The Mind Scourge

It's Marvels Superheros, all the way down; today, we're all just actors There's a peculiar post-modern quality to many events these days. A sense that we perform history rather than act out (and in, and on) history. The appearance that we curate our actions for our social media feeds, rather than conducting ourselves for the sake of the act itself. Perhaps the truth is that we've internalized the camera, the truest emblem of our present moment. We act to see ourselves acting rather than act in order to do. You see this in farces such as Prigozhin's pseudo-putsch, and whatever Yoon attempted in South Korea. You see this in every protest since camera phones and file sharing became ubiquitous. The people present don't behave like live players - like people who hold history's balance in their hands. They aren't fully committed. They haven't burnt their ships, or cast the die by crossing the Rubicon. Their actions aren't real: they're performative, with an eye to how others will view them, and to create an indelible record of your presence, your participation, in the happening that you're currently in the midst of. It's a scene. What it isn't is History. Contrast this with (to take but two signal examples) Mussolini's March on Rome, and Franco's pronunciamiento. In 1922, Mussolini declared before a crowd of tens of thousands that he wanted power and then sent a column of Blackshirts to Rome while he received delegations from the Italian great and good. He was invited to form a government by the king in short order. In 1936, Franco took direct command of the Spanish Army of Africa, then moved 30,000 men into Spain directly, initiating a brutal civil war in which he ultimately emerged the victor. What neither of these men did - and there are many other examples I could cite - was spend their time printing out handbills or filming blurbs for the cinemas or faffed around polishing how their actions were memorialized. They simply did. Today, however, our Men of Action aren't made of the same stern stuff. Prigozhin certainly looked like a tough guy, but tough guys don't back down at the gates of Moscow. They take the Kremlin. Yoon is supposedly this tough patriarch - he won in part on a wave of popular backlash to feminism - but he doesn't have any children (though he does have plenty of pets), and his declaration of martial law lasted barely a few hours, his special forces got pushed around by tiny unarmed women on the steps of the South Korean legislature, and he folded almost immediately in the midst of arguing over points of proper procedure for lifting military control. If this is the patriarchy, it's fallen on very hard times. The truth is, under modern information conditions, it is very hard to build institutions of lasting value. Contrast the success of the gay rights movement (a slow process of incremental gains over many decades) versus the (to-date) failure of trans activism. Entirely separate theories of change were behind each of these; one worked, and one didn't. A coup is hard work. In the 20th century, you needed careful planning. You couldn't WhatsApp someone. You needed to figure out a way to communicate clandestinely in person; you needed to identify likeminded individuals. All this was hard. The friction points were numerous, and very real. Now guys just issue a press release, and get spicy in the DMs. I blame Marvels. Partially tongue-in-cheek, but also partly in complete earnestness. Capesuit stuff is the great cultural unifier of our times. Everyone has seen at least some examples. These are the pictures that people have in their heads. What they imagine they are acting like. It's very shallow stuff of course, and completely deracinated and ahistorical. But it's nonetheless real. This is how people imagine themselves to be. No wonder they all fail.

If Nvidia were an ordinary company, I think Jensen Huang might well survive. But for the board, this isn’t primarily a commercial decision AI is now a matter of high politics, and its CEO must be able to work with DC Jensen can’t do that anymore

In the US, you can get away with most anything. But personal scandals will 100% destroy you In Jensen Huang’s case, it isn’t about the affairs, but US chip policy and his general independence from the “party line” But it took revelation of his affairs to bring him down

She may be religious. But otherwise, it’s not hard to understand. in progressive (white) circles, the hijab codes as subaltern, therefore high status in the progressive reverse moral hierarchy In this setting, it’s a power move. That’s all there is to it

Imagine blowing up your account with this sort of slop. In a way, it's useful. Every single one of the accounts that exploited this nonsense should be banned

It's the Grok-powered algorithm. X hasn't been the same since they switched it on.

Militaries select for very different physical types. There’s a lot of variance US personnel always look like they’re crushing protein shakes and hitting all their macros. Very bulky French soldiers are very lean and look like they substitute primary on black coffee and cigs

Every account engaging in this should be banned

A lot of Americans will continue to pay whatever because they will feel like losers if they don’t. Paying is almost a class signal. You’re one of the winners. A legible person. A citizen in full But this only goes on for so long. Eventually, you start feeling like a sucker

The point is to compose something new and great, not something copied and old All anyone in AI wants to do apparently is spam endless variants on Bach We already have the best examples of these and AI won’t improve upon them You need to do something different

Great thread Reminds me of my childhood so much

Indian and European contact is ancient. There is a deep sense in which these two regions have constituted a civilizational “universe” for millennia In contrast, the Sinic world has always been an outsider

The convertible is the peak driving experience Sun, machine, road Modern driving is like modern houses Sealed up and climate controlled Pod experience

I was very intrigued when @tylercowen wrote up Armenia recently on Marginal Revolution. Now I see this. Sublime I must make a pilgrimage to Armenia soon

The only story you ever read about Lebanon is that it’s “collapsing” I’ve seen 20+ years of this And yet, the country survives. Beirut is still vibrant I don’t think the US could do this. I think this country would eat itself alive if the US wasn’t constantly winning

Great example of how tourism is conservative, and also preserves traditions that might otherwise get lost Foreigners want the ideal version, the imaginary one that maybe never existed But back home, things move on. People want change

You'd be a fool if you think that the Chinese aren't capable of building a successful commercial airliner But you'd also be foolish to think that you'll be flying one in the West anytime soon Airplanes aren't like cars. They're bought in small numbers and are a political decision as much as anything else. The West isn't going to allow Chinese aircraft into its markets

Every time I see someone mention AI "agents" I always check to see if they're a CEO or in the industry Never fails I'll believe in agents when I see *any* organic mention of them whatsoever

No group has lost more respect, more quickly, than the "tech right" Just total collapse, within months It's really funny. These guys pride themselves on their rationality and "first principles" thinking One engagement with complex systems (politics) and complete failure

Agreed. Netflix should buy up all this stuff This is the ultimate destiny for Netflix content Build the slop scale cannon