HN Books @HNBooksMonth

Agree with all in this article. +1 for link to Democracy for Realists.

If there's one silver lining today, it's that we're coming to terms with our multitude of "folk theories". An encyclopedia spanning critical reassessment of common knowledge and common sense.

For more of same: historian Jill Lepore's The Last Archive podcast blew my mind. Highest recommendation. For example, TIL anti-vax is as old as vax. Same talking points, same tribes, same consequences. TIL the privacy battle was fought, and lost, 50+ years ago.

https://www.thelastarchive.com

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My first exposure to the idea of "misinformation" was Raine Eisler's "The Chalice and the Blade" https://www.amazon.com/Chalice-Blade-Our-History-Future/dp/0.... Eisler explains how victors didn't just write history, they actively rewrote it. Actively seeking out and obliterating any contrary narratives. Remything (repurposing) stories for their own purposes.

Then Orwell's "1984", of course.

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Younger me was probably a postmodern and Popperian hybrid. I really thought the truth was knowable and would eventually be discovered. The major hurdles were effort and "science progresses one funeral at a time". I applauded the skeptics debunking pseudoscience and so forth.

Now I am starting to acknowledge and recognize reactionaries and unbelief. Constant. Overwhelming. Exhausting.

Worse, any progress begats pushback, backlash, doubling down.

It's like we can't win.

Today, I subscribe to David Graeber's theories for making social progress. Work in the margins. Push forward where you can, strategically. Don't storm the castle. Conserve your strength. Pick your battles. Take the (really) long view.

⬐ tablespoon

> Now I am starting to acknowledge and recognize reactionaries and unbelief. Constant. Overwhelming. Exhausting.

> Worse, any progress begats pushback, backlash, doubling down.

> It's like we can't win.

> Today, I subscribe to David Graeber's theories for making social progress. Work in the margins. Push forward where you can, strategically. Don't storm the castle. Conserve your strength. Pick your battles. Take the (really) long view.

Do you have any links or references that go into that in more detail? It sounds interesting.

I do kinda feel like too much progress too quickly seems to just break society.

⬐ specialist

Maybe start with Utopia of Rules? Even though his books progressively build his world view over time, that might be the most accessible.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Utopia_of_Rules

Last year, I binged on his audiobooks (local library), and own the hard copies to leaf thru.

Sorry, can't vouch for how accessible his ideas are. I'm very primed to hear what Graeber has to say. Chomsky, McLuhan, Postman, etc. And every book about policy work (organizing, lobbying) that I can find.

The Democracy Project might be his best primer on his theory of social change. First part is the back story on Occupy Wall Street. The second part is the Anarchist critique of classical Liberals (today's Democrats and Republicans in the USA). As an active member of the Democratic Party, Graeber is very challenging, hard to hear. But ultimately I agree with his observations. TLDR: The answer is always more participatory democracy, and what that'll look like.

(The Democracy Nerd podcast has an episode on Oregon's citizen juries, for just one example of participatory democracy. https://democracynerd.us/episode/exporting-oregon-style-demo...)

"Debt: The first 5,000" reprogrammed my head. Graeber simply tries to answer the question "What is money?" by listing all the different notions thru our known history. (eg We had "virtual currency" centuries ago.) Any one blathering about money, debt, crypto, spending, currency, etc is hard to take seriously if the omit (ignore) the questions Graeber asks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt%3A_The_First_5000_Years

Right now, I totally agree with Graeber's model for advocating change. Based on my own experiences doing policy work, and observing others.

But I don't think his (now decade old) views on money, debt, and power are nearly radical enough. Sadly, Graeber recently passed, so we'll probably never learn his thoughts on modern monetary theory (MMT) and such.

Also, I'm now keen to learn about Marx and Marxism, if only to better understand Graeber's criticisms. I still haven't found anything accessible to noobs like me.

⬐ h0p3

I'd read a book about Marxism or from Saint Marx himself with you. Consider me a quiet fan of how you think and interact with the world (you've been on my list for quite a while: https://philosopher.life/#We%20Could%20Probably%20Be%20Frien...). `/salute`.

⬐ specialist

Hi h0p3. Thank you. You made my day.

Reviewing your friends list, I agree we're in the same flock. Tangent: I'd love ready access to my personal metrics on HN. Like maybe star or highlight posts from users I've upvoted before. Would definitely like feeds, akin reddit's multireddit feature, so I could easily follow my friend's comments.

I poked around your site, read some of your posts. I think you're a good person who's really trying to be present for your loved ones.

Peace.

⬐ throw_away

His Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology is good and short and findable on the internet as PDF if you're looking for an amuse bouche of Graeber's ideas before tackling Debt