We come to recognize that playfulness, as a philosophical stance, can be very serious indeed; and moreover, that it possesses an unfailing capacity to arouse ridicule and hostility in those among us who crave certainty, reverence, and restraint.
CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR TED TALK ADAM IT WAS AWSOME you’re the only person who talks about this stuff and it’s actually so captivating i wish there was more content like yours i appreciate it so much thank you king
Thank you, thought I was the only one (but I didn't remember it was Fichte's, thought it had something to do with Kant, antinomies something something)
Simone Weil once noted that evil and good in fiction appear as their opposites in reality; abstracting that insight towards a chirality between fiction and reality generally, what you say is very true. "1984"'s doublespeak limited human thought as a tool of oppressors, the real-world's doublespeak smuggles human thought evading oppressors.
Loving this series. Just wanted to point out that on paragraph 12–the one about the word “unalive”, right after the 3rd diagram—I think you misspelled antithesis as anthesis.
Hmm... I'm not sure about your description of language innovation as being about youth identity because most innovation happen in young women who on average are more conformist than young men.
I guess men could be so much less linguistically innovative that their lesser degree of conformity doesn't make up for it.
I suspect language innovation may just be more about conformity and group membership than any form of distinctiveness. This would perhaps aline with the fact that women are more concerned about social isolation than men.
I just discovered you today through Alex. I figured you might get a kick out of this post from a few months back. It's about the etymology of reductive words (trite, trivial, quaint, arbitrary, mundane, mere, etc.) and how they all had the opposite (enriching rather than reductive) connotations along the same (or similar) denotative "axis."
The proposition is that some axes are both dialectical (naive vs cynical sentiments, projective v reductive attitudes) and cyclical (too much of one begets the need for the other).
We come to recognize that playfulness, as a philosophical stance, can be very serious indeed; and moreover, that it possesses an unfailing capacity to arouse ridicule and hostility in those among us who crave certainty, reverence, and restraint.
- Friedrich Nietzsche
CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR TED TALK ADAM IT WAS AWSOME you’re the only person who talks about this stuff and it’s actually so captivating i wish there was more content like yours i appreciate it so much thank you king
Dear Etymologynerd,
you have mistaken hegels dialectical method for fichtes tripartite model, please do not do this again.
kindly,
a hegel fan
ah edited ty - the models blurred together for me but the idea I presented is the same
Thank you, thought I was the only one (but I didn't remember it was Fichte's, thought it had something to do with Kant, antinomies something something)
What a hilarious irony it would be if a real form of 'doublespeak' ends up being what helps us retain freedom in online expression.
Simone Weil once noted that evil and good in fiction appear as their opposites in reality; abstracting that insight towards a chirality between fiction and reality generally, what you say is very true. "1984"'s doublespeak limited human thought as a tool of oppressors, the real-world's doublespeak smuggles human thought evading oppressors.
This article contained too much skibidi, please remove three. I am not a crank.
antithesis
Omg this is the exact type of content i loveeeee. I am so so glad i found your newsletter
is algospeak the new newspeak
A big fan of your work and always has been, I just wanted to comment that your opening line is both hilarious and apt.
this is shockingly captivating and persuasive. i love this analysis
Bro I literally laid down to sleep and thought I got some mail from uni so have gotten up to this.
Will read on my way to classes tho. Saying hello from 00:17 AM Slovene time
OH MY GOD IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THE TEDX TALK SINCE LIKE LAST MARCH THANK YOU ADAM
🙏🙏🙏 you are my king
A serious analysis of brainrot and skibidi toilet. This is what substack was meant for.
Knowing basically nothing about Marxist theory, could the "thesis" force also come in the form of a law that was passed?
Loving this series. Just wanted to point out that on paragraph 12–the one about the word “unalive”, right after the 3rd diagram—I think you misspelled antithesis as anthesis.
Your writing is great, keep doing your thing.
Kindly,
C
Hmm... I'm not sure about your description of language innovation as being about youth identity because most innovation happen in young women who on average are more conformist than young men.
I guess men could be so much less linguistically innovative that their lesser degree of conformity doesn't make up for it.
I suspect language innovation may just be more about conformity and group membership than any form of distinctiveness. This would perhaps aline with the fact that women are more concerned about social isolation than men.
I just discovered you today through Alex. I figured you might get a kick out of this post from a few months back. It's about the etymology of reductive words (trite, trivial, quaint, arbitrary, mundane, mere, etc.) and how they all had the opposite (enriching rather than reductive) connotations along the same (or similar) denotative "axis."
The proposition is that some axes are both dialectical (naive vs cynical sentiments, projective v reductive attitudes) and cyclical (too much of one begets the need for the other).
Cheers!
https://open.substack.com/pub/hidingasplainsight/p/the-etymological-fossil-record?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=3nwud0