[FRIAM] great man theory

[uǝlƃ ↙↙↙]

To be clear, recognizing that all models are wrong, some are useful isn't nihilistic. My favorite conception is (what I think I got from Kierkegaard), the leap of faith from obsessing about how wrong our models are, to something akin to "shut up and calculate" is what gets us out of analysis paralysis.

The trick, I suppose, is *when* to pull the trigger. How much do I have to empathize with Jeff Bezos before I can just get on with pointing out that his effluvium is destroying culture, market, and planet; and any "effective altruism" he may engage in will never offset the damage his effluvium's done.

How much do I have to empathize with Michael Jackson ... or Trump ... or whatever fictitious caricature (false but useful model) we might choose, in order to get on with the consequential task of mitigating their impact?


On 3/12/21 11:58 AM, Steve Smith wrote:
>>  To look at our victims as full-blown humans gets in the way of our progress.
> 
> I don't know if Nietzsche said that first but it does seem like it could
> be a paraphrase of one of his nihilistic piths.
> 
> I am inspired by the anti-Othering movement,  it serves my own
> recovery/respite from a lifetime of participating in zero-sum
> victim/victor games as offered by our popular culture as (sometimes? or
> am I imputing again?) "the only game in town".


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