This is a good time as any to write you that letter.
Randy/Robert/Garfield,
What if it isn't reality that's fake? Well, I take that back - reality is fake and has been becoming increasingly fake by the day. But reality is only as fake, I believe, insofar as one chooses to participate in it. We do live in a virtual worlds, but we must live in them through virtual versions of ourselves. We cannot live in Middle Earth unless we are LARPing. The ads merely tell us how to LARP; it shows us the world we can LARP in. The more immersive it is, the better. When we look away from our screens and realize we are not "living our best lives," we tune back into the algorithm that shows us those glimpses of "our best lives." It seems it is this mechanism of action through which, as you say, people become increasingly alienated from themselves, their bodies, and their world.
But advertising isn't the cause, but merely the accelerant. My philosophical thesis goes after a tired trope: blame Descartes. It's easy to see with Descartes in mind how one can see themselves alienated from their bodies and the world. But keep playing this out recursively over time and even "mind" can be split. Recall that humans are one of the very few animals that can see themselves in a mirror and recognize it as being "the self," while simultaneously being capable of recognizing the reflection isn't me - but it is. (Here is one example of an inescapable paradox btw.) And through reason and logic, we come to the conclusion that these two characters cannot be identical; therefore one of them can be a tool - machinery - to get what we *really* want.
Now comes another trope, "you need to love yourself before you love someone else." What does this mean? More specifically, what does "love" mean? With what I just wrote in consideration, I think it's something like communion. Or maybe I mean Communion, where body, blood, spirit, and even God become united through something like mere belief. This is how the paradox is resolved. In all the ways. This is how love saves the world - from "mind" outward, through simple assertion.
In any case, we are saying anything too different from each other. At least I don't think so. Keep writing. I'm invested.
Infinite Jest is one of the few books that I could not read until the end. Nothing interesting happened, nothing interesting was said, just endless philosophising about Tennis...
Respectfully Mr Egg, I have recorded one dream involving a smart phone. I can still remember seeing the screen, and it was strange.
It went as follows,
I won some competition, and it involved director David Fincher somehow. I'm at a road and he gets in a full Porsche convertible, I'm watching it from an over angle shot as it takes off, and it turns into a flying car, and I realise I'm actually strapped to a seat on top of a biplane.
We then joy ride with David Fincher in the flying Porsche, going very low to the ground, dodging trees and strafing to and fro. I decided to film with my phone, and after a time I assume it'll be over soon and I better get off, and so I roll off and land on the ground, turning to catch the plane and Porsche disappear downhill from me.
The dream then unfolds into a national drama about the tragic death of David Fincher in a plane accident, no survivors. I'm interviewed in front of bright lights. I have no idea what was happening to begin with.
What you are describing is a type of spiritual, an imitation of the true spiritual, the spiritual body of Christ.
The medium is the massage, and the environment is the conversation.
The Patron Saint of Television, St Clare of Assisi could not go to mass, as she was too sick. So she had the mass beamed to the wall of her cell, or rather Christ did so for her. Television is a way to partake when you are too sick to partake.
Also read Story of a Soul, St Therese of Liseaux's autobiography. Life is love and love is saying 'I know I'm not good enough, love me anyway. I know I can't get better, not without you, so help me'
Have you been reading TLPs book Sadly, Porn? Because I'm halfway through and (roughly) pages 130-148 are about how we've been brainwashed by the media through our thin rectangular skinner boxes not to believe in love, because love threatens the media's authority. (Also, supposedly, a big part of the proliferation of porn is the return of our repressed desire for love.)
Also,
"TV already created a new "prime reality", that people began to priorities over the old one. People measure reality by how well it stacks up to TV, and not the other way around."
Chapter 1 paragraph 4 of Beyond Good & Evil has to do with beliefs/philosophy more broadly, but I don't see why the principle doesn't hold to storytelling too. Human beings are wired to think in terms of narratives, and the stories that have endured the test of time were never selected for their accuracy. OTOH what I have noticed is a serious behavioral sink. We're actually getting much less socially intelligent and it's starting to show in the way characters are written in movies.
Man this was so well written and thought out, I very much enjoyed reading all of it. It was never boring, never stale or still. Thank you, very well done!
Randy this was good, I sent it to a friend, I want more. But anyway I have two unrelated things to ask:
1. Do you *need* money? I mean, should I upgrade to "paid" or do you not give a shit?
2. Can you repost the Sky King piece? It was awesome.
Thank you, I definitely plan on more
1. I do, and I do give a shit
2. https://eggreport.substack.com/p/rehosting-envying-the-dead-skyking?utm_source=publication-search
This is a good time as any to write you that letter.
