June 1st, 2020

• Discussed [[How to become a Flancian]] and [[Wittgenstein Protocol]] with L.; she had good insights.
• Was introduced to [[John Cowper Powys]] by [[Codex]].
• Was pointed to [[The Virtue of Selfishness]] by [[Adam Fitchett]] as a good summary of Ayn Rand's thinking.
  • My a priori is that overall I dislike Randian thinking; might be worth reading this and corroborating/refuting.

2020-06-01

Simulacra and Simulation

Listened to Episode 124 – Simulacra and Simulation – Philosophize This!.

Getting a bit of an initial handle on [[Simulacra and Simulation]].

So… [[postmodernism]] says everything is contextual. There is no absolute truth, or grand narratives for people to follow ideologically.

If we have no grand narratives for people to follow in a postmodern society, what might happen?

One thing [[Baudrillard]] says is that rampant consumerism becomes a way of creating identity in the absence of it being provided from elsewhere.

And that as everything is so mediated, the way most people experience the world becomes a simulation of the actual reality of things. See The Gulf War Did Not Take Place. I hope I’m not adding to this state of affairs by listening to a podcast about the book rather than reading the book.