Why do so many monsters resemble the snake?
From the hydra to the manticore to the gorgon to the dragon, all of these monsters and many more share their origin in the serpent.
Why?
For example, Taxi Driver (1976)
Travis Bickle is caught in a dilemma between the vile criminal underworld that he traverses during his night shift, and the upstanding and noble citizens that he admires during the day
What motivates you?
Haruki Murakami:
"Runners will understand what I mean. We don’t really care whether we beat any other particular runner. World-class runners, of course, want to outdo their closest rivals, but for your average, everyday runner,
Hiring illustrators for my substack is one of the best decisions I’ve made.
Check out the before (me prompting Dall-e) vs. after (a professional artist)
Last month, I took a break from writing every day on Twitter.
I was actually making a lot of progress in gaining followers, but I wasn’t growing personally.
So now I’m trying to figure out how to do both. Stay tuned
I'm gonna stick with posting about the same book for a few threads in a row. Right now I'm on Moby Dick. Is this a good idea, or would your prefer more variety?
Yesterday I wrote that my threads are intended to be reminders/exhortations to myself, and I really meant it.
I'll be honest, I've been pretty shook up by the quotes that I have analyzed recently from Walden.
Today's quote in particular, hits me square in the heart...
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1. As AI gets smart enough to pass the Turing test, it's also getting more boring, more predictable, more safe, more wishy-washy, more vague. Is corporate banality the future of AI?
Without a disturbance, we have no reason to act.
Without disruption, there is nothing to test our faith.
Without something to fear, we have nothing to overcome.
Despite how terrifying the snake is, we desperately need it.
1/14
What is servitude?
Is it the opposite of freedom?
Not necessarily. Let's look at this powerful quote from Paradise Lost.
Whether you believe in the Biblical creation story or not, Milton's myth has some intriguing thoughts about servitude.
A thread 👇
The myth of Achilles is so compelling because it is so relatable.
Each of us uniquely powerful, but we also each have our own particular weaknesses.
What's the one thing that's holding you back?
Or what could cause a huge setback if it were to break down?
A thread 👇
For better or worse, Captain Ahab was completely dedicated to his cause of hunting Moby Dick. Obsessed, even.
What's your level of dedication?
Would you threaten the gods to try to swerve ye?
"Intelligence is the most dangerous thing in the universe." -Erik Hoel
I'm indebted to Erik for raising awareness of AI's progress and the resultant implications.
I wrote about it here:
Wrote about this in my monthly roundup, in the context of Scott Aaronson's recent argument that intelligent people are more moral (rather than intelligence being a neutral quality one can use for good or evil):
Things could be so much better...
But they could also be so much worse.
On days like today I'm reminded to be grateful, because the objective quality of my situation matters a lot less than the subjective. In other words, the only thing that matters...
@chriscordry
@JTaylorForeman
“Proven to enhance your empathy for others' life experiences.”
Fiction enables a paradigm shift. I’ll never be anyone but myself, except through fiction I can see what it might be like to be someone else.
This is perhaps the most jarring passage in Infinite Jest.
It comes out of nowhere with no introduction or explanation. It's one long sentence with zero verbs.
It's both bewildering and yet completely clear.
I think it deserves analysis--
The dawning disinterestedness I found within that chat window came on like divine providence for the human race—it was the sight of rescue orange deep in the trough of a wave, lost to sight, and then resurfacing gloriously, and, against all expectation, just within reach."
Art is dead.
Over a year ago, before most of us had even used (or heard of) DALL-E,
@erikphoel
proclaimed the threat that AI poses to Art.
Was he right?
Yes and no.
I wrote about it on The Apocalypse (link in bio)
You were born into a world where most things were made by human consciousness. You may die in a world where nothing is made by human consciousness. An artless void.
@brclothwrites
Yeah, and I hated it, but it worked, in the long run. It taught me to listen to my parents, who were usually right. Even if sometimes they were wrong.
Parents today don't know how to tell their kids "no." So the kids don't respect them, and can get away with anything.
@will_mannon
Sheeeeeeit.
It’s one thing to hear that you’ve been doing this, which is certainly impressive. It’s an entirely different thing to see it— all the images stacked together, one after another, the Great Will of China.
I wonder how long the compilation video would be…
Rock on
1/6
I recently argued that hiding from the present can be foolish, even diabolical.
But what does DIABOLICAL mean?
Perhaps you know the Diablo is another word for Devil, but what does it actually mean?
A thread 👇
-Tennis coach Gerhardt Schtitt's tirade from Infinite Jest:
"Because, privileged gentlemen and boys I am saying, is always something that is too. Cold. Hot. Wet and dry. Very bright sun and you see the purple dots. Very bright hot and you have no salt.
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They would literally give an arm and a leg to be where we are now.
So, go out and face your problems, for they are worth struggling with and they are worth overcoming. But just keep them in context.
Think of how far we have come.
Happy Thanksgiving.
You can probably guess this one already since it looks like another word: diarrhea…
Logos means word or reasoning (logic, lecture, -ology)
rrhea means flowing, like a river.
Logorrhea is an overflow of words.
