Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Adrenaline rush posing as a flash of insight

I went for a run the other day.  Too early as it turns out.  It's been hot here, and the sun obviously did me in, because I found myself reflecting on the Will to Power.

Recently, I claimed that the history of technology commonly conceived was in fact a sub-class of the history of social technologies aimed at improving cooperation.  I also asserted that there was no universal progression towards paradise in the sense that neither specific technologies, nor our more general technologies of cooperation, are inevitable, and we always face the possibility of regression or even extinction.

However, there was some secret part of me, the perennial American optimist, that wanted to say that, "where there's a will, ultimately, there's a way".  And my desire to reach this point of view is reinforced by my still uncertain belief, a la Freeman Dyson, that consciousness is, like a virus, something that spreads throughout the cosmos -- maybe not inevitably, but with high probability.

Luckily, at just this moment I recalled glancing over Deleuze's introduction to his book on Nietszsche.
 
 This suggests the correct formula is actually, "where there's a way, there's a will".

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I think you need to read some Twilight -- ponder the existence of Vampires that glitter or something a bit lighter for a change!

BwO said...

You're right. I definitely need some "yacht time".