#utopian delusion

[critical-skeptic]

The Necessity of Darkness: Why Eradicating Evil is Neither Possible Nor Desirable

The concept of light and darkness, in its literal and metaphorical applications, reveals an uncomfortable yet irrefutable truth: the existence of one depends on the other. This duality is not just a poetic observation but a functional reality across disciplines—physical, psychological, sociopolitical, and cultural. Attempts to eradicate "evil" not only reveal the futility of such a goal but also risk creating new evils in the process, as history and contemporary events repeatedly demonstrate.

Literal and Physical Implications: Light and Darkness as Interdependent Realities

In the physical world, light cannot exist without darkness. As mentioned, without contrast, light ceases to be meaningful. A universe flooded with uniform light would be indistinguishable from absolute void. This principle of duality applies universally: up requires down, cold requires heat, and light requires shadow. Such contrasts are not flaws; they are features of existence. Similarly, human concepts of "good" and "evil" derive meaning only through contrast. Without one, the other collapses into irrelevance.

This isn't just a philosophical musing; it’s a law of perception and cognition. Darkness defines light. Similarly, "goodness" is only comprehensible in the context of what it opposes. Strip away the concept of evil entirely, and what remains is not perfection but a hollow neutrality—an amorphous existence where the struggle, growth, and triumph that define humanity no longer hold meaning.

The Historical Cycle: Evil’s Role in Sociopolitical Balance

History repeatedly teaches us that attempts to eradicate "evil" often give rise to new forms of oppression or extremism. Look no further than the horrors of utopian experiments. The French Revolution sought to purge society of aristocratic tyranny but devolved into the guillotine’s bloody reign of terror. Communism’s promise to abolish class exploitation birthed Stalin’s purges, Mao’s famines, and the surveillance state. The American push to end segregation and achieve civil rights—a noble and necessary cause—has, in some cases, metastasized into forms of self-parody, where moral policing and public shaming fuel resentment rather than progress.

Evil is not a singular entity to be destroyed but a hydra: kill or cut off one head, and two grow in its place. Even when the moral high ground is held temporarily, the attempt to purge evil often lays the groundwork for new evils born of stagnation, hubris, rigidity, and overreach.

The 1990s: The Last Plateau of Balance

The mid-1990s arguably marked a zenith for progress in many ways. Liberal democracies seemed ascendant. The Cold War was over. Civil rights, women’s rights, and LGBTQ+ acceptance had made remarkable strides. Science and technology were flourishing, with optimism for a connected, globalized future. But this golden period may also have been a false peak. Why? Because we failed to recognize that progress must coexist with imperfection. Instead of consolidating these gains and allowing society to stabilize, we pushed further, harder, and often recklessly.

Identity politics, while initially a tool for empowerment, became a cudgel for division. "Woke culture," rooted in well-meaning awareness, devolved into performative virtue signaling and cancel culture, alienating vast swaths of people who saw their legitimate grievances dismissed as the whining of oppressors. Hyper-self-criticism in the West, particularly in liberal democracies, turned into a flagellation so severe that it emboldened the very forces it sought to suppress.

The Rise of Trumpism, Populism, and Anti-Intellectualism

Into this vacuum stepped Trumpism and its ilk. These movements are not just reactions; they are backlashes—symptoms of a society that overreached in its quest for moral perfection. By alienating large portions of the population through condescension, censorship, and moral absolutism, progressive culture created the perfect conditions for a populist resurgence.

Trump’s appeal lies in his ability to embody the "darkness" that progressives thought they had banished. His shamelessness, his weaponization of grievances, and his rejection of intellectualism resonate with those who feel left behind or vilified by the new cultural norms. He and his movement are not anomalies; they are inevitabilities in a system that sought to erase opposition rather than engage with it.

Worse, the progressive overreach has given legitimacy to older evils—white nationalism, misogyny, and xenophobia—that should have been relegated to history’s trash heap. These ideologies now claim victimhood, arguing that they are the oppressed voices silenced by the tyranny of wokeness, making you look like the opressors.

The Counterproductive Nature of Perfectionism

The attempt to eradicate evil ultimately creates a new form of tyranny. The more we push for a utopia free of darkness, the more oppressive our methods become. Dissent is silenced in the name of moral purity. Rationality and debate are stifled under the guise of protecting marginalized voices. And in the process, we become the very evil we sought to destroy: intolerant, authoritarian, and blind to our own flaws.

Good only holds meaning in the context of struggle. If we eliminate evil—or convince ourselves we have—then goodness loses its luster. Without adversity, there is no triumph. Without opposition, there is no progress. The absence of darkness is not light but a blinding void.

Psychological and Sociocultural Dimensions

Humans are wired for conflict and contrast. Psychologically, we thrive on challenges. Removing all adversity leads to stagnation, boredom, and even despair. This is why even in the safest, most prosperous societies, people create problems where none exist. It’s not enough to be good; we need to define ourselves against something bad.

