The issue is the attention economy in and of itself, along with the decay of aesthetics into content; not the people having issues with attention and lack of ability to taste, since some have actionable temperaments while others are less cultural and more grounded in pure observation/recording. For those who can value attention in art over content or discernment, de-addicting the computer should be trivial. Q1: is it really like this with a balanced diet, exercise, relaxation, and some open source attention-preserving app?
The problem of hiding in a doomsday bunker is that other wiser men will turn it into a forgotten tomb, and as all tomb goes, it is a weird reflection of the ego. An less ego-driven alternative is to roam the digital streets often and to feel others suffering, maybe once and a while heal others. One of the central critique of this quasi-luddism is that cult-making and band-wagoning becomes easy since the diversity of reality is eliminated, as social control precedes the internet, in other forms such as self-sabotage. A weird thing to notice is that the Unabomber fandom does not help the underlying cause of toxic collectivism it intended to focus on as their congregation is often "all talk and no action", and also does not address the vulnerability one becomes atomized or coddled into blind paleo-reactionary behaviors ala eco-terror, which breaths life into their adversaries.
To rewrite Chomsky (bruh on his recent tirades tho): You have a choice between being martyred by backwards subcultures or wasting your time inside the attention economy. But the best counter to both, is to not be a paleo-reactionary OR taking the default offer of the attention economy. Make your attention worthy for the people you care about, not some soapbox with gullible people.
Your essays have unearthed something artists and writers of this time have been desperately (and unknowingly) searching for. You’ve tapped into a lost sentiment, forgotten and profound. Creative types are craving writing/perspectives like this, now more than ever.
I’m currently crafting/designing handmade skateboards/miniature boards and looking to design more things in the future. It’s definitely not for everyone but it started as a response to all the ugly graphics I was seeing on the market.
Your ideas relating to mindfulness, embracing the ordinary, analogue making a comeback etc. have had a profound impact on me. The path of diligently honing your craft for years and years now has more appeal in an era of instant gratification and constant distraction. This is the way.
Thanks for stopping by Brett, I’m just sorry I didn’t spot this comment sooner.
I always liked skate culture as a kid even though I lacked the coordination and what not. Kids trying to turn useless ugly concrete into something fun and useful. Reappropriation. Looking back I think more of these lessons sunk in than I realised at first, above all how our visual environment subtly shapes our minds and attitudes.
I’m glad I could have some small impact on you, my friend. And keep going, you have talent.
Great stuff, as always, Tom. Normally I'd be embarrassed to toot my own horn this way, but since we're on the subject anyway, I'd like to share a little something of my own. I've booted up a little WordPress as my own catacomb; here's a bit on the same theme: https://quartalharmonies.wordpress.com/2020/04/24/abandoned-gardens/
I suppose one of the purposes of the piece was to inspire people who were on the fence to get down to the business of veering away from social media and towards having their own decentralised space.
So therefore you’re self promoting cheekiness gets a pass. I admire the chutzpah to be truthful.
I’ll be keeping an eye on your new venture.
Hopefully I’ll be seeing you around here again soon.
That is such a great question Caleb. The sad fact when I reflect on it is that I haven’t got the mental dexterity to memorise an entire book, or even a story at this point.
This is what happens when we collectively give over a part of our brain to the convenience of google (why memorise anything when you can look it up).
This is what happens when rote learning is frowned upon as being somehow too restrictive.
Maybe I would memorise some of the key Shakespeare sonnets and pray that the rest of my post-apocalyptic posse have other stories stored away in their heads.
Makes you think, doesn’t it?
Great question Caleb, thanks for getting in touch and I hope you’ll continue reading these newsletters.
Thanks Hosto’. Maybe you should. Maybe it’ll reach a point where you feel like you don’t have much option *but* to start the catacomb.
The beauty of it is is that you can do whatever you want when you are the one who runs the space. Maybe people will join you, maybe not. Maybe it will become popular, maybe not.
