Umbrius Quinctius Cincinnatus

A dictator comes when times are dire and bows out when the job is done. Machiavelli. Nietzsche. Weber. Wiener. Deleuze. Graeber. The Iron Cage is the new Cave.

[Umbrius Quinctius Cincinnatus @thefirstutopian]

I’d say he was - there is a power in the experience of feeling touched by nature; as one feels when touched by luck.

A good king feels this power.

[Umbrius Quinctius Cincinnatus @thefirstutopian]

Was Kantorowicz particularly interested in the metaphysics of transcendence or givenness?

[Umbrius Quinctius Cincinnatus @thefirstutopian]

@SeattleWXGuy No way! First I thought he was going to be in the box getting on the end of a cross

[Überkierk @UberKierk]

“Every profound spirit needs a mask; nay, more, around every profound spirit there continually grows a mask, owing to the constantly false, that is to say, superficial interpretation of every word he utters, every step he takes, every sign of life he manifests.”

— Nietzsche

[Umbrius Quinctius Cincinnatus @thefirstutopian]

@xthemasterand Not how indulgences work

[Umbrius Quinctius Cincinnatus @thefirstutopian]

Bit weird this part - not like a Nolan adaptation, but still stands out as universalisation.

The worst folly is to think there is an answer to everything.

[Umbrius Quinctius Cincinnatus @thefirstutopian]

Aquinas is not for everyone, the best material never is.

Alex always does a good job of being respectful to the sources. He is rigorous, smart and follows his instincts.

What is Aquinas that can’t be found in Aristotle?

[Only Form Holds @OnlyFormHolds]

Atheists now concede:

Dawkins didn’t understand Aquinas.
He strawmanned Christianity.
“Nobody” has read the Summa - meaning them.
They likely still haven’t.

New Atheism beat a caricature of Christianity & declared victory.

It's time to face up to reality & read Aquinas.

[Umbrius Quinctius Cincinnatus @thefirstutopian]

@beorcan Did he dislike Bach?

[Umbrius Quinctius Cincinnatus @thefirstutopian]

Nolan seems to accept his Christian morality. There probably cannot be any serious moralities that are neither monotheistic nor polytheistic.

[Geoff Keighley @geoffkeighley]

Hats off to doctoral student and podcaster Zhong Shu in Beijing, China, who did this fascinating and smart interview with Christopher Nolan about THE ODYSSEY yesterday, originally posted to Bilibili.

A great listen/watch.

[Umbrius Quinctius Cincinnatus @thefirstutopian]

@spqr_sulla Because migration has never been a political weapon. And trafficking setups cannot be co-opted by governments. This incident and the 2021 incident didn’t come as responses to Spanish foreign policy.

[Umbrius Quinctius Cincinnatus @thefirstutopian]

“What though the radiance which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
                Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;
                      We will grieve not, rather find
                      Strength in what remains behind;
                      In the primal sympathy
                      Which having been must ever be;
                      In the soothing thoughts that spring
                      Out of human suffering;
                      In the faith that looks through death,
In years that bring the philosophic mind.
And O, ye Fountains, Meadows, Hills, and Groves,
Forebode not any severing of our loves!
Yet in my heart of hearts I feel your might;
I only have relinquished one delight
To live beneath your more habitual sway.
I love the Brooks which down their channels fret,
Even more than when I tripped lightly as they;
The innocent brightness of a new-born Day
                      Is lovely yet;
The Clouds that gather round the setting sun
Do take a sober colouring from an eye
That hath kept watch o'er man's mortality;
Another race hath been, and other palms are won.
Thanks to the human heart by which we live,
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears,
To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.”

Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood

- Wordsworth

[Umbrius Quinctius Cincinnatus @thefirstutopian]

@TheLaurenChen It’s actually Nietzsche saying, “Gott ist todt! Gott bleibt todt! Und wir haben ihn getödtet! Wie trösten wir uns, die Mörder aller Mörder?”

[Umbrius Quinctius Cincinnatus @thefirstutopian]

As with many of these topics, the history obviously points to grooming being a class related issue. Signalling position in hierarchy is a normal thing for all social animals, it’s not a male or female thing alone. I would guess that it works more through female networks. But of course there would be aspects of patriarchy that reinforce trends.

[Umbrius Quinctius Cincinnatus @thefirstutopian]

@plataproxima @teortaxesTex Or that we need a better clearing system than just highest bid or rent control.

[Umbrius Quinctius Cincinnatus @thefirstutopian]

@fuqnbearish @theserfstv These would be the aspiring elites turned precariats when things aren’t looking as good as they thought they would.

[Umbrius Quinctius Cincinnatus @thefirstutopian]

Interesting @unconscioushh episode. First mention I’ve caught of their manuscript title - Chronos Unbound.

I wouldn’t go so far to call capital itself ‘pure accumulation’ - the movement of capital as money approaches this; especially in my opinion where notions of ethics and justice have no power, or have been appropriated in the value of money.

Still genuinely interested in the techniques deployed to create the vanishing point of measure in capital-money. My field of exploration for this would be the theodicy itself, where one creates a unified model. I think these models are created through genuine pathological religious experiences as described by William James. Rather than through a nachträglichkeit (terribly butchered by Coop and Taylor :P), but I haven’t explored Freud enough.

[Umbrius Quinctius Cincinnatus @thefirstutopian]

@StevenGlinert Depends who and where and which side they were on

[Umbrius Quinctius Cincinnatus @thefirstutopian]

@Logo_Daedalus Yeah but which one? There’s 4 of them dancing…

[Umbrius Quinctius Cincinnatus @thefirstutopian]

The new civilizational era will be a polytheistic empiricism. It is always bubbling away under the surface.

[Jonathan Pageau @PageauJonathan]

We are entering a new civilizational era beyond secular rationalism. Check out my latest interview on the Winston Marshall Show. We discuss the end of the Enlightenment, AI, Christianity, demons, UFOs, the collapse of materialism, the meaning of giants, occultism, technology, and transhumanism. Link below.

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

The Economist doing the meme: China is protecting the environment "but at what cost?" 🤦‍♂️

[Umbrius Quinctius Cincinnatus @thefirstutopian]

Hear hear! We’re past the point of no return. We always were

[Learn Latin @latinedisce]

Who cares if some old books are being destroyed?

No, seriously: Who cares?

We’re all rightfully protesting, but who’s actually buying those books when they see them at the used bookstore? Who’s taking the time to read them? Who’s learning the dead languages they’re written in?

Anthropic is simply taking advantage of the greatest neglect of our times: our disinterest in the material culture that sustains our civilization.

Damn them.

And damn us for being weak and cowardly and letting our past and our heritage be sent to the slaughterhouse while we keep scrolling.

[Umbrius Quinctius Cincinnatus @thefirstutopian]

@unconscioushh Close to the problems you raised early in your new episode. Still have to finish it though

[Umbrius Quinctius Cincinnatus @thefirstutopian]

This was a great debate! @TuttReal

Evident that both debaters don’t engage with Deleuze sadly - from what I can tell. The questions became those that are problematic with Hegel and Kant that Hume or any other empiricist like Deleuze have answered well.