9 Matching Annotations
  1. Oct 2022
    1. The final lecture of the course considers Christianity as “the ever-adapting religion,” asking what elements remain constant within allits historical changes.

      Religions are ever-evolving ideas and practices, and like rivers, which are broadly similar and recognizable even over spans of time, can never be practiced or experienced the same way twice.

  2. Jul 2022
    1. We read different texts for different reasons, regardlessof the subject.

      A useful analogy here might be the idea of having a conversation with a text. Much the way you'd have dramatically different conversations with your family versus your friends, your teachers, or a stranger in line at the store, you'll approach each particular in a different way based on the various contexts in which both they exist and the contexts which you bring to them.

  3. Apr 2022
    1. Every work of art can be read, according to Eco, in three distinct ways: the moral, the allegorical and the anagogical.

      Umberto Eco indicates that every work of art can be read in one of three ways: - moral, - allegorical - anagogical

      Compare this to early Christianities which had various different readings of the scriptures.

      Relate this also to the idea of Heraclitus and the not stepping into the same river twice as a viewer can view a work multiple times in different physical and personal contexts which will change their mood and interpretation of the work.

  4. Feb 2022
  5. Dec 2021
    1. The possibility of arbitrary internal branching.

      Modern digital zettelkasten don't force the same sort of digital internal branching process that is described by Niklas Luhmann. Internal branching in these contexts is wholly reliant on the user to create it.

      Many digital systems will create a concrete identifier to fix the idea within the system, but this runs the risk of ending up with a useless scrap heap.

      Some modern systems provide the ability for one to add taxonomies like subject headings in a commonplace book tradition, which adds some level of linking. But if we take the fact that well interlinked cards are the most valuable in such a system then creating several links upfront may be a bit more work, but it provides more value in the long run.

      Upfront links also don't require quite as much work at the card's initial creation as the creator already has the broader context of the idea. Creating links at a future date requires the reloading into their working memory of the card's idea and broader context.

      Of course there may also be side benefits (including to memory) brought by the spaced repetition of the card's ideas as well as potential new contexts gained in the interim which may help add previously unconsidered links.

      It can certainly be possible that at some level of linking, there is a law of diminishing returns the decreases the value of a card and its idea.

      One of the benefits of physical card systems like Luhmann's is that the user is forced to add the card somewhere, thus making the first link of the idea into the system. Luhmann's system in particular creates a parent/sibling relation to other cards or starts a brand new branch.

  6. Nov 2021
    1. After Alexi McCammond was named editor in chief of Teen Vogue, people discovered and recirculated on Instagram old anti-Asian and homophobic tweets she had written a decade earlier, while still a teenager.

      Should people be judged by statements made in their youth or decades prior? Shouldn't they be given some credit for changing over time and becoming better?

      How can we as a society provide credit to people's changed contexts over time?

      This can be related to Heraclitus' river.

    2. You would think it would be a good thing for the young readers of Teen Vogue to learn forgiveness and mercy, but for the New Puritans, there is no statute of limitations.
  7. Mar 2021
    1. Sama nijaay aj na ñaari yoon.

      Mon oncle a effectué deux fois le pèlerinage à La Mecque.

      sama -- my.

      nijaay ji n. -- maternal uncle; term of reference and address to designate the husband, in conservative circles.

      aj (Arabic) v. -- make the pilgrimage to Mecca. 🕋; deceased ☠️ (for a religious personality).

      na -- he (?).

      ñaar+i (ñaar) -- twice; two. 2️⃣

      yoon wi n. -- lane, path, track 🛤; law, regulation, legislation; times.

  8. Jan 2020
    1. to remember how to best fall down;

      Remember how our children learned to walk? Yeah, they didn't learn how to walk, they learned how to fall down.