, December 1, 2015
Daily Bafflements
"The culture industry perpetually cheats its consumers of what it perpetually promises. The promissory note which, with its plots and staging, it draws on pleasure is endlessly prolonged; the promise, which is actually all the spectacle consists of, is illusory: all it actually confirms is that the real point will never be reached, that the diner must be satisfied with the menu.” / Jon Olav Eikenes
• Over at The New Republic Peter Moskowitz details how apps “enable neighborhoods to retain their real estate value without having any local value,” starting with the fact they make it possible for neighborhoods to “function without having to work at a street level . . . locality and the need for local knowledge is lost.” All the while, these apps incessantly remind us of their necessity and convenience.
• Mathematicians link humor to entropy and Schopenhauer, of all things! Worse: “The findings may be useful in commercial applications such as in product naming . . . For example, people might be averse to buying a funny-named medication for a serious illness—or it could go the other way around.” (Thanks, Science Daily!)
• What’s behind rancorous college sports team rivalries? The narcissism of small differences, or class war?
• Help Adorno and Horkheimer get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame! As a commenter notes “Trying to reify the unreifiable will cause Hollywood to perish.”