You set it up well at the end. Are we playing for all of us or just some of us? Our identities are ripping the fabric of our society. Salvation, if it comes, will arrive through universalism: honoring our cultures, but connecting through what we have in common.
Another compelling archetype that many slot into is The Palantíri.
This individual looks to analyze, categorize, and interpret the behavior of all others.
It looks like there are quite a few of this archetype in the mix.
Similar to Tolkien's conception of The Palantíri, this individual does indeed have the ability to see wide and far, so to speak, as well as somewhat reliably predict the near future. They keep pace with cultural evolution enough to spot meta trends that may be otherwise obscured to the individual participants in said trend or the legacy media enjoyers.
However, the chance for deception and manipulation is present.
While The Palantíri archetype observes others' difficulty in remaining objective and uninfluenced by the information they consume, The Palantíri may have an inflated sense of their own objectivity. This is naive realism (the belief that we see reality objectively and as it truly is, while those who disagree with us must be uninformed, irrational, or biased. We assume our perceptions are direct windows onto reality rather than constructions shaped by our experiences and assumptions) and bound to cause its own problem.
This archetype is an extension of The Anti-Establishment Rebel in some ways, the overlap being that they both envision themselves as the type of character to easily defend against the wool being pulled over their eyes because they are, obviously, too smart.
I recognize I'm performing this archetype right now—observing and categorizing from what I assume is a clearer vantage point. But the question still stands:
If we assign some degree of this lack of objectivity to each archetype—even The Palantíri—is there anyone who is objective enough to direct the culture in a way where it is steered away from the various cliffs it is running towards simultaneously?
One of the key issues I see with this whole movement—ex-risk aware, sense-maker, techno-utopian skeptical, meta-crisis analyst, self-optimization-without-hitting-the-obvious-traps, game-B respecter—is the evident tension between maintaining intellectual integrity and actually moving the needle at scale.
If this is really a civilizational-scale emergency, why does the response look like boutique intellectual work for the already-converted rather than an all-hands-on-deck mobilization?
Either:
-The emergency framing is overblown (and this is just interesting intellectual work)
-There's an unacknowledged acceptance of limits ("we can't actually move the needle, so we'll do what we can")
-The personal incentives aren't aligned with the stated mission
-There's no clear theory of change connecting the ideas to scaled impact
It’s the Palantiri I see in all of Jamie’s writing. There’s validity but there’s also mocking of others that shows a bias and subjectivity. Sorry Jamie I do enjoy your writing but it also has an unreal quality as not being American and not being in a western culture currently, it all seems very removed from my daily life.
I’m a New Zealander living in Ethiopia. I do relate to what you’re saying, and can see myself in the first two. I guess your point is to create caricatures of these different archetypes. I just don’t know people like this in my day to day.
Lovely, playful, and helpful as ever Jamie thank you so much.
Not sure if I fit neatly into any of these tropes, but I will say that I will live and thrive on the hill of ivermectin being good, good stuff.
I had one viral episode early this year, and dosing for 40mg a day of it for the initial three days kicked what could’ve/would’ve been a serious case of Covid/whatever the fuck into oblivion.
Would be more interesting & compelling if you spoke to your own blind spots & subjectivity. Which of these quadrants is your author's voice and general cognition coming from, or something else entirely?
Thank you. It helps to know I'm not alone in both recognizing the madness of the past few months as well as my own blindspots. I had hoped AI would be the great reality check and put an end to the absurdity. A las, I've changed my mind over the past two months from salvation to damnation. And yep, losing LT friends in the process.
You set it up well at the end. Are we playing for all of us or just some of us? Our identities are ripping the fabric of our society. Salvation, if it comes, will arrive through universalism: honoring our cultures, but connecting through what we have in common.
Another compelling archetype that many slot into is The Palantíri.
This individual looks to analyze, categorize, and interpret the behavior of all others.
It looks like there are quite a few of this archetype in the mix.
Similar to Tolkien's conception of The Palantíri, this individual does indeed have the ability to see wide and far, so to speak, as well as somewhat reliably predict the near future. They keep pace with cultural evolution enough to spot meta trends that may be otherwise obscured to the individual participants in said trend or the legacy media enjoyers.
However, the chance for deception and manipulation is present.
While The Palantíri archetype observes others' difficulty in remaining objective and uninfluenced by the information they consume, The Palantíri may have an inflated sense of their own objectivity. This is naive realism (the belief that we see reality objectively and as it truly is, while those who disagree with us must be uninformed, irrational, or biased. We assume our perceptions are direct windows onto reality rather than constructions shaped by our experiences and assumptions) and bound to cause its own problem.
This archetype is an extension of The Anti-Establishment Rebel in some ways, the overlap being that they both envision themselves as the type of character to easily defend against the wool being pulled over their eyes because they are, obviously, too smart.
I recognize I'm performing this archetype right now—observing and categorizing from what I assume is a clearer vantage point. But the question still stands:
If we assign some degree of this lack of objectivity to each archetype—even The Palantíri—is there anyone who is objective enough to direct the culture in a way where it is steered away from the various cliffs it is running towards simultaneously?
One of the key issues I see with this whole movement—ex-risk aware, sense-maker, techno-utopian skeptical, meta-crisis analyst, self-optimization-without-hitting-the-obvious-traps, game-B respecter—is the evident tension between maintaining intellectual integrity and actually moving the needle at scale.
If this is really a civilizational-scale emergency, why does the response look like boutique intellectual work for the already-converted rather than an all-hands-on-deck mobilization?
Either:
-The emergency framing is overblown (and this is just interesting intellectual work)
-There's an unacknowledged acceptance of limits ("we can't actually move the needle, so we'll do what we can")
-The personal incentives aren't aligned with the stated mission
-There's no clear theory of change connecting the ideas to scaled impact
Which is it?
It’s the Palantiri I see in all of Jamie’s writing. There’s validity but there’s also mocking of others that shows a bias and subjectivity. Sorry Jamie I do enjoy your writing but it also has an unreal quality as not being American and not being in a western culture currently, it all seems very removed from my daily life.
whereabouts are you? what I'm laying out are quintessentially American patterns, though the brain rot spreads further than you'd hope!
I’m a New Zealander living in Ethiopia. I do relate to what you’re saying, and can see myself in the first two. I guess your point is to create caricatures of these different archetypes. I just don’t know people like this in my day to day.
Lovely, playful, and helpful as ever Jamie thank you so much.
Not sure if I fit neatly into any of these tropes, but I will say that I will live and thrive on the hill of ivermectin being good, good stuff.
I had one viral episode early this year, and dosing for 40mg a day of it for the initial three days kicked what could’ve/would’ve been a serious case of Covid/whatever the fuck into oblivion.
What about the Unpluggers?
take a crack at defining them?
Sick of the Machine, sick of tech, avoiding news, gardening and such?
Would be more interesting & compelling if you spoke to your own blind spots & subjectivity. Which of these quadrants is your author's voice and general cognition coming from, or something else entirely?
Thank you. It helps to know I'm not alone in both recognizing the madness of the past few months as well as my own blindspots. I had hoped AI would be the great reality check and put an end to the absurdity. A las, I've changed my mind over the past two months from salvation to damnation. And yep, losing LT friends in the process.