The Eclipse of Civil Society by Technology

[ChristopherColumbus]

I just noticed a new app developed, which can report any incidence of sexual abuse in real time. A good thing no doubt, yet with larger ramifications - what exactly are the lines to be drawn between sexual abuse, sexual discrimination, sexual harassment, flirtation, and... approach?

A previous generation largely had a codex of sorts to draw on, a set of unwritten conventions, within which the sexes maneuvered and made their advances. Notice the metaphor is military, and yet it seems appropriate to encounters of the erotic kind.

Yet today, this sphere has been increasingly 'problematized' and then 'rationalized'. And rationalization leads to technology and technique. Civil society, with its spontaneous and middle method of muddling through suddenly gets split into conflicting camps. There is the emasculated feminist camp, with its concern for power and equality; and there is the reactionary 'manosphere' camp, with its concern to push seduction to the nth degree. What develops in both camps are ideologies, which are essentially techniques of thought for the maximization of power.

Back to the app. Technology is itself an expression of a technique of thought, of a dominant ideology. And so you will increasingly see a generation of young men too terrified to approach a women lest they be thought a potential stalker etc. The spontaneity of civil society, of erotic encounters and courtship, breaks down to be replaced by a rationalization of the relation between the sexes.

A future generation may look back and marvel at the whole chaotic nature of 'pick up' culture.... where men actually approached women in real life and seduced them. There was an order, a codex, a morality, then a break down of that order into a chaos of conflicting parts, and then the re-establishment of a new technological order, which made the old look like a walk in the park.

 

[MatureDJ]

It's time to bring back the World's Oldest Profession.

 

[MatureDJ]

A future generation may look back and marvel at the whole chaotic nature of 'pick up' culture.... where men actually approached women in real life and seduced them. There was an order, a codex, a morality, then a break down of that order into a chaos of conflicting parts, and then the re-establishment of a new technological order, which made the old look like a walk in the park.

In the year 6565
Ain't gonna need no husband, won't need no wife
You'll pick your son, pick your daughter too
From the bottom of a long glass tube' Whoooa

 

[Dingo]

In the year 6565
Ain't gonna need no husband, won't need no wife
You'll pick your son, pick your daughter too
From the bottom of a long glass tube' Whoooa

Great classic....

 

[R.U.G.]

In 2525:

 

[AttackFormation]

Back to the app. Technology is itself an expression of a technique of thought, of a dominant ideology. And so you will increasingly see a generation of young men too terrified to approach a women lest they be thought a potential stalker etc. The spontaneity of civil society, of erotic encounters and courtship, breaks down to be replaced by a rationalization of the relation between the sexes.

A future generation may look back and marvel at the whole chaotic nature of 'pick up' culture.... where men actually approached women in real life and seduced them. There was an order, a codex, a morality, then a break down of that order into a chaos of conflicting parts, and then the re-establishment of a new technological order, which made the old look like a walk in the park.

Our current dating culture makes very little sense if you compare it to other cultures anyway. We don't have a way of determining who is single and looking, and who is not. In the pacific islands for example there's a tradition of wearing a flower on your head and the side you wear it on denotes whether you are single and looking or not. Imagine how much easier that would make everything. If s/he's got the flower on and it's on the looking side, you can talk to them, and women can choose when they want to be approached by whether and where they put the flower on that day.

It'd be even more functional if in addition to that you also had some quick conventional question, or even better just a conventional sign you make that they reciprocate or not, to know if the single-flower is attracted to you before you start the seduction act. That way guys wouldn't be wasting their time and girls wouldn't have to force politeness before rejection.

Instead we have dating apps, which are like a really strange way of doing something like that in our culture, the benefit being that you may meet women who you may otherwise not have met (whether it's the girl you're looking for, or a BDP...)

 

[R.U.G.]

Our current dating culture makes very little sense if you compare it to other cultures anyway. We don't have a way of determining who is single and looking, and who is not. In the pacific islands for example there's a tradition of wearing a flower on your head and the side you wear it on denotes whether you are single and looking or not. Imagine how much easier that would make everything. If s/he's got the flower on and it's on the looking side, you can talk to them, and women can choose when they want to be approached by whether and where they put the flower on that day.

It'd be even more functional if in addition to that you also had some quick conventional question, or even better just a conventional sign you make that they reciprocate or not, to know if the single-flower is attracted to you before you start the seduction act. That way guys wouldn't be wasting their time and girls wouldn't have to force politeness before rejection.