Socioculturally, the eradication of "evil" would homogenize society to the point of sterility. Diverse ideas and perspectives often emerge from conflict, not consensus. Ironically, the very movements that claim to value diversity often suppress dissent, reducing society to an echo chamber of approved thoughts and behaviors. This intellectual and moral monoculture becomes its own form of evil—one that stifles creativity, innovation, and growth.

Conclusion: Wielding Darkness with Purpose

Evil, like darkness, cannot be eradicated because it is integral to existence. Without it, good loses all meaning, and humanity loses its drive to improve. The quest to eliminate evil is not only futile but dangerous, as it often births new forms of oppression under the guise of righteousness. Evil.

But the solution isn’t to fear or suppress darkness—it’s to wield it with purpose. Instead of stifling progress and silencing debate in the name of virtue signaling or placating the delicate egos of donors, shareholders, or corporate overlords, we must embrace the "dark" sides of our humanity—our capacity for dissent, confrontation, and raw, unfiltered honesty—as tools, not weapons. This controlled chaos, applied surgically and without hesitation, can excise the sociocultural cancers that fester when left unchecked. Evil. It is a darkness of our own, guided by principle, and aimed not at destruction but at transformation—a force for necessary disruption that ensures progress without succumbing to stagnation. EVIL...

The light we seek does not come from banishing shadows but from mastering them.

Numquam dormias in pace.

[forthegothicheroine]

Perfumes for (some of) my favorite books. Part 2: Nonfiction

Danse Macabre: Samhain by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Hell's Angels: Black by Bulgari

Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction: Enchanted Forest by The Vagabond Prince

What We Talk About When We Talk About Books: The History and Future of Reading: Fille en Aiguilles by Serge Lutens

Supergods: What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human: 1960 by Besame

A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town: Snow White by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Sex Tips for Girls: Good Girl by Caroline Herrera

The Dream House: Mitsouko by Guerlain

A Season with the Witch: The Magic and Mayhem of Halloween in Salem, Massachusetts: The Bell Witch by Sixteen92

Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches' Guide to Romance Novels: Tihota by Indult

The Collected Series: Five Approaches to Acting Series: Decadence and Debauchery by For Strange Women

Not Since Carrie: Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops: Pretty Rotten by TokyoMilk

A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments: Death by Stereo by Sixteen92

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds: Black Jade by Lubin

Let's Talk About Love: Why Other People Have Such Bad Taste: Hypnotic Poison by Dior

Who the Hell's in It: Conversations With Hollywood's Legendary Actors: Fracas by Robert Piguet

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession: Love & Crime by Ex Idolo

Action Philosophers: Remarkable People by Etat Libre D’Orange

The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York: Replica Jazz Club by Maison Margeila

[feminismisstillahatemovement]

"Men's sexual attraction is rooted in youth and fertility." Careful there, sport. You are like... two steps away from some unsavory accusations.

It's very hard for me to understand how people like this are actually seeing the world in front of them, as it appears to them to be something entirely unlike what it is to every other living thing on earth.

Left-wing progressive dogma replaces what IS with an endless series of nonsensical "SHOULD"s: a perpetually childlike and sanitized utopian vision that is threatened by the mention of even the most basic biological realities of life. This brainwashing absolutely demolishes young people's ability to distinguish facts from fantasy and leaves them stranded in endless delusion, providing them with no tools for them to argue their position with reason and rationality, only to attack and shame anyone not in step with their idiotic cult.

[margaretqualleytruther]

age of pisces transition to age of aquarius… yes i see it now. goodbye abrahamic religions, another god is finally reawakening. what sepulchral face is beginning to peer at humans now? aside from whatever primordial energy is building up to sweep its life renewing breath over the earth’s landscape, the new age points towards an even deeper shift towards the realm of the individual. an upgrade in consciousness of the part in order to serve the whole. idk though 😹 ofc speaking from a western perspective here but age of aries had smiting wrathful gods that walked amongst humans. who shed tears and blood alongside their people. age of pisces where gods were strictly relegated to the heavens, no longer to be found amongst the dirt due to jesus’ ultimate sacrifice. bringing higher ideals of love and peace, but also the beginnings of disconnection to the divine via science and materialism. age of aquarius ? perhaps a new “alien” (if you get it you get it) like structure that will try to unite the opposites (spirit:matter, good:evil) once again but this time through the individual’s experience of soul which enriches below and spirit which dives through the high. i used the word try because it will be all too easy for humanity to slip into the muck that makes up aquarius’ shadow side. tyrannical devotion to conformity, utopian delusions, technology as a prison instead of a tool, science that is intolerable to change. either way we will rediscover that we are all connected. individual choices, and not just the ones in the physical realm, impact the health of the collective. as above so below.

[dr-george-ordell]

"Don't linger in front of your own reflection, child, or it will steal your soul."

As a child, Aaron always had the silly little wish that someone would take him away. To be whisked away to a distant land of utopian desires fullfilled.

