Stunning piece as always! Your discussion on "individual vs society" made me think about Iris Murdoch's work, which I read recently. In particular your words about seeking individual gain at the cost of the broader environment made me think of this passage from her book:
"What we have never had, of course, is a satisfactory Liberal theory of personality, a theory of man as free and separate and related to a rich and complicated world from which, as a moral being, he has much to learn. We have bought the Liberal theory as it stands, because we have wished to encourage people to think of themselves as free, at the cost of surrendering the background."
I too feel that at some point the notion of freedom will find itself encapsulated in a messy web of contradiction between objective/scientific reality and the individual machine of self-desire. I think we need a globally unified vocabulary to capture that contradiction or paradox that there is no 'real freedom' without a broader appreciation of the complex causal chains our actions have on the world.
This is so well put. It's been many years since I read Murdoch (I think I went through a strong phase of her novels after the Judi Dench/Kate Winslet movie came out), but she encapsulated that contradiction so beautifully. But that third paragraph of yours also puts it perfectly. There *is* a contradiction in freedom because it doesn't exist in a vacuum.
>>"I keep meaning to write about light, about sunlight and darkness and what it feels like to watch the sky slowly lighten as the planet turns for a couple of hours, to watch Sirius move from high in the sky to behind a neighbor’s larch tree until the sky is day-bright, and to watch it slowly darken long after the sun has set."
Also - would you say your creative writing brain is also tethered to the light? If so - how do you manage this? Do you manage it, or does it just kind of happen? If you don't already, could you maybe tether a daily writing routine or prompt to that light? When is the time the light will help you most to write about light?
(A thing I've always liked about the idea of writing to the light: because of changing daylight hours, it's a seasonal creative cycle, building to a crescendo in the summer. Feels a bit like a training routine, with the longest day of summer as the target for bringing it all together.)
Also, I would love to read a long deep dive into "freedom," that word being thrown around so flippantly and self-righteously these last few years, so selfishly. 'Freedom From' vs 'Freedom To' sounds like a brilliant place to start. As you say, somehow freedom now means "the right to do what I feel like" for so many people, and if that's not a complete misreading of the purpose of societal freedoms I don't know what is...
So, I'd love to read it by you, at Aeon.
I know, I know. (I'm just being a pest.)
Regarding NFTs, I share your feelings. I'm trying to keep an open mind on this issue as so many tech-industry friends keep telling me that in *principle* they're amazing for creators of all kinds, even if in *practice* right now they're a sack of...something unpleasant. One question I can't get out of my head: does anyone buy NFTs because they genuinely like and enjoy them as a thing in themselves? Because if the answer is "haha no," isn't that a colossal alarm-bell as to the real worth of them beyond the stock-market-gambling side of things?
I could go on. But for 2022, I promised to limit each of my comments to less than 10,000 words. So, fin.
ps. That top photo is completely gorgeous, and reminds me so hard of my favourite videogame:
At this point it's just going to be, "You write about X at Aeon," "No, YOU write about Y for Aeon," "But what about if YOU write about Z for Aeon" . . . 😂. I wonder though if Aeon might have already published something on the philosophy of freedom that I've forgotten about or missed. I'll have to look.
That photo is almost like the same photo! Wild. My mother commented to me that the effect might also have occurred after the volcano eruption because of particles drifting around the world, but I do think it was just weird icy fog. We get that here since there's a large lake right at the bottom of the ski mountain.
I hadn't thought about whether or not people actually *like* their NFTs but now I can't think of an example where someone purchased one they actually love, only as an investment. You're right, that does seem like an alarm bell. But what do I know! I get the principle, but just don't think the logic holds up. Aside from that, the environmental impact of anything that uses blockchain technology is like a freaking freight train crashing all over the place (that metaphor doesn't work, sorry). And it's so odd, like the energy use of it gets mentioned more often now but then quickly sidestepped. Like, "Hm, this seems like an enormous problem maybe we should think about more seriously, but look! Squirrel!"
