Nice. Thanks. I do Shikantaza mself.

Yes zing

Permutation City blew my mind too. Such great ideas. Definitely in my top 10 faves.

Diaspora, and other Egan too, ya. But PC most of all. I've read it like 6 times. It's got that proper scifi vibe. The walls of reality crumble.

(Btw, what was the meaning of the testicular spasm? Was it a metaphor?)

We don't do respect around here, meat.

I once saw a face. Looking closer, it was actually a pattern in treebark.

Like physical things, do ideas have independent existence? Are they arranged in a space?

Maybe teach that fungus how to photosynthesize.

Or cell scale fusion.

Ah. Nobody can afford un-enshittified products anymore.

It's progressive invisible poverty.

It could be inherently flawed. We look at a picture or a symbol and pretend it's real. That's insane. I mean, I know that's kinda how it works, but still. Insane.

Or maybe it's imprecise to call it a flaw. Maybe call it a trap, to be careful of. But nobody's careful. (So that's maybe an "out of control" situation)

(I know I'm not. I mean case in point. I'm watching this movie "don't look up" right now and I'm getting all teary-eyed and stuff. It's a fucking movie. An illusion of flickering images and bullshit. I know with great certainty that it's just a fantasy but I'm still having this reaction. So that's insane)

We could order understanding by quality.

First there is perception. That's the closest. Then there is thought about that. Then there is the secondhand form of that, gotten from a friend. Then gotten from a mere associate. Then a stranger. Thirdhand and fourthhand. And so on.

Close to far. That close kind you don't even have to think or talk about it.

Perceptions like rightness, beauty, gut make a good guide. Art and invention are proof of that. Call it a good source of truth.

Not too good for building objective consensuses tho.

Instead of demanding that the peers get vaccinated they could just stay away from the peers.

Agreed