June 2008
Bush’s Third Term
Although I admit to never having seen any of the Saw movies, which isn’t something I’m frankly all that disappointed about, I thought this was a fantastic little piece of photoshoppery. (Original Flickr link here.)
The Possibility of Time Travel
I just ran across this interesting article on time travel published by BBC News. The basic idea is that there are essentially two formulas: (a) time travel is not possible (ostensibly because we have never encountered its affects in the present) or (b) time travel is possible, but something is preventing it from changing the present. As the article points out, option (a) seems more intuitive, but option (b) is certainly plausible insofar as Einstein’s general theory of relativity points to a space-time curvature in which time loops back over itself (and, derivatively, that quantum physics does not distinguish between moving back and forward in time).
In attempting to articulate a more cohesive materialist formula for examining history, I thought this passage was particularly interesting, especially in regards to its Hegelian flavor:
It is as if, in some strange way, the present takes account of all the possible routes back into the past and, because your father is certainly alive, none of the routes back can possibly lead to his death.
I think it’s also worth pointing out, at least humorously, that the entire article is postulated around the murder of one’s father, which will no doubt elicit a smirk from psychoanalytically-informed readers.
Chris Marker on Hitchcock’s Vertigo
Fascinating essay on the meaning of the repeated phrase “power and freedom” in one of Hitchcock’s best films. (Via 3 Quarks Daily.)
An Important Question
What font do you think in?
Futura, size 48, bright red with a black stroke in a medium weight.
What am I thinking?
Devo’s Mongoloid
Did you know they’re touring again?
Get Disappointed By Someone New
In honor of Barack Obama’s rejection of campaign finance, support for FISA and, most recently, his denouncing the Supreme Court decision to reject the death penalty for child rape, linking to this bumper sticker by Edge of the American West seems like the only appropriate measure.
(All proceeds go to the Obama campaign.)
Three New Beck Tracks
Free to stream, no registration or other red tape. Might be a good album…
The Monstrous Body of Capital
Rough Theory has posted links to and excerpts from Steven Shaviro’s series of reflections on Capital, all of which are worth reading.
YouTube Philosophy: Peter Singer on Hegel and Marx (I-V)
I haven’t watched all of these yet, but they look useful for anyone wishing to jump further into Hegel and Marx without going straight into the deep-end head-first.
(Via 3 Quarks Daily.)
What Is Keeping Oil Prices So High?
The BBC narrows it down to about five major factors.
The Ambiguous Legacy of ‘68
A new article by Slavoj Zizek in In These Times. For those that have kept up with Zizek’s recent editorials or have read In Defense of Lost Causes, the majority of this is excerpts and summary.
The Paintings of Fred Einaudi
Amazing.
Scarcity and Desire
Two related posts on scarcity and desire posted over at Larval Subjects. The discussion on contingency, necessity and scarcity in relation to After Finitude seems like a really interesting topic, as in history I think that people don’t do enough to emphasize not only the contingency of certain historical events, but the way in which their outcome shapes how we reflect on them retroactively. If history is to move beyond the economy of scarcity, and therefore beyond ideology and metaphysics, which attempt to establish the necessity of causality, then it should take up the task of locating what, within history, supersedes it, demonstrates its inherent deadlock / impasse.
Secret of the ‘Lost’ Tribe That Wasn’t
Wasn’t this the plot of a terrible movie?
Zizek on Philosophy
A series of three articles written by Zizek on philosophy, examining the relationship between Spinoza-Kant-Hegel, Deleuze-Derrida-Lacan and, lastly, Badiou. I thought this was especially well-put, as its an insight that many come to experience at a University, but never really consider as a problem outside of the way “Philosophy” departments are run:
This theory of the four “conditions” of philosophy allows us to approach in a new way the old problem of the “role” of philosophy. Often, other disciplines take over (at least part of) the “normal” role of philosophy… in US today - in the conditions of the predominance of cognitivism and brain studies in philosophy departments -, most of “Continental Philosophy” takes place in Comparative Literature, Cultural Studies, English, French and German departments… What if, then, there is no “normal role”? What if it is exceptions themselves which retroactively create the illusion of the “norm” they allegedly violate? What if not only, in philosophy, exception is the rule, but also philosophy - the need for the authentic philosophical thought - arises precisely in those moments when (other) parts-constituents of the social edifice cannot play their “proper role”? What if the “proper” space for philosophy ARE these very gaps and interstices opened up by the “pathological” displacements in the social edifice? Along these lines, the first great merit of Badiou is that, for the first time, he systematically deployed the four modes of this reference of philosophy (to science, art, politics, and love).
