September 30th, 2009 / 11:52 am
Snippets

What isn’t ‘human’?

210 Comments

  1. ael

      narrative!

  2. ael

      narrative!

  3. Blake Butler

      i love you

  4. Blake Butler

      i love you

  5. MG

      Maybe my cat.

      I’m honestly not sure though.

  6. MG

      Maybe my cat.

      I’m honestly not sure though.

  7. Lincoln

      Cylons?

  8. Lincoln

      Cylons?

  9. Edward Morningstar

      Toast.

  10. Edward Morningstar

      Toast.

  11. Adam Robinson

      Inauthenticity. Routine. What’s expected.

      This is fun!
      Stop baiting me!

  12. Adam Robinson

      Inauthenticity. Routine. What’s expected.

      This is fun!
      Stop baiting me!

  13. Kyle Minor

      Robots?

  14. Kyle Minor

      Robots?

  15. Blake Butler

      all of these things above are very very ‘human’

      human conceits

      you can’t

  16. Blake Butler

      all of these things above are very very ‘human’

      human conceits

      you can’t

  17. Kyle Minor

      What’s the grievance that is driving the post, Blake? I’d be interested to know. Because if it’s that yet another person is trying to narrow the idea of what literature is in a way that excludes things that bring readers pleasure, my pitchfork and lamp are ready for nightstalking.

  18. Kyle Minor

      What’s the grievance that is driving the post, Blake? I’d be interested to know. Because if it’s that yet another person is trying to narrow the idea of what literature is in a way that excludes things that bring readers pleasure, my pitchfork and lamp are ready for nightstalking.

  19. Ken Baumann

      &nbsp

  20. Ken Baumann

      That was supposed to be a space.

  21. Ken Baumann

      Nothing!

  22. Ken Baumann

      &nbsp

  23. Ken Baumann

      That was supposed to be a space.

  24. Ken Baumann

      Nothing!

  25. +!O0o(o)o0O!+

      The originally unnamed things signified by the following human words are not human: dolphins, algae, starfish, cat claws, dirt currently underground, ocean floor, sky, dark matter, the planet saturn, all scorpians currently hiding in the shoes of misbehaving latin american teens, ice, antartica, ants trapped in amber, Bill Belichek (undead), Dick Cheney (undead), publishers of derivative vampire books (capitalist scum).

  26. +!O0o(o)o0O!+

      The originally unnamed things signified by the following human words are not human: dolphins, algae, starfish, cat claws, dirt currently underground, ocean floor, sky, dark matter, the planet saturn, all scorpians currently hiding in the shoes of misbehaving latin american teens, ice, antartica, ants trapped in amber, Bill Belichek (undead), Dick Cheney (undead), publishers of derivative vampire books (capitalist scum).

  27. Blake Butler

      just tired of people thinking language needs to be connected to some ‘human’ premise in order for it to resound

      it’s always the first question on so many tongues: what is human about this? what is this human experience?

      what isn’t human about robots? I’ve seen robots.

  28. Blake Butler

      just tired of people thinking language needs to be connected to some ‘human’ premise in order for it to resound

      it’s always the first question on so many tongues: what is human about this? what is this human experience?

      what isn’t human about robots? I’ve seen robots.

  29. +!O0o(o)o0O!+

      what’s sometimes meant by “human” is what makes humans “human” compared with anmals – some people would say that’s what serious fiction is all about, too. Something people, for example like DFW, who said something like “all serious fiction is about what it means to a fucking human being” (f-bomb emphasis DFW’s). Some things that differentiate humans from animals is the ability to willingly abstain from procreation and, more importantly, the ability to wonder what someone is thinking about something us, not to mention about a dozen others, including writing.

  30. +!O0o(o)o0O!+

      what’s sometimes meant by “human” is what makes humans “human” compared with anmals – some people would say that’s what serious fiction is all about, too. Something people, for example like DFW, who said something like “all serious fiction is about what it means to a fucking human being” (f-bomb emphasis DFW’s). Some things that differentiate humans from animals is the ability to willingly abstain from procreation and, more importantly, the ability to wonder what someone is thinking about something us, not to mention about a dozen others, including writing.

