The value of consciousness

I recently finished a book, Blindsight by Peter Watts. I have some critiques even of the writing (it feels, at times, like he binge-watched a bunch of TED talks which he comments on throughout the book), but that’s not the most interesting part. If you want to see what will soon be a popular argument […]

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The Internalization Machine

Freud’s theory of the mind rather famously postulates three components: The id, ego, and superego. The id is instinctual and seeks out pleasure, the ego negotiates between the desires of the id and reality (and the superego), and the superego is the internalization of societal, and above all parental, guidance about what one should do. […]

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Against Privilege

I began writing this about a year ago and later abandoned it due to my inability (still present) to find a satisfying conclusion. However, given the rapid shifts in American ideology which began in the educated and upper classes and are now penetrating all of society, I decided to return to it, polish it, and […]

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Language and Memory

I will begin by acknowledging that this is a topic which I first began to think about in earnest following a talk given by Mark Turin at the University of Washington. In his talk, Mark brought up the difficulty he had remembering words he had heard only once while he was doing field work in Nepal. […]

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