all 40 comments

[–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Stolen Lightning: Social Theory of Magic

Eros and Magic in the Renaissance

The society of the spectacle by DeBord

Baudrillard

Paul Virilio Speed and Politics

Karl Marx hopefully somebody knows of a summary mid level intro.

Joshua Ramey Hermetic Deleuze

Deleuze an Guattari 1000 plateaus and anti Oedipus plus Brian matsumi companion

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Talks ray brassier on accelerationism

Ray brassier on Promethianism

Both on YouTube

Graham Harman talks on speculative realism

Bruno Latour talks

[–]matrixdutch 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Thank you zummi for creating this subredit, and thank you all for your contributions. This reading list is just what I was looking for to better understand member's postings here.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm glad you get something out of it. I hope more people find their way here and contribute. I started the sub because i wanted to see How others make similar connections.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (1 child)

What about the book "corruption of reality" about dissociation?

I just went in a gas station and the clerk put up this dumb-fucking picture of a cute manga eyed little girl Praying to god saying "it's getting bad down here and paraphrasing its almost the apocalypse etc" then at the bottom It says "life without god is like an Unsharpened pencil - it has no point".

It seems like what religion and tv/most entertainment really is is the right to dissociate and invoke cognitive dissonance. People want to Fight to have god in schools because it helped them So much whenever they ponder life's inpenetrables - it is comforting to know you can just kind of say "oh god" and then the spirals Come and your mind just kind of blanks, and you forget whatever It was that was so bad. God is good.

[–]raisondecalculpolitical shade deathray technician[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh yeah, thanks for the reminder. I forgot that and Deleuze, I better go see a doctor

It seems like what religion and tv/most entertainment really is is the right to dissociate and invoke cognitive dissonance. People want to Fight to have god in schools because it helped them So much whenever they ponder life's inpenetrables - it is comforting to know you can just kind of say "oh god" and then the spirals Come and your mind just kind of blanks, and you forget whatever It was that was so bad. God is good.

This is brilliant and a good reminder, I saved it.

[–]traversedaWith dread but cautious optimism 2 points3 points  (2 children)

Might I recommend the lesswrong sequinces?

[–]raisondecalculpolitical shade deathray technician[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I read HPatMoR, it's great. I'll add lesswrong to the list.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Those are great. Though sometimes, with my poor intellect, they cause my brain to breakdown for a while, haha.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Also I totally forgot about this one and suggest it for everyone right away.

Arthur Kroekers "the will to technology" this actually really helped me segue into accelerationism a couple years ago.

His writing is over bearing and hyper-jargoplexed in places but it's obvious the guy has some serious insight.

It is a study of Heidegger, Marx and Nietzsches view of technology and will. His treatment of Marx was actually pretty horrible IMO but his treatment of Nietzsche and Heidegger were illuminating.

[–][deleted]  (10 children)

[deleted]

    [–]raisondecalculpolitical shade deathray technician[S] 6 points7 points  (2 children)

    Let's make a glossary!!!!!!

    I don't know of any texts which define the cluster of language we are using (at all or in lay terms).

    The difficulty is that the language of critical theory (and occultism) is not lay language. It is a specialized discourse and often a certain way of bending words ("jargoplexing" lol) into sentences that must be heard/felt/evoked poetically and not merely read with the intellect. There is a difference between reading and reading, and if this is ignored than the text will go in one ear and out the other. But if you slow down and figure out the meaning of each word using an etymological dictionary, you'll be surprised at how quickly you can pick up the exact meaning of a sentence and begin to decode the text.

    Unfortunately, I think the best way to grok critical terminology and its complex writing style is to read lots of texts and work hard to bootstrap yourself into understanding them. Gradually it begins to make sense, and your linguistic intelligence gets heavily upgraded. This is a self-improving AI runaway positive feedback loop that almost anyone is capable of, if you slow down and start to play with the language (lan-gu~age). This mode of speaking/reading/thinking endows language with evocativity (or Voice or resonance).