  31. MG

      I don’t know how to describe a cat without the word ‘cat’ or any other word/s.

      But to my cat, my cat is not human. My cat doesn’t even know what ‘human’ means. Or ‘cat.’ She knows sounds, like the wrenching of an opening cupboard where I keep her food, or the rustling of my bag of potato chips, or other things more or less involving food/feed.

  32. MG

      I don’t know how to describe a cat without the word ‘cat’ or any other word/s.

      But to my cat, my cat is not human. My cat doesn’t even know what ‘human’ means. Or ‘cat.’ She knows sounds, like the wrenching of an opening cupboard where I keep her food, or the rustling of my bag of potato chips, or other things more or less involving food/feed.

  33. Blake Butler

      the cat itself is not human but the idea and interaction and open window of a cat is very very human

  34. Blake Butler

      my dog seems more human than a lot of humans i have met

  35. Blake Butler

      the cat itself is not human but the idea and interaction and open window of a cat is very very human

  36. Blake Butler

      my dog seems more human than a lot of humans i have met

  37. +!O0o(o)o0O!+

      Dogs are a human construction. And their humanity is projected on them by humans.

  38. Brad Green

      Perhaps the non-human in literary terms would be that text which contained material with which no human could relate. It could be divine or it could be gibberish, but if it were either of those things, then we’d be able to relate to it as such and therefore the text is again, even in the smallest sense, rendered human.

      So, the non-human text is a text that can’t be understood nor comprehended. It’ll also likely be published at an Internet journal.

  39. +!O0o(o)o0O!+

      Dogs are a human construction. And their humanity is projected on them by humans.

  40. Brad Green

      Perhaps the non-human in literary terms would be that text which contained material with which no human could relate. It could be divine or it could be gibberish, but if it were either of those things, then we’d be able to relate to it as such and therefore the text is again, even in the smallest sense, rendered human.

      So, the non-human text is a text that can’t be understood nor comprehended. It’ll also likely be published at an Internet journal.

  41. Blake Butler

      um, exactly?

  42. Blake Butler

      um, exactly?

  43. Blake Butler

      i relate to gibberish more than i relate to a lot of people i have met on airplanes

      a lot of people speak gibberish

      when i am asleep what comes out of me sounds inhuman. am i not human then?

  44. Blake Butler

      i relate to gibberish more than i relate to a lot of people i have met on airplanes

      a lot of people speak gibberish

      when i am asleep what comes out of me sounds inhuman. am i not human then?

  45. +!O0o(o)o0O!+

      Rolling eyes and closing them and drifting off to ZZZ where such talk of sleep-talking gibberish isn’t such a soporific . . .

  46. +!O0o(o)o0O!+

      Rolling eyes and closing them and drifting off to ZZZ where such talk of sleep-talking gibberish isn’t such a soporific . . .

  47. Blake Butler

      my human construction of you is that you are a goober

  48. Blake Butler

      my human construction of you is that you are a goober

  49. jereme

      everything is human and everything is not human. what is ‘human’? a classification of arbitrary manifestation.

      we all die and then nothing is human and everything is human.

      or is there some definition of ‘human’ i don’t know to base my answer upon?

  50. +!O0o(o)o0O!+

      But your human-created dog doesn’t wonder if someone else influenced someone else to make you not give him a treat . . . that sort of thinking doesn’t exist in animals other than humans.

  51. jereme

      everything is human and everything is not human. what is ‘human’? a classification of arbitrary manifestation.

      we all die and then nothing is human and everything is human.

      or is there some definition of ‘human’ i don’t know to base my answer upon?

  52. +!O0o(o)o0O!+

      But your human-created dog doesn’t wonder if someone else influenced someone else to make you not give him a treat . . . that sort of thinking doesn’t exist in animals other than humans.