His father had always told him those desires were dangerous. Never directly, but Aaron had always heard the nagging warnings the paranoid man always gave him about superstitious, of old wives tales muttered only in the last dregs of sunset and fairytale-like stories that had seen war, life, death.

The decrepit old man had been especially obsessed with the Fair Folk. He had forbidden him to call it by their true name, the Sidhe. A few verbal lashings and slaps certainly delivered the message across permanently.

Another way his senior had drilled the lesson of how dangerous the Fair Folk were, was through precautionary children's tales. Constant lines from books hammered into him, alongside cryptic rants and long lectures lasting hours.

"Don't linger in front of your own reflection, child, or it will steal your soul,"

The older Siegel would warn, scowl, scold, all while pointing his finger accusingly. It was as if he could see through Aaron's carefully crafted mask around him, easily find the most minute cracks and flaws and glare deeply at them until he reached the innermost mechanical workings of Aaron's heart. In that heart made out of steel and copper, was the secret wish to belong. A painful childish longing for someone to take him away to a place that felt warmer, that embraced him softly like quilts on a winter day. He would've much preferred it to the icy frigidness of his father.

"Snowqueen," Aaron would silently mutter under his breath. He often thought of the story, reminicing over each line and repeating it until it burned into his mind. It was soothing repetition, one that comforted him during the freezing nights in which his father kept him out in the glistening snow.

One particular time Aaron was locked out, he remembered how numb and red his fingers were, his breath fogging as he struggled to breath in the dry, arid air.

His immune system had always been terrible, worsened by the fact his father seemed to enjoy locking him out the house. What he didn't know was asthma at the time severely plauged him, leaving his younger self wheezing with rattling lungs.

It was as if someone was dragging semi-molten glass shards through his chest even if he took the most shallow of breaths.

Aaron had to find somewhere to shelter. And fast before he became part of the crystalline frost.

Treking away from the woodland mansion, Aaron only looked back once he was at the edge of the forest.

The house was dark, as it usually were in winter, one dimmed, smothered light present in a window on the third floor. Frost-glazed windows shimmered in the dim glow of the moon, icicles having formed upon the many windows, giving the home a resemblance of a prison rather than a place that people raised family in.

During that moment where he stood, he hated, despised, felt like a savage beast being held back from snapping back at his father. He had always made excuses for the cruel man, desperately hoping one day that the older man could be one day be proud of what he did, declare that his previous actions were rough yet justified as he began to love Aaron like a parent would.

But at thirteen, he realised mirror shards of misery passed down from father to son for generations had embedded permanently within the elder Siegel's heart. He had only had been snapped out of one-sided delusion by walking past a frozen puddle, and staring wistfully into it, ignoring his father's lesson. On its reflective surface, Aaron saw the man he hated the most, his chiselled face and marred, red rimmed eyes glaring back at him with raw beastial hate.

It had hurt, and it still did, it caused a nauseous ache, it almost caused those mirror shards to root into his own heart. Even if he could finally let go of the guilt and shame of being a horrible, needy child. Aaron wept bitterly that cold, uncaring night. His innocent self grieving the fact his father didn't want to be saved, didn't want to change his ways.

His sobs reverberated broken and unrestrained, sounding more like a wounded, fearful animal than a human child. His face and eyelashes already being decorated by falling specks of white, lips burning in pain from the arid winter air. He was shaking, shivering as he hugged his knees, his toes stiff and numb in his boots. Aaron had curled himself into a fetal ball hiding within the oak hollow, attempting to shake the droplets of frozen water from his damp hair.

He was rocking back and forth almost violently, a desperate attempt for any peice of comfort he could have. Out here in the dead of night within the chittering forest, no one could hurt him if he was hiding away. But nature didn't coddle its subjects, nor was she soft or gentle.

Nature was just like the Fair Folk. Chaotic, yet symbiotic, predictable yet erratic.

Aaron wanted to laugh, but he found himself too weak to even move his lips. His father oh so desperately wanted to protect his child from the Fair Folk, from the monsters who lurked and lived on the edges of the wild. But the only thing Aaron was in danger of was succumbing to an awfully mundane death from the cold.

He hadn't remembered much from then on. It was a jumbled, blurred, a mess of glacial hands, warm hands, mumblings of children from a boyish voice, and a lyrical language spoken in a baritone voice foreign to Aaron's ears.

Someone had picked him up, a person with hair whiter than the snow, and porcelain-like skin. They appeared to be one with the snow, the resulting child of the unforgiving winter hail and blizzard. Icicles dangled like jewels off the edges of their thick winter cloak, adorning them beautifully like an ornament. What stood out the most was those amethyst eyes, boring into him as if they could penetrate through secrets most dearest through his heart.

That was all he recollected, until everything had became static.

-

[moonfurthetemmie]

Sophism

oh no uh oh we have a problem lads

Sophism (Delusion/Obsidian):

Slightly more stable personality. Delusion wasn't too hung up on the murderer thing aside from ‘you can’t do that that’s illegal’

magic is notably less stable though. Feelings hurt. All feelings hurt. ow.

