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Youth, Technology, Modernity, Time

Thanks to Alan Jacobs , I have read the latest excerpt from The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs . “I will restore your sense of childlike wonder,” he vows. “There is nothing you can do to stop me.” Hold that thought. The excerpt in question reads thus: Did you know that now, . . . . Continue Reading »

Randomness and Pantheism

Patrick Appel has a long, introspective roundup of reader reax to some posts on atheism at the Dish. He closes with a personal take, acknowledging there is a connection between pantheism, agnosticism and atheism. [ . . . ] Most of the tension between the terms does revolve around “God” . . . . Continue Reading »

Dignity Now?

David Brooks’ recent column, called “In Search of Dignity,” is of pomocon interest. Just as Brooks tends to view genius as the practical result of expeditiously logging big hours of disciplined rehearsal, he sees the survival of dignity as dependent upon the persistence of a . . . . Continue Reading »

Stoicism, Solitude, Solidarity

A brief remark as I hang out with my newly home-birthed son. (The goods of home birth definitely transcend all isms.) A recent portion of our pomocon/FPR critical saga has involved a fascinating exchange of allegations of stoicism and praise for certain kinds of stoicism. And it is true that . . . . Continue Reading »

The Mystery of Knowledge

This morning, I sat next to an autistic man on the metro. We chatted a bit, and then he grabbed a scrap of paper and scrawled on it: “JOBFAIR=1979” “GAO=2009” He then concatenated the numbers, and wrote: 19792009 His pen lingered above the piece of paper for thirty seconds or . . . . Continue Reading »

Solidarity, Hegemony, Individuality

Our PAL has made a comment down there that deserves some above-the-fold riffing. He writes that Locke knew nominalism would become more true as a description, but it could never become completely true. Part of the description of world where words are weapons and nothing but is of the incessant . . . . Continue Reading »

The Predicament of the Individual

Further thoughts on liberalism, libertinism, and Lawlerism: an interview at The University Bookman . One thing I could have explicitly affirmed is that individuals are wholes, not holes — but that would have been a substantial (and stylistic) ripoff . . . . . Continue Reading »

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