  53. Brad Green

      Well, hearing such things come from a person is different than reading gibberish on paper or screen. One can connect to a voice alone. Consider opera. Who the fuck understands that? Yet, even without understanding the voice moves us and we relate.

      It’s much harder to do with random letters typed on a page.

      I suppose with such a text one might relate through visual structure, juxtapositions…etc, but I wonder just how far one has to stretch to make the connection.

      I had typed a sentence about meaning, but backspaced it. Such discussions devolve into matters of faith.

      I’d be interested in hearing more from you on how you relate to “gibberish.” If you relate it wouldn’t be gibberish, I think.

  54. +!O0o(o)o0O!+

      OUCH!

  55. Brad Green

      Well, hearing such things come from a person is different than reading gibberish on paper or screen. One can connect to a voice alone. Consider opera. Who the fuck understands that? Yet, even without understanding the voice moves us and we relate.

      It’s much harder to do with random letters typed on a page.

      I suppose with such a text one might relate through visual structure, juxtapositions…etc, but I wonder just how far one has to stretch to make the connection.

      I had typed a sentence about meaning, but backspaced it. Such discussions devolve into matters of faith.

      I’d be interested in hearing more from you on how you relate to “gibberish.” If you relate it wouldn’t be gibberish, I think.

  56. +!O0o(o)o0O!+

      OUCH!

  57. Blake Butler

      now look at some of the works DFW labeled ‘serious fiction’ and see if you think sometimes gibberish language and objects/actions/modes typically considered ‘inhuman’ are just as human (I’d say more so) than a story about a couple’s troubled relationship, or whatever else ‘humanoids’ are supposedly liking to read about

  58. Blake Butler

      now look at some of the works DFW labeled ‘serious fiction’ and see if you think sometimes gibberish language and objects/actions/modes typically considered ‘inhuman’ are just as human (I’d say more so) than a story about a couple’s troubled relationship, or whatever else ‘humanoids’ are supposedly liking to read about

  59. Ken Baumann

      The upside-down flipping perception is human; we cannot not be human. Everything is human.

  60. Blake Butler

      that jereme is most often sounding like the voice of reason in these forums lately is a sign that we got some bonkos on our hands

      love

  61. Ken Baumann

      The upside-down flipping perception is human; we cannot not be human. Everything is human.

  62. Blake Butler

      that jereme is most often sounding like the voice of reason in these forums lately is a sign that we got some bonkos on our hands

      love

  63. Ken Baumann

      ‘willingly abstain from procreation’

      Animals have been known to abstain while mourning.

  64. Ken Baumann

      ‘willingly abstain from procreation’

      Animals have been known to abstain while mourning.

  65. Ken Baumann

      ‘the ability to wonder what someone is thinking about something us’

      Animals can do that, too.

  66. Ken Baumann

      ‘the ability to wonder what someone is thinking about something us’

      Animals can do that, too.

  67. Brad Green

      I always imagine Jereme wearing a Viking helmet while typing out these things and then wagging his ferocious beard at his screen yelling “Take that!”

  68. Brad Green

      I always imagine Jereme wearing a Viking helmet while typing out these things and then wagging his ferocious beard at his screen yelling “Take that!”

  69. Blake Butler

      in a way i am writing a book about this right now.

      everything is gibberish

  70. Sabra Embury

      The photosynthesis of sunlight hitting a bear’s kale shit on piece of tree.

  71. Blake Butler

      in a way i am writing a book about this right now.

      everything is gibberish

  72. Sabra Embury

      The photosynthesis of sunlight hitting a bear’s kale shit on piece of tree.

  73. +!O0o(o)o0O!+

      Your concern is that your so-called acoustically concerned language etc doesn’t connect with other human people. You tend to condescend to people on this board and in your work in a lot of ways, and that’s cool with you, right? You don’t care about connecting with people, because you aren’t a goober. You dream and write and say that what you write is more valiable than than the stuff written by other human writers who intelligibly write about relationships and engage human readers and try to connect with readers instead of just make them appreciate the writer’s deft ability to combine aural qualities of mostly silently read language.