But at least it will be yours and you will be free from the mild tyranny of having what you create be dictated by follow-the-leader trends.
I’m certainly looking forward to writing more. It’ll take me a little while to find my feet in terms of format and style but I think we’re off to a promising start here.
I guess to understand a thing, you first have to name or it or at least try and conceptualise it in terms of a metaphor (that’s how my brain works anyway)
And catacombs are how I see the present. You could call it a chrysalis also.
My first Substack comment! Thanks for the feedback, Conor.
I didn’t want to be needlessly positive in that shout-delusions-into-the-bathroom mirror way, but I don’t think the present moment is all that bad for artists.
Yeah, you’re less likely to be championed by the top-down gatekeepers now, but who really wants that? The simple fact is that it’s easier than ever to build your own little world of art online.
And I thought it was important to remind people of that in this time of flux and uncertainty.
A weird play on Catacombs is the Waldenpond, or a type of disassociation from large-scale realities. Indeed some dissected that this behavior not as acting in cynicism, but playing out dirty things from the view of cynicism itself. https://studio.ribbonfarm.com/p/against-waldenponding https://studio.ribbonfarm.com/p/against-waldenponding-ii
The issue is the attention economy in and of itself, along with the decay of aesthetics into content; not the people having issues with attention and lack of ability to taste, since some have actionable temperaments while others are less cultural and more grounded in pure observation/recording. For those who can value attention in art over content or discernment, de-addicting the computer should be trivial. Q1: is it really like this with a balanced diet, exercise, relaxation, and some open source attention-preserving app?
The problem of hiding in a doomsday bunker is that other wiser men will turn it into a forgotten tomb, and as all tomb goes, it is a weird reflection of the ego. An less ego-driven alternative is to roam the digital streets often and to feel others suffering, maybe once and a while heal others. One of the central critique of this quasi-luddism is that cult-making and band-wagoning becomes easy since the diversity of reality is eliminated, as social control precedes the internet, in other forms such as self-sabotage. A weird thing to notice is that the Unabomber fandom does not help the underlying cause of toxic collectivism it intended to focus on as their congregation is often "all talk and no action", and also does not address the vulnerability one becomes atomized or coddled into blind paleo-reactionary behaviors ala eco-terror, which breaths life into their adversaries.
To rewrite Chomsky (bruh on his recent tirades tho): You have a choice between being martyred by backwards subcultures or wasting your time inside the attention economy. But the best counter to both, is to not be a paleo-reactionary OR taking the default offer of the attention economy. Make your attention worthy for the people you care about, not some soapbox with gullible people.
Thomas,
Your essays have unearthed something artists and writers of this time have been desperately (and unknowingly) searching for. You’ve tapped into a lost sentiment, forgotten and profound. Creative types are craving writing/perspectives like this, now more than ever.
I’m a visual artist/designer/woodworker - www.Instagram.com/_harderwood_
I’m currently crafting/designing handmade skateboards/miniature boards and looking to design more things in the future. It’s definitely not for everyone but it started as a response to all the ugly graphics I was seeing on the market.
Your ideas relating to mindfulness, embracing the ordinary, analogue making a comeback etc. have had a profound impact on me. The path of diligently honing your craft for years and years now has more appeal in an era of instant gratification and constant distraction. This is the way.
Thank you!
- B.W. Harder
Thanks for stopping by Brett, I’m just sorry I didn’t spot this comment sooner.
I always liked skate culture as a kid even though I lacked the coordination and what not. Kids trying to turn useless ugly concrete into something fun and useful. Reappropriation. Looking back I think more of these lessons sunk in than I realised at first, above all how our visual environment subtly shapes our minds and attitudes.
I’m glad I could have some small impact on you, my friend. And keep going, you have talent.
Cheers.
Tom.
Great stuff, as always, Tom. Normally I'd be embarrassed to toot my own horn this way, but since we're on the subject anyway, I'd like to share a little something of my own. I've booted up a little WordPress as my own catacomb; here's a bit on the same theme: https://quartalharmonies.wordpress.com/2020/04/24/abandoned-gardens/
Hey Andrew, good to see you here.
