. the information that tells the matter what to be and to be is present in that matter locally and invisibly and immediately and seamlessly. For Plato, the ideas are not in matter at all. St. Thomas kind of bridges this with what he calls examplars, which basically says it's God's ideals that a particular genus or species depicts. Aristotle's metaphysics are more tools to understand creation, in my view, and Plato is more a tool of pondering creation. A friend said it well, Aristotle for my mind and Plato for my heart.
its mid
>>25183998What is the philosophical underpinnings of his eternal hunger?
>>25182979>it has one of the greatest plot twists of all time.literally what is the twist
>>25185073NTA but o'brien being a baddie is definitely a twist
>>25185147to an extent, but its definitely not one of the greatest plot twists of all time. for most of the book, theres nothing to suggest hes a rebel other than winston having a gut feeling, then theres like one conversation with him before winston is arrested.
>>25184032>the section where winston reads the in-universe manifesto towards the end of section 2lmao I just finished a re-read and this part was definitely frustrating. IIRC it's the longest chapter of the entire book by far, and then it's pointed out several times after that nothing in it contained any new information. Even outside of that chapter, there are a lot of mechanical explanations of how the world works that make it feel repetitive and almost claustrophobic. I don't doubt the intended effect is to make the reader feel as hopelessly oppressed as Winston. It's a very ugly and utilitarian book. Not at all a pleasant or enjoyable experience. All that said tho, I can't deny it's a masterpiece. The end still left me more unsettled than most horror movies I've seen.
Reminder that Pynchon couldn't handle calculus and dropped out of college. Ergo, a book that is STEM heavy is more intellectual than purple prose slop. You wish your favorite author had the intelligence to write The Martian or Project Hail Mary.
>>25185056Funny since Weir actually studied computer science.
>>25185000Math is part of humanities, you are a psyopped nigger if it isn't obvious to you.
>>25185000cool it with the baits
>>25185156Lol you wish.
>>25185156It's genuinely pathetic if you believe this
Monsters, Dragons, Beasts, Creatures, Horrors, and Miscellaneous Lifeforms Edition Version 2: Magical and/or Alien BoogalooFAQ:>What is worldbuilding?Worldbuilding is the process of creating entire fictional worlds from scratch, all while considering the logistics of these worlds to make them as believable as possible. Worldbuilding asks questions about the setting of a world, and then answers them, often in great detail. Most people use it as a means of creating a setting or the scenery for a story.>"Isn't there a Worldbuilding general in >>>/tg/ already?"Yes, there is. However, that general is focused on the creation of fictional worlds for the intended purpose of playing TTRPG campaigns. Here you can discuss worldbuilding projects that are not meant to be used for a roleplaying setting, but for novels, videogames, or any other kind of creative project.>"Can I discuss the setting of my campaign here, though?"If you want to, but it would probably be better to discuss it on >>>/tg/ . We don't allow the discussion of TTRPG mechanics, however. If you want to discuss stats or which D&D edition is best, this is not the place.>"Can I talk about an existing fictional setting that is not mine?"Yes, of course you can!>"Does worldbuilding need to be about fantasy and elves?"Worldbuilding, as already stated above, and contrary to what many believe, does not inherently imply blatantly copying Tolkien. In fact, there are many science-fiction setting out there, and even entire alternative history settings which do not possess supernatural elements at all. Any kind of science fiction book has an implied setting at least, which involves a certain degree of worldbuilding put into it.Comment too long. Click here to view the full text.
>>25184916Based on what you wrote earlier, if your character was minding his own business and suddenly a stray bullet came from somewhere and hit him directly in the brain without a chance to notice or react, the character would die there for real and his death would become the final, true timeline.I would put the chance of accidentally stumbling into a sudden unavoidable death much higher than the chance of successfully taking over the country through precise timeline manipulations. In fact, the higher the character would attempt to rise in the society and the less ethical the means, the higher the chance would be that someone would decide to send a skilled assassin after the character. Then if the assassin decided to use a sniper bullet rather than, say, poison, there could well be nothing that the character could do.
>>25184974>Based on what you wrote earlier, if your character was minding his own business and suddenly a stray bullet came from somewhere and hit him directly in the brain without a chance to notice or react, the character would die there for real and his death would become the final, true timelineI suppose that's true. I was assuming we were talking about whether the ability itself can be defeated in cases where avoiding fate is possible.If he didn't use his prophecy, he's just another man and would die like one.