  74. +!O0o(o)o0O!+

      Your concern is that your so-called acoustically concerned language etc doesn’t connect with other human people. You tend to condescend to people on this board and in your work in a lot of ways, and that’s cool with you, right? You don’t care about connecting with people, because you aren’t a goober. You dream and write and say that what you write is more valiable than than the stuff written by other human writers who intelligibly write about relationships and engage human readers and try to connect with readers instead of just make them appreciate the writer’s deft ability to combine aural qualities of mostly silently read language.

  75. Joseph Young

      most people want writing they read to pertain to them. it’s like a movie set in africa has to have white people in it to be popualr. and most people are human.

  76. jereme

      no shit dude, no shit.

  77. Joseph Young

      most people want writing they read to pertain to them. it’s like a movie set in africa has to have white people in it to be popualr. and most people are human.

  78. jereme

      no shit dude, no shit.

  79. Ken Baumann

      ‘and in your work in a lot of ways’: ???
      No tone: I’m curious about what work from Blake that has condescended to you. Please show examples.

  80. jereme

      sort of. usually i am thinking “wtf?!??” or “lol, wtf?” and then type out a response.

  81. Ken Baumann

      ‘and in your work in a lot of ways’: ???
      No tone: I’m curious about what work from Blake that has condescended to you. Please show examples.

  82. jereme

      sort of. usually i am thinking “wtf?!??” or “lol, wtf?” and then type out a response.

  83. Blake Butler

      aw come on now, surely things i say don’t have to be in defense of my own writing. i don’t think about my own writing. as a reader, i condescend because i care. i also am a goober. it’s why i reflect goober on to you.

      daily you prove to me that donkeys are humans too.

      i eat candy.

  84. Blake Butler

      aw come on now, surely things i say don’t have to be in defense of my own writing. i don’t think about my own writing. as a reader, i condescend because i care. i also am a goober. it’s why i reflect goober on to you.

      daily you prove to me that donkeys are humans too.

      i eat candy.

  85. Brad Green

      Just as easy to proclaim that everything has/is meaning.

      All paths end up at the same place eventually, I think.

      In the end, we choose and through such choosing we castigate and elevate. That is human, so perhaps another possible answer to the question prompting this thread would be that, in literary terms, non-human text would be that which refuses to choose.

  86. Brad Green

      Just as easy to proclaim that everything has/is meaning.

      All paths end up at the same place eventually, I think.

      In the end, we choose and through such choosing we castigate and elevate. That is human, so perhaps another possible answer to the question prompting this thread would be that, in literary terms, non-human text would be that which refuses to choose.

  87. Sabra

      Anything we cannot perceive is not human. Without perspective everything we don’t encounter is invisible. Or something. Is this serious? I can’t tell.

  88. Sabra

      Anything we cannot perceive is not human. Without perspective everything we don’t encounter is invisible. Or something. Is this serious? I can’t tell.

  89. david erlewine

      uh yeah, OUCH indeed. wow.

  90. Ken Baumann

      5.6 The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.
      -Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractacus Logico-Philosophicus

  91. david erlewine

      uh yeah, OUCH indeed. wow.

  92. Ken Baumann

      5.6 The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.
      -Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractacus Logico-Philosophicus

  93. david erlewine

      I like that image.

  94. Blake Butler

      i disagree with this very greatly. the greatest sensation in life for me have been things i could not perceive, or could perceive only in glimpsing, and having no idea

      i would write more but i have to leave the house, dang

  95. david erlewine

      I like that image.

  96. Blake Butler

      i disagree with this very greatly. the greatest sensation in life for me have been things i could not perceive, or could perceive only in glimpsing, and having no idea

      i would write more but i have to leave the house, dang

  97. Ken Baumann

      Refusal to choose is a choice.

  98. Blake Butler

      oh, exclamation zeros man knows i love him

  99. Ken Baumann

      Refusal to choose is a choice.

