notes

“Engagement” is not success, and efficiency limits engagement by focusing on ends rather than means: product rather than process.

At 11d:
“In fact, we seem even more unhappy about the rugrats than we did in the past. Some point to the increasing difficulties of mixing work and family.”
People no longer see self-sacrifice as a form of engagement: a form of pleasure. Individualism makes for lousy parenting. [see the second link here]

Inventiveness is now called “creativity.” Observation, the basis of art, is considered secondary, and reflection (an uneconomic activity), a waste of time.
I thought this stuff was covered in Freshman Comp if not 9th grade English class.
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There’s no secularism without absurdity, though some people seem unaware of that.
A little serendipity for you.

“I’m guessing that there’s already a ton of papers…”
Most literature ever written, in any language. But now I’m reduced to quoting Talking Heads lyrics. It’s shameful.
I’m ashamed.

Heaven
Heaven is a place
A place where nothing
Nothing ever happens.

I used to like that song because it encapsulated the intellectual curiosity of early adolescence.

“Does this desire to participate in the institution of competitive soccer amount to a vision of the good life? If so, would a really rational person be willing to transcend the principles of this institution when reason demanded that?"

Does this desire to participate in the institution of the law amount to a vision of the good life? If so, would a really rational person be willing to transcend the principles of this institution when the guilty go free?

This post and many of the comments have to represent some sort of low point in the history of human life.
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John Quiggin 08.08.08 at 5:45 am
Seth, if you had even once, in your long history here, contributed anything valuable, or even coherent, I might be inclined to pay some attention to your assessment. As it is, I can only invite you to take yourself elsewhere. Whatever others here may decide, I’ve certainly had enough of you. Consider yourself banned from commenting on my posts.

Chris Bertram 08.08.08 at 6:59 am
John, I’ve now removed all SE’s comments from this thread by marking them as spam. He’s banned from my threads too.

And then he spends a half hour reading my site.

"-as if I have taken flight, leaving gravity behind. It is almost like sloughing off mortality."

And I'm supposed to respond to this fantasy life how? With respect? With deference?