Delusion was good at squishing his emotions but was letting his aura fill in the gaps, and Obsidian just ignored his. Sophism can’t be Blank all the time, no matter how hard he tries. and boy do he try

Very manipulative. Do not trust him unless you have solid evidence that he’s telling the truth. Jasper got stuck with him well before he or anyone else realized this. Jasper is not fully getting away, even if Sophism Un-Fuses

people are even more desperate to unfuse him after he decides to, yknow, take over everything. Especially since he’s found a very good (for him) middle ground and so he’s now occasionally able to summon fucking storms

also if he does decide to try taking over (which he will), Delusion and Obsidian may be much more amenable to fusing again. much, much more. Like. ‘Nah actually he’s got a point. let’s do this’, though with the intention of unfusing by the end. sophism may not let this happen if he can help it tho

if they do unfuse, they may decide they're rather fond of each other. Sort of. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen, though. Neither Sophism nor the fucked up power couple that would be Delusion and Obsidian should be in charge of anything, never mind everything.

Far more willing to get his hands dirty than Delusion was, but doesn't enjoy it quite as much as Obsidian did.

Dual swords because badassery, and also because one is more Delusion's vibe and the other Obsidian's. Same shape, just different aesthetics. he did have to learn how to dual wield first tho neither of his sources knew how

Delusion's signature sword becomes essentially ceremonial; he doesn't use it in combat, but he does bring it out when he's showing off or something of the like

Grew his hair out a little, but unlike Entropy is actually taking very good care of it and oh it looks so royal and lovely. fluffier that Atrophy's for some reason.

A king must look at least a little fabulous, no? Also he needs gold and silver and less of this black shit obsidian you emo little fuck-

obsidian is an emo little fuck though so there's still a fair amount of black

Dyed a bit of his hair black and bleached a bit blonde. The all brown was fucking with him and he couldn't decide which he'd rather have. This ended up being symbolic of how he's come to terms with the fact that he's a fusion of Delusion and Obsidian, and is totally fine with it. also it looks pretty.

you can ask where he got that crown, but he won't tell you.

The radiant-looking magic, as well as he one eye, is notably more orange than the other iterations of Entropy.

this bitch is leaning very much into a 'royalty' vibe.

He spent quite a while very conflicted about his existence (not helped by the fact that Delusion's wonky radiance has resulted in literally all of his emotions causing him physical/magical pain), but after a while he chilled a little, sat down, and said to himself "Well. I'm here now. I can't spend my entire existence bemoaning the state of affairs. What should I do?"

And after a bit of thinking it occurs to him that actually, he very much would like to rule over everything. It would be fun. Everyone would have to give him attention. He's got some conflicting feelings on what kind of a ruler he should be, but he's pretty sure he could work something out between Obsidian wanting to be feared by all and Delusion wanting to create a utopian world.

and he is so excited about it

so he goes disappears from public eye for a while, and when he comes back he is far more of a menace than Delusion or Obsidian ever was.

If anyone from JMV asks why he's trying to do anything helpful, he says something about Delusion's kindness. If someone from H!DS asks why he's begun executing people in the fucking streets, he says something about Obsidian's ruthlessness.

It works far better than one might hope. The people in JMV slowly start asking Sophism for help when something happens. The people in H!DS are becoming more and more afraid of him. It's slowly averaging out to a general attitude of "He's willing to help, but if you're the one causing problems you're going to fucking die. so. yknow."

And he's definitely got a "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" thing going on.

Un-fused, I think Delusion and Obsidian would be rather disturbed by how well his plan was working, but not like. try to stop it. might even just fuse again the second people turn their backs.

Aside from Jasper, whom he snatched without much thought to anyone else, Gouge is probably the first one he went to find when he decided to start shit. Especially if Obsidian's team disappeared, which I'm going to say they did. They probably scampered off to JR to try and get help dealing with Sophism, not knowing anything about what Delusion was actually like. Jade and Zuli may or may not have gone off elsewhere, but fortunately as a fusion he's not too terribly concerned in harming them.

Anyway. initially Gouge was a little confused and not terribly interested, until he said "I would very much like your assistance. I can, of course, continue paying you for your services. But should I require any information from anyone, or an example to be made of someone…"

and she went "well shit if you're gonna twist my arm about it."

He asked her if she knew where Obsidian's team was, to start with, and she told him they were in JR. Something about collaborating to try to un-fuse him.

And he goes "hm. not entirely unexpected, but still pointless. Would you mind helping me…'round them up'?"

"yeah. sure. by the way you're not technically in charge of JR so how you gonna pay me"

"oh, I'll be fixing that immediately. Don't worry."

Congratulations JR. You are now the personal guard of a somewhat delusional megalomaniac. Having the castle is definitely not going to give him a huge power trip.

