13 Comments
Aug 16, 2021Liked by Mathew Crawford

Beautifully written, and your words well-capture the experiences of many of us, who are trying to make sense of a world that no longer makes sense.

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Thanks Mathew! I have been pivoting between anger, despair and hope for months now. I know being stuck in the first two is not healthy. The third option is not realistic. Dammit.

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Mar 4, 2022Liked by Mathew Crawford

Thank you for the Yupik concept: Kunlangeta.

Modern society has created a great many of them. Globally.

That needs to change.

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Crichton didn’t just quote “Gell-Mann amnesia”, he invented it, and the entire speech from which it is excerpted here is worth reading, and then laminating and carrying about with you. https://www.docdroid.net/4wgVecr/why-speculate-michael-crichton-pdf

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Aug 16, 2021Liked by Mathew Crawford

So true.

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"The old game of burying true stories (bought as "exclusives", then enforced by vicious cadres of lawyers) of horror about the rich and famous in rags like the National Enquirer or the Weekly World News next to a picture of bulbous-headed space-farers kidnapping and anal probing children to create negative associations no longer cuts it. Armies of empty nesters with file cabinets full of newspaper clippings spill their guts on webpages just crude enough that you trust that the goal wasn't to impress you with graphic design. The knowledge hobbyists began to turn the tide by eliminating anal swabs from the story."

Don't understand a word of it. Just saying

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Better music, yes. I have been working out of a café which has a stereo system that plays contemporary music. Some of it is upbeat and innocuous. Some of it is horrid sad music which I refer to as "music to slit your throat by" because it seems nearly suicidal in it angst. But when I need to concentrate, the headphones go on and the music becomes what I choose. Lately the third and fourth movements of Ludwig von's 9th, especially when reciting prayers.

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I'm very glad I read this. The map gets clearer, and I'm here with good company! Your link at https://roundingtheearth.substack.com/p/updates-and-interviews sent me here.

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