I haven't been writing on twitter much, mostly because I HAVE been writing on substack a TON.
I've honestly been really impressed by how it easy it has been to write so consistently. I explained how in my essay today (check the link in my bio).
How do we deal with rejection?
Stephen King began writing before he was even a teenager. Was he successful immediately?
No.
He remembers his first story he ever submitted:
"When I got the rejection slip...I pounded a nail into the wall ...and poked it onto the nail.
But, on the other hand, if you do recognize that every day contains new opportunities, then your life will be elevated.
Thoreau says that this is the most promising thing that he knows, and moreover that this is beyond any doubt:
In the world of Emergency Medicine (EMS), there is an crucial first step in any disaster scenario.
And this principle is incredibly relevant right now. Everyone should know it.
Translation:
We should not expect anything meaningful to happen if we wake up to an alarm clock. We shouldn't even call it a new "day."
But if we wake up by our Genius, our deep aspirations from the heart, it might even sound like heavenly music is playing.
10/10
We can learn a great deal from the stories of people who are incredibly different from us, even if we don't necessarily agree with them.
And even if they aren't literally true.
What are the stories that you know to be true, that tell you what it means to be human?
10/10
You don't have to change the world and impact millions of people.
You might just influence one person's life in a very small, but significant way.
No matter what difficulties surround you, I wish the same blessing on you:
"Fit audience find, though few."
Frederick Douglass survived the horrors of slavery and became a leading figure of the abolitionist movement and the women's suffrage movement in the US.
Why are we so fascinated by monsters?
Why do we have so many different stories about them, from ancient myths to modern movies?
And why do vastly different cultures tell stories about the same monsters?
Is the Devil real?
What was it that drove Captain Ahab so mad that he pursued The White Whale all around the world?
This insane and foolish venture cost the lives of everyone aboard his ship.
Was it that Ahab was being chased by the Devil?
Was Ahab, himself, the Devil?
The character Achilles is from the story of the Iliad, compiled by Homer over 2500 years ago.
He is renowned throughout the world for being unbeatable in combat.
And you might also remember that he had only one weakness- his heel.
But is that really true?
The myth of Achilles is so compelling because it is so relatable.
Each of us uniquely powerful, but we also each have our own particular weaknesses.
What's the one thing that's holding you back?
Or what could cause a huge setback if it were to break down?
A thread 👇
Waking up can be an everyday thing.
Something so banal that to tell people our day started with "I woke up" would bore them to tears.
Or, on the other hand, waking up can be exciting, invigorating, and illuminating. It is one more chance to do something the world has never seen
@louispereira
Reminds me of the philosophy of Utilitarianism, which tries to quantify happiness.
Instead I like the approach of Robert Pirsig, who defined a related term, Quality, as the merging of both Romantic and Classical understandings, art and science, grooving and thinking.
New writers (myself included) face The Writer's Paradox all the time.
We want to become Established writers, but there's an uncrossable chasm between us and that promised land.
So how do we solve it?
A thread 👇
When
@StephenKing
published his first novel, Carrie, he was broke as hell.
He had been writing for over 10 years and had nothing to show for it.
He was struggling to keep his family afloat and had perhaps the most miserable job I've ever heard of.
The story is fascinating 👇
8/10
We may often feel like Milton: surrounded by difficulty, enveloped in darkness, circumscribed by antagonists, encompassed by all manner of threats.
But there is an audience out there for each of us.
Someone who desperately needs our help.
It may be small, but it's there.
I've turned my daily Twitter threads into TikToks every day for the last 7 days.
Here's what I've learned:
(You can also watch this tweet as a video here:
)
9/9
"As if you could kill time without injuring eternity." - Thoreau
We cannot escape the consequences of our actions, we can only hide from them temporarily. Choosing not to act is also an action.
Don't delay the inevitable. Face the present. To do otherwise is diabolical.
In that same thread, I asked about your weaknesses.
What are my weaknesses?
Here's a big one: I get really frustrated when things seem futile.
If I don't see progress, I get easily demotivated.
This image from Jack Butcher perfectly illustrates where I usually quit.
2/9
In this scene from Paradise Lost, Jesus comes to judge Adam and Eve after they have eaten the forbidden fruit.
Satan is hiding there, but flees, fearing that if Jesus finds him, Jesus will suddenly punish Satan for his own sin of rebellion.
He's guilty and knows it.
We are living in a critical moment in history.
The powerful tidal forces under our society are starting to shift, due to the evolution and accessibility of communication tools like Twitter, ChatGPT, Dall-E, and more.
Will you take advantage of this moment, or miss it?
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@RGRyan777
Valid. But the withdrawal symptoms are temporary! I have to take a break every 3-4 months because my tolerance builds up quickly.
Have you read Caffeine by Michael Pollan? He wrote the book while on withdrawals and it’s interesting to read how it affected his “will to live.”
10/14
David Foster Wallace famously said:
"In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship."
3/9
A while later Satan returns ("that past, returned") and hears Adam and Eve complain ("various plaint").
But while eavesdropping, he learns about the promise of his doom-- that Jesus will destroy him.
Not yet, but sometime in the future ("nor instant, but of future time").
