If people think, they start to question. Our billionaire technocrats demand that we all kowtow without question to their nightmare vision for our future as hackable animals. Count me out. But examining one's being does not stop with the conscious mind/rational thought, or mental body. Feelings and beliefs also should be examined and that is about the emotional body (subconscious mind) and spiritual body (unconscious mind). Anyone game? I've been exploring those parts of my being for decades now and the results have been miraculous.
To your point, I don't think these billionaire technocrats aren't really abandoning introspection, instead they are trying to convince the peasants to do so and selling the anti-introspection snake oil as the path to wellness and success. They've turned so much to garbage, I suppose the Enshittification of Self is the next logical step.
*Edit* I changed "are" to "aren't" in "these billionaire technocrats *AREN'T* really abandoning", which was my original intent.
An even better teacher for you is you. Exploring your emotional and spiritual bodies can and will teach you about yourself, your being, and your relationship to and connection with All That Is.
When your goals in life are whittled down to amassing the most money and power, and when you believe as many of the tech bro VCs do, that all you do is for the benefit of mankind, and that the rest of mankind is just too stupid or too introspective to realize this truth, indeed of what use is introspection? It might just cause you to rethink or cast doubt on your assumptions. What good would that be to you? For the rest of us ordinary folks, it is among the sources of a human life worth living.
I’m reminded of Woody Allen’s response to Bob Costas on his short-lived late night show. Bob asked “What do you believe in?” Woody’s reply? “I believe in the power of distraction.”
A friend had a retort to the unexamined life that says the unlived life is not worth examining. A biography of Kant might be illuminating in that regard. There are two extremes in philosophy which come from West vs East. Western religion is full of theology but does have esoteric versions. Apophatic and ineffable framings are the norm in Asian philosophy-religions. Poetry and music often evoke the ineffable nature of Art. It is often pointed out that Earth has Art in its Heart. Asking questions, especially about motives and purpose, are the best forms of philosophy. Both Nietzsche and William James pointed out that a person’s character influence philosophical framing. The techbros are psychopathic monsters who have no shame whatsoever in their advocacy of pure evil. Basically, they are saying, don’t ask questions, just bend the knee and submit. My answer to them is to please go fuck themselves. Rosie Palm and her five sisters are well known acquaintances for them,
“If you go back 400 years ago,” he adds, “it never would've occurred to anybody to be introspective.” From that sentence alone, I know I need not take any other claim he makes seriously, because of the staggering ignorance he's already revealed.
If you go back 400 years, you arrive at ... Hamlet.
There is an insidious wave of anti-intellectualism afloat these days. Book banning to the distrust of science. The total disregard of introspection and self knowledge is evident in many facets of life. One could add the willful ignorance of history and cultural legacy to the growing decline in our collective knowledge and wisdom.
Thanks--from a retired Philosophy Prof. Teaching Socrates is the best intro to Philosophy.
Philosophers never retire!
True, but professors do. :-)
I’m 69, but still teaching philosophy full time. Grateful.
I retired at 70.
If people think, they start to question. Our billionaire technocrats demand that we all kowtow without question to their nightmare vision for our future as hackable animals. Count me out. But examining one's being does not stop with the conscious mind/rational thought, or mental body. Feelings and beliefs also should be examined and that is about the emotional body (subconscious mind) and spiritual body (unconscious mind). Anyone game? I've been exploring those parts of my being for decades now and the results have been miraculous.
To your point, I don't think these billionaire technocrats aren't really abandoning introspection, instead they are trying to convince the peasants to do so and selling the anti-introspection snake oil as the path to wellness and success. They've turned so much to garbage, I suppose the Enshittification of Self is the next logical step.
*Edit* I changed "are" to "aren't" in "these billionaire technocrats *AREN'T* really abandoning", which was my original intent.
LOL!
Hackable animals. Good name for a band.
A bot band.
Absolutely. My best teachers these days are Jung, Blake, Peter Kingsley
An even better teacher for you is you. Exploring your emotional and spiritual bodies can and will teach you about yourself, your being, and your relationship to and connection with All That Is.
Oh yes....my centering prayer practice, journaling, dreams.....
To paraphrase Chesterton: There is a thought that stops all thought and that is the only thought that should be stopped.
Contemplate the "thought terminating cliche".
I won't go into Izzy Stone's takedown of Socrates, but I will say introspection is of little practical use in amassing power.
The sociopaths who rule over us are nothing if not eminently practical.
Such fools. Never read Freud or Jung either. Let's not forget the pre-Socratics. And all the mystics of every world religion.
Beyond 'productivity', there may be another reason these technocrats avoid introspection: they couldn't bear their guilt.
I think introspection does cause communism. I’m with Socrates and Marx.
When your goals in life are whittled down to amassing the most money and power, and when you believe as many of the tech bro VCs do, that all you do is for the benefit of mankind, and that the rest of mankind is just too stupid or too introspective to realize this truth, indeed of what use is introspection? It might just cause you to rethink or cast doubt on your assumptions. What good would that be to you? For the rest of us ordinary folks, it is among the sources of a human life worth living.
“All we are. Is dust. In the wind.” — Theodore ‘Ted’ Logan
My book, Philosophy in Seven Sentences, features a chapter on Socrates called, "The Unexamined Life is Not Worth Living." InterVarsity Press, 2016.
I’m reminded of Woody Allen’s response to Bob Costas on his short-lived late night show. Bob asked “What do you believe in?” Woody’s reply? “I believe in the power of distraction.”
The mind boggles at the arrogance and ignorance on display.
A friend had a retort to the unexamined life that says the unlived life is not worth examining. A biography of Kant might be illuminating in that regard. There are two extremes in philosophy which come from West vs East. Western religion is full of theology but does have esoteric versions. Apophatic and ineffable framings are the norm in Asian philosophy-religions. Poetry and music often evoke the ineffable nature of Art. It is often pointed out that Earth has Art in its Heart. Asking questions, especially about motives and purpose, are the best forms of philosophy. Both Nietzsche and William James pointed out that a person’s character influence philosophical framing. The techbros are psychopathic monsters who have no shame whatsoever in their advocacy of pure evil. Basically, they are saying, don’t ask questions, just bend the knee and submit. My answer to them is to please go fuck themselves. Rosie Palm and her five sisters are well known acquaintances for them,
A more nuanced and less sarcastic view is from Alexander Beiner see
https://beiner.substack.com/p/artificial-oracles-the-ai-goddess-431?r=12mrw2&utm_medium=ios
“If you go back 400 years ago,” he adds, “it never would've occurred to anybody to be introspective.” From that sentence alone, I know I need not take any other claim he makes seriously, because of the staggering ignorance he's already revealed.
If you go back 400 years, you arrive at ... Hamlet.
I can't even comment except to comment that I can't even comment on this wretchedness.
There is an insidious wave of anti-intellectualism afloat these days. Book banning to the distrust of science. The total disregard of introspection and self knowledge is evident in many facets of life. One could add the willful ignorance of history and cultural legacy to the growing decline in our collective knowledge and wisdom.