Check My Other Posts!
Hot Grill ep8. 酒国 - 读后感
Main Plot Starts Here
I first stumbled upon Amusing Ourselves to Death on Chinese Reddit. I finished reading the book in the UCLA Starbucks @ Cali, and I am glad I did.
Sometimes I wonder if the future generations are just more and more cooked. As I am becoming older, I am noticeably losing patience with so many things, and last night was yet another wake-up call to me that I am only a drop in the ocean of victims. Humans are so weak. I am so weak. I am feeling a variety of emotions after watching the analysis of the book, yet I felt so powerless due to the lack of power in articulating what was actually moving me.
I guess I’ll just write something that breezed through my head. I am so exhausted today that I don’t feel like doing any intellectual work. I did mostly applications and logistical things today, and probably another random yapping post can draw a good period.
I wanted to write this in Chinese — probably I can resonate with myself a bit more, but I want to stretch my brain a bit, so layers of Chinglish are coming right ahead.
Head
My first impression is that knowledge indeed travels through time. Neil Postman wrote the piece in 1985, and the precision of his forecast is accurate enough to give me goosebumps. He raised the perspective that we would be killed by what we crave. He believes in a peek-a-boo world that was similar to the Brave New World rather than an Orwellian future. I did not read 1984, but I do have a vague gist of the vision. However, I really believe the two concepts overlap in a tendency towards self-destruction, only that the latter is forced, whereas the former is indulged. Maybe an information overload is a new way of control. There is always this invisible hand that is pushing humans towards incapacity. People feel trapped, and yet they choose to stay trapped.
41 years across history, and Postman was being inevitably accurate. His vision scares me, and I am scared that this AI revolution will push the trend of diversification even more. I worry for the kids, and I worry for the truth not being publicly advertised. It is. Obviously. Just overwhelmed with a thousand billion other shredded pieces of crap.
I sometimes hope people are serious again because the mad trend of turning everything into entertainment and stimulation is pissing me off. Seeing myself becoming one of the victims is pissing me off.
To be honest, this really is not about the book. I found myself losing the ability to stand against misinformation and manipulations. My emotions feel heightened. Panicks, ecstasy, grief. They all rush to my limited forebrain at totally inappropriate times, and often I surrender. It’s all those devices, colors, light… Sometimes I need the stimulation to stay awake, and sometimes I drown in them.
I know that all unpathological pain is merely a result of values. It is all in my head. It has been, and it always is.
Next up:
Hot Grill ep10. Coven Brunch Award Speech!?!
🫡🫡🫡
Since you've made it this far... Why not connect with me on LinkedIn?
Published