(Via Naught Thought.)
Reading Marx’s Capital with David Harvey
Professor David Harvey of the City University of New York is currently serializing 13, two-hour lectures of a close reading of Karl Marx’s Capital. If you don’t want to watch them in your browser window, you can check out the video feed and download them as .MOV for later viewing. (Via Rough Theory.)
Obama vs. the Internet vs. FISA
Mike Soron has several perspicuous links and quotes regarding Obama’s regrettable support for the house’s update of the FISA bill, which grants retroactive immunity to the telecoms that aided the Bush administration in carrying out its unlawful domestic spying program. Although Obama has stated that he is against the measure to grant retroactive immunity, there’s still this gem:
Given the legitimate threats we face, providing effective intelligence collection tools with appropriate safeguards is too important to delay. So I support the compromise, but do so with a firm pledge that as president, I will carefully monitor the program.
Such a position is more than unfortunate, it is what one might call a travesty. Regardless of whether Obama is simply playing a game of appearances by trying to “act tough” to win over the petty bourgeois and lumpenproletariat that would likely not be willing to vote for him to begin with, his decision to support the updated FISA bill should alert his supporters that it’s not enough to put their faith and trust into such a candidate, even if he is far more progressive than a number of others. If anything, they should be ruthlessly critical, lest one wishes to justify one’s spinelessness as pragmatism.
The American Right and Freedom
The Nation:
In “Conservative Thought,” an unjustly neglected essay from 1927, Karl Mannheim argued that conservatives have never been wild about the idea of freedom. It threatens the submission of subordinate to superior. Because freedom is the lingua franca of modern politics, however, they have had “a sound enough instinct not to attack” it. Instead, they have made freedom the stalking horse of inequality, and inequality the stalking horse of submission. Men are naturally unequal, they argue. Freedom requires that they be allowed to develop their unequal gifts. A free society must be an unequal society, composed of radically distinct, and hierarchical, particulars.
Worth reading the entire article. (Via 3 Quarks Daily.)
Judy Miller Is Back
Hilarious analysis of this bullshit NY Times article on the mysterious origins of US-UK-French no-bid contracts for Iraqi oil.
Is A Commodity Bubble Behind the New Housing Bubble?
There should be a market for speculating on what the next bubble will be. Who’s taking bets on what comes after the commodity bubble? Maybe a solar bubble? Either way, an informative article. (Via The Consumerist.)
Lacan and Sexuation
Want to know what this is?
I stumbled across a terrific and comprehensible (albeit two year old) post on Lacan’s sexuation formulas over at Larval Subjects, so if you do, I suggest giving the article a read.
Flashes of Terror / Dredges of Horror
Another great post over at Naught Thought on the relationship between Terror and Horror, as well as some more interesting stuff on correlationism.
Put most directly: terror is not knowing, horror is knowing too much. However, there is a level of cross over. The horror, in the realm of terror, is the discovery of the body, it is the knowing too much which leads back to not knowing (in relation to the self) hence ‘am I next?’ The terror of horror, is the sight of the thing which cannot be definately described.
Maybe one could say that Terror is Kantian, while Horror is Hegelian.
The Great Ecstasy of the Woodcarver Steiner
This is a clip from one of my favorite Herzog documentaries, The Great Ecstasy of the Woodcarver Steiner. It’s about Walter Steiner, the world-class Olympic ski-flying champion from Switzerland, who is also a talented carpenter.
Sometimes Herzog’s documentaries feel somewhat forced and inauthentic, as if Herzog is trying to make more out of them than what they really are, and his subjects seem to be aware of it (The White Diamond and How Much Wood Would A Woodchuck Chuck come to mind). In other cases, what he hopes to capture doesn’t live up to his expectations, such as La Soufrière. But usually Herzog succeeds in creating brilliant documentaries that feature captivating and inspiring subjects. Steiner is no exception, and the soundtrack by Popol Vuh has a kind of other-worldly sentiment that the best of Herzog’s films evoke.
Don’t Annoy Karl
Ricky Gervais:
OK, so I may have, possibly, maybe, in a slight way, have persuaded Karl to do another (and final) series of the podcast. Don’t quote me on that and please don’t annoy him between now and September.
