Nick Land (@Outsideness) is one of my few personal heroes. We envy those who are

Nick Land (@Outsideness) is one of my few personal heroes. We envy those who are most excellent at what we ourselves cannot do. So I would have to fawn over him like some starry eyed rock band groupie for a bit to exorcise my excitement before any serious conversation could take place. 😉

That aside, Nick and I operate at opposite ends of the spectrum of philosophical systems. I mean, nick is a F*** ing artist with language, meaning, subtleties, and richness of meaning. I do the philosophical equivalent of behavioral mathematics – it only vaguely looks like language. 😉

So as Plato vs Aristotle, so to speak, by technique alone, and presumption of human nature to color it, you will find us providing two perfectly rational opinions on nationalism et al, dependent mostly on what we believe can be and possible should be accomplished with the humans we have, and without those we wish we had.

I suspect in the end, that the literary mind is suspicious of what humans can and should be persuaded to do – because that is the literary mind’s lever of man. While the legal mind is confident in what humans can and should be coerced into as long as it’s in their practical interests in every day life – because that is the legal mind’s lever of man.

So the underlying difference between the literary and the legal mind is whether we must convince people by some rhetorical device to alter their behavior absent political power to coerce, or whether we can obtain political power by legal force, or physical force and like our predecessors impose those laws – as long as they are moral laws, and in their interests.

I would love to have that discussion (not debate) with Nick.

And I think it would result in a useful public service. 😉

Cheers
Curt

Reply addressees: @Lord__Sousa @scottmannion @Outsideness