  100. Blake Butler

      oh, exclamation zeros man knows i love him

  101. Ryan Call

      ‘mostly silently read language.’

      that is what delights/confuses me. that ‘sound’ in my head when i read is like no other sound ever

  102. Ryan Call

      ‘mostly silently read language.’

      that is what delights/confuses me. that ‘sound’ in my head when i read is like no other sound ever

  103. Brad Green

      Indeed.

      So the non-human is that which doesn’t exist. Which, for me, makes the non-human an acceptance from Smokelong or Night Train.

  104. Brad Green

      Indeed.

      So the non-human is that which doesn’t exist. Which, for me, makes the non-human an acceptance from Smokelong or Night Train.

  105. jereme

      i don’t know. i don’t think the question of what is human is important. i think the question is more of a test to see how one perceives their reality.

      i’m usually concerned more with “soul”. What is a soul? What has a soul? What doesn’t have a soul? If i transplant a brain does the soul go with the brain or stay in the body?

      Does soul really matter when there is a graveyard of cosmos above my head, but my most important thought process is wondering, if, after this particular shit, folded or crumpled toilet paper would be the best plan of action? really maximize the wipe.

      it’s all about maximizing the wipe.

  106. jereme

      i don’t know. i don’t think the question of what is human is important. i think the question is more of a test to see how one perceives their reality.

      i’m usually concerned more with “soul”. What is a soul? What has a soul? What doesn’t have a soul? If i transplant a brain does the soul go with the brain or stay in the body?

      Does soul really matter when there is a graveyard of cosmos above my head, but my most important thought process is wondering, if, after this particular shit, folded or crumpled toilet paper would be the best plan of action? really maximize the wipe.

      it’s all about maximizing the wipe.

  107. Ken Baumann

      Do you believe that humans have soul, and if so, then how would you describe ‘soul’? (Other than James Brown)

      Recommended reading: I Am A Strange Loop

  108. Ken Baumann

      Do you believe that humans have soul, and if so, then how would you describe ‘soul’? (Other than James Brown)

      Recommended reading: I Am A Strange Loop

  109. jereme

      yeah i was thinking the same thing. plus what einstein perceives and i perceive are different so which is more human?

  110. jereme

      yeah i was thinking the same thing. plus what einstein perceives and i perceive are different so which is more human?

  111. Ken Baumann

      Lee: Your username in this conversation is apt and funny.
      <3

  112. Ken Baumann

      Lee: Your username in this conversation is apt and funny.
      <3

  113. jereme

      i do not know ken. i honestly do not think i will ever know but it is a question i dwell on often.

      probably every day. almost.

  114. jereme

      i do not know ken. i honestly do not think i will ever know but it is a question i dwell on often.

      probably every day. almost.

  115. Adam Robinson

      Something doesn’t have to be directly ABOUT God to glorify God. Just doing a thing well glorifies God. Likewise, it’s impossible to communicate something that doesn’t make reference to humanity. I agree with that. But it seems disingenuous not to recognize that Big Sur is more “profoundly human” than Lake Woebegone Days.

  116. Adam Robinson

      Something doesn’t have to be directly ABOUT God to glorify God. Just doing a thing well glorifies God. Likewise, it’s impossible to communicate something that doesn’t make reference to humanity. I agree with that. But it seems disingenuous not to recognize that Big Sur is more “profoundly human” than Lake Woebegone Days.

  117. darby

      i don’t think anything is not human, but i do enjoying striving to create something that is not.

  118. darby

      i don’t think anything is not human, but i do enjoying striving to create something that is not.

  119. Adam Robinson

      a movement of the same toward the Other which never returns to the same
      -Emanuel Levinas

  120. Adam Robinson

      a movement of the same toward the Other which never returns to the same
      -Emanuel Levinas

  121. Sabra

      Jereme, I asked Ken a question the other day in message. I’ve decided I really like the question and it stretches my brain in the matter of why we is and what is this all.

      What if death confines us to a purgatory of a lucid dream where heaven and hell is determined by memories of good and bad, and the ability to recognize where you are (–with a heightened sense of awareness to become your own god–determined by a free subconscious–free from hangups and junk) makes it easier organize the new habitat and tap into its potential of rewandering great experiences?

