Modest Metamodernist

22/11/2023

Finally.

15/10/2023

Arinn Dembo, following up on her excellent work at cutting to the quick of the generative AI issue. If you are interested in the problems and weaknesses plaguing AI, give this a read:

Because apparently this conversation is far from over.

04/09/2023

Preview of my upcoming Substack article “Stage Theories-A Dialogue”:

The phrase “colonial as hell” naturally and quite easily invokes the horrors of European colonialism, the invention of race and its reification into a hierarchy that was used to justify the extermination of “primitive” peoples, and the enslavement of “impure” ones. And as Metamodernists, we are called to re-examine our usage of such Modern tropes. After all, reification of so called rationality, perspective, the Cartesian notion of “I”, hasn’t that been used to objectify and subjugate so many people that don’t neatly follow such notions? And anyway, if we really follow the Metamodern notion that we ought to solidly synthesize multiple perspectives into our own, an ongoing epistemological practice which I call Diunitalism (formerly Inductivism), shouldn’t we be taking seriously the perspectives of those who are trying to throw off the shackles of colonial European thought, instead of neatly ranking their thoughts in some hierarchical order?

Hmmm. These are actually valid points. Seems I could use an interlocutor here.

I will call them-Professor Decolonizer. They are quite new to Metamodern thought, but they are a deeply kind and open thinker. They also have a good grasp of postmodern and post colonial theory, which will be important as we navigate this. Also, in case you haven’t noticed by my pronoun usage, they’re nonbinary. Deal with it.

So Prof, I suppose we need to address this. Suppose I want to defend stage theories, as they’re used by Metamodernists. What questions should I attempt to answer, professor?

Professor Decolonizer (PD): First question-are stage theories purely a European invention, or can they be found among non-European thinkers?

Moses Cirulis (MC): That’s good, what else?

PD: Secondly, can stage theories be applied to decolonial and anti-racist thought? That is, can they be used to help free formerly subjugated peoples?

MC: I sense that will be harder to answer.

PD: Yes, that question most interests me, my dear.

16/06/2023

On my Substack-a bit of behind the scenes work. I’m starting something big….

I continue a project I started in 2021….

14/04/2023

A classic epistemological problem-confidence is so often mistaken for expertise. With AI such as ChatGPT, the problem is cranked up to 11. (See comment below)

How do we access the truth when it is so easy to be convinced by confident lies?

18/02/2023

The first Substack article is now out! Subscribe now to view more!

https://mosobot64.substack.com/p/a-modest-introduction-to-metamodernism

18/02/2023

Seen diunitally, fondant could be seen both as food and modelling clay.

10/02/2023

Get 40% off Blinkist premium, only valid until the end February! Enjoy 2 memberships for the price of 1. Start your 7-day free trial by clicking here: https:...

27/12/2022

“'Hell is other people' is only one side of the coin. The other side, which no one seems to mention, is also 'Heaven is each other'. Hell is separateness, uncommunicability, self-centeredness, lust for power, for riches, for fame. Heaven on the other hand is very simple, and very hard: caring about your fellow beings. And that’s possible on a sustained basis only in collectivity.”

— Jean-Paul Sartre; in “Talking with Sartre”

oc by Noah Ian O'Caoimh from the comments on the previous post

19/12/2022

https://medium.com/modest-metamodernist/an-analytical-artist-on-ai-art-5-short-essays-1c17359a5bbd

"If you’re North American like me, chances are you’ve had sheet cake at least once, at some large gathering. Is it better than a good quality bakery cake? Assuming you share my embodied experience, no.

So it is with AI art and writing, compared to their human counterparts. Sure they can quickly pump out words and images, but it takes a human’s embodied experience to make sense of physical space, concepts like freedom and enslavement, even basic things like hands. All of that takes embodied experience that these AIs simply don’t have.

Let’s be honest here-would an AI have the embodied experience necessary to write the above sheet cake analogy?

When I was working with Midjourney, the program could make a convincing and dynamic sitting pose, but it couldn’t grok that said pose shouldn’t go right through the table. AI Art is simply riddled with errors, and cannot replace dedicated human writers and artists.

Much like how sheet cake can’t replace bakers."

By Moses Cirulis

05/12/2022

Feels like some folks need this reminder

- Image Text:

Here's an easy trick to figure out if your religion is a Spirituality or a Hate Group!

My religion provides me with a set of guidelines about how to conduct my personal life, the tenets of which apply voluntarily to me and other voluntary followers of my faith

Spirituality

My religion provides me with a set of guidelines about how every person must conduct their personal life, the tenets of which I must enforce on non followers against their will

Hate Group

Thanks for coming to my TED talk

09/07/2022

I was in Austin, Texas last month for Emerge! It was a spectacular event, and more info on it will be forthcoming!