I've had a lot of luck over the last year and a half with reverse outlining.
It's the key way I generate ideas, deconstruct great writing, and deliberately improve my writing practice.
Friday 8/3/23 I'm doing a free workshop on how I use this technique:
@michaelsklar
Love Frankl.
Reminds me of this paraphrase from Seneca:"I can show you a potion, compounded without drugs, herbs, or any witch’s incantation: ‘If you would be loved, love.’"
I recently played a game called The Hunt: Showdown, and the atmosphere totally pulled me in.
It reminded me of True Detective season 1.
It made me wonder:
Why do we associate the swamps with the occult? And what is so frightening about the combination?
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With content, you have to go through an unbearably long amount of time when no one gives a shit before anyone starts paying attention.
We did 125 20VC shows before we had 1,000 plays per show.
92% of our downloads came in the last year. 🤩
Game of who survives the longest.
Ok this is honestly just fun.
So I want to look at a powerful root today. But let's start with the one of the most common ways you will see it these days.
~Nootropic~
What does it mean?
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Just checked out Paul Graham's blog, and the legend is still going strong.
In his last post, he perfectly captured why reading and writing are so important:
"You can't think well without writing well, and you can't write well without reading well."
Actually, in the Iliad, this weakness is never mentioned, nor does Achilles ever die. The detail about his heel seems to be a later addition to the myth.
Nevertheless, you might be surprised to learn that Achilles has another glaring weakness that is explicitly mentioned--
What’s more terrifying, an alien or a demon?
@LBarberis
and I have been discussing this for months now lol.
I’m exploring it in this week’s essay (publishing on Thursday morning).
What do you think? And, more importantly, why??
6/6
Satan is diabolical because he is a slanderer, a gossiper, a rumor mill. He throws words around like a game, confusing and deceiving people.
When we lie, we emulate Satan and become diabolical.
When we hide from the present, we lie to ourselves.
Instead, tell the truth.
11/14
He went on to say that unless we have something bigger to worship, most of us end of worshipping ourselves, or some other petty god like wealth, beauty, power, or fame.
He added that "pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive."
Translation: But though he was for a moment convicted by this realization, he was in the next moment reassured by the magnificence of nature around him.
And his soul began to encourage him.
5/6
So Diabolical literally means "to throw across" (back and forth).
And this can be done ~literally~ with stones, like a game of catch.
Or it can be done ~figuratively~ with words, like spreading gossip.
And gossip is usually rumor, and rumor is usually false and hurtful.
What's the first thing you think about when you wake up?
Is it:
-a desire to sleep just a bit longer?
-a long list of obligations you have to do?
-a celebration of the miracle of life???
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4/9
This news gives him both fear and joy.
Fear that he is doomed to destruction, but joy that it is not yet.
But the fear is stronger than the joy. So he slinks back to Hell.
The whole conflict with Troy starts when Achilles is insulted, and rather than stand up for himself, he goes off and cries, asking the gods to bring calamity upon his own people, so they will realize how bad they need him.
In answer to his prayer, the gods start a war.
My threads (and the quotes therein) have been growing pretty long.
You might say I’ve been logorrheic.
To that end, I’m gonna make them shorter, but also frequently add another short thread each day about etymology.
Today’s word: logorrhea
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Not just understanding, but also appreciating.
I like the pine branch metaphor, but I would go a step further and say that logic can also be: dissecting the tree to see how it works (valuable).
And myth can be: that pine tree is the Tree of Knowledge (or an Ent!)
Why do modern people have such a hard time understanding myths?
"And just as speech is invention about objects and ideas, so myth is invention about truth.” -- Tolkien
Most of the time, people use "myth" to mean "not real."
But that's far from the truth:
"In fact, after reflecting on this boredom I’ve started to cling to it, much like the survivor of a ship wreck clings to a life preserver found afloat and nearby after the ship sinks.
A good story explores a dilemma— good vs. evil, or truth vs. lies.
A great story goes further, recognizing that there are not just two sides to every coin, but dozens of different dimensions.
And then takes us through this labyrinth to a place totally unexpected.
Being John Malkovich (1999) was Charlie Kaufman's debut screenplay, and it's amazing.
It's also surreal and absurd-- it's about a puppeteer who enters a portal which allows him to control another person.
It raises an important question: do we really have free will? 👇
It reads like a benediction at the end of a sermon.
I found it both encouraging and convicting. Heart-warming and yet challenging.
I wish I could live up to it. But I don't think I am right now.
But I'm trying. I'm trying real hard.
What do you think?
4/6
Let's break it down:
"Dia" is a flexible prefix with many meanings (it's used in diameter, dialog, dialysis), but in this case it means "across"
"Bolical" comes from ballo, Greek βἀλλω, which means to throw (it's used in ballista, parabola, symbol, problem)
We can wake up with our dreams and visions of the best possible future. And know that we have a vital role to play in that realizing that future.
If that's the case, then we should expect GREAT things from the day.
Translation: His soul encouraged him to always be exploring and adventuring, that he might always be found in new places. That he was in fact a wild man, and so should continue to grow wild.