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Norbert Wiener Kreis

@carlsachs.bsky.social

3.7K followers 2.3K following 470 posts

Philosopher (pragmatism, critical theory, 4E cognitive science). Marxist in my head, social democrat in my heart. Spinozistic panentheism. Jewish anti-Zioinist. Lifelong sci-fi nerd. he/him https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8627-2554

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Norbert Wiener Kreis @carlsachs.bsky.social · Nov 18

I've started an American philosophy/pragmatism starter pack. Let me know if you want to be added, and spread the word!
go.bsky.app/5FHqkJM

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Norbert Wiener Kreis @carlsachs.bsky.social · 22d

So let's be clear what we're up against here: we need to stop the Trump administration, its enablers in Congress and the Supreme Court, and the MAGA movement generally, from starting another civil war.

Norbert Wiener Kreis @carlsachs.bsky.social · 22d

As they see it, they lost because they weren't in control of the federal government. This time, they are.

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Norbert Wiener Kreis @carlsachs.bsky.social · 22d

The Republican Party, in its current version, is a fusion of Cold War American hatred of Communism and the Confederacy's hatred of the Union. They are committed to restarting the Civil War, on their terms.

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Norbert Wiener Kreis @carlsachs.bsky.social · 22d

Before the identity of Kirk's murderer became known, they were all set to imprison leading Democrats and outlaw the Democratic party. They will definitely try again at the next opportunity.

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Norbert Wiener Kreis @carlsachs.bsky.social · 22d

And for them, the enemy is progressives, liberals, feminists, same-sex equality advocates, and environmentalists. (Which is to say, a majority of Americans.)

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Norbert Wiener Kreis @carlsachs.bsky.social · 22d

The Trumpified Republicans are no longer even pretending to care about "free speech" or "small government". They are out to destroy the left, root and branch. This is war for them, and one does not negotiate in war -- one does everything to destroy the enemy.

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Norbert Wiener Kreis @carlsachs.bsky.social · Jul 13

On the one hand, I don't really care about "the Epstein files", because it's perfectly obvious to me that Trump is a rapist and pedophile, and I don't know what new revelations would come to light here.

On the other hand, talking about the Epstein files is making him really mad, and I like that.

Norbert Wiener Kreis @carlsachs.bsky.social · May 13

"And what does it say about our politics that the loss of employment is felt as a threat rather than as liberation? How does this specter of AI-caused job loss related to the Spinoza-Reich question: why do people fight for their servitude as if it were their freedom?"

Norbert Wiener Kreis @carlsachs.bsky.social · May 13

"And what it does it say about capitalism that this replacement is eagerly anticipated by our aspiring technofeudal overlords?"

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Norbert Wiener Kreis @carlsachs.bsky.social · May 13

The questions we ought to be asking is not "will AI become smart enough take our jobs?" but rather "what does it say about the nature of contemporary employment that the same tasks can be performed by a machine with no self-awareness, needs, interests, and concerns?"

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Norbert Wiener Kreis @carlsachs.bsky.social · Apr 15

As foretold in the ancient texts, I have just started writing about consciousness! It's not yet a paper, but I'm giving it as a co-authored talk at the beginning of May!

Reposted by Norbert Wiener Kreis

Anil Seth @anilseth.bsky.social · Apr 13

Just finished The AI Mirror by @shannonvallor.bsky.social. Very highly recommended. Transcending the stale accelerationist/doomer debate, Vallor reminds us what technology is for, and where (some of the) true dangers of AI lie. Powerful stuff, eloquently written global.oup.com/academic/pro...

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Norbert Wiener Kreis @carlsachs.bsky.social · Apr 11

You don't hate AI, you hate technofeudalism.*

* inspired by the old "you don't hate Mondays, you hate capitalism".

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Norbert Wiener Kreis @carlsachs.bsky.social · Apr 7

I quite agree. But impeachment won't happen as long as GOP control both chambers, and I don't see that changing. So, total ruin it is.

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Norbert Wiener Kreis @carlsachs.bsky.social · Apr 3

In other words, it's when Jews disavow their affective investment in Whiteness by rejecting Zionism that we become the targets of persecution from which Israel was supposed to protect us.

Norbert Wiener Kreis @carlsachs.bsky.social · Apr 3

We Jews don't support Israel because we need a refuge in the world when the white supremacists decide that we're not White enough to count; we support Israel so that the white supremacists will decide that we are White enough to count, and so won't persecute us.

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Norbert Wiener Kreis @carlsachs.bsky.social · Apr 3

But I also think this is true of Jews themselves: I think that Jews became Zionist in the course of becoming White (and conversely), and that this is the fault-line within the Jewish community today. Our attitudes towards Israel are bound up with our affective investment in Whiteness.

Norbert Wiener Kreis @carlsachs.bsky.social · Apr 3

Anti-Zionists are the bad Jews because they are at least beginning to overcome their own affective investment in Whiteness.

Norbert Wiener Kreis @carlsachs.bsky.social · Apr 3

It's as if, from the perspective of the global Right, Zionists are the good Jews because they are invested in Whiteness (Herrenvolk democracy, apartheid, settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing -- all the markers of Whiteness!).

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Norbert Wiener Kreis @carlsachs.bsky.social · Apr 3

One aspect of this (as many have noted) is that Jewish Zionists are both seen by many on the global Right as exemplary White people, and also that Jewish Zionists are themselves affectively invested in Whiteness.

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Norbert Wiener Kreis @carlsachs.bsky.social · Apr 3

I'm fascinated, terrified, and horrified at the rise of what's being called "pro-Israel antisemitism".

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Norbert Wiener Kreis @carlsachs.bsky.social · Mar 22

I like how you focus on what really matters.

Norbert Wiener Kreis @carlsachs.bsky.social · Mar 22

Musk is a technological genius in precisely the same sense that Trump is a successful businessman.

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Norbert Wiener Kreis @carlsachs.bsky.social · Mar 20

Done!

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Norbert Wiener Kreis @carlsachs.bsky.social · Mar 19

It cannot be overstated how deeply the MAGA crowd hate the America of Emerson, Whitman, Dewey, and Baldwin.