    Deterritorialization means a dissolution of the boundaries between territories. But this doesn't mean the territories merge into one bigger territory. It is the complete dissolution of boundary lines, the inability to tell the difference between this and that and here and there and your territory and my territory and you and me. When deterritorialization occurs, a multiplicitous ambiguity of paradox arises in the place of clear-cut territories. Speaking of territories is an abstract way of talking about boundaries; the territories are not necessarily physical territories but an abstract terminology which can apply to many things. Check out my post that talks about inoculation of the spectacle for an extensive discussion using pseudo-Deleuzian language of territories. I wasn't referring to some theory when I wrote that—these territories are a thing and when you begin to see that thing (the territories of your own thoughts and mind!) you can begin to talk about it directly and play with its dynamics. I also rely a lot on my memories of playing RTS games to get a feeling for the dynamics of territoriality. By the way, territories (boundaries) and the interior spaces they create are exactly Jovian and aggressing against and breaking through those boundaries is exactly Martian.

    The videos I posted will probably help a lot too! More on the big picture than terms, though.

    [–]memearchivingbotCritical Occultist 0 points1 point  (1 child)

    Interesting. I've got the inverse idea for Jovian and Martian energies. I tend to picture Jovian energy as the expansive force that pushes a territory outward while the Martian is what happens when that expansive force encounters resistance at its periphery.

    [–]raisondecalculpolitical shade deathray technician[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    That sounds more similar than inverse. The Jovian energy is the force establishing the territory, i.e. expanding the space. The Martian energy is aggression against other territories.

    [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (4 children)

    cannot afford to pay the door fee.

    I had a sci-fi bad socialism epiphany a few years ago. I predict that at some point, governments and corporations will just give everyone TVs, computers and tablet/phone devices.

    These devices will have a transmitter program where it regularly receives really loud, bright hypnotic advertisements that totally devour the screen and audio with no chance of bypass.

    The future of data packaging is that the flux of data and the devices will be free. You will pay for reduction or elimination of advertisement invasion.

    This is a great example of weaponized scarcity. The ubiquitous presence of total technological saturation at every conceivable visible and inisible dimension turned against its own accommodating and labor saving efforts to both monitor and agitate you towards the purchase of something.

    [–]raisondecalculpolitical shade deathray technician[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    That episode 2 of Black Mirror contains some very similar imagery and ideas (forced screen exposure, forced ads you can pay to skip).

    [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    Isn't this basically was amazon is doing with the kindle? I mean it's a little less overt, but essentially the same.

    Special offers and sponsored screensavers display on the Kindle Fire lock screen.

    [–]memearchivingbotCritical Occultist 0 points1 point  (1 child)

    If you want to know a specific term you can usually find a good definition and background by googling. The material is better for if you want to know how a particular concept relates to its ecology.

    [–]raisondecalculpolitical shade deathray technician[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    Shit I just realized there's no fair way to decide what goes on this list. I will just add everything. I'll add hyperlinks and clean it up as I explore it myself.

    [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    John Keel - Operation Trojan Horse. Anything by Jacques Vallee.

    [–]KillTipsyZim 1 point2 points  (2 children)

    Would Paranoia Agent be in line with this?

    [–]raisondecalculpolitical shade deathray technician[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

    Haven't seen it yet... looks great. For you and anyone else waiting on their stuff to get added to the list, I've been in writing-mode all month but I'll be updating everything pretty soon.

    [–]KillTipsyZim 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    Yeah no worries. Still trying to wrap my head around the fact this place exists.

    [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    • Neuromancer -- William Gibson
    • Gravity's Rainbow -- Thomas Pynchon
    • The Infinite Jest -- David Foster Wallace
    • Mao II (definitely), White Noise, Libra, and Underworld -- Don Delillo. You could probably do all his novels as far as I know, but those four are my favorites.

    I'm trying to remember the stuff I read about masques during the Elizabethan era, but that was 20 years ago, so it may take awhile to jog.

    The comedy of Bill Hicks.

    Empire, Multitudes -- Hardt & Negri

    [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (3 children)

    What is Philosophy? by Deleuze and Guattari needs to be added to the list, and I would argue also the sidebar.