Instead we have dating apps, which are like a really strange way of doing something like that in our culture, the benefit being that you may meet women who you may otherwise not have met (whether it's the girl you're looking for, or a BDP...)

Yea, I'd agree... We're entering into the sh!tter pretty fast. Sex is a commodity and women fell for it (after all, they want to experience life). Then, when the dust settles and they are in their late 30's or early 40's they want to settle down and notice no decent guys are sticking around. So, they get to ride the c0ck carrousel (men go through the tunnel of love) and both genders are no longer able to form a bonding relationship with the opposite sex.

Brilliant. Isn't this one of the reasons why Rome fell?

 

[AttackFormation]

Yea, I'd agree... We're entering into the sh!tter pretty fast. Sex is a commodity and women fell for it (after all, they want to experience life). Then, when the dust settles and they are in their late 30's or early 40's they want to settle down and notice no decent guys are sticking around. So, they get to ride the c0ck carrousel (men go through the tunnel of love) and both genders are no longer able to form a bonding relationship with the opposite sex.

Brilliant. Isn't this one of the reasons why Rome fell?

Kinda off topic but Rome fell both for different reasons but also in much the same way our societies are falling today... the rentier oligarchy taking control of the money supply (which is supposed to be a public utility) and controlling society through interest-bearing debt and asset confiscation (privatized infrastructure, land, housing, patents, and resources) in tandem, enslaving society financially with debt and economic rent. That is what the Gracchi brothers were murdered over. By the time there were invasions from the outside, Rome was already a walking dead. This fall becomes faster if a social darwinist philosophy is followed ("there is no such thing as society" - Thatcher) and slowed if a more pro-social philosophy is followed. You can disguise it by creating fake statistics and trying to make people believe they are reality, like what our current economic statistics are, but eventually it'll collapse in on itself (this is what'll happen to us, Michael Hudson calls what we're in "a slow crash") or be displaced from the outside by a stronger society (not likely today because finance is global). Eventually it'll devolve back into neofeudalism with an ownership class, their servants, and the rest either being peons or being under threat of becoming one.

The financial war has been going on ever since Sumer and Babylonia to today.

 

[R.U.G.]

Kinda off topic but Rome fell both for different reasons but also in much the same way our societies are falling today... the rentier oligarchy taking control of the money supply (which is supposed to be a public utility) and controlling society through interest-bearing debt and asset confiscation (privatized infrastructure, land, housing, patents, and resources) in tandem, enslaving society financially with debt and economic rent. That is what the Gracchi brothers were murdered over. By the time there were invasions from the outside, Rome was already a walking dead. This fall becomes faster if a social darwinist philosophy is followed ("there is no such thing as society" - Thatcher) and slowed if a more pro-social philosophy is followed. You can disguise it by creating fake statistics and trying to make people believe they are reality, like what our current economic statistics are, but eventually it'll collapse in on itself (this is what'll happen to us, Michael Hudson calls what we're in "a slow crash") or be displaced from the outside by a stronger society (not likely today because finance is global). Eventually it'll devolve back into neofeudalism with an ownership class, their servants, and the rest either being peons or being under threat of becoming one.

The financial war has been going on ever since Sumer and Babylonia to today.

Very true. However, they also gave women a lot more freedom. Thus, social programs and other services started to weigh heavy on Rome. I am not saying it was the main reason, but one of them. Some say the governments in the West are following a similar fate. Hopefully, I'll be long gone before that happens.

 

[AttackFormation]

Very true. However, they also gave women a lot more freedom. Thus, social programs and other services started to weigh heavy on Rome. I am not saying it was the main reason, but one of them. Some say the governments in the West are following a similar fate. Hopefully, I'll be long gone before that happens.

What programs?

 

[R.U.G.]

It is said by some scholars that towards the end of the Roman empire, social reforms had helped exacerbate the money supply and cause rampant inflation. Just one of the causes. Other factors some say were Christianity, civil unrest, military wars and homosexuality. I wasn't there, so I cannot confirm. When Elon Musk releases his time machine, we can revisit for further review. ;')

 

[ChristopherColumbus]

Our current dating culture makes very little sense if you compare it to other cultures anyway. We don't have a way of determining who is single and looking, and who is not. In the pacific islands for example there's a tradition of wearing a flower on your head and the side you wear it on denotes whether you are single and looking or not. Imagine how much easier that would make everything. If s/he's got the flower on and it's on the looking side, you can talk to them, and women can choose when they want to be approached by whether and where they put the flower on that day.

