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The Puritan and the modern intellect-centered (technical, ideological, on social media a lot...) type person have something in common. Both put "the life of the

The Puritan and the modern intellect-centered (technical, ideological, on social media a lot...) type person have something in common. Both put "the life of the mind" first and the real world second. Maybe they both seek to surround themselves with drab, undistracting stuff so they can focus better on their mental life.

xbar 4y ago
I wish I could credit the drivers of these cars with a new sense of austerity in order to find depth in their mental life. But I have seen the folks that climb out of clay-color Dodge Challengers. They do not convince me that such focus drives their decision-making.
- swayvil 4y ago
  The preference for drab colors need not be a choice made for austerity's sake. It could be that after living in your head all day, bright colors are just unpleasant. On a related note, I know 3 couples who party a lot. Large quantities of alchohol and cocaine. All 3 redecorated their home in gray, black and chrome. I think we're seeing a drug-induced change in how they appreciate colors.
  - jabl 4y ago
    > It could be that after living in your head all day, bright colors are just unpleasant. Doesn't have to be "living in your head", some people are just very easily distracted by bright colors, or visual chaos in general.
  - baandam 4y ago
    Gray and black walls though really make for a nice "frame" when you hang artwork. I find the number of people with bare white walls far stranger.
lelanthran 4y ago
That doesn't make sense to me: if someone is seeking: > to surround themselves with drab, undistracting stuff so that they can better focus on their mental life They wouldn't be buying an expensive German automobile or sports car in the first place, regardless of the colour.
dsfyu404ed 4y ago
>The Puritan and the modern intellect-centered (technical, ideological, on social media a lot...) type person have something in common As someone who is more read I care to be about the culture of early new england I feel very comfortable (and by comfortable, I mean I hate it and I think that it is a terrible trend) saying that the current crop of people who fancy themselves intellectuals and historical puritans have approximately the same politics. They have some radically different beliefs about acceptable behavior but the overarching fundamentals about right vs wrong and community, family and self line up very well. This is not a compliment.
- baandam 4y ago
  The worst part to me is we are basically encoding puritanical values into the "soul" and bedrock foundations of AI for all future generations. "Impure thoughts are a danger to democracy, access denied."
  - swayvil 4y ago
    The nightmare is no further than the latest social-media conversation. How can you tell when somebody has been removed from the conversation? How does a conversation that's been tweaked visibly differ from normal? We could be living in a world of total bullshit, yet oblivious.

xbar 4y ago

I wish I could credit the drivers of these cars with a new sense of austerity in order to find depth in their mental life. But I have seen the folks that climb out of clay-color Dodge Challengers. They do not convince me that such focus drives their decision-making.

swayvil 4y ago
The preference for drab colors need not be a choice made for austerity's sake. It could be that after living in your head all day, bright colors are just unpleasant. On a related note, I know 3 couples who party a lot. Large quantities of alchohol and cocaine. All 3 redecorated their home in gray, black and chrome. I think we're seeing a drug-induced change in how they appreciate colors.
- jabl 4y ago
  > It could be that after living in your head all day, bright colors are just unpleasant. Doesn't have to be "living in your head", some people are just very easily distracted by bright colors, or visual chaos in general.
- baandam 4y ago
  Gray and black walls though really make for a nice "frame" when you hang artwork. I find the number of people with bare white walls far stranger.

lelanthran 4y ago

That doesn't make sense to me: if someone is seeking: > to surround themselves with drab, undistracting stuff so that they can better focus on their mental life They wouldn't be buying an expensive German automobile or sports car in the first place, regardless of the colour.

dsfyu404ed 4y ago

>The Puritan and the modern intellect-centered (technical, ideological, on social media a lot...) type person have something in common As someone who is more read I care to be about the culture of early new england I feel very comfortable (and by comfortable, I mean I hate it and I think that it is a terrible trend) saying that the current crop of people who fancy themselves intellectuals and historical puritans have approximately the same politics. They have some radically different beliefs about acceptable behavior but the overarching fundamentals about right vs wrong and community, family and self line up very well. This is not a compliment.

baandam 4y ago
The worst part to me is we are basically encoding puritanical values into the "soul" and bedrock foundations of AI for all future generations. "Impure thoughts are a danger to democracy, access denied."
- swayvil 4y ago
  The nightmare is no further than the latest social-media conversation. How can you tell when somebody has been removed from the conversation? How does a conversation that's been tweaked visibly differ from normal? We could be living in a world of total bullshit, yet oblivious.