Status Updates From Exiting Modernity

Nearly done with this beast of a book. The last 1/4 has been a complete slog.

The largest fault of this book is not a fault of content, but of order. The last two sections on Accelerationism should have been put at the beginning of that section, not thr end. The way it is structured now might have been true to the order in which Ellis' blog was created, but moving from the specific to the general does no favors to readers new to the material.

FINALLY! On page 213, Accelerationism is clearly defined. I would have liked this, oh, 120 pages ago or so. Argh. I am NOT going back to reread all that. Call me undisciplined.

Accelerationism is an enigma to me, a nearly black box. Apparently, I need a much better understanding of Kant and Deleuze if I'm ever going to understand Accelerationism

I was going along just fine until this section on Accelerationism. Like taking your car to top speed on the autobahn, then encountering a wall of feather mattresses around the curve.

Ellis' critique of measurement he's very closely to the critique in Technic and Magic. I consider it an (improbable) and happy accident(?) that I read these one after the other. This really refreshing some thoughts that have been coalescing for many years for me regarding what I really want from life, and what I really don't want!

Well, I think that this book (combined with others I've read about social media) might convince me to drop Twitter altogether. That's not a decision I make lightly, so I really need to think hard about it.

Ellis is not as a-political as he thinks he is, but I do think he's making a good-faith effort to try to push explicitly political opinions aside. When he's talking about personal freedom (whether or expression or work or goals), he is at his best.

Ellis can be, at times, obscure to the point of inscrutable. But his sometimes frenetic approach also allows multiple points of entry to readers who are constantly beset by the incessant demands of modernity. He uses the weapons of modern capital and consumerist social media against them. What I thought was annoying, initially, I am starting to find quite brilliant as confusion resolves into clarity.

"On Idle Chatter" takes itself way too seriously. Lighten up, James!

This is not a bombastic, attention-seeking work. I mean, look at the cover. So far, it seeks depth and meaning. An auspicious start, well-thought-out and free of artifice.