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I mean, wouldn't a true nihilist simply not care to spread awareness of their position? Maybe there are plenty and they just don't give a shit.

__s 5y ago
Yep. Lots of philosophies which by their nature aren't successful on the basis of memetic evolution preferring ideas that encourage their hosts to propagate them more. Rather than being actively taught they're something which either have to be observed or deduced Like minimalism. Sure, there's the minimalism that's being sold, but that's some mutant strain made to be able to market The Index Card is a bit amusing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Index_Card https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Index_Card where it's rooted on something free (the content of the index card), yet somehow they've tried to expand on it enough to be able to have something to sell I think this also shows up with corrupt people reaching places of power, where you can't blame them so much as the power structure selecting corrupt people for its own self propagation (the idea that "It Is Difficult to Get a Man to Understand Something When His Salary Depends Upon His Not Understanding It" can arise without the man being willfully ignorant when there was a selection process for someone capable of that ignorance)
- mmazing 5y ago
  I think another good example is psychopaths. There are plenty floating around, but it's sort of the prime feature of their behavior - they really only care about themselves. So, why would they write a book to give society a glimpse? Their motives simply don't align with that goal, because it's the literal definition of their behavior.
  - ip26 5y ago
    Hmm, but a narcissist would want everyone else to appreciate how great they are, and we know psychopathy and narcissism tend to go together…
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
mrweasel 5y ago
A few of the open Danish nihilist declared their intention to run for parliament a few years back, with The Nihilists People Party (or something like that). The thing is, you need around 20.000 signatures to get you party listed at the next election. The Nihilists party knew this, but didn't really cared to collect the signatures.
- simonh 5y ago
  Apathetics of the world unite! Or not, whatever.
  - labster 5y ago
    I was planning to register the Procrastination Party. I guess I’ll do it next week.
soheil 5y ago
If you look really closely you'll see all the nihilists here flooding this thread by their silence.
acituan 5y ago
Yup, that is actively coupled to depression and most people can't talk about it to help themselves. Problem with advocation of "nihilism" that gets distributed widely is that it is a performative contradiction. In reality it is either about a wish fulfillment gesture on absolute freedom; a misguided attempt at individuation that ends up objectifying self into a nothing-burger or it is a pragmatic cynicism that seeks to stop the "explore" and promote the "exploit" in explore/exploit tradeoff every agent has to make by asserting there is nothing to explore.

__s 5y ago

Yep. Lots of philosophies which by their nature aren't successful on the basis of memetic evolution preferring ideas that encourage their hosts to propagate them more. Rather than being actively taught they're something which either have to be observed or deduced Like minimalism. Sure, there's the minimalism that's being sold, but that's some mutant strain made to be able to market The Index Card is a bit amusing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Index_Card https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Index_Card where it's rooted on something free (the content of the index card), yet somehow they've tried to expand on it enough to be able to have something to sell I think this also shows up with corrupt people reaching places of power, where you can't blame them so much as the power structure selecting corrupt people for its own self propagation (the idea that "It Is Difficult to Get a Man to Understand Something When His Salary Depends Upon His Not Understanding It" can arise without the man being willfully ignorant when there was a selection process for someone capable of that ignorance)

mmazing 5y ago
I think another good example is psychopaths. There are plenty floating around, but it's sort of the prime feature of their behavior - they really only care about themselves. So, why would they write a book to give society a glimpse? Their motives simply don't align with that goal, because it's the literal definition of their behavior.
- ip26 5y ago
  Hmm, but a narcissist would want everyone else to appreciate how great they are, and we know psychopathy and narcissism tend to go together…

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

mrweasel 5y ago

A few of the open Danish nihilist declared their intention to run for parliament a few years back, with The Nihilists People Party (or something like that). The thing is, you need around 20.000 signatures to get you party listed at the next election. The Nihilists party knew this, but didn't really cared to collect the signatures.

simonh 5y ago
Apathetics of the world unite! Or not, whatever.
- labster 5y ago
  I was planning to register the Procrastination Party. I guess I’ll do it next week.

soheil 5y ago

If you look really closely you'll see all the nihilists here flooding this thread by their silence.

acituan 5y ago

Yup, that is actively coupled to depression and most people can't talk about it to help themselves. Problem with advocation of "nihilism" that gets distributed widely is that it is a performative contradiction. In reality it is either about a wish fulfillment gesture on absolute freedom; a misguided attempt at individuation that ends up objectifying self into a nothing-burger or it is a pragmatic cynicism that seeks to stop the "explore" and promote the "exploit" in explore/exploit tradeoff every agent has to make by asserting there is nothing to explore.