Thanks for the shout out! Love this, a preliminary "bestiary" of ideas as I see it, and I'm thankful to you for clearly differentiating my ideas from the whole "meme" discourse; I was careful not to use that word in the original post because I am really saying something quite different as you noted (memes are viruses, ideas are organisms). OK now for me to stop putting off the follow up post I've been planning to write....
Red Pill (naturally true but obscure, e.g. EvoPsych) = No Need to Try, Blue Pill (popular ideas, e.g. blind optimism) = Pretty Ideas, Purple Pill (conventional "rat-race" ideas, e.g. psuedo-intellectualism) = Makeup
White Pill (bad "self improvement" advice e.g. egoism) = Stop thinking, Green Pill (paranoid e.g. post-humanism) = Want Your Life
Black Pill (doom and gloom) = Want You To Lose, Clear Pill (useful lenses e.g. sociological nuance) = Want You To Win
3. Green Pill and Blue Pill are both entertainment devices, but one is smarter than the other. There is something of a "midwit matrix" or "luxury ideas" going on it seems.
Red Pill (naturally true but obscure, e.g. EvoPsych) = No Need to Try, Blue Pill (popular ideas, e.g. blind optimism) = Pretty Ideas, Purple Pill (conventional "rat-race" ideas, e.g. psuedo-intellectualism) = Makeup
White Pill (bad "self improvement" advice e.g. egoism) = Stop thinking, Green Pill (paranoid e.g. post-humanism) = Want Your Life
Black Pill (doom and gloom) = Want You To Lose, Clear Pill (useful lenses e.g. sociological nuance) = Want You To Win
3. Green Pill and Blue Pill are both entertainment devices, but one is smarter than the other. There is something of a "midwit matrix" or "luxury ideas" going on it seems.
whoa, you made this? https://hypertextliterature.netlify.app/ pretty cool!
Thanks for the shout out! Love this, a preliminary "bestiary" of ideas as I see it, and I'm thankful to you for clearly differentiating my ideas from the whole "meme" discourse; I was careful not to use that word in the original post because I am really saying something quite different as you noted (memes are viruses, ideas are organisms). OK now for me to stop putting off the follow up post I've been planning to write....
Time to make color codes for these categories.
Red Pill (naturally true but obscure, e.g. EvoPsych) = No Need to Try, Blue Pill (popular ideas, e.g. blind optimism) = Pretty Ideas, Purple Pill (conventional "rat-race" ideas, e.g. psuedo-intellectualism) = Makeup
White Pill (bad "self improvement" advice e.g. egoism) = Stop thinking, Green Pill (paranoid e.g. post-humanism) = Want Your Life
Black Pill (doom and gloom) = Want You To Lose, Clear Pill (useful lenses e.g. sociological nuance) = Want You To Win
Problem and clarification with these categories:
1. Red Pill and Clear Pill is distinct between what is true and what is useful (see title of https://ritholtz.com/2010/10/do-you-wanna-be-right-or-do-you-wanna-make-money/)
2. Purple Pill, White Pill, and Black Pills are all psychological traps that serves similar functions (they correspond to the three typology of stories in https://americanmind.org/salvo/the-clear-pill-part-1-of-5-the-four-stroke-regime/)
3. Green Pill and Blue Pill are both entertainment devices, but one is smarter than the other. There is something of a "midwit matrix" or "luxury ideas" going on it seems.
Time to make color codes for these categories.
Red Pill (naturally true but obscure, e.g. EvoPsych) = No Need to Try, Blue Pill (popular ideas, e.g. blind optimism) = Pretty Ideas, Purple Pill (conventional "rat-race" ideas, e.g. psuedo-intellectualism) = Makeup
White Pill (bad "self improvement" advice e.g. egoism) = Stop thinking, Green Pill (paranoid e.g. post-humanism) = Want Your Life
Black Pill (doom and gloom) = Want You To Lose, Clear Pill (useful lenses e.g. sociological nuance) = Want You To Win
Problem and clarification with these categories:
1. Red Pill and Clear Pill is distinct between what is true and what is useful (see title of https://ritholtz.com/2010/10/do-you-wanna-be-right-or-do-you-wanna-make-money/)
2. Purple Pill, White Pill, and Black Pills are all psychological traps that serves similar functions (they correspond to the three typology of stories in https://americanmind.org/salvo/the-clear-pill-part-1-of-5-the-four-stroke-regime/)
3. Green Pill and Blue Pill are both entertainment devices, but one is smarter than the other. There is something of a "midwit matrix" or "luxury ideas" going on it seems.