The funniest part about this is that JMV genuinely thinks Delusion's influence is making the Obsidian part of him Nicer, and H!DS genuinely thinks that Obsidian's influence is making the Delusion part of him more evil

but 95% of it is just that Obsidian's lack of fucks given and Delusion's heavy mask of benevolence combined to be a mask that's half on/half off. Hiding less that Delusion did, but more than Obsidian did.

[venominmypizza]

Starting with these two might not be the best way to begin to share this story but nvm

They both are from a different city from all of the characters I posted, this city is a "fake utopian" one, every citizen is dressed with light and clean clothes provided by the municipal government, but this is the only "good thing" that they do for the people that live in the city. Only the 30% of the population has a house on their name and therefore has a roof over their head, the remaining 70% lives on occupied apartments or actively works for someone to have a room to live.

This city has an elevated criminal rate so you can't be surprised if after a long day you find yourself locked outside because the people you worked for found someone that they liked more than you and "evicted" you, even though you didn't live there on the papers...

"Spider woman"

Has a symbolic relationship with a colony of mutant "spiders"

The spiders lured her at the beach when she was 13

She's been living in delusions since then

Her family tried to save her but after years they let her go at age 17

Although she no longer has a family or a community and lives on the streets, the toxins of the spiders made her believe a twenty year delusion that she's been living pacefully with the love of her life she met in that beach at 13

"Paparazzo"

Has an obsession with taking photos of people up close with his phone

Every time someone asks for his name he gives a different one, his favorites are R and K names

Gets caught at least one time a day but he's strangely always faster

Has an awfully high pitched laugh

He can't see well and has to wear glasses most of the time but prefers not to

He seems to be cleaner than most of the people on the streets but no one has seen him entering a building for months

[woodenbowls]

The Great Delusion: Mearsheimer's Critique of Liberal Hegemony

Dive into the complex world of global politics with our latest video, where we explore the intriguing dynamics of power and influence among nations. Discover how the theory of liberal hegemony, once viewed as a beacon of peace, faces intense scrutiny. John Mearsheimer's sharp critique reveals the discord and instability stemming from the pursuit of this utopian vision. Delve into the American foreign policy of promoting democracy, and the unintended chaos it often brings. Through the lens of realism, understand the significant human and political costs of military interventions. Join us as we unravel Mearsheimer’s argument for a pragmatic, restrained foreign policy that prioritizes national interests and global stability. #GlobalPolitics #LiberalHegemony #Realism #ForeignPolicy #JohnMearsheimer #InternationalRelations #WorldPolitics #USForeignPolicy If you found this video insightful, please like and share!

[repldemiurge]

Solarpunk is 300% Hitler to me

The worst worst worst most evil instincts of utopianism

Like. Daydream at the end of Brazil levels of delusion and horror

[zerogate]

What happens if we really stop imagining Roman Egypt as a primitive “heart of darkness” full of murky magic, superstition, and irrational delusions? We then see one of the greatest cultures of the ancient world struggling to survive under foreign domination. Its religious institutions had been the fabric of society for thousands of years, but now the temples are in decay and have lost most of their traditional power and prestige. They have been reduced essentially to private enterprises, and its priests are forced to compete on a pluralistic religious market imposed by external forces that are hostile or simply indifferent to their sacred traditions.

In the terms of a famous analytical model, the result during the Roman period was a growing tension between “locative” and “non-locative” (“utopian”) modes of religious practice. The former were inherently conservative, as they represented ancient cultic traditions tied to specific places: the temples and sanctuaries where the gods were at home. But in the cosmopolitan culture of the Hellenistic world, characterized by unprecedented degrees of mobility and inter-cultural exchange, this locative character of traditional religion began to give way to a type of religion that could be practiced “here, there, and anywhere”:

Certain cult centers remained sites of pilgrimage or sentimental attachment, but the old beliefs in national deities and the inextricable relationship of the deity to particular places was weakened. Rather than a god who dwelt in his temple or would regularly manifest himself in a cult house, the diaspora evolved complicated techniques for achieving visions, epiphanies or heavenly journeys. That is to say, they evolved modes of access to the deity which transcended any particular place.

If I have called some special attention to the role of psychoactive substances in this context, it is because the relative neglect of that dimension needs to be corrected while the underlying mechanisms of discursive marginalization must be properly understood. The implication is not that psychoactives are in any way central to the spiritual culture under discussion or to the Hermetica more specifically. Rather, they should be seen as part of a much broader, far more diverse and complex repertoire of techniques and procedures that were available to spiritual practitioners in late antiquity.

