Comment by lagniappe
12 days ago
I don't have much business being in this thread but I wanted to add that I appreciate the inclusion of lesser-seen details like the sacred geometry in the board.
12 days ago
I don't have much business being in this thread but I wanted to add that I appreciate the inclusion of lesser-seen details like the sacred geometry in the board.
I personally find it creepy and offputting. I guess to each its own.
Why? Is it because it's esoteric, not meant for all?
i would guess it's probably an annoyance with people assigning significance to the insignificant and the belief they've discovered something profound when it's intellectually pretty shallow. i can understand an eye roll at people who try to answer really complex questions about life and existence with something like pretty patterns, but i personally choose to be fine with people finding the things that help them understand the world in their own way. we're not all meant to be Aristotle.
1 reply →
It doesn't really matter why, does it?
4 replies →
I am reminded of Paul Kingsnorth's _The Basilisk_: https://emergencemagazine.org/fiction/the-basilisk/ (Quick read, styled after the Screwtape Letters, but about the internet)
Some quotes:
>"Something else is happening. It is as if these screens are a portal to something. As if something is using them to get to us: to change, to remake, to control us."
...
>"There is a reason they call it “the web,” Bridget; a reason they call it “the net.” It is a trap. We have built the means of our own enslavement, at their suggestion. Now we are all carrying a portal to the underworld in our back pockets and handbags, and we are entirely unguarded against whoever chooses to step through it."
...
>"It’s not demons messing with our minds, Uncle. It’s fairies. ... They steal children, Uncle! That was what grabbed me. ... The fairies would steal babies and leave fairies in their places, and there would always be something strange, something lost about them."
...
>"That’s the thing, you see, Uncle. Fairies aren’t like demons. They’re not evil. They mind their own business, and they usually leave people alone unless they’re offended. But we’ve gone and cut down their thorns on a global scale. So what if they’re driving us mad on the same scale?"
...
>"If this is the revenge of the nature spirits, Uncle, maybe they’re winning—and maybe they should be. We’ve got power way beyond our ability to control it. We can’t even control ourselves. Maybe it’s better this way."