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[Lawnchair Bes]

Superior, yes. Which is kind of inevitable when you think you're right and everyone else is wrong. But it's a pragmatic feeling, it's not first deciding I feel superior and then doing my best to disagree, it's that I see people's opinions and I think they are wrong, which eventually ends in a conclusion that "how come it's so obvious to me and all these lamers don't see it, what's wrong with them?". So it's more in the direction of disorder in a sense, the way a doctor sees a patient. I tend to think a lot of people could see things clearly if they tried.

Cool? No. There's no way to be cool by being a rebel. The only rebels who are cool are those whose cause people sympathize with but don't want to engage in themselves. A sort of martyrism. A rebel in the true sense of one who finds no agreement with others will never be cool, because coolness comes out of identifying yourself with that person.

I hope that's a satisfying answer.

we keep having this argument, you are right. however, i explained, i believe, where a lot of people are coming from.

 

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[Martin]

we keep having this argument, you are right. however, i explained, i believe, where a lot of people are coming from.

Well, of course, the pressure is always to get people in line with your beliefs, it feels safe that way. We all do that I think. But it's not like it's a matter of choice, that someone will "decide" to think differently. I've tried to understand people's opinions on a lot of things, eg. watched movies recommended to me that totally sucked and I kept thinking "there's something I'm missing here, there's no way this person would actually like this crap". But eventually you get to a point where no, there isn't anything deeper hidden under the surface, there's nothing to find. This is all it is and since I think it sucks, what else is there for me to do?

Know what I mean?

 

[Lawnchair Bes]

yeah, i tried recommending a couple of books to you a while back. you made me feel like a loser.

 

[Martin]

I'm sorry about that, it wasn't intended. Sometimes people think I'm harsh even when I'm trying to be mildly critical, I guess it's a blind spot.

It sort of depends on how seriously you take the person. If someone says something along the lines of "this is my favorite book, you have to read it" and I take that at face value, not as an exaggeration but as their real opinion, and furthermore I respect this person, then there's sort of a lot riding on this recommendation. My criteria are going to be a lot higher than if it was just something I stumbled upon myself with no real expectations. Same goes for a bunch of classics I read and enjoyed making fun of, which noone had a problem with so that was nice. On the other hand, if the person just says "it's a fun story, great if you're a little bored" then I'm not going to judge it so seriously.

For what it's worth, I recall Vonnegut and that Canadian author. Vonnegut kind of bored me, but I don't recall scathing criticism on that one? And the Canadian guy I didn't really like, so be it.

 

[Lawnchair Bes]

it all depends on how much you "value" someone else's opinion. i decided i wasnt gonna value your opinion a lot anymore

 

[Martin]

Wise choice

 

[Martin]

For what it's worth, you did mention one of those titles in the same sentence with 1984, so you had it coming

 

[Lawnchair Bes]

that's a long story that involves jack

 

[Martin]

So. What're you reading?

 

[Lawnchair Bes]

My last book was Allan Carr's Easy way to stop smoking and i recommend it to all.

i believe my last book was sam harris, end of faith which i agreed with you on the comments you made in the books thread, see there is hope for me after all

 

[Martin]

My last book was Allan Carr's Easy way to stop smoking and i recommend it to all.

i believe my last book was sam harris, end of faith which i agreed with you on the comments you made in the books thread, see there is hope for me after all

Hey good for you, hope you succeed!

I sort of ran out of books myself and moved on to lectures on various things. First series was on Tchaikovsky, then psychology, now economics. I'm a sucker for this.

 

[Lawnchair Bes]

going strong almost two weeks now.

I actually tried a "lecture" series on "the rise and fall of communism in russia", but the guy's voice was too boring and he paused a lot.

have you read "freaknomincs" ?

 

[Martin]

going strong almost two weeks now.

I actually tried a "lecture" series on "the rise and fall of communism in russia", but the guy's voice was too boring and he paused a lot.

Have you read the Communist Manifesto? I had that too on tape a while ago, weird stuff. Some of it kind of makes sense, but then it makes you feel like you have to be in a cult to agree with the rest of it.

have you read "freaknomincs" ?

Nope. What I'm going through now is like a short history of economics, which is fun because I've never learned anything about it. Turns out Marx was kind of a dumbass in terms of economic theory and predictions, none of that came true.

 

[Lawnchair Bes]

last time i tried reading the communist manifesto i couldnt really understand the english, and that was a couple of year back or less. i'll give it a try one of these days, but i probably will need to concentrate more. maybe than the infatuation with communism will cease.

freakonomics uses economics principles to attempt to find trends in everyday life, example, abortions and drop in crime

 

[Bjerknes]

Economics is fucking awesome. Easy to understand as well.

 

[GordoDeCentral]

only if it's friedman's

 

[Bjerknes]

only if it's friedman's

Not Keynesian?

 

[GordoDeCentral]

nah fuck that fag

 

[Bjerknes]

Fuck him because he's a fag or because his economics are difficult or because his economics are easy?

 

[GordoDeCentral]

fuck him because he's a fag and his economics for getting credit for something that totally was out of its/their control