I usually wouldn’t say anything, but seeing as how I’ve been lured into his trap, I’ll bite. I don’t think people would’ve been as active in annoying Karl if a certain Mr. Gervais didn’t initiate a worldwide publicity campaign to annoy Karl. Good news about the podcasts though.
Pentagon Lied About Torture Memos
The Washington Post reports that a Senate investigation has uncovered evidence that research on torture methods came from the top chain of command (Donald Rumsfeld) as early as July 2002. Not that any of this should come as a surprise, or that anyone will actually read the investigation, but I guess having the proof is a good thing. (Via I cite.)
US Special Forces Counterinsurgency Manual Leaked
Julian Assange writing for Wikileaks:
Wikileaks has obtained a sensitive US military counterinsurgency manual. The manual, Foreign Internal Defense Tactics Techniques and Procedures for Special Forces (1994, 2004), may be critically described as “what we learned about running death squads and propping up corrupt government in Latin America and how to apply it to other places”. Its contents are both history defining for Latin America and, given the continued role of US Special Forces in the suppression of insurgencies and guerilla movements world wide, history making.
Looks to be the real thing. (Via A Tiny Revolution.)
Was It Jokes That Defeated Communism?
‘What is the difference between communism and capitalism?’ ‘Capitalism is the exploitation of man by man; communism is the exact opposite.’
While the title is mostly tongue-in-cheek, it’s no doubt that jokes played an important role in Soviet society. I’d heard a lot of these from professors during courses taught on Soviet history, but I still think it would be worth reading Ben Lewis’s book, Hammer & Tickle: A History of Communism Told Through Communist Jokes, if not for the unique historical perspective, then at least for the jokes.
(Via 3 Quarks Daily.)
McCain’s Tax Plan Favors Wealthiest
From the Wall Street Journal, click here to view. To sum up: if you make less than $111,645 per year, you’ll be better off (in terms of after-tax income) under Obama. (Via Open Up.)
Metering the Internet
If you’re someone who uses the Internet to do more than just check e-mail and browse through blogs (i.e., you download movies or music through BitTorrent), then this new proposal by a number of telecom giants, including Comcast, AT&T and Time Warner Cable, will likely put an end to that (although Comcast has already begun to heavily “shape” BitTorrent traffic without admitting it to their customers). I think this casts doubt upon the viability of deregulated and privatized telecoms, but even more so I think it threatens potential development in terms of video streaming and online media distribution, which is why most Internet-related businesses that aren’t telecoms, like Google, are opposed to this.
No Shangri-La Part II
Awhile ago I posted a link to a letter written into the LRB by Slavoj Žižek entitled, “No Shangri-La,” in which Žižek criticizes the Western media and the Tibetan solidarity campaign for portraying a distorted and quixotic picture of pre-1949 Tibet, a vision Žižek argues is essentially libidinal (you can find his other Tibet-related pieces here and here). This caused something of an academic kerfuffle, with numerous scholars accusing Žižek of simply parroting the PRC’s propaganda (see Shego Jinpa, the University of Michigan’s Donald Lopez and Michel Thibaud, who somehow uses this as an opportunity to accuse Žižek of being a closet-Zionist).
To make what could otherwise be a long and somewhat unimportant story short, Žižek has written a short follow up letter to the LRB, available here. Needless to say, I’m sure the two Agent Coopers are very sad. (Via 3 Quarks Daily.)
David Lynch on Creativity
An interview with David Lynch on where his ideas come from (his hands!).
(Via Matthew Yglesias.)
Correlationism
If anyone read the article linked from Non-Linearity and Momentum, but, like me, had no idea what it meant, this post over at Larval Subjects does a really great job of explaining what, exactly, is being attacked: that is to say, it explains what correlationism is. Of course, I’m still curious as to how the ideas of speculative realism might impact transcendental materialism, but I suppose this requires reading After Finitude, at the very least.
Obama Publishes His Version of Events…
The Obama campaign came out with a rumor debunking website today to combat the catcalls from the right and the leftover Clinton supporters (known to Ancient Romans as ‘the Gauls’).
The front page lists lies:
Top 10 Philosophers’ Deaths
These are pretty great. My favorite two are Heracleitus’s and Diogenes’s. Reminds me of this Wikipedia list on unusual deaths that I (think I) posted a long time ago. (Via 3 Quarks Daily.)
Lou Reed Interview in The Australian
Filled with amazingly advanced non sequiturs. (Via Advanced Theory Blog.)
