I find it fascinating that such pieces of art and especially literature from decades past can prove so prescient, if that is the right word, for our present times. You provided an excellent analysis of Lovecraft´s Nyarlathotep (from 1920, no less) showing just that. The interesting part is that the authors, despite being reasonably well read, as I am led to assume, did not read thousands of pages of elite theory, exact predictions of future technological advances and sociological analyses laying out specific causes and effects of social policy. In other words, they were not among the very greatest scholars of their time. And yet, they were able to see (or feel) farther ahead and more clearly than any of their peers and formulate their vision strikingly. How come such artistic, subconscious or mystical inspiration can turn out much more accurate than "scientific" analyis of the time? I find that a wonderful and enigmatic aspect of human nature.
Thomas Sherridan talks about artists and writers channelling the spirit of the age, like conduits. Naturally though, our materialist age frowns upon such hocus-pocus.
The Hawkwind track "Spirit of the Age" started going through my head when you mentioned battery hens. The much under-appreciated mad poet Bob Calvert ends a verse with the line "Oh, for the wings of any bird, other than a battery hen".
Artists like Calvert perceive truths way ahead of the rest of us, and this makes them mad, that is their fate, and ours is to walk in their shadows.
Mythos is a faster and surer route to the truth than logos. The heart can feel its way to the truth, often instantly, whereas the mind can only grope its way forward step by step. Both are required of course. The modern, academic pathology is that it pretends mythos plays no role at all, therefore ignores it, and so cripples itself - becoming obsessed with minutiae, getting the details correct but missing the big picture entirely.
I really loved the Nyalarthorep analysis as well. Lovecraft’s universe is a bleak one. It is interesting how many writers tapped into the devastation to come, although the horror of WWI and the later threat of nuclear Armageddon explain some of that.
The expert class at any given time in the past century has been so invested in propping up the status quo, their reputations, and the myth of progress as an unalloyed good that their analyses have been worse than useless.
People underestimate artist forsight. As Carlyle said: in former ages the poets were prophets. Only in our current ontology are prophets forced to be poets. I'd say Dune is prophetic in this way. This essay captures the disturbing ominous unease of the complete disvalue and disinterest in any suffering the machine ends up with. The Erasmus concept takes it one step further, like a Slaanishi dark elf, adding a little malice and warped will to the disvalue.
We begin to see this shift toward the ''non-person'' in the technocratic governing methods too. Global Warming or the Covid Op etc. The hyper focus on the individual is shifting towards a mass management schematic.
Yes, we see this pattern exemplified in the over-worship of animals and environment. Tree and Beast are anthropomorphised, while Man is ANIMORPHISED. The next step is no man at all, no Being. The only solution IMO is to seek God, to understand and work with 'Hyperagents'. In a sense that's what Tom is doing. The enemy does the same with their filthy dead hyperdemons.
Ah, the Brian Herbert novels. The son is not the father.
I agree with your review, though I do have a few quibbles or extensions I want to pile on. The idea of retro-futurism isn't unique to Frank Herbert, of course. I'm very fond of the Space Vikings of H. Beam Piper (as well as everything else he wrote, great escapism) and of course the great 'A Canticle for Liebowitz' tells of a future where the common men revolted against the techocratic elite. But I do think Herbert struck on a chord that humanity will regress again and again to an feudal mean. There is something primal about being ruled by a king or emperor, I think it's wired into us. It actually takes effort to fight against it. And Herbert does show what mental and physical laziness leads to, as well as what is possible when history and will cross and unify in a Great Man.
But as much as I appreciate the Butlerian Jihad as a story concept or even as a vision of the future, I really dislike these adaptations. Much like the Star Wars prequels, my image of the Butlerian Jihad or the Clone Wars is better than the "reality" that was shoveled out. It makes me wonder if Brian Herbert or Kevin Anderson actually studied Dune or if they just read the Cliff Notes. For one, the Spacing Guild and the Bene Gesserit originated as teaching schools. The Guild as an exercise in pure mathematics and the Bene Gesserit as political advisors and servants (with genetics as a side project naturally), they weren't X-Men superheroes with psychic blasts. The Mentats are a post-Butlerian creation and not contemporaneous. Ah, I could go on, nit picking and I'm tempted to, but...to the point: I don't consider anything written by anyone other than Frank Herbert authoritative or frankly interesting, after reading several of the Brian Herbert/Anderson novels.