I have NEVER thought about writing to the light. Honestly! But now I am and am very curious. As you point out, it would change drastically depending on where you live. Our days are pretty long in summer, but Scotland's are much longer. For most of my adult life I was basically a "get up between 4 and 5 and write before most other humans are moving around" but the pandemic somehow nicked that out from under me. I can't seem to wake up early anymore.
Interestingly, the Pondercast podcast started out as a way to experiment with darkness and night. (I met the host at an interdisciplinary artists' residency in 2016 when she was thinking of a book about night, before she had the podcast idea.) She still does a fair few episodes about it, what happens when we give up artificial light, and what kinds of knowledge night holds for us. Sounds like . . . something you might do a season on at some point ;)
What a wonderful and delightful column! Loved the Freedom From vs Freedom To thoughts, and the implications, esp how personal responsibility seems to have morphed into doing whatever one's wants. And it's an eternal struggle, only conversations/discussions/engagement can find a balance in each situation. And not sure we can artfully do those discussion today.
Love the pics! A great time of year for light, as the sun stays lower in the horizon. Did not realize you have night skiing (assume you mean at a lift served area?), we have 2 areas I am aware of that have it. Too cold for me :-).
tnx for Scott's article on NFTs, and Roberts' quote is so good about the long view. You are probably aware of: https://longnow.org/clock/
I love Math too - was math major back in the Stone Ages. Thanks for that link.
I was a math major, too! I retain a love of it. Wish I'd pursued it to graduate school but I wasn't really good enough and ended up following other paths anyway.
I think the freedom discussion is always eternal. Maybe our first step right now as societies is to even remember there's a conversation to be had.
I found that NFT article helpful. I'm not so interested in NFTs myself (I don't collect regular art, much less intangible art!), but as always am trying to find ways to think about emerging technologies that will help us understand how they'll affect our future. Something more than "I saw that Black Mirror episode and it didn't turn out well," which is my usual response!
Yes, Big Mountain in Whitefish has night skiing Friday and Saturday evenings. You can see the lights all the way across the valley after it's gotten dark -- another struggle with the joy of an activity facing its larger impact.
My goodness, those photos. I love the changing light too. I am up early enough every day to see it arrive, change the view both east and west, in all kinds of weather. I'm generally there for the sunset too, and it occurs to me for all my talk of it, I need to do a better job of making sure I DO see both events, every day. They are glorious.
I never thought of it before but you are right: "at some point the desire to damage the commons for profit or other kind of personal gain—or just because you feel like doing something and don’t want to be restricted—at some point requires science denial." Anyone with any respect for science and "resources" can't possibly believe we are dealing with a planet that offers infinite abundance. One can argue that our ancestors didn't understand that so well, but today? Or even over the last century or so? It is a callousness and disregard for the future that I simply can't get my head around.
I will say I enjoy taking my morning coffee with your thoughts, my dear friend.
The failure of policy to catch up with ecological knowledge leaves me speechless a lot of the time. I know the reasons, kind of, but the depth of denial is still hard to grasp. (The thing about requiring science denial came to mind when pondering the Berkeley Pit but obviously applies to viruses and all kinds of ecological damage.)
I know, but in truth I did stumble over use of that word. What word does describe the legal frameworks, backed up by government enforcement, that forces use of land, water, etc., that are so destructive? "Policy" makes it sound so bland, when in fact it hides monumental destruction and crime.
Stunning piece as always! Your discussion on "individual vs society" made me think about Iris Murdoch's work, which I read recently. In particular your words about seeking individual gain at the cost of the broader environment made me think of this passage from her book:
"What we have never had, of course, is a satisfactory Liberal theory of personality, a theory of man as free and separate and related to a rich and complicated world from which, as a moral being, he has much to learn. We have bought the Liberal theory as it stands, because we have wished to encourage people to think of themselves as free, at the cost of surrendering the background."
