Wednesday, 11 June 2025

In a world without ideas, voices, declaring nothing, are never silent.

In a world without clothes, nudity is neither noticed nor ever absent, please allow me to add.


[Originally posted to Patreon, April 9th, 2025]

Thursday, 5 June 2025

Part One. Veganism: the Future of an Illusion, "The Director's Cut".

(AR+IO-027) Based on a true story: originally a book, now a major motion picture… we bring you… Veganism: the Future of an Illusionthe Director's Cut… NOW WITH D.V.D. COMMENTARY!

LINKhttps://open.spotify.com/episode/2t9bjqAWFCyXc2ACCy24HU


Self-righteousness and semi-literacy in the 21st century.

My experience is that the vast majority of people (at any/all levels of formal education) cannot read political philosophy...
...nor can they even deal with the plain facts of science set out in lab reports on brain damage caused by (legal and illegal) drugs, efficacy or inefficacy, etc.

The belief in determinism (vs free will) is an especially instructive example, the supposed scientific benefits of Buddhist meditation, too, and both beliefs tend to overlap with 21st century Utilitarianism: people just become addicted to the feeling of their own (imagined) intellectual superiority over others, and when you put your finger on the text and explain, "this doesn't say what you think it says", they simply lash out in anger.

Sam Harris exploits his audience's appetite for this (emotional rather than rational) desire to feel intellectually superior, while failing to have basic reading comprehension of what the scientific sources say that he's vaguely alluding to, again and again.

"Video games increase intelligence: this study proves it."

And of course we've seen this mode of reasoning ten thousand times over with the invocation of "social science research" to vindicate everything from the handing out of leaflets on sidewalks to extremely violent protests branded as non-violent.

These people wear their ego like a blindfold, rather than using it as a washcloth to clean their glasses: the ego can let you see things more clearly —it need not blind you to the words right in front of you, on the desk.

Tuesday, 3 June 2025

Sex and the narrowing of the middle aged mind.

LINK: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4sLoCfpeNW3Zo13qYpJtzQ

(AR+IO-026) Is it better to be hated for being honest about things nobody else is ever honest about, or because (through your very act of encouraging people to live "the life of the mind") you end up drawing them into a position of reflecting on the extent of their own self-hatred —and their squandered potential over the last five years (not to mention the next five years).  And in case you think the word "sex" appears in the title of this recording for no reason at all, please allow me to provide you with every possible trigger warning…

Saturday, 31 May 2025

Bronze Age Veganism: ethical in theory, evil in practice.

A philosophical response to (and condemnation of) Ali Tabrizi, Wayne Hsiung and Roger Hallam. (AR+IO-025)  #vegan #vegans #veganism

LINK: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4PGGMJ3YcqyXurwAovC8vl

The book, mentioned at the very end of the recording: https://www.amazon.com/Veganism-Future-Illusion-Eisel-Mazard/dp/B09X7QXPRF

Wednesday, 28 May 2025

Monday, 26 May 2025

QNA1: The Unmasking of Ancient Athens and Rome; the Paradox of Required Reading.

LINKhttps://open.spotify.com/episode/1CoDOPoF2AzNb8fqinCp21

(AR+IO-023) The first of many QNA episodes on Doomed Republic: a podcast about ancient ideals, modern utopias, dystopias and attempts at democracy, including Greece, Rome China, India, Europe and America.

Don't call it a cross-promotion, but… this one appears both on Doomed Republic and also on à-bas-le-ciel.