Anyway, thank you for the review and the thoughts about were we are headed in the really real world.
One of the best treatments of this theme that I've ever read was The Stars Are Also Fire by Poul Anderson. He isn't as well known as Herbert, although justifiably famous in sci-fi/fantasy circles. One of the few writers that can pull off hard science fiction and high fantasy with equal aplomb.
TSAAF takes place a few centuries from now, in a world controlled by AI. What makes it chilling is just the humans aren't oppressed or hunted, in fact their lives are quite comfortable. The AIs took over simply because their advice is so good that everyone always just follows it. As a result, human free will is essentially non-existent, and all adventure, drama, and meaning has been stolen from the world. It is a golden prison in which the human spirit is smothered by machines of loving grace.
The conflict in the story emerges with a group of humans who want more. They want to expand out into space, and don't care about the danger; the machines have no intention of letting them, because they want to keep them under control. There's fairly little action, because this future is extremely peaceful, and the machine state is almost obnoxiously humane - utilitarian liberalism at its very best. If you can get past Anderson's libertarian politics, pretty standard for sci-fi writers of his generation, it's a thoughtful meditation on the meaning of human life, and the conflict with safety and security.
I have only read the original “Dune” and that as a teenager trying to understand my future husband’s love for the book. Regardless of the literary merit of the prequel reviewed, this essay is masterful. Really powerful analysis, the painstaking care shows. Thank you.
Slight connection with this essay. Recently I started a new corporate job, I discovered half the time I’m sitting around meetings, sometimes a meeting to schedule the next meeting. The other half the time I’m on the phone to IT trying to get my computer to work. That’s managerial efficiently for you.
Heidegger is very appropriate because we are already ruled by AI enframed civilisational inauthentic organisms. This AI is nothing new in that regard. Enframing is even worse a problem than eluded to here, what Heidegger means is that enframed technology is the essence of metaphysics because of the mistake of Greeks taking Being as another beings (another thing, an 'IS' to be categorised and made an idea, rather than the no-thingness uncreated Being that is the source of all particular beings) by doing that we made all things, and ideas of things, cut off from their ground by forcing their source IN to us! As in, this idea of BEING behind mundane manifestation, defining it as a category and concept places a man made artifice in the way of authentic primordial Being, as the 'source'. Every thing, which needs the true source to glisten in its meaning and value, is then drained of all its meaning because the true ground of ideas and beings is Being, not man. So this techne, ideas and concepts and language and knowledge, it's all old Being (knowledge) turned against us because we took it as final truth. This means there is no escaping it unless we take the route to fundamental ontology, to initiation to cut through the way the utilitarian physicalist, biological essentialist, scientismist, capitalist, world worlds to the truth of primordial Being. That's what Heidegger's 4fold is all about, it's taking us back to how primordial 'things' are 'used' with correct teleology and sanctified Being, when the 'for the sake of' of every thing and man is for the Being-with of the Kin and the gods, not the usury economics we live in. The machine is already in charge, the machine is the old metaphysics.
made a mistake here, the true ground (primordial being) in H's ontology is 4 fold, not just Being because man also participates. Not object or subject, but inbetween. And inbetween the 4 fold: Gods (telos), Air (being), Earth (nothingness), men (kin).
I only started reading this a couple of days ago, so I don't want to read it all. You shoud give anything by David Gemmell a try (especially "Legend") very uplifting and spiritual.
Yeah I will do, I can't do audio at the moment because of some technical issues (decorating) but I'm sure it'll be on the cards in the future, overdue actually.
I find it fascinating that such pieces of art and especially literature from decades past can prove so prescient, if that is the right word, for our present times. You provided an excellent analysis of Lovecraft´s Nyarlathotep (from 1920, no less) showing just that. The interesting part is that the authors, despite being reasonably well read, as I am led to assume, did not read thousands of pages of elite theory, exact predictions of future technological advances and sociological analyses laying out specific causes and effects of social policy. In other words, they were not among the very greatest scholars of their time. And yet, they were able to see (or feel) farther ahead and more clearly than any of their peers and formulate their vision strikingly. How come such artistic, subconscious or mystical inspiration can turn out much more accurate than "scientific" analyis of the time? I find that a wonderful and enigmatic aspect of human nature.
