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I had a lot of fun with the postmodernist thinkers in college, and they expanded my brain in the same way that Haskell did. Unfortunately, I found that much lik

I had a lot of fun with the postmodernist thinkers in college, and they expanded my brain in the same way that Haskell did. Unfortunately, I found that much like Haskell (forgive me, Haskell, for the uncharitable analogy), I did not find much use for it after college. As another comment alludes to here, I found the tools I learned about through the postmodernists most useful for taking things apart -- with some exceptions (Baudrillard, Lyotard, Guattari). However, when it came to putting them back together again and doing something useful, I often felt I was somewhat on my own. Perhaps others have gone through the same realization. There are a couple of thinkers on the math/philosophy side (Gödel, Peirce, Wittgenstein, Cantor, Church), the cultural theory side (McLuhan, Paglia, Lasch), the literary fiction side (Gibson, Borges, Calvino, Tsutsui), the experimental composer side (Webern) and the pop music side (Prince, Martin, Jackson, etc) that I've been able to draw creative inspiration from. But by and large, it's been individuals, not really movements. Maybe that's just how it is with any movement?

mycologos 6y ago
> Prince, Martin, Jackson, etc Assuming Prince is "the" Prince and Jackson is Michael Jackson, if I understand your comment correctly, you're describing them as "postmodern thinkers". If so, why? Or maybe you're just describing inspirational individuals in general?
- yowlingcat 6y ago
  Sorry, I think the way I phrased it was ambiguous. I was phrasing them in contrast to literal "postmodern thinkers" in that they're pop culture creators who achieved significant impact in the postmodern cultural millieu. It's true that you could consider them "postmodern thinkers" but I don't know how much I'd agree with that. For me, it's more they fill in the gaps of what I was looking for (perhaps for guidance, perhaps for inspiration, perhaps just for a role model) when I read the postmodern thinkers, searching for tools I could use to reconstruct -- not just deconstruct. Let me add in another thinker here who in a very literal sense fills in the gaps between the two groups -- Terre Thaemlitz [1], who is both a postmodern thinker and a DJ. I suppose one could also cite early Nick Land [2], given his seminal importance in the establishment of the CCRU at University of Warwick, which straddled the divide of postmodernism and rave culture. Unfortunately, Nick Land does end up moving into less savory territory [3] more recently; I view that era more as a cautionary tale than anything. [1] http://www.comatonse.com/writings/becoming-minor.html http://www.comatonse.com/writings/becoming-minor.html [2] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10838202-fanged-noumena https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10838202-fanged-noumena [3] https://jacobitemag.com/2017/05/25/a-quick-and-dirty-introduction-to-accelerationism/ https://jacobitemag.com/2017/05/25/a-quick-and-dirty-introdu...

mycologos 6y ago

> Prince, Martin, Jackson, etc Assuming Prince is "the" Prince and Jackson is Michael Jackson, if I understand your comment correctly, you're describing them as "postmodern thinkers". If so, why? Or maybe you're just describing inspirational individuals in general?

yowlingcat 6y ago
Sorry, I think the way I phrased it was ambiguous. I was phrasing them in contrast to literal "postmodern thinkers" in that they're pop culture creators who achieved significant impact in the postmodern cultural millieu. It's true that you could consider them "postmodern thinkers" but I don't know how much I'd agree with that. For me, it's more they fill in the gaps of what I was looking for (perhaps for guidance, perhaps for inspiration, perhaps just for a role model) when I read the postmodern thinkers, searching for tools I could use to reconstruct -- not just deconstruct. Let me add in another thinker here who in a very literal sense fills in the gaps between the two groups -- Terre Thaemlitz [1], who is both a postmodern thinker and a DJ. I suppose one could also cite early Nick Land [2], given his seminal importance in the establishment of the CCRU at University of Warwick, which straddled the divide of postmodernism and rave culture. Unfortunately, Nick Land does end up moving into less savory territory [3] more recently; I view that era more as a cautionary tale than anything. [1] http://www.comatonse.com/writings/becoming-minor.html http://www.comatonse.com/writings/becoming-minor.html [2] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10838202-fanged-noumena https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10838202-fanged-noumena [3] https://jacobitemag.com/2017/05/25/a-quick-and-dirty-introduction-to-accelerationism/ https://jacobitemag.com/2017/05/25/a-quick-and-dirty-introdu...