-- Wouter J. Hanegraaff, Hermetic Spirituality and the Historical Imagination: Altered States of Knowledge in Late Antiquity

[gowns]

Imagine that all the world’s knowledge is stored, and organized, in a single vertical Steelcase filing cabinet. Maybe it’s lima-bean green. It’s got four drawers. Each drawer has one of those little paper-card labels, snug in a metal frame, just above the drawer pull. The drawers are labelled, from top to bottom, “Mysteries,” “Facts,” “Numbers,” and “Data.” Mysteries are things only God knows, like what happens when you’re dead. That’s why they’re in the top drawer, closest to Heaven. A long time ago, this drawer used to be crammed full of folders with names like “Why Stars Exist” and “When Life Begins,” but a few centuries ago, during the scientific revolution, a lot of those folders were moved into the next drawer down, “Facts,” which contains files about things humans can prove by way of observation, detection, and experiment. “Numbers,” second from the bottom, holds censuses, polls, tallies, national averages—the measurement of anything that can be counted, ever since the rise of statistics, around the end of the eighteenth century. Near the floor, the drawer marked “Data” holds knowledge that humans can’t know directly but must be extracted by a computer, or even by an artificial intelligence. It used to be empty, but it started filling up about a century ago, and now it’s so jammed full it’s hard to open.

From the outside, these four drawers look alike, but, inside, they follow different logics. The point of collecting mysteries is salvation; you learn about them by way of revelation; they’re associated with mystification and theocracy; and the discipline people use to study them is theology. The point of collecting facts is to find the truth; you learn about them by way of discernment; they’re associated with secularization and liberalism; and the disciplines you use to study them are law, the humanities, and the natural sciences. The point of collecting numbers in the form of statistics—etymologically, numbers gathered by the state—is the power of public governance; you learn about them by measurement; historically, they’re associated with the rise of the administrative state; and the disciplines you use to study them are the social sciences. The point of feeding data into computers is prediction, which is accomplished by way of pattern detection. The age of data is associated with late capitalism, authoritarianism, techno-utopianism, and a discipline known as data science, which has lately been the top of the top hat, the spit shine on the buckled shoe, the whir of the whizziest Tesla.

[...]

It’s easy to think of the ills produced by the hubristic enthusiasm for numbers a century ago, from the I.Q. to the G.D.P. It’s easy, too, to think of the ills produced by the hubristic enthusiasm for data today, and for artificial intelligence (including in a part of the Bay Area now known as Cerebral Valley). The worst of those ills most often have to do with making predictions about human behavior and apportioning resources accordingly: using algorithms to set bail or sentences for people accused or convicted of crimes, for instance. Connelly proposes that the computational examination of declassified documents could serve as “the functional equivalent of CT scans and magnetic resonance imaging to examine the body politic.” He argues that “history as a data science has to prove itself in the most rigorous way possible: by making predictions about what newly available sources will reveal.” But history is not a predictive science, and if it were it wouldn’t be history. Legal scholars are making this same move. In “The Equality Machine: Harnessing Digital Technology for a Brighter, More Inclusive Future” (PublicAffairs), Orly Lobel, a University of San Diego law professor, argues that the solution to biases in algorithms is to write better algorithms. Fair enough, except that the result is still rule by algorithms. What if we stopped clinging to the raft of data, returned to the ocean of mystery, and went fishing for facts?

-- "the data delusion," jill lepore, new yorker 3/27/23

[stillunusual]

In tankie clownland, the opinions of people who experienced what life was actually like under communism are irrelevant compared to the ignorant delusions of middle class kids in western capitalist countries who have convinced themselves that it must have been really great…. Tankies would rather not face the reality that they're wasting their lives masturbating over the corpses of a failed ideology and a failed state that's been dead as a dodo for decades. So when the real life experience of people in central and eastern Europe who were forced to live under Soviet rule contradicts their utopian fairy tales, tankies will do their best to deny that reality. The people of Poland, the Baltic states and other countries trapped behind the iron curtain also had the temerity to free themselves from the USSR and bring about the collapse of the imaginary workers' paradise, which is a never ending source of tankie butthurt….

[sorrynoroomsavailable]

Сашко Долгий учасник резиденції Вибачте Номерів Немає у лютому-квітні 2024 року

Сашко Долгий Лисичанськ – Часів Яр – Суми – Київ – Дослідник, митець, документаліст.

Куратор виставок сучасного мистецтва. Організатор музичних подій. Учасник національних та міжнародних виставок, проектів, резиденцій, бієнале. Дослідник теми соціальної еволюції через утопічні візії, та впливу публічних просторів на рівень напруженості суспільства.

Statement

Він все ще вірить у силу мистецтва як інструмента соціальних змін, хоча і знає, що це безнадійний самообман, він все ще осмислює сучасний світ через різні медіа, його наївна мета все ще — створити діалог між мистецтвом та глядачем, розширюючи межі звичного сприйняття та залучаючи людину до обговорення актуальних соціальних питань.

Резиденцію Вибачте Номерів Немає підтримано в рамках програми (re)connection UA 2023/24, що реалізується ГО “Музей сучасного мистецтва” та Ukrainian Emergency Art Fund (UEAF) у партнерстві з UNESCO і фінансується через Надзвичайний фонд спадщини UNESCO.