I suppose one of the purposes of the piece was to inspire people who were on the fence to get down to the business of veering away from social media and towards having their own decentralised space.
So therefore you’re self promoting cheekiness gets a pass. I admire the chutzpah to be truthful.
I’ll be keeping an eye on your new venture.
Hopefully I’ll be seeing you around here again soon.
Tom.
Recently read Fahrenheit 451 and am wondering which book you plan to memorise for posterity. 😉
That is such a great question Caleb. The sad fact when I reflect on it is that I haven’t got the mental dexterity to memorise an entire book, or even a story at this point.
This is what happens when we collectively give over a part of our brain to the convenience of google (why memorise anything when you can look it up).
This is what happens when rote learning is frowned upon as being somehow too restrictive.
Maybe I would memorise some of the key Shakespeare sonnets and pray that the rest of my post-apocalyptic posse have other stories stored away in their heads.
Makes you think, doesn’t it?
Great question Caleb, thanks for getting in touch and I hope you’ll continue reading these newsletters.
Tom.
Great read. Perhaps I should start my own catacomb...
Thanks Hosto’. Maybe you should. Maybe it’ll reach a point where you feel like you don’t have much option *but* to start the catacomb.
The beauty of it is is that you can do whatever you want when you are the one who runs the space. Maybe people will join you, maybe not. Maybe it will become popular, maybe not.
But at least it will be yours and you will be free from the mild tyranny of having what you create be dictated by follow-the-leader trends.
Something to think about.
Thanks for getting in touch.
Tom.
Perhaps, "Brigadoon as a metaphor". See you on Sunday.
Brigadoon- a place that is idyllic, unaffected by time, or remote from reality.
Sounds good to me. Thanks for the reply Anthony. Comments and feedback are extremely helpful (and gratifying)
Seek you on Sunday.
Tom.
Great read! Brilliant insight. Looking forward to more.
Thanks Alec.
I’m certainly looking forward to writing more. It’ll take me a little while to find my feet in terms of format and style but I think we’re off to a promising start here.
I appreciate you stopping by.
See you on Sunday,
Tom.
Great post. You and Rod Dreher would get along.
Thanks Connor.
I’ve just checked out Mr Dreher’s twitter page based on this recommendation. Him calling himself an ‘Ignation (Reilly)’ made me chuckle.
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment hear.
See you on Sunday,
Tom.
Love this, thank you Tom.
I was wondering where I was, now I know.
In the catacombs
Kieran! Glad to have you on board.
I guess to understand a thing, you first have to name or it or at least try and conceptualise it in terms of a metaphor (that’s how my brain works anyway)
And catacombs are how I see the present. You could call it a chrysalis also.
See you on Sunday,
Tom.
Brilliant, I hadn't thought of it like this before but I've certainly been heading into the catacombs for years.
Inspiring writing, Tom.
There’s something particularly gratifying about someone responding to your writing with ‘I hadn’t thought of it like this’
Making people think and see a little differently is what this is all about.
It’s also great to see a fellow Tom is reading my work. Us Tom’s need to stick together.
See you on Sunday,
Tom
This is excellent analysis and great writing, Thomas. Cheers, GS
That’s kind of you to say, Graeme.
It’s reassuring to know that I’m not just typing into the void, you know?
See you on Sunday,
Tom.
Excellent first edition.
Having someone take an optimistic, pro-active view of the current situation is wonderfully refreshing.
Looking forward to the second!
My first Substack comment! Thanks for the feedback, Conor.
I didn’t want to be needlessly positive in that shout-delusions-into-the-bathroom mirror way, but I don’t think the present moment is all that bad for artists.
Yeah, you’re less likely to be championed by the top-down gatekeepers now, but who really wants that? The simple fact is that it’s easier than ever to build your own little world of art online.
And I thought it was important to remind people of that in this time of flux and uncertainty.
See you next Sunday,
Tom.