It'd be even more functional if in addition to that you also had some quick conventional question, or even better just a conventional sign you make that they reciprocate or not, to know if the single-flower is attracted to you before you start the seduction act. That way guys wouldn't be wasting their time and girls wouldn't have to force politeness before rejection.

Instead we have dating apps, which are like a really strange way of doing something like that in our culture, the benefit being that you may meet women who you may otherwise not have met (whether it's the girl you're looking for, or a BDP...)

But I think the signs are all there... as long as spontaneity is also [where people are not in their heads, in some idiot ideology, or technology]. We call it flirtation - the woman flicks back her hair, gives a subtle look, sends out a certain vibe, and the man responds.

What's happening I think is people are becoming increasingly desensitized to this delicate aspect of human existence. And this is largely due to being swamped in media, hammered with ideology, drugged with porn, and hollowed out by an unromantic and mechanistic 'normalization' of life. People are losing that excess of charge, that 'overflow of spontaneous feelings' that should be the catalyst to relationships. This is where I think self-mastery/ self-disciple is important - it contains and directs this erotic energy instead of allowing it to be continually dissipated.

 

[Dingo]

Another weird thing about technology and society that I have noticed among millennial co workers.... The have virtual lives. By that I mean they interact and socialize via PDA's.... No real human contact... No going out... They "meet" and "party" if you will online. They also have "relationships" with IG girls. They think that these people are really communicating with them... Then you have the wasteland of video games...

To an older guy this is all just sad.

 

[MatureDJ]

Our current dating culture makes very little sense if you compare it to other cultures anyway. We don't have a way of determining who is single and looking, and who is not. In the pacific islands for example there's a tradition of wearing a flower on your head and the side you wear it on denotes whether you are single and looking or not. Imagine how much easier that would make everything. If s/he's got the flower on and it's on the looking side, you can talk to them, and women can choose when they want to be approached by whether and where they put the flower on that day.

I like the way the Russian gals do it:

https://jennifereremeeva.com/st-johns-eveиван-купала-ferns-and-fires-and-flesh-oh-my/

 

[MatureDJ]

This fall becomes faster if a social darwinist philosophy is followed ("there is no such thing as society" - Thatcher) and slowed if a more pro-social philosophy is followed.

What I find interesting is that the same folks that were diehard Reaganites back in the day - and Thatcher was considered to be a kindred spirit of Reagan - are now diehard Trumpists, and his stance is that the free market needs to be constrained for the benefit of the Nation - i.e., Make American Great Again by making Americans buy from expensive Americans. It's a cognitive dissonance that these rubes are not aware of in the slightest.

 

[Poonani Maker]

The reality is, that you could have fvcked her a couple of times and she just no longer sees you in a one day arbitrarily, then Report. You, as the man, disposal (in her mind). You've got no say or rebut. Everybody will believe her especially Women.

 

[ChristopherColumbus]

Another weird thing about technology and society that I have noticed among millennial co workers.... The have virtual lives. By that I mean they interact and socialize via PDA's.... No real human contact... No going out... They "meet" and "party" if you will online. They also have "relationships" with IG girls. They think that these people are really communicating with them... Then you have the wasteland of video games...

To an older guy this is all just sad.

Welcome to the dystopia. In psychological terms, we are on the cusp of some of those nightmare visions of the old sci-fi... isolate people by breaking down the bonds of real community and family, distract them, then fill their heads with some facile ideology... giving them a sense of identity and unity.

It's the new politics... only it's all been seen before in the 20th C under a different guise.

 

[ChristopherColumbus]

What I find interesting is that the same folks that were diehard Reaganites back in the day - and Thatcher was considered to be a kindred spirit of Reagan - are now diehard Trumpists, and his stance is that the free market needs to be constrained for the benefit of the Nation - i.e., Make American Great Again by making Americans buy from expensive Americans. It's a cognitive dissonance that these rubes are not aware of in the slightest.

Well, it's all new right Conservativism.... just with nationalism thrown into the mix. Internationalism was only working as long as USA and it's bulldog Britannia were the hegemonic power. Trump and his cohorts, under the present order, see American power slipping away... and instead of allowing America to age gracefully, are fighting to re-establish dominance. They should be more realistic and allow the re-emergence of a multi-polar world... because the policy they are pursuing now can only lead to war. In the age of Nukes, war between major powers is not an option.