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMNyE6AU5/?k=1

I was at Emerge in Austin last weekend! And what a weekend it was!

27/05/2022

But then, a difficult epistemological problem is, how do you know that those 10,000 men know nothing about the subject?

Thx United Humanists

17/05/2022

Trying out Tik-Tok-in’:

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZML3gJTy5/?k=1

with - There is no such thing as coincidence. But there is co-creation.

13/04/2022

The cup will be shaped differently in different hands.

🫧🫧🫧

26/03/2022

To answer the question, what is a woman; let me first ask, what is a man?

I am not a man. Can I describe him? Can he not speak his own description?

No. To be adequately respectful of men, I should try not to define what a man ought to be.

Man must describe himself.

As must we.

21/05/2021

Take note of the term “dividual”-it’s a key part of the Metamodern self.

09/03/2021

New article: This piece covers the Capitol Hill Invasion, and how cognitive science and personal development played a part. Remember: The psychological is political.

https://medium.com/modest-metamodernist/the-invasion-of-capitol-hill-of-traitors-and-metamemes-e78a97d94275

By Moses Cirulis

07/01/2021

As today draws to a close, I have to admit that it’s a little strange witnessing a piece of history.

But make no mistake, this has been a long time in the making.

What springs to my mind seeing the pro-Trump rally desecrate the House was not how unhinged they were-I knew about this already. But rather, the lack of the response of the police, especially compared to the police response to Black Lives Matter protestors.

The far-right was permitted to attack the very seats of power in America, whereas Black Americans were not permitted to even properly grieve without cops raining death and terror upon them. Let that contrast stick in your mind.

As 2021 continues, I hope that more Republicans step forward to condemn this action, and that rational democracy becomes the order of America once again, instead of this lunacy.

25/12/2020

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you, co-creators, in whatever way you choose to celebrate!

For our third article, we've put together a sampling of new holiday traditions-Neo Holidays! Enjoy them with a cup of your favourite warm drink!

https://medium.com/modest-metamodernist/a-metamodern-holiday-cross-comparing-different-winter-festivals-3a71b804b336

By Moses Cirulis

24/12/2020

A fun idea to consider from our friends on Reddit: what if you could liberate your political desire in the form of a Meta Anarchy?

Here’s some propositions for an ethic surrounding that: https://www.reddit.com/r/metaanarchy/comments/iwlqz8/the_metaanarchist_ethical_anticode/

**^(\[WORK IN PROGRESS\])** **0.0** This anticode is an *anti-code* — it aims to decodify strictly arranged ideas rather than codify...

16/12/2020

Our second story is out!

"The litmus test of the success or relative failure of any nation’s attempt to grapple with the coronavirus is in large part how connected its citizens were to each other before the coronavirus hit.

That is to say, no person is an island. Though I have grown up with liberal sensibilities and as a Modest Metamodernist I would like to see the improvement of rather than the discarding of liberal values, there is one liberal idea in particular that needs to be deconstructed prior to its reintegration-that idea is that of the individual."

https://medium.com/modest-metamodernist/doctor-norm-hate-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-coronavirus-fb1a98b38f8e

By Moses Cirulis

08/12/2020

Our first official blog post!

"What is Metamodernism? Is probably the first question one is going to ask themself upon looking at this little blog of mine. After all, you can’t have a Modern Metamodernist without a Metamodernism to which such a person belongs.

Let’s try to situate this question a bit. What is Modernism? That one’s relatively easy. Modernism is a system of systems. A system, as I speak of it in this sense, is a grouping of abstractions into a coordinated set; abstractions in of themselves being rules that describe groups of concrete reality."

https://medium.com/modest-metamodernist/a-modest-introduction-to-metamodernism-fcd75fe703e1

By Moses Cirulis

28/11/2020

A welcome piece from Metamodern Solarpunk Joe Lightfoot. This is the future we’d like to see.

AKA The Neotribal Grimoire Of Metamodern Solarpunk AKA The Buzzword Manifesto This manifesto is a mashup of ideas from the work of Hanzi Frienacht, Seth Abramson, The Solar Punk Manifesto and Andrew Dana Hudson. With a few of our own ‘original thoughts’ sprinkled in for good measure. Collated by...

20/11/2020

Hanzi Freinacht’s discussion of the Metamemes! This will be important reading for our introduction to Metamodernism!

A metameme is a collection of interconnected, mutual dependent, non-arbitrary memes. “Metameme” is thus an overarching term for groups of other memes that helps us understanding the relation of one meme to another. (With “meme”, I’m not referring to the illustrated jokes kids pass around o...