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- Irony must ironically be reclaimed from cheap irony; gold separated from dross.
- The contradiction of the machine age was that machines made people work more even though they were supposed to help people work less. The contradiction of the smartphone age is that phones make us feel less connected to each other even though they’re supposed to make us feel more connected.
3. Marx compared bourgeoisie society to a sorcerer who can no longer control the powers of the underworld; how applicable that trope is to the Facebook scandal — to the economics of tech in general.
4. Is the wasteland in the world or in us? Both? Or neither?
5. The ultimate (and yet banal) taboo of capitalism: that it forces us to exploit each other.
6. The ultimate (and yet banal) taboo of contemporary capitalism: that it makes it easy exploit each other.
7. Beware historians who make the past seem silly or insignificant; like a costume drama. One day — we will be that costume drama.
8. The human body is simply not adapted to the tasks assigned to it by the human brain.
9. A good critic sharpens reality to a point, then turns it against themselves.
Find more of my work here:
https://www.spdbooks.org/Products/9781944697235/orchid-elegy.aspx