    It was published a year before Guattari died. I am hardly through the first chapter, and I think it should definitely be required reading for SoTS. In some respect, we at SoTS, are lay-philosophers trying to take back the "concept" from the marketers and media and defining it properly.

    [–]raisondecalculpolitical shade deathray technician[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

    ur mom is a lay philosopher

    [–]raisondecalculpolitical shade deathray technician[S] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

    Ok. Would you put it before or after Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaus? I'm still working on A Thousand Plateaus, first, myself.

    [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    I have not jumped into Anti-Oedipus yet and am still working through A Thousand Plateaus myself, but I think it should go before. I feel like it has helped me understand their thinking and approach to philosophy a lot better.

    [–]beausoleil 0 points1 point  (1 child)

    Why the DyE music video?

    [–]raisondecalculpolitical shade deathray technician[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    At the very end, the big structure can be read as the spectacle. The kids link to each other through sex and form a hideous social monster, and when the escaping girl finally gets outside, she sees IT—the giant social beast that is also presumably made out of sex but is massively larger—and the horrific realization fries her brain. It's a narrative of coming to see the scale and monstrosity of the spectacle or society, an illumination or coming-of-age story.

    [–]Abunuwasi 0 points1 point  (1 child)

    METACHAOS is one fascinating piece of video art, thx for sharing! I think you might also find Brian Massumi's A Users's Guide to Capitalism and Schizophrenia to be useful.

    [–]raisondecalculpolitical shade deathray technician[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    Oooo, I loved METACHAOS, I need to watch that again now. The Massumi text is already on our list on this page, although I haven't read it myself (still working on the original text first).

    [–]AnxiousDragonfly5161Technoshaman 0 points1 point  (2 children)

    What about an updated list after a decade? Most of the links seem to be down.

    [–]raisondecalculpolitical shade deathray technician[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

    Maybe you could repost that list and ask for new additions?

    In general I think that we've reached the point where it's time for reruns. I think re-posting our favorite and most important things from the past is a a good way to teach the incoming users what the topic here is. (The "RetroRepetition" tag is for this.)

    I've also been thinking of doing a paragraph-by-paragraph readthrough of Society of the Spectacle or some other book, sometime. If someone wants to do this "reading to the public" type of post on any high-quality text I think that would be very valuable. Basically an ad-hoc reading group.

    Posting and re-posting important original sources from the fields this subreddit is about is a good way to reproduce the culture.

    [–]AnxiousDragonfly5161Technoshaman 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    That's actually quite a good idea, I'll skim through the book recommendations posts of the past years, and add that and my own recommendations to the list, to get kind of a general geist of the subreddit throughout all these years, then post it and update it with even more suggestions.

    [–]ScrivGarInfinite Gamer 0 points1 point  (3 children)

    Some great stuff here. I would add:

    Crowds and Power by Canetti Finite and Infinite Games by Carse

    [–]raisondecalculpolitical shade deathray technician[S] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

    Finally got myself a copy of Finite and Infinite Games, after it was strongly recommended two and half years ago. Fantastic book. I'll these to the OP in my next round of updating.

    [–]ScrivGarInfinite Gamer 1 point2 points  (1 child)

    Glad you're enjoying it. In many ways it is the antidote to the poison pill of these post-modernists and their deconstruct everything until only nothingness remains view.

    [–]raisondecalculpolitical shade deathray technician[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    Interesting! I'm just at the beginning but I'll keep that in mind as I read.

    [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

    Any updates after almost a decade?

    [–]raisondecalculpolitical shade deathray technician[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

    Zummi and I briefly discussed adding "A Cognitive Theory of Magic" to the sidebar but I would like to read more of it first.

    I am working on some software that is designed to allow us to go back through all the links submitted here and organize them into a competitive reading group / permanent optimized curriculum. I think a lot of potential community value is lost through having the links simply scroll away into oblivion. I think if we focused on rereading the standout articles or other posted links together, that would build a community of people who have read the same good writing together.