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ThomasdelVasto

Κύριε, ποίησόν με ὄργανον τῆς ἀγάπης σου

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joined 2025 May 20 19:37:18 UTC

Blogger, Christian convert, general strange one. https://shapesinthefog.substack.com/


				
User ID: 3709


				
				
				

			

		

	














	


		


			



	

		

			

			

				

					

						

							
						

						

							
							

								
ThomasdelVasto


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
Κύριε, ποίησόν με ὄργανον τῆς ἀγάπης σου

				
				
				

				

					0 followers  

					follows 0 users  

					joined 2025 May 20 19:37:18 UTC
				


				
					

					
Blogger, Christian convert, general strange one. https://shapesinthefog.substack.com/



				

				

				

				

				

					

					

					
					
					

					
User ID: 3709


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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	 Hot Bump Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
	



		

	






	

		
		

		
		
	

	

  







		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 26, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Ok fair, I have a history degree I should have known. I guess the recent past is harder for me to grok than the ancient past sometimes.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 26, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Fascinating seeing Scott's dark side. Thanks for the links.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for May 28, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Hah this seems like one of those "suffering from success" types of problems.


Also what is your flair referencing?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for May 28, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Is there anything actually wrong with Coke Zero? and other similar no calorie sweetened beverages?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 26, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


The BBC convinced the British public that spaghetti grew on trees.




Wow this is real. Truly a modern marvel.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 26, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


perhaps better even than most whites




What do you mean by this??


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 26, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yeah I am basically blackpilled on any journalistic integrity in the current culture. We need to have a dramatic realignment of societal values before such a thing becomes possible again, imo.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 25, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I can’t shill it anymore they broke my heart.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 26, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


And yes, I admit that writers can use AI to help them be more productive and effective. But that absolutely isn't what's happening here. These scammers/hoaxers are only after clicks/money and have literally 0 care for the accuracy or reality of their bullshit at all.




This is my concern. Even if there are people with integrity, the way the internet works now we will be overrun with so much slop it won't be possible to find high quality articles.


I'm hoping that in the most optimistic scenario, we end up with an internet that filters for quality much better, and where people put a much stronger focus on quality over quantity.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				The Limits of Integration
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Well, thank you for the heads up! Yeah I suppose that is one concern, especially since I do want to be an online writer.


I will definitely think about this a bit more!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 25, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yeah the music is incredible. The music for the opening cinematic blew me away.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 25, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Ahhh but the story. The STORY!!!!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 25, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Has anyone else here played Clair Obscure: Expedition 33? I'm finding it incredible so far.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				The Limits of Integration
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I’ve long since come to the conclusion that modern psychology and psychiatry are not just dead ends, but actually more harmful than anything else we could have come up with. It actually seems to make whatever problems that existed beforehand and makes them worse.




Yeah as I wrote above, I think that it can work in some cases for some people, but on the whole as a society I agree it's pretty corrosive to norms and civility.




I work in retail. I’ve apparently signed up to be an emotional tampon and am expected to accept that not only does the customer have the perfect right to treat me like crap, im not even allowed to object because “they might be having a bad day” or trouble at home or work or the moon is in the wrong astrological house.




Yep I've worked McDonalds and other jobs. It's not great. I feel for you man. Luckily enough if you're on here you're probably smart and well connected enough to find something much better.




The worst is in personal development. Because modern psychology encourages a feelings first model, people tend to overthink those feelings and put more emphasis on how you feel. This tends to make those feelings last longer and become deeper as you turn a bad day into a bad week and on to full on depression.




I actually do think "working through your feelings" is a legitimate thing, with incredible results. The problem is the actual teaching of it needs to be done by an incredibly wise and spiritually developed person to work. The vast, vast, vast majority of therapists are shambling emotional wrecks themselves, just spilling out their own pain and problems onto their clients.


