Christ is risen!
The concert yesterday was amazing. Hagia Sophia is a beautiful, auditory iconographic system that unites earth (in the ison) to heaven (in the echoing responses that go up and then return down to us). The church, and other churches like it, point to the cosmology, with the dome bringing heaven to earth and ordering the chaos. The architects of the church took what knowledge the pagans developed with sacred shapes and elevated it, offering the mathematics to God. Language resounds and asks: How can the Uncontainable descend to dwell in the building? How can the Maker become like the made?
It was so cool.
(why yes, I have been looking at Cosmos, why do you ask?)
Recently, there has been some discussion among the geminauts about meaningful conversation and technology. I think nomadpenguin (see references) has excellent points in that 1. 'vapid conversation' has always been a thing, 2. 'vapid conversation' is useful, and 3:
We are unable to speak with true sincerity, as true sincerity must flow form the private self, which no longer exists -- the quest to eliminate smalltalk has contradictorily created people who cannot speak sincerely.
I urge caution against giving smalltalk this much credit, however I do agree with the sentiment. The private self (or whatever suffices for it) in the hyperreal digital piss earth memeplex is very much encouraged if not outright required to be broadcast outward, even if you'd rather avoid 'social media'. Cynically, the companies with whom you've accepted Terms and Conditions expect you to make data for them (you did read those terms, right?). There's a certain amount of 'normal use' that you have to fall in line with, e.g. employers expect a LinkedIn, Twitter is 'The Commons' and basically required for news or journalism, Facebook is a garbage-information dispensary, &c.
I would enhance his argument presented in section IV by saying this: the degradation of the social sphere is driven not [by technology] but [by politics [using technology [in service of Capital]]]. None of the degradation would happen if someone couldn't make money off of it selling things or information. Technology is not the ultimate problem in my opinion, the financialization of life is. Subconsciously, Capital wants users to say in relation to their technology regarding relationships and communication: "Why would I talk to someone when I can communicate pseudotelepathically with so many other people all the time and potentially make money?"
Capital, to defend itself against anticapitalism, has adopted an ironic commodified anticaptialism, thereby preventing an alternative from being seriously proposed. Read Fisher lol
tl;dr business ontology is bad, do not trust phone
nomadpenguin's thoughts on sincere conversation
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O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good, ὅτι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ ἀλληλούϊα
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