Information I Consumed on May 27, 2021 - game 04.02
by: Kristen Pavle
Game 04, post 02/10
Context
Trying out being more intentional about documenting what I'm reading, seeing if this helps me read more and make more sense out of what I'm reading. The verdict is still out - for some reason, I have a hard time reading non-fiction. I think I ruined myself when I worked as a qualitative researcher - I would have to read for very specific information, it was a form of data collection. I probably reinforced somewhat obsessive habits while doing qualitative research.And now, it's hard to just read through something... for fun, for interest.
And when I get into a document that is longer, like the Oshon piece below, it takes me a whole hour to read through it all - and that's without reading with too much focus. Explicitly trying to read for feel more than anything else. (As much as one can read for feel in a piece that breaks down capitalism through 4 capitalist thinkers' eyes). Maybe I'm just a slow reader? Maybe I just need to hone the skill? Not sure but I don't particularly enjoy the experience, nor do I know what to do with the information I've gleaned. (I think there's a catch-22 in here - if I don't know what to do with the information, it's not fun.)
Most frequently, I get stuck in this loop of "why am I reading? what am I reading for?" Which often stops me from even reading in the first place, because I can't really focus on the text when I don't know why I'm reading it. Also, when it's not enjoyable, I simply choose to do something else.
I think writing about this, and publishing it, is helpful. Acknowledging I've got some kind of complex around reading (this just sounds weird, externalizing this. As if I'm self-conscious of my reading habits, which, I suppose I am!). In summary - don't know what I'm doing or why. I guess I can rest assured I'm in good company with the rest of humanity.
What this post is
Last week, on Thursday 5/27/21 (when we first started playing Buzzard Game 04 I took notes in my Roam database on what I was consuming throuhg the day. It was journal-style notes. I'm not sure why I decided to do this. I periodically try new approaches to consumption to try and figure out the above shenanigans. This is one example of such.
1. "Let the #environment guide our #development" by Johan Rockstrom
- I wonder why it's so hard for people to believe that we need to change our behavior because we're destroying the planet as a result of how we're living.
- I also wonder if that narrative is not true, that perhaps it's not hard for people to believe. That somehow the challenge lies in the politicization of what to do about this fact.
- I wonder why it's so difficult for governments to work together, and to participate in projects that will assure our continued existence.
2. "The Treadmill Effect: Capitalism, or Bullshit?" by [[Oshon Jarow]]
- Interesting look at #capitalism. A remarkable lack of discussion about the role of #technology. Also remarkable, is the lack of discussion about the role of #governance (there's a theme for the day)
- [[John Maynard Keynes]] is the dude who infamously predicted that in 2030, humans would be 4-8x better off than in 1930 (when he published this thinking), and we'd be working far less--probably 15-hour work weeks, not out of need but out of choice. He attributes this economic boon to new technology and resultant acceleration of accumulation of capital. Keynes, however, is also quoted saying "None of this, however, will happen by itself or of its own accord. The system is not self-adjusting, and without purposive direction, it is incapable of translating our actual poverty into our potential plenty.”
- I'm a bit frustrated by Jarow's conclusion - that we simply need incremental, better policies in order to step off the treadmill.
- Perhaps I'm frustated because in some way, I sense that this problem has been known intuitively by most people. The challenge is more that we don't know how to work together to create the change we want to see in the world. We don't know how to effectively govern ourselves, to pave the way to the outcomes we know are feasible. Because let's be honest, this challenge, of the proverbial treadmill, has been around a long time. We just don't know how to get off the ride - HOW do we have "real, critical policy debates about what strategies are best suited to realize the higher possibilites that are made more visible with each passing phase of capitalist society"??
- Or perhaps I came up in the school of incremental policy change, and although I was working in health care, it was still, ultimately an economic situation. And regardless of what I was working on, there was this dominant political structure of liberal vs conservative; democrat vs republican. so again - HOW do we have policy debates, and more specifically, debates that are not zero sum? How do we have policy debates that are grounded in abundance, and not scarcity? How can we see that we already operate from a place of abundance, the question is how do we deal with the abundance in a way that works for everyone, not some of us, and doesn't kill the planet in the process?
3. "Subtext: markup for note-taking" by [[Gordon Brander]]
()Substack - Subconscious)["https://subconscious.substack.com/p/subtext-markup-for-note-taking"]
- kind of like a #zettelkasten language, block-oriented documents as line-oriented markup.
- lots of opportunity to mix and match, connect the dots, RELATE between blocks
- aligned with the [[relational OS]] we're building
- Also read: "Hypertext Montage"
-(Substack - Subconscious)["https://subconscious.substack.com/p/hypertext-montage"]
- Touching on interconnectedness of everything
- Thought legos - blocks to mix and match
- touching on the importance of context
4. "Life After an Internet Mob Attack" by [[Pasquale D'Silva]]
- It was hard to watch Pasquale go through what he did, Dave and I were talking to him from the beginning of it all - trying to help him talk to Bri before things got... well, nutty.
- the [[cancel culture]] thing is like #bullying and it's not cool
- regardless of who is "right" or "wrong", and really that's besides the point because on the large stage of broadcast, it's not about who is right or wrong because a group of that size doesn't get it - doesn't know what happened, and doesn't care about any of the individual players.
- but the felt sense of having an internet mob attack you... that is personal, and terrifying, and no one deserves that. this does not fit any crime.
- as dave says, it breaks the cardinal rule - "treat others how you like to be treated" or maybe it's just "be nice" or perhaps "one wrong doesn't right another"
- i feel like he showed some #accountability and #vulnerability here, and thats cool
5. Buy Nothing project
- learned about it from our air bnb host Claudia, shared with [[Kevin Straszburger]] when we were messaging about #Objet stuff
- it's a little trade economy - people getting rid of stuff, and others looking to acquire stuff. it's neat and makes a lot of sense. one man's garbage is another's treasure kind of deal.
6. "Behind the Myths of Scott and Zelda’s Epic Romance" by Behind the Myths of Scott and Zelda’s Epic Romance
- I'd started reading this a bit ago, but finished it - about the relationship of [[F.S. Fitzgerald]] and [[Zelda Sayre]] - he a raging #alcoholic and her with some undiagnosed [[mental illness]] of sorts. but both hopelessly in love with one another, in some ways feeding each other's demise but it wasn't as simple as that, for the torment they brought each other, there was also joy.
- written by their granddaughter, who is in turn the child of their only daughter.