      It’s like eternal recurrence mixed with the question of to be or not to be. If anything though, I’m looking or new ways to create incentive ideas for people to be nice to each other. We will never know enough. There is too much space.

  122. Sabra

      Jereme, I asked Ken a question the other day in message. I’ve decided I really like the question and it stretches my brain in the matter of why we is and what is this all.

      What if death confines us to a purgatory of a lucid dream where heaven and hell is determined by memories of good and bad, and the ability to recognize where you are (–with a heightened sense of awareness to become your own god–determined by a free subconscious–free from hangups and junk) makes it easier organize the new habitat and tap into its potential of rewandering great experiences?

      It’s like eternal recurrence mixed with the question of to be or not to be. If anything though, I’m looking or new ways to create incentive ideas for people to be nice to each other. We will never know enough. There is too much space.

  123. Nathan Tyree

      So sand mutants then? I’m with you, I think

  124. Nathan Tyree

      So sand mutants then? I’m with you, I think

  125. KMH

      Oh shit I knew it was only a matter of time before someone dropped LW into this conversation. If there’s one thing this place is good for it’s non-apposite references to & poorly chosen quotes from Wittgenstein.

  126. KMH

      Oh shit I knew it was only a matter of time before someone dropped LW into this conversation. If there’s one thing this place is good for it’s non-apposite references to & poorly chosen quotes from Wittgenstein.

  127. Sabra

      I like the way you’re very nice.

  128. Sabra

      I like the way you’re very nice.

  129. Adam Robinson

      KMH, my Levinas namecheck doesn’t seem specious to you at all?

  130. Adam Robinson

      KMH, my Levinas namecheck doesn’t seem specious to you at all?

  131. +!O0o(o)o0O!+

      Animals can’t wonder if you’re behaving like a dick to them because you had a tough day at work and there was a lot of traffic on the way home and five years ago your dad stuck his head in the microwave and you’re still a little upset that when you stepped inside the house, moments before you discovered him, your first thought was “something smells delicious!” Only people do that.

  132. +!O0o(o)o0O!+

      Animals can’t wonder if you’re behaving like a dick to them because you had a tough day at work and there was a lot of traffic on the way home and five years ago your dad stuck his head in the microwave and you’re still a little upset that when you stepped inside the house, moments before you discovered him, your first thought was “something smells delicious!” Only people do that.

  133. +!O0o(o)o0O!+

      Eat my candy ass, pretentious ephebe. (Insert black shriveled heart emoticon.)

  134. +!O0o(o)o0O!+

      Eat my candy ass, pretentious ephebe. (Insert black shriveled heart emoticon.)

  135. +!O0o(o)o0O!+

      . . . . it’s a tough love.

  136. +!O0o(o)o0O!+

      . . . . it’s a tough love.

  137. Sabra

      But how can you have sensations for things you can’t see that have nothing to do with you? If you cannot perceive them then they exist without you. Right? They thrive independently aside in nature and wondering. They are not there.

      I brought up the classic bear pooping in woods riddle to say there are things that happen and have been happening without human involvement, and photosynthesis is a force that extends beyond humanity.

      But with all due respect…this is hurting my head.
      I don’t mean to kick dirt either. I just think about these things and felt like it was a good time to talk about it. I’ll go now too.

  138. Sabra

      But how can you have sensations for things you can’t see that have nothing to do with you? If you cannot perceive them then they exist without you. Right? They thrive independently aside in nature and wondering. They are not there.

      I brought up the classic bear pooping in woods riddle to say there are things that happen and have been happening without human involvement, and photosynthesis is a force that extends beyond humanity.

      But with all due respect…this is hurting my head.
      I don’t mean to kick dirt either. I just think about these things and felt like it was a good time to talk about it. I’ll go now too.

  139. jereme

      your entire theory my dear sabra is a construct of your humanity.

  140. jereme

      your entire theory my dear sabra is a construct of your humanity.