Randy/Robert/Garfield,
What if it isn't reality that's fake? Well, I take that back - reality is fake and has been becoming increasingly fake by the day. But reality is only as fake, I believe, insofar as one chooses to participate in it. We do live in a virtual worlds, but we must live in them through virtual versions of ourselves. We cannot live in Middle Earth unless we are LARPing. The ads merely tell us how to LARP; it shows us the world we can LARP in. The more immersive it is, the better. When we look away from our screens and realize we are not "living our best lives," we tune back into the algorithm that shows us those glimpses of "our best lives." It seems it is this mechanism of action through which, as you say, people become increasingly alienated from themselves, their bodies, and their world.
But advertising isn't the cause, but merely the accelerant. My philosophical thesis goes after a tired trope: blame Descartes. It's easy to see with Descartes in mind how one can see themselves alienated from their bodies and the world. But keep playing this out recursively over time and even "mind" can be split. Recall that humans are one of the very few animals that can see themselves in a mirror and recognize it as being "the self," while simultaneously being capable of recognizing the reflection isn't me - but it is. (Here is one example of an inescapable paradox btw.) And through reason and logic, we come to the conclusion that these two characters cannot be identical; therefore one of them can be a tool - machinery - to get what we *really* want.
Now comes another trope, "you need to love yourself before you love someone else." What does this mean? More specifically, what does "love" mean? With what I just wrote in consideration, I think it's something like communion. Or maybe I mean Communion, where body, blood, spirit, and even God become united through something like mere belief. This is how the paradox is resolved. In all the ways. This is how love saves the world - from "mind" outward, through simple assertion.
In any case, we are saying anything too different from each other. At least I don't think so. Keep writing. I'm invested.
david fucker wall-ass
Read in Frank Booth's voice
Infinite Jest is one of the few books that I could not read until the end. Nothing interesting happened, nothing interesting was said, just endless philosophising about Tennis...
I have mixed opinions about it but I'll maybr get into talking about infinite jest in part 2
Looking forward to part 2. I enjoyed part 1. The part about long distance relationships was enlightening.
Respectfully Mr Egg, I have recorded one dream involving a smart phone. I can still remember seeing the screen, and it was strange.
It went as follows,
I won some competition, and it involved director David Fincher somehow. I'm at a road and he gets in a full Porsche convertible, I'm watching it from an over angle shot as it takes off, and it turns into a flying car, and I realise I'm actually strapped to a seat on top of a biplane.
We then joy ride with David Fincher in the flying Porsche, going very low to the ground, dodging trees and strafing to and fro. I decided to film with my phone, and after a time I assume it'll be over soon and I better get off, and so I roll off and land on the ground, turning to catch the plane and Porsche disappear downhill from me.
The dream then unfolds into a national drama about the tragic death of David Fincher in a plane accident, no survivors. I'm interviewed in front of bright lights. I have no idea what was happening to begin with.
What means?
You really need to read Marshall McLuhan.
What you are describing is a type of spiritual, an imitation of the true spiritual, the spiritual body of Christ.
The medium is the massage, and the environment is the conversation.
The Patron Saint of Television, St Clare of Assisi could not go to mass, as she was too sick. So she had the mass beamed to the wall of her cell, or rather Christ did so for her. Television is a way to partake when you are too sick to partake.
Also read Story of a Soul, St Therese of Liseaux's autobiography. Life is love and love is saying 'I know I'm not good enough, love me anyway. I know I can't get better, not without you, so help me'
IMO the inarticulable Understanding during play manifests as laughter & it's "embodied knowledge" in the same way as pain
Have you been reading TLPs book Sadly, Porn? Because I'm halfway through and (roughly) pages 130-148 are about how we've been brainwashed by the media through our thin rectangular skinner boxes not to believe in love, because love threatens the media's authority. (Also, supposedly, a big part of the proliferation of porn is the return of our repressed desire for love.)
Also,
"TV already created a new "prime reality", that people began to priorities over the old one. People measure reality by how well it stacks up to TV, and not the other way around."
Chapter 1 paragraph 4 of Beyond Good & Evil has to do with beliefs/philosophy more broadly, but I don't see why the principle doesn't hold to storytelling too. Human beings are wired to think in terms of narratives, and the stories that have endured the test of time were never selected for their accuracy. OTOH what I have noticed is a serious behavioral sink. We're actually getting much less socially intelligent and it's starting to show in the way characters are written in movies.
This is the best essay on substack right now.
Man this was so well written and thought out, I very much enjoyed reading all of it. It was never boring, never stale or still. Thank you, very well done!
Wooooow good stuff - I am prepping my 3rd reread for early 2025 = might meet up with the translators in Second Life again to discuss as we go along.
Bravo, i teared up a little.