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“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world” – Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations For years, I’ve felt that nearly every single word I utter is but a shadow of the thought I wish to convey. Indeed, human expression is often forcibly funneled into the narrow alleyways of symbols and allegory, what we colloquially…
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It was another day at the office, in the Year of Our Lord 2012, yet another one of those days where the universe seemed to conspire against me. My inbox overflowed with social media updates and inconsequential emails. The news app on my smartphone blared an endless stream of doom and gloom. As I rocked…
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There was a time when I felt that books could change the world. Indeed, books have had a great impact on world culture and society, but often not in the ways that immediately impact what they were intended to when they were first written. Of course, few authors ever gain any sort of significant celebrity.…
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The World State society presented in Brave New World might appear radically different from our own. However, there are some striking similarities, yet simultaneously it’s fascinating to see how certain things in our present culture have been totally done away with in the World State. Art, as we know it, no longer exists. However, the…
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Let’s put our futurist caps on for a moment. It’s 2035, and the New York Times Bestseller list is dominated by AI-generated novels.*War and Peace 2.0* by GPT-10 is the most talked-about book of the year, lauded for its “emotional depth” and “stunning insight into the human condition.” Meanwhile, human writers everywhere drown their sorrows…
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Today, we dive headfirst into the alluring, baffling, and often pretentious concept of aesthetics. After all, what could be more exhilarating than meticulously dissecting the very essence of beauty and taste with all the gusto of a sleep-deprived philosopher? Aesthetics are those tiny, nagging details that shape not just our tastes but our very sense…
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Nostalgia is a curious creature. It sneaks up on you in the most unexpected moments, like when you stumble upon an old action figure buried deep in the basement or hear a familiar theme song that instantly transports you back to a simpler time. I still feel great emotional attachment to cherished franchises from my…
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Perhaps I have always been a bit too obsessed with round numbers, those symmetrical, whole figures that seem to promise completion, contentment, and ever-elusive satisfaction. I know I’m far from alone in being struck by this notion. In the online world, round numbers are extremely sought after, especially when they count followers, subscribers, or page…
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I once journaled about a thought I once had on divine accidents. Specifically, I was pondering the circumstances of our births being a sort of “divine accident”. I don’t believe that this was my original idea. It was likely placed there by someone at an institution of “higher learning.” What exactly is a “divine accident?”…
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Happy birthday to Jess of the Shire! It turns out that she shares a birthday with celebrated fantasy fiction author Terry Pratchett, albeit a half century apart in birth year. While Jess is mostly known for her Tolkien related content (obvious by the screenname) she has dabbled in other areas of fiction like the Dune…