Hence why I think working with God, Christ, or another idealized figure is, even from a purely secular/materialist lens, far better than trying to rely on flawed human therapists.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 19, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Hah, referring to Disney?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 19, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Provide me with a relevant C.S. Lewis quote please, old chap.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				The Limits of Integration
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Foiled again. ;P


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 19, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yeah a lot of Christians I know seem to think it’s the Apocalypse. I disagree but there is that vibe.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				The Limits of Integration
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
LOL haven’t heard this one yet. Good stuff.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 19, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Appeal to the tautological impossibility hmm. Can you give me an example? I don’t see the point of appealing to something like that if you think it’s impossible anyway.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 19, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
There has been a lot of hype news in robotics + AI lately, as the AI updates just continue to come at a blinding pace. From Tesla/XAI we have the Optimus robot, which I can't tell if this is a major breakthrough or just another marketing splash driven by Elon.


On the other side of the fence, you have Nvidia releasing an open foundational model for robotics and partnering with Disney of all companies to make a droid robot.


You also have Google's I/O, which I haven't had the energy to look into.


With the speed of AI updates and the wars of hype, it's always hard to tell who is actually advancing the frontier. But it does seem that in particular robotics are advancing quite rapidly compared to even a couple of years ago. Personally I think that while automating white collar work is useful and such, AI entering into robotics will be the real game changer. If we can begin to massively automate building things like housing, roads, and mass manufactured goods, all of the sudden we get into an explosive growth curve.


Of course, this is where AGI doomer fears do become more salient, so that's something to watch out for.


Either way, another day, another AI discourse. What do you think of this current crop of news?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Tinker Tuesday for May 20, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Nice! I'm impressed seeing your Substack. You have really been grinding out the writing my man. I hope to join you soon :)


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				The Limits of Integration
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I constantly had this voice in my head saying I wasn't worthy, I was a failure, everything I did was wrong, everyone was secretly laughing at me, yadda-yadda. I mean it was nonstop. I was mired in this sticky fog of self-hate and doubt that I couldn't see past and it was making me suicidal.




I can relate to this voice. I think many in the modern world can. While there are definitely "psychological" components based on family history, social situations, etc, as you say later on I don't think that necessarily rules out the frame of demonic influence as a useful view.


In terms of it being not uncommon, totally agreed! I think the majority of people will experience something like this at one point or another in their lives. And perhaps for some tail of people, working through it purely on an emotional level and tracing back the trauma or whatever is the best way. This is actually now reminding me of @FtttG's recent post on polyamory and such, where he claims that a lot of alternative lifestyles promoted work well for a small subset, not so well for everyone.


I wonder if, all else being equal, most people nowadays would be better just labeling a suicidal voice in their head as Evil and being convinced via religion that they have the power to overcome it. That's why I love that quote at the end, from St. John Chrysostom.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				The Limits of Integration
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Hah yes I've had a few math nerds tell me they thought it would be mathy. Alas. Maybe in another lifetime I'll study up and get something out.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of May 19, 2025
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Basically, I think there's a kind of motte-and-bailey inherent in political discourse that purports to be telos-based. Your argument draws its rhetorical force from its tautological conclusion. Reality is going to be reality whether we like it or not - the dictatorship of the universe is absolute - if you have a penis then you can't wish it away. But, by definition, nothing which humans can achieve, nothing we can physically implement, is ever going to be in defiance of "the dictatorship of the universe". Gender reassignment surgery doesn't break the laws of physics. If I have a penis I "have to be male" as a biological trait - in the logical sense of "have to" - but that has no bearing on whether I "have to" wear a suit and tie rather than a skirt, which I clearly can physically do.




When conservatives appeal to a telos they aren't saying that things are against the laws of physics. This isn't even close, I mean have you read the Bible at all? Humans do things that are sinful and bad all the time, so much so thta God sends a flood to basically wipe most of us out.


God gave humans freedom to act as He had, and we can choose to do evil things. That's religion 101, even outside of Abrahamic faiths. The point is that if you continue to miss the mark, you will eventually reap what you sow.