Ryder Richards discusses different methods of reframing one’s perspective in life, such as psychology, meditation, and religion. First, he discusses the cultural background of deconstructionism and Hegel’s idea of “negation” to frame the moment. He then talks about how methods (such as therapy, Buddhism, or Christianity) can help shift one’s perspective to alleviate anxiety and despair, though they may not fully solve the underlying issues. He uses this as an introduction to discuss Zizek’s concept of the parallax view, arguing that one’s focal point shifts as the perspective changes. https://www.letusthinkaboutit.com/step-77-perspective-framing/

In this episode, Ryder Richards explores the concept of concrete universalism and its implications. He discusses the idea of transcending contradictions and how failures can lead to unexpected victories. Richards also examines the notion of the concrete universal through examples such as garbage and Picasso's art, highlighting the tension between specificity and universality. **Highlights** Concrete universalism explores the possibility of combining the concrete and the abstract into one concept. Failures and contradictions can become powerful and unprovable, creating a sense of transcendence. The concept of concrete universalism is exemplified through the idea of garbage, where a specific object represents the broader category. Art, like the concrete universal, expresses both expression and concealment simultaneously, commenting on the inability to clearly define itself. Picasso's art serves as an example of the concrete universal, with different periods and works representing the totality of his artistic practice.

Christianity operates through a lack: we cannot know God, so a “gap” must be filled between God and Humans. Christ is God splitting from 1 into 2, allowing us to identify and get closer to the mystery of God, but in so doing, Christ was subjected to the filth of this world. (Zizek) The reversal of the one God splitting into two (only to mysteriously re-unify us) is the process of poop: taking all values and reducing them into one homogenous, non-mysterious pile. (Bataille) Growth can occur from this filth (otherwise known as manure), producing roses. Beauty from secular waste, rather than an excessive effort towards mysteries that only slip away as you approach them. (Hegel) {{This is a continuation of Step 74: Symbolic Victory}} https://www.letusthinkaboutit.com/step-75-holy-to-holy-s/

Symbols can unite us, but when symbols trump reality, the reversal dismantles order. We begin to exist in a simulacrum. Symbolic gestures, such as Ranchers chasing Rustlers in the Wild West seem illogical but can provide symbolic protection through irrationality. The issue is that amplifying "grievance" (for power and reputation) dissuades reconciliation for either side, leading to prolonged and continuous conflict. https://www.letusthinkaboutit.com/step-74-symbolic-victory/

Becoming ubiquitous and dispersed is another means to hide, but it breaks trust. 1) True authority (the blunt master) has been replaced with the servant's appearance as a representative leader and martyr. However, this kindly camouflage is more repressive. 2) Sex is similarly dispersed: a mediated version of "what you want" becomes a larger-than-life context, a landscape of desire, which detaches libido from the person and into oddly distributed cravings. 3) Unfortunately, when our entire society (context in which we derive meaning) becomes a series of camouflage tactics, but there is no stable reality (backdrop) on which to rely, camouflage ceases to work: we cease to believe the image. Artificial Intelligence further erodes trust, and perhaps our only tactic is to create a "minimal distance" through a camouflaging tactic to reshape our mediated desires. https://letusthinkaboutit.com/step-73-camouflage-sex-and-trust/

Camouflage is both a lie and truth, like the imitative arts. The tactics of aesthetics: hiding, dissembling, and obfuscation are natural survival tactics amplified by the military and politics. Benjamin Bratton discusses camouflage and the costume that allows you to perform your role. However, as imitative creatures, we mimetically signal affiliation for safety and survival, which can become parasitic, and create a space for predation. We discuss the early French military camouflage, the WWII Ghost Army, and the current confusion politically around camouflage. We bring up Obama, Trump, AOC, and others to suss out models of disguise, dazzle, and dodge. We also get into Aristotle, Plato, Picasso, Baudrillard, Nietzsche, and of course Rene Girard's mimetic desire and scapegoating model.

From fantasy into reality, the image has defenses and a prophetic will. Benjamin Bratton expands on this with the idea of "inscribed violence" in the image-form. We imagine, then simulate our fantasies with defenses in place, which tend to provoke offensive reactions when we de-simulate them into reality. We are left to consider the prophetic, aesthetic reality of imagining a machinic state or architecture that does not need humans.

Reversing inner pressure outward requires a scapegoat to sacrifice in order to stabilize society. By discovering the hidden models driving it reveals our motivations, but more importantly, Rene Girard‘s theory accounts for civilizations' cybernetic energies and release valves. Paired with Georges Bataille’s theory of sacrifice necessary due to excess (the general economy) we find explanations for seemingly irrational behavior. Drawing from Luke Burgis's "Wanting: Memetic Desire in Everyday Life" we look at the basics of memetic rivalry, hidden models, and mediators before jumping to scapegoating, then we move into Lacan's notion of the "objet petit a" to consider the subject as desiring, and the self as commodified. In the end, we turn to Bataille's "The Accursed Share, vol. 1" to intertwine scapegoating and sacrifice.

https://www.letusthinkaboutit.com/step-69-memetic-desire/ 0:00 Intro1:22 What is mimetic rivalry? memtic desire.2:48 Mimicry as an internal set of neurosis.5:05 What we want is the attention and control that someone else wanted first.7:14 If somebody else wants something, our survival depends on us getting to it first.9:47 Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.11:28 Accelerationism is a means to break out of the deadlock of capitalism.12:56 All of our focus is now embodied in winning the object.14:46 If the system is good enough, it will disperse the energies.16:37 How capitalism fits into all of this.

A deeper dive into accelerationism, jumping from Marx and labor automation to the libidinal economy, joy in pain, the value of poop, and sex as work in the machinic future. There are good reasons to accelerate beyond our current state, but Walter Benjamin advises using the "emergency brake" instead of blindly rushing into the unknown. Drawn primarily from Benjamin Noys "Malign Velocities" there are also references to "#Accelerate" and Lyotard, Bataille, Deleuze & Guatarri, and Godard's "Weekend."