Thomas Sherridan talks about artists and writers channelling the spirit of the age, like conduits. Naturally though, our materialist age frowns upon such hocus-pocus.
The Hawkwind track "Spirit of the Age" started going through my head when you mentioned battery hens. The much under-appreciated mad poet Bob Calvert ends a verse with the line "Oh, for the wings of any bird, other than a battery hen".
Artists like Calvert perceive truths way ahead of the rest of us, and this makes them mad, that is their fate, and ours is to walk in their shadows.
Spirit of the Age
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSR5TnNGKmo
Mythos is a faster and surer route to the truth than logos. The heart can feel its way to the truth, often instantly, whereas the mind can only grope its way forward step by step. Both are required of course. The modern, academic pathology is that it pretends mythos plays no role at all, therefore ignores it, and so cripples itself - becoming obsessed with minutiae, getting the details correct but missing the big picture entirely.
I really loved the Nyalarthorep analysis as well. Lovecraft’s universe is a bleak one. It is interesting how many writers tapped into the devastation to come, although the horror of WWI and the later threat of nuclear Armageddon explain some of that.
The expert class at any given time in the past century has been so invested in propping up the status quo, their reputations, and the myth of progress as an unalloyed good that their analyses have been worse than useless.
People underestimate artist forsight. As Carlyle said: in former ages the poets were prophets. Only in our current ontology are prophets forced to be poets. I'd say Dune is prophetic in this way. This essay captures the disturbing ominous unease of the complete disvalue and disinterest in any suffering the machine ends up with. The Erasmus concept takes it one step further, like a Slaanishi dark elf, adding a little malice and warped will to the disvalue.
We begin to see this shift toward the ''non-person'' in the technocratic governing methods too. Global Warming or the Covid Op etc. The hyper focus on the individual is shifting towards a mass management schematic.
Yes, we see this pattern exemplified in the over-worship of animals and environment. Tree and Beast are anthropomorphised, while Man is ANIMORPHISED. The next step is no man at all, no Being. The only solution IMO is to seek God, to understand and work with 'Hyperagents'. In a sense that's what Tom is doing. The enemy does the same with their filthy dead hyperdemons.
Tom? Survive The Jive Tom?
yeah
Ah, the Brian Herbert novels. The son is not the father.
I agree with your review, though I do have a few quibbles or extensions I want to pile on. The idea of retro-futurism isn't unique to Frank Herbert, of course. I'm very fond of the Space Vikings of H. Beam Piper (as well as everything else he wrote, great escapism) and of course the great 'A Canticle for Liebowitz' tells of a future where the common men revolted against the techocratic elite. But I do think Herbert struck on a chord that humanity will regress again and again to an feudal mean. There is something primal about being ruled by a king or emperor, I think it's wired into us. It actually takes effort to fight against it. And Herbert does show what mental and physical laziness leads to, as well as what is possible when history and will cross and unify in a Great Man.
But as much as I appreciate the Butlerian Jihad as a story concept or even as a vision of the future, I really dislike these adaptations. Much like the Star Wars prequels, my image of the Butlerian Jihad or the Clone Wars is better than the "reality" that was shoveled out. It makes me wonder if Brian Herbert or Kevin Anderson actually studied Dune or if they just read the Cliff Notes. For one, the Spacing Guild and the Bene Gesserit originated as teaching schools. The Guild as an exercise in pure mathematics and the Bene Gesserit as political advisors and servants (with genetics as a side project naturally), they weren't X-Men superheroes with psychic blasts. The Mentats are a post-Butlerian creation and not contemporaneous. Ah, I could go on, nit picking and I'm tempted to, but...to the point: I don't consider anything written by anyone other than Frank Herbert authoritative or frankly interesting, after reading several of the Brian Herbert/Anderson novels.
