• Blakey [he/him]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    21
    ·
    7 days ago

    Apropos of nothing, I really enjoy his horrible gremlin version of Marx. The comic before this one has him trying to shoplift “a large turkey” by tucking it under his shirt and trying to convince GEM Anscombe to slip a brandy down her trousers because “they’ll never suspect you”. It’s all very affectionate and tbh not entirely unfair, always gets a chuckle out of me.

  • Sanctus@anarchist.nexus
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    16
    ·
    7 days ago

    Why is it absolute knowledge is always presented as horrifying? What if its something comforting? Like the point of existence is simply to be.

      • CarmineCatboy2 [he/him]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        22
        ·
        7 days ago

        the truth about the universe be like ‘aristotle was right about some things. wrong about others. its okay. calm down’ and then the philosophers lose their minds

    • InexplicableLunchFiend [he/him]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      14
      ·
      7 days ago

      because we are subjective beings with a specific perspective and identity, to have absolute objective knowledge would force a shift in perspective that obliterates the self and any sense of perspective or identity

      • Sanctus@anarchist.nexus
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        7 days ago

        Funny I ask this and later am presented with a video that contained the five stages of alchemic transformation, the first being putrefaction. Yes, I now see how it could form a rather immediate “black sun” effect on someone even if the knowledge gained wasn’t necessarily horrifying.

    • purpleworm [none/use name]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      7 days ago

      Nietzsche believed in endless struggle and totally self-determined values, so the sort of information he was given here, if it included the conviction that it was true, probably would very deeply disturb him.

      Also separate from that, “absolute knowledge” seems like it would be an extremely dizzying thing. Even if it was positive overall, I think it would still result in someone being quite shaken. Speaking for myself, I of course would say “the meaning of life” or any understanding of “the point of existence” as a prescriptive value statement are fantasies, but supposing they were real, direct knowledge of “objectively true” values is something many people agree humans do not have access to, so even if that’s a valid idea, you can reasonably argue that that kind of thing requires transforming someone’s mind in order to be able to meaningfully hold that information*, just like how we might more readily agree that on some level “the truth of the universe” might involve things so distant from anything we were evolved to handle or could ever encounter in the real world (not to mention so much information) that it would likewise involve changing our underlying cognitive capacities.

      *this looks like a leap, but I would argue that totally inaccessible structures of truth just happening to look like the ones we’ve just sort of imagined on our own is at least as big of an assumption.

      • Blakey [he/him]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        7 days ago

        Yeah, feels like the better question is why Nietzsche, specifically, would make that wish when he should know it would mortify him.

    • GalaxyBrain [they/them]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      7 days ago

      It would be a lot to take in at once. It would be cool to see people get over it after having time to sit with it. Or maybe tou wouldnt since you have absolute knowledge and therefore already know how to process it.