  141. jereme

      why so? what makes it more ‘profoundly human’?

      because critics say so?

      Lake Woebegone Days holds the same meaning..

      and we are all temporary gods.

  142. jereme

      why so? what makes it more ‘profoundly human’?

      because critics say so?

      Lake Woebegone Days holds the same meaning..

      and we are all temporary gods.

  143. jereme

      i don’t understand the question.

      you speak of purgatory as concrete and say it is defined by good/bad abstractions.

      how can that be?

      i usually dwell on how i would like to be a brain in fluid, free of everything, free of all physical desire, free of external forces, free to roam my brain and unlock everything until i understand everything.

      the joke being there is no way i could possibly ever understand everything, or anything really, but the ability to fool myself into believing i do.

  144. jereme

      i don’t understand the question.

      you speak of purgatory as concrete and say it is defined by good/bad abstractions.

      how can that be?

      i usually dwell on how i would like to be a brain in fluid, free of everything, free of all physical desire, free of external forces, free to roam my brain and unlock everything until i understand everything.

      the joke being there is no way i could possibly ever understand everything, or anything really, but the ability to fool myself into believing i do.

  145. Ken Baumann

      KMH: Please enlighten me, O Anonymous One, to an apt (easier to type than apposite; then again, I’m not trying to impress) and well chosen quote from LW.

      Are we not talking about the limit/definition of human experience, and language?

  146. Ken Baumann

      Dig it.

  147. Ken Baumann

      KMH: Please enlighten me, O Anonymous One, to an apt (easier to type than apposite; then again, I’m not trying to impress) and well chosen quote from LW.

      Are we not talking about the limit/definition of human experience, and language?

  148. Ken Baumann

      Dig it.

  149. jereme

      the first time i read this i thought the quote was from “emanual lewis”

  150. jereme

      the first time i read this i thought the quote was from “emanual lewis”

  151. Ken Baumann

      God that book is good.

  152. Ken Baumann

      God that book is good.

  153. gena

      everything is human. the things that exist are human. the things that don’t exist are, too, human because non-existence is still a state of being.

  154. gena

      everything is human. the things that exist are human. the things that don’t exist are, too, human because non-existence is still a state of being.

  155. Sabra

      Jereme, what meant by “purgatory” was as “the in between space before choosing which way.” Not the conventional idea of purgatory. It’s still abstract.

  156. Sabra

      Jereme, what meant by “purgatory” was as “the in between space before choosing which way.” Not the conventional idea of purgatory. It’s still abstract.

  157. Roberta

      how could anything not be human to us? we anthropomorphise (i can’t spell it) our hearts out, either in a top-of-the-food-chain kind of hubris, or because it’s necessary to us to be able to order the world in which we live in our terms in order to make sense of it.

      or maybe everything within the world is essentially self-centered. i don’t know. i can only speak from my own sphere of reference in the whole being-a-human-being thing.

      every time we give something new (to us, or not) in the world a name, we probably humanise it, make it ours. maybe it’s an attempted ownership thing. on some level, that probably covers everything within the world with which we either do, or could, conceivably come into contact.

  158. Roberta

      how could anything not be human to us? we anthropomorphise (i can’t spell it) our hearts out, either in a top-of-the-food-chain kind of hubris, or because it’s necessary to us to be able to order the world in which we live in our terms in order to make sense of it.

      or maybe everything within the world is essentially self-centered. i don’t know. i can only speak from my own sphere of reference in the whole being-a-human-being thing.

      every time we give something new (to us, or not) in the world a name, we probably humanise it, make it ours. maybe it’s an attempted ownership thing. on some level, that probably covers everything within the world with which we either do, or could, conceivably come into contact.

  159. jereme

      no a space is concrete. a space is a location. location is concrete and not an abstraction at all.

  160. jereme

      no a space is concrete. a space is a location. location is concrete and not an abstraction at all.

  161. Adam Robinson

      Well maybe I’m wrong, but I think Big Sur is more human because Kerouac falls apart and , because he chronicles everything that leads up to it, we understand why; his pain seems real in a way that jokes about Minnesota fishermen having problems with their chatty wives doesn’t.