Програма (re)connection UA 2023/24 спрямована на відновлення зв’язків між митцями та їх аудиторіями, підтримку художників/иць як áкторів у збереженні культурної ідентичності України, втілення нових підходів до культури пам’яті, посилення стійкості та адаптивності інституцій, громад, митців до викликів воєнного часу

(eng)

Sashko Dolhyi participant of the residence Sorry No Rooms Available in February-April 2024

Sashko Dolhyi Lysychansk – Chasiv Yar – Sumy – Kyiv – Researcher, artist, documentarian.

Curator of contemporary art exhibitions. Organizer of musical events. Participant of national and international exhibitions, projects, residencies, biennials. Researcher of the topic of social evolution through utopian visions and the influence of public spaces on the level of tension in society.

Statement

He still believes in the power of art as a tool for social change, although he knows it is a hopeless self-delusion, he still makes sense of the modern world through various media, his naive goal is still to create a dialogue between art and the viewer, expanding the limits of usual perception and attracting person to discuss current social issues.

Sorry No Rooms Available Residence is supported as part of the (re)connection UA 2023/24 program, implemented by the NGO "Museum of Contemporary Art" and the Ukrainian Emergency Art Fund (UEAF) in partnership with UNESCO and financed through the UNESCO Emergency Heritage Fund.

The (re)connection UA 2023/24 program is aimed at restoring ties between artists and their audiences, supporting artists as actors in preserving the cultural identity of Ukraine, implementing new approaches to the culture of memory, strengthening the stability and adaptability of institutions, communities, artists to the challenges of wartime

#reconnectionua

[itsmealiyah]

For my first image, I chose a scene from the Lorax. It isn’t quite a picture but when I thought to myself about what could be utopian, the first thing I thought of was this town. This relates to utopia because the mayor, O’hair, created O’hair air and this town that is made to seem perfect with pretty flowers, perfect trees, no harmful animals, and food that is visually appealing. Everyone in the town believed it was perfect as well and saw no flaws in the leadership or the walls that surrounded them for “safety”.

For my next image I chose another image from the Lorax. It shows Ted holding up the tree after breaking down the wall to reveal the other side. I think this showed everyone the realistic factors of their beloved town. Everyone started to realize their town was not realistic at all and they then wanted to strive for something real. So they all supported Ted and turned on O'hair when they were shown what kind of a person their mayor was when Ted revealed everything.

These terms are very clearly opposite from one another. I think they could easily be in competition. Of course people would want a perfect world but isn't a perfect world imaginary? Is anything really perfect? Realistically, no. A realistic world is not something that is hoped for it is just real.

Ted showing the realistic aspects of their town.

Lastly, the first image relates to the real world because some people are in delusion that their is nothing wrong while others hope for some kind of utopian world. Some even fight for it. It is also a movie so the ending can represent utopia as well. The happy ending. The second image represents the real aspects of the world. The pollution, the loss of forest and the animals living in it having to rehome or dying.

[gossipgurlingursht]

@nagillim79

In the UK we used to call this theoretical leftist activism "sixth form politics", ie politics as conceived of by 16-18 year olds who have never had to be self-supporting and have an overly rose-tinted view of human nature because they've been protected from reality by parents and teachers all their lives. Generally it tends to shatter when it bashes up against reality and the fact that most humans don't give a damn about each other and can't be forced to care. Not even by socialist governments. What you're asking about is praxis but the left in the west avoids praxis. They prefer utopian delusions and theories to actually having to sacrifice their personal comfort on the altar of getting things done.

Ignoring what any movements are currently doing, I think these unrealistic expectations can be held by any age group or ideology. I think on average, people just don't understand how democratic politics works, at least in the US. People get mad that Democrats don't fix everything immediately after winning a razor-thin majority, but

They've never gone to a meeting of their local party. They don't understand how freaking hard it is just to get a room full of people WHO SUPPOSEDLY ARE ON THE SAME SIDE to agree about literally anything.

They don't like when politicians take speaking fees or donations from companies. But they've never donated themselves, and don't have any idea how much it costs to run a campaign.

They don't canvass. They don't understand that the average American A. doesn't want to talk to ANYONE B. doesn't want to talk to anyone who calls themself a Democrat C. just wants to know how jesus fits into all of this.

They don't like when politicians "lie" to them (and some straight-up do). But they don't want to vote for someone who tells them a realistic goal of making incremental to moderate change within the limits of the current political climate & with (or against) the other democratically elected reps.

They've never READ and advocated for a bill or policy proposal before. They think medicare for all (which I support!) is as simple as "$2000 < $8000". They don't think about what to do with all the people currently working in the health insurance industry, how employers will act when their contribution is removed, how this affects the tax system, and how to build an entire freaking government agency. "It doesn't matter, M4A is about saving peoples lives!" Yeah, so we need to make sure we're smart about it & do a good job.

To be very very clear, I don't hate leftists, we agree on a lot of points, and I don't think they were responsible for 2024. I am just begging, BEGGING, Americans to do something, ANYTHING, to get involved. Never tell me you're bored if you've never volunteered in politics!

The left SUCKS at recruiting people. And so many of you are part of the problem.

