Technology brings previously abstract, academic questions into the realm of the tangible and the immanent
Before deepfakes, postmodernism (pomo) was an incomprehensible word to the average person. Now they are forced to confront the epistemic crisis
Before deepfakes, postmodernism (pomo) was an incomprehensible word to the average person. Now they are forced to confront the epistemic crisis
I have particular contempt for the people on our side of the internet who use this term "postmodernism" though they clearly have no idea what it means.
They think it means moral relativism, or if they are slightly smarter, epistemic relativism. Both are wrong
They think it means moral relativism, or if they are slightly smarter, epistemic relativism. Both are wrong
When the woke accuse James Lindsay of not understanding these topics, they are entirely correct
The woke are more correct than the mainstream, you could say. JL conflates pomo with critical theory, claims to have all knowledge, but he's a clanging symbol
The woke are more correct than the mainstream, you could say. JL conflates pomo with critical theory, claims to have all knowledge, but he's a clanging symbol
That wasnβt a typo. Itβs laughable that Christians think pomo is an attack on Christianity.
None of the pomo theorists gave a shit about Christianity, they regarded it the way Christians regard Pythagoreanism: quaint, expired, inconsequential
None of the pomo theorists gave a shit about Christianity, they regarded it the way Christians regard Pythagoreanism: quaint, expired, inconsequential
Pomo is above all a crisis of faith, an epistemic crisis. But it's not a crisis of faith in God, it's a crisis of faith in faith, specifically in secular theories of meaning, in even the possibility of meaning
Nietzsche expressed the central dilemma of post-modernism all the way back in 1873, and Borges was exploring the problem when Derrida was in diapers:
the problem is that moral and scientific knowledge can only be justified tautologically
the problem is that moral and scientific knowledge can only be justified tautologically
For a pomo-ist, the problem is that meta-narratives (stories that explain why knowledge is legitimate) can only be legitimated in terms of further stories, which can only be legitimated... the ultimate grounding of narratives is eternally deferred, or else self-referential
This unavoidable structural instability of narrative-based teleology is formalized by GΓΆdel and Tarski in the 1930s, but Nietzsche was able to recognize it 60 years earlier purely through his own genius
Post-modern theorists aren't Marxists, in fact they break with Marxism precisely because they find the Marxist (emancipation) narrative and Hegelian (totalization) narratives to be inconsistent and untenable
A principled pomo-ist rejects these ideas in favor of pure pragmatism
A principled pomo-ist rejects these ideas in favor of pure pragmatism
(Aside: although pomo-ists and critical theorists are mostly antagonistic, there are some, like Foucault, who integrate these opposites. The result is a kind of guerrilla epistemology untroubled by incommensurable opposites)
The surprising conclusion of the post-modernists is that grand, meaning-making narratives are almost completely unnecessary. Scientific research proceeds regardless of whether we imagine it in Hegelian terms, or Marxist terms, or no terms at all
The "social cloud" of behaviors that scientists and engineers perform is validated only in terms of its inputs and outputs, its material pre- and post-conditions. When the stories we tell about productivity collapse, productivity shrugs and continues
post-modern movements in art, literature, and architecture seek to highlight the fundamental absurdity of this condition, demonstrating through their sheer stubbornness that meaning is an abstract luxury compared to the logic of productivity
Anyway, technology democratizes philosophy. Neech got it on his own. Lyotard derived it from GΓΆdel.
For this genius, post-modernism clicked when he paid an Indian fiver to use Chinese AI to put a Moroccan girl's head on a Ukrainian camgirl's body
For this genius, post-modernism clicked when he paid an Indian fiver to use Chinese AI to put a Moroccan girl's head on a Ukrainian camgirl's body
Specifically, the thing that clicked for him is the fundamental untrustworthiness of all signs. The pomo collapse of meaning occurs once you understand the treachery of signs
The problem isn't that people can lie, it's that we can't easily distinguish between pure knowledge (which may be destructive) vs. the life-preserving consequences of "truth" It's a subtle point, hard to articulate, instantly clear when you listen to abby
And I feel like no matter how many ways I try to say this, there will be a large contingent of right-wingers who don't get it, who refuse to understand. They think narrative collapse is not real because they haven't personally confronted the weight of it
On some level, the postmodern condition reduces all belief-systems to a kind of larp
Communists who can't muster an uprising, Christians who watch church attendance decline every year β I'm not saying they don't believe, just that now they are forced to believe self-consciously
Communists who can't muster an uprising, Christians who watch church attendance decline every year β I'm not saying they don't believe, just that now they are forced to believe self-consciously
This state of being, the awareness of a certain exhaustion of all symbols, undermines and infects all ways of thinking. This has been evident at least since the advent of television, but AI deepfakes do to everyone what TV did to celebrities
AI-generated images will tend to exacerbate this trend, to pull us deeper into this trench. Photography has been untrustworthy for a long while, but we have not yet glimpsed the depths of epistemic depravity we are approaching
All ideological commitments now occur within the pomo condition, because an individual's beliefs are less important than the pattern of their thought processes, their mode of existence, the form of their integration with being and the dynamics of their actions
Post-modernism isn't a tool or a method or a statement about what ought to be. It's a passive realization about the limits of faith
It doesn't mean you fall into nihilism, it means you understand that life goes on as ever, whether you subscribe to a grand narrative or not
It doesn't mean you fall into nihilism, it means you understand that life goes on as ever, whether you subscribe to a grand narrative or not
Nor is postmodernism a form of cynicism. It's NOT a claim that people don't really believe what they think they believe. But it is a stripping away of necessity.
If belief isn't necessary, then we start to view it as a luxury
If belief isn't necessary, then we start to view it as a luxury
There are many ways to react to the post-modern realization, but the worst one by far is to desperately and pharisaically perform your beliefs with ever more intensity in an attempt to escape the gnawing sense of semiotic betrayal
The postmodern condition is the reason the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity
That's what I think everyone crying about deepfakes has in common, these hysterical reactions to something which is already ubiquitous and totally banal;
there's a deeper emotional wound there, a radical loss of meaning which deepfakes make legible to midwits for the first time
there's a deeper emotional wound there, a radical loss of meaning which deepfakes make legible to midwits for the first time
Usage of porn is a form of self-harm, ok, but the way these e-christians and e-girls (the same monster in different clothes) act, they treat male sexual urges as something worse than m*rd*r
The AI deepfake is hyperreal. I have no doubt that Pokimane's face on the body of a woman 7 years younger is more endocrinologically compelling than either pokimane or low-caste camslave to whom she was affixed
So for these female twitch streamers, there's a very tangible loss of power as they are replaced with simulacra. Of course they are angry. Of course they are crying.
How's that expression go?
When you're accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression?
How's that expression go?
When you're accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression?
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