I too feel that at some point the notion of freedom will find itself encapsulated in a messy web of contradiction between objective/scientific reality and the individual machine of self-desire. I think we need a globally unified vocabulary to capture that contradiction or paradox that there is no 'real freedom' without a broader appreciation of the complex causal chains our actions have on the world.
This is so well put. It's been many years since I read Murdoch (I think I went through a strong phase of her novels after the Judi Dench/Kate Winslet movie came out), but she encapsulated that contradiction so beautifully. But that third paragraph of yours also puts it perfectly. There *is* a contradiction in freedom because it doesn't exist in a vacuum.
>>"I keep meaning to write about light, about sunlight and darkness and what it feels like to watch the sky slowly lighten as the planet turns for a couple of hours, to watch Sirius move from high in the sky to behind a neighbor’s larch tree until the sky is day-bright, and to watch it slowly darken long after the sun has set."
PLEASE DO. MORE OF THIS. PLEASE. TA.
(Kathleen Jamie's essay on the sacred, welcoming darkness of Orkney was one of those "I still want to be writer but I'll never be a writer like THIS" moments for me: https://www.theguardian.com/books/lrb/articles/0,,1124890,00.html)
Also - would you say your creative writing brain is also tethered to the light? If so - how do you manage this? Do you manage it, or does it just kind of happen? If you don't already, could you maybe tether a daily writing routine or prompt to that light? When is the time the light will help you most to write about light?
(A thing I've always liked about the idea of writing to the light: because of changing daylight hours, it's a seasonal creative cycle, building to a crescendo in the summer. Feels a bit like a training routine, with the longest day of summer as the target for bringing it all together.)
Also, I would love to read a long deep dive into "freedom," that word being thrown around so flippantly and self-righteously these last few years, so selfishly. 'Freedom From' vs 'Freedom To' sounds like a brilliant place to start. As you say, somehow freedom now means "the right to do what I feel like" for so many people, and if that's not a complete misreading of the purpose of societal freedoms I don't know what is...
So, I'd love to read it by you, at Aeon.
I know, I know. (I'm just being a pest.)
Regarding NFTs, I share your feelings. I'm trying to keep an open mind on this issue as so many tech-industry friends keep telling me that in *principle* they're amazing for creators of all kinds, even if in *practice* right now they're a sack of...something unpleasant. One question I can't get out of my head: does anyone buy NFTs because they genuinely like and enjoy them as a thing in themselves? Because if the answer is "haha no," isn't that a colossal alarm-bell as to the real worth of them beyond the stock-market-gambling side of things?
I could go on. But for 2022, I promised to limit each of my comments to less than 10,000 words. So, fin.
ps. That top photo is completely gorgeous, and reminds me so hard of my favourite videogame:
https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ITk_s_S1tD625EmQ8CTacGfjpTY=/0x0:2558x1443/1200x800/filters:focal(1075x518:1483x926)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/55981515/TheLongDark_EdgeofTown.0.png
At this point it's just going to be, "You write about X at Aeon," "No, YOU write about Y for Aeon," "But what about if YOU write about Z for Aeon" . . . 😂. I wonder though if Aeon might have already published something on the philosophy of freedom that I've forgotten about or missed. I'll have to look.
That photo is almost like the same photo! Wild. My mother commented to me that the effect might also have occurred after the volcano eruption because of particles drifting around the world, but I do think it was just weird icy fog. We get that here since there's a large lake right at the bottom of the ski mountain.
I hadn't thought about whether or not people actually *like* their NFTs but now I can't think of an example where someone purchased one they actually love, only as an investment. You're right, that does seem like an alarm bell. But what do I know! I get the principle, but just don't think the logic holds up. Aside from that, the environmental impact of anything that uses blockchain technology is like a freaking freight train crashing all over the place (that metaphor doesn't work, sorry). And it's so odd, like the energy use of it gets mentioned more often now but then quickly sidestepped. Like, "Hm, this seems like an enormous problem maybe we should think about more seriously, but look! Squirrel!"