The talk about centrists and moderates being the literal devil I see constantly in online leftist spaces is one great example of the left's failure. Yes, it sucks when the people don't see how horrible the right is. But centrists are some of the most open people to discussion- and some already lean left!!

You can't demonize moderates to such an extent that you close yourself off to them and then wonder why you're losing swing states.

Centrists aren't even always people with all the privileges- you will find plenty of people who are part of marginalized groups who are concerned about politicians on all sides.

You can be a smol radical leftist bean all you want who only talks to other smol socialist and communist beans, but you're never going to make the difference you want to in the world that way. It's the cold, hard truth. It doesn't mean you have to engage in discourse with everyone- some people have no real hope of changing and are emotionally draining- just more than your bubble.

I am tired of the left eating itself alive and deranged people like Trump winning.

[mightyflamethrower]

Less than a year before the end of World War II, then U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau drew up a nightmarish plan to punish postwar Germany.

After the serial 1870-1871 Franco-Prussian War, World War I, and World War II—along with the failed Versailles peace treaty of 1919—the Allies in World War II wanted to ensure there would never again be an aggressive Germany powerful enough to invade its neighbors.

When the so-called Morgenthau Plan was leaked to the press in September 1944, at first it was widely praised. After all, it would supposedly render Germany incapable of ever starting another world war in Europe.

Morgenthau certainly envisioned a Carthaginian peace, designed to ensure a permanently deindustrialized, unarmed, and pastoral Germany.

Postwar Germany would have resembled something akin to the ancient, pre-civilized frontier that the first-century AD historian Tacitus wrote about in his Germania.

The plan would have ensured that within six months of Germany’s surrender, all of its industrial plants and equipment were to be dismantled.

The Ruhr, the renowned center of European industrial strength, was to be permanently neutered, starved of its energy, raw materials, and infrastructure.

After the war, the plan demanded virtual complete disarmament of Germany. Its once-feared armed forces were to be rendered nonexistent.

There were also promised massive reductions in Germany’s borders. Various countries, such as the Soviet Union, Poland, and France, were to be given large slices of the old Third Reich.

Future German security would hinge only on the power and goodwill of the victorious United States and its allies.

When the dying Nazi Party got wind of the plan, Hitler’s propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels had a field day. He screamed to Germans that they were all doomed to oblivion if they lost the war, even growing opponents of the Nazi Party.

Even many Americans were aghast at the plan.

Gen. George Marshall, the Army Chief of Staff, warned that its mere mention had galvanized German troops to fight to the end, increasing American casualties as they closed in on the German homeland.

Ex-president Herbert Hoover blasted the plan as inhumane. He feared mass starvation of the German people if they were reduced to a premodern, rural peasantry.

But once the victorious allies occupied a devastated Germany, witnessed its moonscape ruined by massive bombing and house-to-house fighting, and discovered that their “ally” Russia’s Joseph Stalin was ruthless and hellbent on turning all of Europe communist, the Truman administration backed off the plan.

There is a tragic footnote to the aborted horrors of the Morgenthau Plan. Currently, Germany is doing to itself almost everything Morgenthau once dreamed of.

Its green delusions have shut down far too many of its nuclear, coal, and gas electrical generation plants.

Erratic solar and wind “sustainable energy” means that power costs are four times higher than on average in the United States.

Once-dominant European giants Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes are now bleeding customers and profits. Their own government’s green and electric vehicle mandates ensure they will become globally uncompetitive.

The German economy actually shrank in 2023. And the diminished Ruhr can no longer save the German economy from its own utopian politicians.

The German military is all but disarmed and short thousands of recruits.

German industries do not produce enough ammunition, tanks, ships, and aircraft to equip even its diminished army, navy, and air force.

Just a few hundred miles from Germany in Ukraine, more than a million Ukrainians and Russians are dead, wounded, or missing—in the costliest European battle since the horrors of Stalingrad.

Yet the once postwar German dynamo nation now lacks the manpower, munitions, and money to aid Ukraine in any meaningful way against an ascendant Russian invader.

More than 1 million immigrants have entered the country illegally, the vast majority of them from the Middle East. Many of them are hostile to European values and culture, as recent terrorist killings have shown. One-fifth of the population was not born in Germany.

The shrinking German people are growing angry, divided, and depressed. Their 1.4 percent fertility rate is one of the lowest in the Western world.

A tragic irony now abounds.

After World War II, the Truman administration rejected the notion of a pastoral, deindustrialized, and insecure Germany as a cruel prescription for poverty, hunger, and depopulation.

But now the German people themselves voted for their own updated version of Morgenthau’s plan—as they willingly reduced factory hours, curtailed power and fuel supplies, and struggled with millions of illegal aliens and porous borders.

Germans accept that they have no military to speak of that could protect their insecure borders—without a United States-led NATO.

Eighty years ago, Germany’s former conquerors rejected wrecking the defeated nation as too harsh. But now Germany is willfully pastoralizing, disarming, deindustrializing—and destroying—itself.