The Great Accomplishments of Magic:1. Prophecy, or the ability to see through time and change the outcome of events. To choose the right future regardless of causality.2. The ability to create energy and matter out of nothing and then return it to nothing. This isn't creation so much as it's shuffling things through spacetime. 3. The ability to order and destroy parts of existence. Or in other words, the ability to create a pot out of clay and then to turn it back into clay. Or to turn ash back into what it used to be. Complete control of entropy. 4. The ability to master the order of your own existence and become impervious to the outside world.5. The ability to shape your form at will.6. The ability to interpret any Information. That can mean anything from being able to know all languages to being able to read an electronic storage device, or even to read people's thoughts perfectly. 7. Mind control. These are basically the 7 special techniques for magic, derived from the Hindu concept of Siddhis/Accomplishments that any great Sage can learn. You're only considered Archmage material if you can master all of them.
>>25185109For 3, consider your Self to be a set of points that define yourself. You could consider it to be hair, height, and other biodata, or even go more fundamental and make it quantum states including your memory. It doesn't matter. The point is that once you've defined that set that can be considered your Self, it's possible to turn that set into an actual physical law that stops the rest of the universe from shifting you out of that set of states.Which is to say, it's Homeostasis. A passive force that keeps a stable order that you can call "yourself". It manifests as two basic forms:1. A simple forcefield type thing that keeps weapons from destroying you. You know, like Star Trek. 2. A regeneration system that would put Wolverine to shame and will always keep you the way you want to be. A mage can even use it to remain young and healthy forever.
The one common theme is that Magic basically smashes the Social Contract into a million pieces. The Mage does not need your consent, he does not fear your reprisals, he does not need ANYTHING from a normie. The only two outcomes are either Muggle extinction or Magocratic Apartheid.
Most so called "infohazards" are just knowledge about dangerous things, but nothing maddening or reality-bending or shaping in themselves. True infohazards is the kind that leaves you a gibbering madman raving at the moon, true to Lovecrafts endings in his writings.
>>25184813>thinks he is above the masses>thinks in terms of good and evilmany such cases, sad
>>25182868Just read Hegel, or Lacan or Whitehead, or D&G, or Wolfram, or GEB strange loop thing, or epigenetics and Sheldrake, or Land I guess if you want it to feel spooky and lovecraftian on purpose.Truly meditate on the concept of noumenon or the idea that the world consists of events instead of objects, or how the core of (You) is actually a void in lacanian theory etc. It's enough to make you crazy, so I suggest first getting a strong flexible and pragmatic base by internalizing pluralist and pragmatist ideas of William James, so you are able to shake the metaphysics off when it's not practical anymore and you feel it consuming you.Then when you feel flexible enough get into kabbalah or Gurjieff or whatever esoteric thing you like, and you will be able to properly navigate that framework without falling for it or seeing only nonsense. But basically, get deep into any metaphysical idea and you will be dragged into insanity, so you better learn how to stop the obsession when you approach schizo threshold.
>>25184764Based. Numbers of differences between countable possible futures also could have cause those outcomes>>25184861How did atcg come about? Now go have fun
>>25185122Now go figure out why or how the whole thread outside those three posters and yours truly would have been de escalation Fun fact: it is like the others but it doesn't repeat
>>25182868I'm certain infohazards exist, but they are very specific to the person/culture reacting to them, and the cultural/mental defenses that person happens to have against them (the person does not only have to learn the truth of the infohazard, but also experience the truth of it).Infohazards are always as much a product of the culture reacting to them as they are of the actual knowledge itself. To kinda put it in Lacanian terms, an infohazard is something that breaks the symbolic/imaginary register of a person, their framework of symbols, interpretations, structures and so on they use to make sense of the world. All of Lovecraft's characters are kinda neurotic WASPs with a very fragile conception of normal reality, much like Lovecraft himself. I think he is so preoccupied with knowledge that breaks one's sanity because his conception of reality was already kinda fragile. Its the same as when some people get their brain broken by psychedelics because they never really thought about why they live the life they lived and when suddenly confronted with it under heavy psychedelics their whole world falls apart, while for other people its just a fun trip.