I have NEVER thought about writing to the light. Honestly! But now I am and am very curious. As you point out, it would change drastically depending on where you live. Our days are pretty long in summer, but Scotland's are much longer. For most of my adult life I was basically a "get up between 4 and 5 and write before most other humans are moving around" but the pandemic somehow nicked that out from under me. I can't seem to wake up early anymore.
Interestingly, the Pondercast podcast started out as a way to experiment with darkness and night. (I met the host at an interdisciplinary artists' residency in 2016 when she was thinking of a book about night, before she had the podcast idea.) She still does a fair few episodes about it, what happens when we give up artificial light, and what kinds of knowledge night holds for us. Sounds like . . . something you might do a season on at some point ;)
What a wonderful and delightful column! Loved the Freedom From vs Freedom To thoughts, and the implications, esp how personal responsibility seems to have morphed into doing whatever one's wants. And it's an eternal struggle, only conversations/discussions/engagement can find a balance in each situation. And not sure we can artfully do those discussion today.
Love the pics! A great time of year for light, as the sun stays lower in the horizon. Did not realize you have night skiing (assume you mean at a lift served area?), we have 2 areas I am aware of that have it. Too cold for me :-).
tnx for Scott's article on NFTs, and Roberts' quote is so good about the long view. You are probably aware of: https://longnow.org/clock/
I love Math too - was math major back in the Stone Ages. Thanks for that link.
I was a math major, too! I retain a love of it. Wish I'd pursued it to graduate school but I wasn't really good enough and ended up following other paths anyway.
I think the freedom discussion is always eternal. Maybe our first step right now as societies is to even remember there's a conversation to be had.
Ross Andersen is a wonderful writer on deep time. He wrote this for Aeon about a star viewing place that has I think a similar purpose to the Long Now clock (?) before he became science editor at The Atlantic: https://aeon.co/essays/the-one-place-where-it-s-possible-to-truly-see-the-night-sky
I found that NFT article helpful. I'm not so interested in NFTs myself (I don't collect regular art, much less intangible art!), but as always am trying to find ways to think about emerging technologies that will help us understand how they'll affect our future. Something more than "I saw that Black Mirror episode and it didn't turn out well," which is my usual response!
Yes, Big Mountain in Whitefish has night skiing Friday and Saturday evenings. You can see the lights all the way across the valley after it's gotten dark -- another struggle with the joy of an activity facing its larger impact.
My goodness, those photos. I love the changing light too. I am up early enough every day to see it arrive, change the view both east and west, in all kinds of weather. I'm generally there for the sunset too, and it occurs to me for all my talk of it, I need to do a better job of making sure I DO see both events, every day. They are glorious.
I never thought of it before but you are right: "at some point the desire to damage the commons for profit or other kind of personal gain—or just because you feel like doing something and don’t want to be restricted—at some point requires science denial." Anyone with any respect for science and "resources" can't possibly believe we are dealing with a planet that offers infinite abundance. One can argue that our ancestors didn't understand that so well, but today? Or even over the last century or so? It is a callousness and disregard for the future that I simply can't get my head around.
I will say I enjoy taking my morning coffee with your thoughts, my dear friend.
The failure of policy to catch up with ecological knowledge leaves me speechless a lot of the time. I know the reasons, kind of, but the depth of denial is still hard to grasp. (The thing about requiring science denial came to mind when pondering the Berkeley Pit but obviously applies to viruses and all kinds of ecological damage.)
I feel like "policy" almost gives it too respectful of a name.
I feel like you are right. Sloppy language on my part.
I just meant generally. Not your use of it.
I know, but in truth I did stumble over use of that word. What word does describe the legal frameworks, backed up by government enforcement, that forces use of land, water, etc., that are so destructive? "Policy" makes it sound so bland, when in fact it hides monumental destruction and crime.
Fuckery?