Banner artwork by Moonassi
This is The Praxis Circus.
This week I reached a decision that I have been contemplating for at least a year on and off and while there is a load off my chest because of this, I also feel very conflicted as I deal with a variety of residual negative emotions. I can see a light at the end though and it seems like it could be exactly where I need to be, sucks that there has to be a tunnel to go through though š.
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As I have been wandering about in the gloaming of my mental spaces, my thoughts drifted to a game I played ages ago on my iPhone called Year Walk. Inspired by an ancient Swedish folklore tradition involving a ritual walk in a forest alone on the eve of the new year in order to see the future, it got me thinking about how transformation and insight are often gained by discomfort and disorientation - if not outright pain and suffering.
The modern world has made us believe that change has been tamed and made convenient; requiring nothing more than an app, classes or a book and of course, money. We would do well to remember that pain evolved not only to keep us safe from danger, but also to help us learn.
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What if every single human act was backed by a manifesto? A personal one even, would we still be making shit?
Ganzeer is an artist I have been keeping tabs on for a while now and the excerpt above is from a pretty cool post about manifestos.
I am a pretty big fan of manifestos, things like the Xenofeminist manifesto or the Declaration of the independence of cyberspace or one of my faves in video form - P2P and Utopia. Manifestos are these big, utopian, messy things that almost go out of date once you finish writing them, but I think they are useful in the way the idea of utopias are useful, as directions for movement, translating speed into velocity.
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Having just typed that, Venkatesh Rao just put up an essay where he argues that the best players of the larger game of life versus entropy are entities that donāt commit too hard to one goal or direction. With the speed at which the world is moving these days, I am inclined to agree with him. Anybody who specialises in this day and age is doomed to be unable to respond when their field of specialisation is inevitably disrupted and/or made obsolete by AI and machine learning. We are creeping slowly back into the era of the generalist.
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Reading list
I just picked up a preorder of The Emissary by Yoko Tawada and I am currently trying to figure out how to get Rachel Armstrongās Origamy without paying more than twice the cost of the book for shipping.
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A few people I know reading this (and to be honest I would argue most people) have difficulties asking for help in many ways. I like what this guy had to say about making requests and how asking for help can create value for others as well. There is a vulnerability in asking for help that our society has taught us to shy away from and it alienates so many of us from support even when we really need it.
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I want to leave you all with this video discussing why unintelligent protest is bad for democracy. I would add that ideology in general is bad for developing any sort of collective intelligence as it in a way results in that sort of hard āspecialisationā that Venkatesh talked about in his essay above. My simple rule of thumb is that whenever I find myself getting too sure about something I need a rain check.
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Have a great day and week ahead and remember to take time out for yourself.
P.S.
The podcast is running just a bit behind schedule, but it should be done next week š¤š¾.