let's THiNK about it

In the latest episode of Let Us Think About It , host Ryder Richards tackles the provocative and polarizing work of Ward Churchill, Pacifism as Pathology . Published in 1986 and later expanded, this essay challenges the sanctity of nonviolent activism, arguing that it not only fails to dismantle oppressive systems but actively reinforces the state’s power. Churchill, a controversial scholar and ac...

In Step 87 of LetUsThinkAboutIt, host Ryder Richards dives into Part II of Richard Rorty’s Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity (1989), exploring the clash between ironists and metaphysicians. Fresh off recording Step 86, Ryder unpacks Rorty’s seductive vision of the liberal ironist—a figure who privately doubts their beliefs while publicly fighting cruelty, as defined by Judith Shklar’s maxim, “cru...

In "Step 88: Rorty’s Solidarity," the concluding episode of our three-part series on Richard Rorty’s Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity (1989), host Ryder Richards explores Part III, Chapters 7–9, where Rorty tackles cruelty and solidarity. Rorty argues that solidarity isn’t a universal human essence but a contingent creation, forged through imaginative identification with others’ pain via narrati...

In the first of a three-part series on Richard Rorty’s Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity (1989), Let Us Think About It delves into the concept of contingency .  Host Ryder Richards guides listeners through Rorty’s radical argument that language, selfhood, and liberal communities are not grounded in universal truths but are crafted through historical chance, like tools in a dynamic toolkit.  Drawi...

Ryder Richards discusses the evolution and degradation of the concept of "good" in moral language, referencing Nietzsche, Shell, and McIntyre. Nietzsche argues that "good" originated as a term for nobility but was inverted by the oppressed into a virtue of meekness. Shell suggests that modern morality has been corrupted by utility, aligning with capitalism and democracy. McIntyre claims that moder...

Language Failure: How Words Shape Our Reality A Long-Form Summary of the Podcast Opening Hook: The Illusion of Reality Imagine walking through downtown San Francisco. On your phone, you see pristine streets and a bustling city. But when you look up, the reality is starkly different—crumbling infrastructure, vacant storefronts, and widespread urban decay. This isn't an episode of Black Mirror ; it'...

In this lecture, Ryder Richards, an artist currently based in Fort Worth, explored the intersection of art and artificial intelligence (AI), specifically focusing on a project that reimagines Salvador Dali's "Alice in Wonderland." Richards delved into public fears and misconceptions about AI, emphasizing a lack of understanding about how AI algorithms function, including generative adversarial net...

Essay, Deck and Transcript can be found at  https://www.letusthinkaboutit.com/step-82-art-and-ai/ The Future of Art and AI: Promises and Perils Artificial intelligence (AI) has exploded onto the cultural scene, raising pressing questions about the role of technology in art and society. Artist and thinker Ryder Richards recently gave a lecture analyzing AI through a philosophical lens, exploring it...

https://www.letusthinkaboutit.com/step-81-kant-and-the-rise-of-subjective-realism/ Reality, belief, and the apocalypse. 0:00 Ryder Richards discusses the demotion of reality in favor of subjectivity, exploring the tension between science and religion, and the consequences of refusing to acknowledge the apocalypse. Kant's false dichotomy between freedom and determinism is questioned, with a focus o...

In this episode of Let's Think About It, host Ryder Richards examines the relationship between truth, reality, and abstraction. He proposes reality filters profound ideologies like religion and science, which rely on belief, from superficial falsehoods like marketing propaganda that obscure reality. Richards argues both sides undermine truth, but marketing inflames desire and bypasses reality alto...

Ryder Richards builds on thinkers like Kant, Rorty, and Baudrillard in this podcast to argue that reality can filter problematic abstractions. He proposes reality as a net separating transcendental truths and superficial advertising. Without reality's grounding, these abstractions reinforce each other's weaknesses. Part 1 - Reality as a Net for Abstractions Richards lays out the idea of reality as...

https://www.letusthinkaboutit.com/step-78-the-parallax-view/ Ryder discusses the concept of Slavoj Zizek's "The Parallax View" in three parts. Part 1: Ryder defines the parallax view as the convergence of seemingly parallel perspectives. He draws a connection to optical illusions of perspective and discusses how the parallax view involves looking beyond the central focus point. The author also tou...

Welcome to the problematic realm of perspective framing. Ryder Richards will be your dubious guide through this profound exploration of self-awareness and understanding. Central to our journey is the parallax view , a powerful method of finding our place in the world by establishing reference points by Slavoj Zizek. But first, we must challenge hegemonic narratives and reconsider Hegel’s notion of...

