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Messages - BeardFisher-King

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1
This really resonates with me. The "hard problem" is only "hard' if one insists that there is only one way to view the issue, that way being the materialist approach.

2
Literature / Re: Yearly Reading Targets 2020
« on: October 13, 2020, 11:51:18 pm »
1984 by George Orwell (30)

For a novel about the perpetual and permanent triumph of absolute evil, it is surprisingly enduring - and endearing.

Wow, that's one helluva blurb, Wilshire!

3
General Misc. / Re: What are you watching?
« on: May 03, 2020, 10:09:45 pm »
I heard about a new show, "Devs", streaming on Hulu, or "FX on Hulu", directed by Alex Garland ("Ex Machina", "Annihilation") that revolves around the determinism/free will question. Anyone aware of it?

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Literature / Re: Yearly Reading Targets 2020
« on: April 07, 2020, 03:14:50 pm »
I think i can quote myself in this instance, from 2018 when I read Lord Foul's Bane. It is, I have to say, one of the worst fantasy books I've ever read.

To me, what Donaldson appears to have done is taken wholesale some (now) worn out Tolkien tropes. He doesn't so much re-purpose them as recycle. From the Ring, to the names, quasi sentient horses... the entire thing reads like all the fantasy I've read from that era - unimaginative derivations of Tolkien.

You can follow the link to the rest of the discussion. BFK does quite like it, and I tried to figure out why... But I don't recall ever coming to an understanding.

I really liked Donaldson's Gap Into Conflict, but read the second book and it seemed to somehow be following the same path as Lord Foul's Bane. He's just not the author for me.

I remember trying to persuade Wilshire to give the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant another chance. He essentially responded, "Too many books, not enough time." The link presents my case for Donaldson, so no need to repeat it. Hey, at least Wilshire thought Donaldson was better than Brooks! And I seem to have persuaded MSJ to give Donaldson a try.

The quote that The P mentions by itself lifts "Lord Foul's Bane" into the precincts of literature.

ADD: This goes back two years! Tempus fugit ...

5
Literature / Re: Yearly Reading Targets 2020
« on: March 20, 2020, 04:52:16 pm »
Smoke, by Dan Vyleta

Very enjoyable. The setting is an alternate Victorian England, with some strange metaphysics involving the physical manifestation of good and evil. Recommended.

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From the article:

Quote
Having treated many thousands of psychiatric patients in my career, and having worked on the American Psychiatric Association’s efforts to classify psychiatric symptoms (published as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-IV and DSM-5), I can affirm confidently that there are no neat answers in psychiatry. The best we can do is embrace an ecumenical four-dimensional model that includes all possible contributors to human functioning: the biological, the psychological, the social, and the spiritual. Reducing people to just one element – their brain functioning, or their psychological tendencies, or their social context, or their struggle for meaning – results in a flat, distorted image that leaves out more than it can capture.

I cannot think of anything I have ever read in my entire life that I could agree with more than this.

Agreed, H. This is a great, single-paragraph recommendation of how to "do" psychiatry.

7
Philosophy & Science / Re: Semantic Apocalypse in Space?
« on: March 11, 2020, 03:31:46 pm »
A rundown of Cixin Liu's Chain of Suspicion, (or whomever came up with it if he didn't invent the term for his books).

Good catch, Wilshire! That was my thought as well. "The Dark Forest" describes this very well.

"Hide well, cleanse well." Four simple, annihilating words.

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General Misc. / Re: BFK's Music Corner
« on: December 23, 2019, 06:07:37 am »
Well ....

It turns out that I was, sadly, too old for the grind of performing in a bar band. It is truly a young man's game. Also, while some of the gigs were fun, the sad truth was that the music-making didn't click at all for me. I was the square peg getting pounded into someone else's round hole. "Don't play so loud, do this differently ... " I think I lasted about one calendar year, from Aug. 2018 to Aug. 2019. Fortunately, the parting of ways was very amicable, which with me is usually not the case. Perhaps in future posts I may draft my memoirs as a third-rate (at least from a professional perspective) musician. Looking back, there are some great stories.

Stay tuned!

9
General Earwa / Re: What is the Eärwan Soul?
« on: November 01, 2019, 01:11:53 pm »
This seems like an on-the-mark take of what Bakker might be getting at with his Tekne. While the analogy of a philosophical zombie has never been helpful for me, your deep dive into Hegelian thinking may shed some light for me. This post, in particular, while difficult for me to understand, may be the key that unlocks Earwan metaphysics.

Great job, H!

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Literature / Re: YOU MUST TELL ME ... What else are you reading?
« on: October 28, 2019, 07:16:28 pm »
I'm reading "Supernova Era" by Liu Cixin (Cixin Liu in English style). It was written in 2004, and the English translation was just published. Looks to be another great read from the Chinese master of high-stakes civilizational survival.

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Philosophy & Science / "Scholastic Metaphysics" by Edward Feser
« on: October 28, 2019, 02:49:04 am »
This came up in my Facebook feed. The name Robert Sokolowski and his book "The Phenomenology Of The Human Person" rang a distant TSA Forum bell, and, as the book and its author are referenced in the article, I thought I'd post a link here:
https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2015/02/enduring-nature-scholasticism.html?fbclid=IwAR2a6hYbxqX8a1qG6gorRsTL6RS3AFYBLWCReHNpjBY1EhPBmdQAYTVg8yw


Note: I did a quick search and found no hits for Robert Sokolowski here on TSA Forum. "It was just my imagination, yeah/Running away with me..."

12
Literature / Re: Cormac McCarthy
« on: June 12, 2019, 08:27:35 pm »
Polysemous is another new word today. You're full of them!
Oh, that's not all I'm full of, or so I've been told....  ;)

13
Literature / Re: Cormac McCarthy
« on: June 12, 2019, 04:39:41 pm »
And yes, I suspect given your reactions to TSA and obviously Neuropath, I'd imagine you wouldn't find the subject of BM appealing.
You've got me there, Wilshire.I realize that in previous posts I've been somewhat unfair to Bakker, given that there is a possibility in TNG of some kind of final defeat of the Consult/No-God/Tekne. And I also understand those readers who prefer an Earwa shut to the Outside. Bakker, in fact, certainly ends TUC with some hope for readers like myself.

As for McCormac, having read some other works, he seems to stress the sheer implacable nature of Evil, and that there are no easy answers to defeating or even mitigating it. I find it emotionally very hard to read writers like McCormac and Bakker, but it seems to be very necessary to do so.

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Literature / Re: Cormac McCarthy
« on: June 12, 2019, 03:58:34 pm »
Oh, and how about the title of that article? "Cormac McCarthy's Polysemous Monster". Polysemous = many meanings.

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Literature / Re: Cormac McCarthy
« on: June 12, 2019, 03:44:26 pm »
I'd have to say, I was not a fan of Blood Meridian.
From the thrust of the article, I don't think that I would enjoy reading BM either. But CMcC does seem to telling a tale of demons walking the earth; indeed, creating their own Hell on earth. So, to that extent, he is exploring some of Bakker's concerns.

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