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"During our conversation, I was continually struck by the degree to which Hotz and his company are anti-mimetic. Like many founders of tech startups—thanks to t
by moab 5y ago
"During our conversation, I was continually struck by the degree to which Hotz and his company are anti-mimetic. Like many founders of tech startups—thanks to the influence of Peter Thiel – Hotz has a passing familiarity with René Girard’s theory of mimetic desire. The theory, now supported by a trove of empirical evidence, posits that our desires do not originate in us but are always learned from models."
Perhaps not so relevant, but here is a nice read about Girard: https://arcade.stanford.edu/rofl/deceit-desire-and-literature-professor-why-girardians-exist https://arcade.stanford.edu/rofl/deceit-desire-and-literatur...
- mach1ne 5y agoCertainly not all desires are learned from models, some are a combination of biological mechanisms combined with exposure. Food is an obvious example from the far end.
- LudwigNagasena 5y agoIt’s one of those vague motte-and-bailey things that can either mean something true but unremarkable or something fascinating but utterly wrong.
- octoberfranklin 5y agoFor those who've never heard of Girard's theories, this is a better (and more concise) starting point: http://www.imitatio.org/brief-intro http://www.imitatio.org/brief-intro Then you can read the link above, which assumes you're familiar with this stuff and pokes fun at it in the in the most verbose way possible.
- Kina 5y ago> Back more than 50 years ago, René Girard started teaching French literature because he needed a job. He hadn't even read many of the books he was assigned to teach. Then, as he studied the classic novels of Stendhal and Proust with a fresh mind, staying one step ahead of his students, he was struck by a series of similarities from novel to novel. Unbound by any narrow research agenda, Girard discovered a simple but powerful pattern that had eluded sophisticated critics before him: imitation is the fundamental mechanism of human behavior. This could be a hagiography or a joke, it works either way.
- leobg 5y agoBuffett said something Girardian, too: “It’s not greed that moves the world, but envy.”
- fuzzfactor 5y agoI always liked it where he said: “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” and of course: “If we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane.”