🗑️ Garbage represents the concrete universal of waste. 🎨 Picasso's art exemplifies the concrete universal through different periods and works. 🌌 Failures and contradictions can lead to transcendence. 🎭 Art expresses both expression and concealment simultaneously. 🔀 Concrete universalism combines the concrete and the abstract into one concept. 💡 The concept of concrete universalism challenges...

Christianity operates through a lack: we cannot know God, so a “gap” must be filled between God and Humans. Christ is God splitting from 1 into 2, allowing us to identify and get closer to the mystery of God, but in so doing, Christ was subjected to the filth of this world. (Zizek)  The reversal of the one God splitting into two (only to mysteriously re-unify us) is the process of poop: taking all...

0:00 The contradictory injunction of double binds. • The contradictory injunction in double binds. • The binary trap in cyberpunk.   2:15 The death drive of determinism. • The death drive of determinism. • How to transcend the binary.   4:44 How the capitalist system capitalizes on our stress. • The capitalist system surprisingly capitalizes on stress. • The anxious revolt is fuel for the bureaucr...

0:01 Why camouflage is like a rhizome. The complexity of camouflage and abstraction. Why camouflage is a better survival strategy. 2:44 The servant as master. How to become low like water and remain powerful. Master as servant - martyr.  5:16 The boss who tries to also be your best friend. The parent who guilts you.  Undermined core self: camouflage needed for shame concealment.  6:56 The ubiquity...

Introduction   - Recap of previous episodes on the mimetic desire. - Rene Girard's model of scapegoating. 2:33 How do we prevent mimetic desire? - One way to solve mimetic desire and scapegoating. - The dispute plan to prevent future luxury. 4:42 What do you do after the revolution? - Government ineptitude and bureaucracy is what the people actually want. - What to do after the revolution, or afte...

0:00 How violence is provoked by fantasy. 2:31 The balcony and the revolution. 5:14 How far does mimetic desire go? 6:54 Most things happen twice: the story, then reality 9:41 Post-terrorist architecture. 12:40 Turning the desire into a blueprint (simulation to be de-simulated)   14:37 Recognize that the world is f***ed. 16:43 The parable of Bill Clinton or George W. Bush. 18:55 The desire to be t...

Reversing inner pressure outward requires a scapegoat to sacrifice in order to stabilize society. By discovering the hidden models driving it reveals our motivations, but more importantly, Rene Girard‘s theory accounts for civilizations' cybernetic energies and release valves. Paired with Georges Bataille’s theory of sacrifice necessary due to excess (the general economy) we find explanations for...

https://www.letusthinkaboutit.com/step-69-memetic-desire/   0:00 Intro 1:22 What is mimetic rivalry? memtic desire. 2:48 Mimicry as an internal set of neurosis. 5:05 What we want is the attention and control that someone else wanted first. 7:14 If somebody else wants something, our survival depends on us getting to it first. 9:47 Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. 11:28 Accelerationism is a means to...

  0:00 Introduction to this episode. 1:53 In 1879 there was a horrible train wreck: the promise and cost of technology 4:27 A cautionary tale about the influence of the machine on communism. 6:53 What is the frame of Capitalism? (Marxism into desire)  12:17 The problem with capitalism is not just the machinery, but also our social and libidinal economy. 15:04 Our desires are shaped by society, wor...

0:00 Intro _ the Gods of Technology (Deus ex Machina)   3:56 Part 1 : some context  _ the capitalist trap, double binds, and looking for an escape, reality vs. abstraction 11:27 Part 2 : the futurists_ from industrialization to deregulation to cyberspace, 1909 manifesto, praise machines and war, but scorn for women 17:41 Part 3 : the accelerationists _ the 2008 crash, bailout, failures and no fore...

Full episode in writing as well as video at: https://www.letusthinkaboutit.com/step-66-cybernetics--capitalism/ 0:00 Intro  1:56 Part 1: cybernetics _ machines, feedback, and cascades  6:22 Part 2: one-dimension of capital _ Marcuse, consumerism’s false needs, subjecting justice to capitalism 9:55 Part 3: deterritorialization _ Deleuze and Guattari, positive/negative energy, decoding the regulatio...

PART 1: the path for the 2 to become 1 the 2 is 1, linked through exclusion in the last season of “peaky blinders” Tommy Shelby is a socialist forced into plotting with the fascists… In one scene he says people think of opposing sides as two end-points as if they are on separate tracks.  But Tommy says he finds it to be a circle, where the two sides start diverging. As they escalate and become mor...