Kucinich Introduces Articles of Impeachment Against Bush
The full C-SPAN transcript, as well as a video, are offered here. As pretty much everyone in the blogosphere has remarked, the effort is pretty much destined to fail, but it’s perhaps the only substantive effort the Democrats have made against the Bush administrative since they won a Congressional majority in 2006, a victory brought on by the hope and expectation that they would indeed carry through on their platform. Consequently, I would say I’m in full support of this measure.
Japanese Workers Fighting Back
Would make for a great anime series:
“I want Japan to become a society where employees can sue their own company,” Mr. Takano said. “That’s why I’m doing this.”
There is No Subject
I can’t recall if I’ve posted a link to this website or not yet, but in the case of the latter it deserves repeating: No Subject is a terrific Wiki-based resource for all things related to psychoanalysis (mostly Freudian and Lacanian). Whenever I am unsure of a term, this website usually provides a decent analysis of it, although some of the articles are a bit incomplete, hodge-podge or contain noticeable errors. But, hopefully with more visitors and editors, the website will become an even better and more complete resource for psychoanalytic theory.
Swedish Left Party Wants to Legalize Piracy
If the Internet is to remain open and file-sharing unabated, as it should, then there will be a need at some point, either now or in the near future, to mobilize and act collectively to exercise the political will needed to make the proper changes. We should not cede an inch. Let Sweden be the guiding light.
The Odd Couple
This is lazy journalism. After months of hearing the same comparison used for Romney and Mccain, Clinton and Obama, News Hampshire and Iowa, and anybody with McCain, do we really need it for Obama and McCain?
Dutch Accordion Version of Roy Orbison’s Lana
Awesome, quick version of Roy Orbison’s hit.
Lou Reed Does Not Care About Dow Jones
Andrew M. Goldstein obviously doesn’t know anything about Lou Reed and also asks stupid questions. Here’s his interview with Lou in New York Magazine:
Sirius’s impending merger with XM is anticipated to boost earnings. Do you own any stock in the company?
What are you, a fucking asshole? I’m here telling you the truth about music and you want to know if I have stock in the fucking radio? You fucking piece of shit. What did I do to deserve that?Moving on. You’ve got a film out, you’ve got your radio show, you’ve got a new book of photography coming up — is there a new album in the works?
No. Nothing I feel like talking about. Good-bye.
(Via Rock & Roll Daily.)
Elton and the Muppets
Found this from Gibson’s blog about stuttering songs.
Bob Dylan For Obama
When was the last time Bob Dylan endorsed a politician?
“Poverty is demoralising. You can’t expect people to have the virtue of purity when they are poor. But we’ve got this guy out there now who is redefining the nature of politics from the ground up…Barack Obama. He’s redefining what a politician is, so we’ll have to see how things play out. Am I hopeful? Yes, I’m hopeful that things might change. Some things are going to have to.”
I’m not holding my breath, but hopefully things will work out for Obama now that he’s got Bob Dylan on his side.
The Danger of Ecology
This advertisement featuring Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson serves as a great example as to how ecology functions as the perfect ideological supplement to post-political administrative society:
Stalin’s Human-Ape Super Race
You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all!
Neo-Nazis for Israel
Haaretz:
Nazis against anti-Semitism? As bizarre as that sounds, a group of Germans which calls itself “National Socialists For Israel” launched its Web site in support of Israel.
“Stop the hatred of the Jewish people,” the Web site reads. “The Jews are a healthy, strong nation.”
I’m not really sure what can be gathered from this rather odd alliance, seeing as how it might rhetorically mirror certain right-wing attempts at subverting left-wing candidates as allegedly being supported by terrorists. On the other hand, I think it’s useful at pointing out how neoconservative support for Israel is something of a fig leaf. (Via Lenin’s Tomb.)
Thai Noon
A strange tale about an American-style, cowboy-themed resort outside of Bangkok. The photos in this slideshow are really great. (Thanks to Jenny.)
The Economist Has No Clothes
Robert Nadeau in Scientific American:
The 19th-century creators of neoclassical economics—the theory that now serves as the basis for coordinating activities in the global market system—are credited with transforming their field into a scientific discipline. But what is not widely known is that these now legendary economists… developed their theories by adapting equations from 19th-century physics that eventually became obsolete. Unfortunately, it is clear that neoclassical economics has also become outdated. The theory is based on unscientific assumptions that are hindering the implementation of viable economic solutions for global warming and other menacing environmental problems.
