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Fringe theories always seem to cluster together. It seems weird, but mainstream theories also do, we just don’t often examine them. Examining why different theory stacks arise reveals much about our biases, ideologies, and the influence of community-based knowledge.

Ideologies stack

Article

There’s a fairly well known observation that fringe or conspiracy theories ‘stack’. If I’m the kind of person who suspects we never landed on the moon, then others are much more likely to assume I harbour doubts about who shot JFK, or concern myself over the ‘real’ motives around the public health response to the Covid-19 pandemic. But really, all theories ‘stack’ in a similar kind of way. Mainstream ones too. What I think makes these stacks interesting is looking at just what motivates these different stacks. When we compare those motivations to our own, we can learn something valuable about ourselves. Then we can learn more by asking why different stacks look different. Let me show you what I mean.

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betterment collective-architecture connection on-culture on-thinking-and-reasoning thought-architecture

article

The obsession over objectivity is a confusion of two things. There’s rationality, the desire to be less biased. Then there’s truth which is going to be necessarily biased toward whatever aspect of the world we’re trying to understand. In both cases objectivity is irrelevant.

The Trouble With Objectivity

Article

I reckon that in most cases we never really have access to the truth. We only have access to the stuff our bodies allow us to perceive. Instead, what we do is we map what we do know about the world based on what we need to achieve in the world. Facts are not really truths, but reflections of our worldly needs. Not everyone agrees with me though. In fact, there’s a lot of people who are rather obsessed with getting at the objective truth. I think that, for the most part, these people are confused about what they’re doing. Let me tell you why.

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betterment collective-architecture connection gratification on-(un)happiness on-ethics on-the-nature-of-things on-thinking-and-reasoning somatic-architecture thought-architecture

article

Your phone probably isn’t eavesdropping for ads. Your brain’s job is to highlight unexpected hits while ignoring the misses. Eerie coincidences are probably just you not noticing all the times something weird could have happened but didn’t.

Eerie coincidences aren't that eerie

Article

Is your phone listening to you? I think a fairly consensus suspicion is that it is—that social media apps are picking up your conversations to sell you ads. We suspect this because it’s surprising how often an ad will appear that reflects your recent conversations. You speak about something random—something you’d never normally talk about—and lo and behold within a couple of days you’re shown an ad for said random thing. Now, our phones may well be listening. I’m no phone expert. But I’m rarely sure this kind of suspicious coincidence is more than exactly that—coincidence. Let me tell you why.

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betterment on-being-fruitful on-thinking-and-reasoning somatic-architecture spiritual-architecture

article

Panpsychists reckon they’ve one-upped materialists and non-materialists in explaining how consciousness might have come to be by telling us that everything is conscious. Then they just leave us hanging.

Panpsychism isn't that fun

Article

Panpsychism tries to explain that the mental aspects of the world are a fundamental feature of reality. On the surface, it seems like panpsychism might have answers for people who’ve had feelings of one-ness with the world, or a sense of eternity that often comes with the insight that there is some kind of universal consciousness to the world. Alas, I doubt you’re going to find it very satisfying. Let me tell you why.

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betterment on-aesthetics on-the-nature-of-things thought-architecture

article

Rituals are often dismissed, but they’re just procedures with a purpose. We all engage in ritualistic behavior—many habits and routines meet this criteria. Redefining them through the uncomfortable lens of ritual prompts us to question our own practices and beliefs.

The value of ritual

Article

The word ritual is a dirty one. They are dark, they are secret, they are rites to pagan gods. Or perhaps, it’s a silly word. Rituals are things done by woo-woo crystal people, pretending to do magic. In both cases, the word is used to delegitimise the spiritual practices of people at odds with our cultural value set. We know this because rituals in culturally normative religions and institutions are called ‘traditions’. But viewing our actions through the lens of ritual, rather than calling them habits or practices or routines, invites us to question them. And we could all probably do a little more of that.

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betterment on-(un)happiness on-being-fruitful on-thinking-and-reasoning somatic-architecture spiritual-architecture wealth-architecture

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