/lit/ - Literature

>>18771830
What isn't a surrogate activity?

There's a passage in IJ that had a pretty significant impact on me. It's where he lists all the things that can be done as substitutes for drugs, e.g., sleep, lack of sleep, sex, masturbating, collecting stamps, literally damn near everything.
What's a distraction and what isnt?
What's meaningful and what isnt?
Ive done my share of abyss gazing. I get it. "Tend to the void don't just fill it." Mines well tended. But am I supposed to spend my entire life looking at it? Seems kind of like a waste. I feel a balance is needed. Maybe that's what ol Wallace meant.

>>18771870
Building a cabin, living off the land, farming, fishing, hunting.

>>18771830
Wtf I thought this was Greta from the thumbnail

>>18771894
And apparently mailing people bombs like a deranged jackass.

>>18771902
Refute his points instead of moralizing like a little bitch.

>On the other hand the pursuit of sex and love (for example) is not a surrogate activity, because most people, even if their existence were otherwise satisfactory, would feel deprived if they passed their lives without ever having a relationship with a member of the opposite sex. (But pursuit of an excessive amount of sex, more than one really needs, can be a surrogate activity.)
We can't let Ted die a virgin /lit/bros. We need to smuggle in a hooker in his maximum security prison.

>>18771830
no

>>18771919
The refutation is that that is a larp in modern society, and he basically feels this is bad so says it must be bad. He’s an autist coping for his poor social skills and inability to get laid.

Nah, you know what, on second thought
>Thus it is not surprising that modern society is full of surrogate activities. These include scientific work, athletic achievement, humanitarian work, artistic and literary creation
fuck this guy.

>>18772244
>He’s an autist coping for his poor social skills and inability to get laid
>have sex incel
isn't an argument.
How does it feel to be low IQ anon?

>>18771870
being a chad hunter gather spending less than 3 hours a day meeting your needs as opposed to the industrial peasant spending 40 hours a week to meet his ever growing needs

>>18772256
>to meet his ever growing needs
Most of which are completely unnecessary to his biological existence.

>>18772252
He doesn’t have an argument in the first place

>>18772256
>hunter gather spending less than 3 hours a day meeting your needs
fairytale

>>18772264
I forget sometimes that /lit/ doesn't actually read. I apologize anon.

>>18772289
I did read it, the entire premise was he felt this was bad.
Now tell me which argument you want to refute?

>>18771885
which page?

>>18772304
>he felt it was bad
>I totally read it I swear
last (You)

>>18772318
If you feel that strongly about something you should argue it yourself. Otherwise you’re just latching to someone’s opinion for purely sentimental reasons

>>18771894
this is animal living. art and culture are what make us human, not the minutia of survival, you ape.

i think your an fool

>>18772285
read a book nigger

>>18772333
The core of his argument is that the industrial revolution (henceforth referred to as IR) has changed the way humans go about life. The vast majority of mankind before the IR was directly or indirectly involved in the purpose of obtaining necessities of biological existence, farming, herding, hunting-gathering. The construction of settlements and cities ensuring protection from the elements. While there almost always existed a class of artisans and artists, philosophers etc. these only existed once the biological necessities were secured, and constituted an extremely small portion of humanity.

The industrial revolution fundamentally changed how we go about securing our existence. Men went from working in the field to working in a factory. They went from collecting the fruit of their labor to working for a paycheck. Now fieldwork is backbreaking, but it is also fulfilling in a way that other work, work enabled by the IR, simply isn't. I've worked on a factory line, I've worked construction, I have a garden. All I can tell you is I from first hand experience can attest to what Ted had to say. Factory work crushes the soul. It's monotonous, completely unfulfilling.

You are literally an extension of the machine, an addition to it, your labor only exists as an almost jury-rigged fix of the inability of the machine to work on its own. This kind of labor is antithetical to man's nature an instincts. We can adapt to it yes, the price of which is our soul.

>>18772339
>this is animal living. art and culture are what make us human, not the minutia of survival, you ape.
He actually believes this. Whatever helps you cope anon. We are essentially just self aware apes. Still guided more by instinct than reason.
Why do you enjoy art and beauty? You enjoy it instinctively, the same way a dog instinctively mounts a bitch to fuck.
Stop thinking you're something more than what you are.

>>18772365
>>18772365
Does this book actually say it takes 3 hours a day for a hunter-gatherer to meet their needs? Sounds absolutely ridiculous.

>>18772339
>art and culture
Hah

>>18771830
have sex nigga

>>18772489
I refuse.

>>18772339
>art and culture are what make us human
CREATING it, not CONSOOMING it

>>18772406
And I've said this is good, the average person has zero agency and serves to be a cog in a machine. Technological progression should fully be explored not some sentimental appeal to an arcadia you were never part of. Life is shitty, all of this happens in a blur and barely experienced conciously, but a compilation. I do not care about the soul of some retard who shits and eats. The only criticism I see is that this makes him feel bad that individualism is a meme and the halcyon of primitive life is being squashed (and rightfully).

>>18772637
Ah yes
>but he has no arguments, he just doesn't like it
>my argument is that I do like it
I know you're baiting, and yet I'm still disappointed for some reason. You can do better anon. I believe in you.

In the end he got so lonely living by himself in the woods that he was glad when he was arrested and imprisoned.

He was just a fucking STEMfag, wasn't he? A fucking STEMfag that bugged out hard. It all fits. The autism. The technical knowledge. The mathematical skill. The disdain for the arts. He's no different than your average /g/ or /sci/ poster. Why is he so lauded? Any idiot can tape some dynamite together and abuse the postal system.

>>18771830
No

>>18771870
Grug use big rock to hit deer
Grug cook dear
Grug fucks grugette
Grug is content

>>18772749
We need to go back.

>>18771894
Have you done any of these things, anon?

>>18772803
I caught a fish when I was 12, grew tomatoes for a couple of seasons, and put up dry wall for money a couple of times

>>18772749
Grug die of preventable illness

>>18771885
>>18772305

IJ?

>>18772432
>"read a book"
>doesn't even read the fucking book

>>18771894
I don't feel like killing though

>>18772228
maybe hes already managed one himself.

>>18773666
Infinite jest

>>18772828
grug doesn't know of cure
grug dead so doesn't care

>>18771870

Writing and producing music.

>>18772256
>less than 3 hours a day
Ted dedicated a few sections to the 18 hour hunt days of primitives

>>18772256
Bros we have been robbed of living a real life

>>18771830
Imagine posting Ted on a pynchie board

>>18774192
quick question, what order should he be read in?