(Via 3 Quarks Daily.)
Green Porno
What is Green Porno? A series of eight short films written, co-directed and starring Isabella Rossellini cast as various insects performing their bizarre sexual practices. The one on snails is particularly disturbing.
Hugo Chávez: Stalinist Totalitarian Part III
In another article on Hugo Chávez’s ongoing totalitarian attempts at unleashing a socialist-stranglehold on the people of Venezuela, the New York Times has this to say:
President Hugo Chávez has used his decree powers to carry out a major overhaul of this country’s intelligence agencies, provoking a fierce backlash here from human rights groups and legal scholars who say the measures will force citizens to inform on one another to avoid prison terms.
Downtime
Apologies to our esteemed visitors for our recent downtime, which stretched from roughly Saturday afternoon to an hour ago. At 5:00PM on Saturday, the first floor (ominously referred to as “Phase 1”) of our hosting provider’s (The Planet) datacenter experienced some sort of malfunction which caused a thermonuclear meltdown, serendipitously leaving all but our lone server in tact. Most assuredly the others were stricken down for their wicked ways.
A Possible End in Sight?
On the heels of my Hillary-related post comes several rumors that Hillary may be preparing to end her bid for the Democratic presidential candidacy tomorrow night.
Time to break out the mentat mantra!
It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
It is by the juice of sapho that thoughts acquire speed,
the lips acquire stains.
The stains become a warning.
It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
Update: It appears the struggle will continue. In the continued battle against statistics, reason and the limits of human sanity, Clinton aides are stating that Hillary will not be conceding tomorrow.
Hillary the Populist
One question that has bugged me over the past few months is, who exactly are Hillary’s supporters? I am, of course, not talking about the stereotypical aging “die hard” feminists who refuse to give up on their support for the first woman president. If this were the case, one would suspect that such a group would be dismayed by Hillary’s “conservative” appeal, as well as the reprehensible attacks on Michelle Obama. If, on the other hand, Hillary’s supporters are simply so-called “Reagan Democrats,” that is, white working-class voters (petit bourgeoisie), why do they not support John McCain? He is, arguably, the most hawkish on foreign policy out of all of the presidential candidates1, as well as the most “free market” orientated.
Read more on Hillary the Populist…
- At the very least, this is the image that he has attempted to cultivate, although, as the L.A. Times has pointed out, his foreign policy record is, at best, mixed ↩
Non-linearity and Momentum
Over at NaughtThought there is a really interesting, albeit difficult to comprehend, critical analysis of speculative realism (Brassier [specifically the theories and concepts developed in his Nihil Unbound] and Meillassoux) from a transcendental materialist (Zizekian) perspective. I wonder if (hope that) Zizek’s next “theoretical” book will deal at all with the challenges brought up by speculative realism, as it seems that they, unlike mechanical determinists, offer a lot of theoretically credible alternatives to Zizek’s Hegel-inspired account of subjectivity and free will.
Floating Prisons
The Guardian:
The United States is operating “floating prisons” to house those arrested in its war on terror, according to human rights lawyers, who claim there has been an attempt to conceal the numbers and whereabouts of detainees.
Can anyone say, “gulag archipelagos”? I suppose the only difference is that, whereas in Soviet camps prisoners were forced to perform manual labor, ours are strictly for torture. Huzzah!
Oil Crisis Rage Spreads
Truthout:
Record oil prices of around 135 dollars a barrel have contributed to protests worldwide over the rise in fuel and food costs, with fishermen and truck drivers taking the lead in Europe, blocking ports and road access to oil depots.
(Via I cite.)
The Practice of Theory
N. Pepperell:
Marx’s position is that humans, in a sense, aren’t that clever - we aren’t that original or creative in our thoughts - our thoughts are already “material” - our categories are things we do…
His strategy undermines academic pretension - but it also undermines romantic notions that there is some special sort of institutional setting where “real thought” can happen because that setting is somehow less divorced from “real life”: humans, for Marx, generate new possibilities collectively, initially in mundane actions - and largely, in the first instance at least, unintentionally. Explicit theory and conscious political practice then fumbles along behind, trying to work out and realise the potentials opened up by our collective accidents. Where this happens, what sorts of practices and institutional settings are associated with doing it in a way that is potentially transformative - all of this strikes me as a case-by-case thing…