Anyway, thank you for the review and the thoughts about were we are headed in the really real world.
One of the best treatments of this theme that I've ever read was The Stars Are Also Fire by Poul Anderson. He isn't as well known as Herbert, although justifiably famous in sci-fi/fantasy circles. One of the few writers that can pull off hard science fiction and high fantasy with equal aplomb.
TSAAF takes place a few centuries from now, in a world controlled by AI. What makes it chilling is just the humans aren't oppressed or hunted, in fact their lives are quite comfortable. The AIs took over simply because their advice is so good that everyone always just follows it. As a result, human free will is essentially non-existent, and all adventure, drama, and meaning has been stolen from the world. It is a golden prison in which the human spirit is smothered by machines of loving grace.
The conflict in the story emerges with a group of humans who want more. They want to expand out into space, and don't care about the danger; the machines have no intention of letting them, because they want to keep them under control. There's fairly little action, because this future is extremely peaceful, and the machine state is almost obnoxiously humane - utilitarian liberalism at its very best. If you can get past Anderson's libertarian politics, pretty standard for sci-fi writers of his generation, it's a thoughtful meditation on the meaning of human life, and the conflict with safety and security.
I have only read the original “Dune” and that as a teenager trying to understand my future husband’s love for the book. Regardless of the literary merit of the prequel reviewed, this essay is masterful. Really powerful analysis, the painstaking care shows. Thank you.
Slight connection with this essay. Recently I started a new corporate job, I discovered half the time I’m sitting around meetings, sometimes a meeting to schedule the next meeting. The other half the time I’m on the phone to IT trying to get my computer to work. That’s managerial efficiently for you.
Meetings, socializing in a suit.
Heidegger is very appropriate because we are already ruled by AI enframed civilisational inauthentic organisms. This AI is nothing new in that regard. Enframing is even worse a problem than eluded to here, what Heidegger means is that enframed technology is the essence of metaphysics because of the mistake of Greeks taking Being as another beings (another thing, an 'IS' to be categorised and made an idea, rather than the no-thingness uncreated Being that is the source of all particular beings) by doing that we made all things, and ideas of things, cut off from their ground by forcing their source IN to us! As in, this idea of BEING behind mundane manifestation, defining it as a category and concept places a man made artifice in the way of authentic primordial Being, as the 'source'. Every thing, which needs the true source to glisten in its meaning and value, is then drained of all its meaning because the true ground of ideas and beings is Being, not man. So this techne, ideas and concepts and language and knowledge, it's all old Being (knowledge) turned against us because we took it as final truth. This means there is no escaping it unless we take the route to fundamental ontology, to initiation to cut through the way the utilitarian physicalist, biological essentialist, scientismist, capitalist, world worlds to the truth of primordial Being. That's what Heidegger's 4fold is all about, it's taking us back to how primordial 'things' are 'used' with correct teleology and sanctified Being, when the 'for the sake of' of every thing and man is for the Being-with of the Kin and the gods, not the usury economics we live in. The machine is already in charge, the machine is the old metaphysics.
And: very excellent essay, of course, just riffing on your Heidegger point.
made a mistake here, the true ground (primordial being) in H's ontology is 4 fold, not just Being because man also participates. Not object or subject, but inbetween. And inbetween the 4 fold: Gods (telos), Air (being), Earth (nothingness), men (kin).
I only started reading this a couple of days ago, so I don't want to read it all. You shoud give anything by David Gemmell a try (especially "Legend") very uplifting and spiritual.
My next read will be 'The Complaet Angler'' for a future stream with Distributist. Remind me on in a few months and we shall see.
Will do. Also, recently Black Pilled mentioned doing a stream with you, are you up for it?
Yeah I will do, I can't do audio at the moment because of some technical issues (decorating) but I'm sure it'll be on the cards in the future, overdue actually.
That'll be brilliant! Happy painting and decorating!
testing testing
Excellent it looks fine. I'll take a screen shot and send it so you can see what I see.
Fantastic stuff. That was one hell of a deep dive. Now feeling the need to decompress for a bit in a hyperbaric chamber.
Hope you make a video out of this one.
Video is on the way, there's going to be a few video conversions coming.