  162. Adam Robinson

      Well maybe I’m wrong, but I think Big Sur is more human because Kerouac falls apart and , because he chronicles everything that leads up to it, we understand why; his pain seems real in a way that jokes about Minnesota fishermen having problems with their chatty wives doesn’t.

  163. justin

      ‘humans’

  164. justin

      ‘humans’

  165. Jimmy Chen

      i like how adding an ‘e’ makes human humane and paul auster austere

  166. Jimmy Chen

      i like how adding an ‘e’ makes human humane and paul auster austere

  167. alec niedenthal

      conversation b/w maurice blanchot and emmanuel levinas (documented):

      MB: If there is, among all words, one that is inauthentic, then surely it is the word “authentic.”

      EL: Nice.

      MB: Whoever writes is exiled from writing, which is the country–his own–where he is not a prophet.

      EL: Dude, pass that shit.

      MB: Mortal, immortal: does this reversal have any meaning?

      EL: The Other.

  168. jereme

      woah, (is that the preferred spelling? i forget) who are you to make assumptions that Big Sur is interpreted differently than anything else?

      it applies to you only, which is the point, and why both are human.

  169. alec niedenthal

      conversation b/w maurice blanchot and emmanuel levinas (documented):

      MB: If there is, among all words, one that is inauthentic, then surely it is the word “authentic.”

      EL: Nice.

      MB: Whoever writes is exiled from writing, which is the country–his own–where he is not a prophet.

      EL: Dude, pass that shit.

      MB: Mortal, immortal: does this reversal have any meaning?

      EL: The Other.

  170. jereme

      woah, (is that the preferred spelling? i forget) who are you to make assumptions that Big Sur is interpreted differently than anything else?

      it applies to you only, which is the point, and why both are human.

  171. alec niedenthal

      haha, i did a project on “city of glass” for a class last semester and one observation the professor had was precisely that

  172. alec niedenthal

      haha, i did a project on “city of glass” for a class last semester and one observation the professor had was precisely that

  173. Sabra
  174. Sabra
  175. jereme

      girl you did not just fucking quote wikipedia to try to persuade me to your side?

      anyways, i am having a hard time thinking how a location could not be concrete.

      i’m sorry.

  176. jereme

      girl you did not just fucking quote wikipedia to try to persuade me to your side?

      anyways, i am having a hard time thinking how a location could not be concrete.

      i’m sorry.

  177. Sabra

      Hell, we get it all from somewhere… ;)

  178. Sabra

      Hell, we get it all from somewhere… ;)

  179. Samuel Amato

      If this question is about things ‘resounding’, then isn’t it just about how much one can alienate/try to alienate a reader without them being turned off by the text/unable to read it/something to do with reader relation? Certainly there are varying levels of ‘resound’ for every person based on age/sex/anything you can list, but if the question isn’t about this, then what are you asking?

      About robots…yeah, you may have seen robots. What if I haven’t? What if I don’t know ‘robot’? But you’ve already asked yourself that, so I don’t know what to say.

      I was about to write something about it being anything that falls outside of language, but since humans are able to grasp non-signified (as in, things without a sign) concepts, I suppose that is not a valid statement.

      I guess I’m not really sure. Answering the question means taking into consideration everything you know/understand/feel ‘resounds’ with you, everything that doesn’t, and then everything that everyone else does/doesn’t know, etc.

      This is a good question.

  180. Samuel Amato

      If this question is about things ‘resounding’, then isn’t it just about how much one can alienate/try to alienate a reader without them being turned off by the text/unable to read it/something to do with reader relation? Certainly there are varying levels of ‘resound’ for every person based on age/sex/anything you can list, but if the question isn’t about this, then what are you asking?

      About robots…yeah, you may have seen robots. What if I haven’t? What if I don’t know ‘robot’? But you’ve already asked yourself that, so I don’t know what to say.

      I was about to write something about it being anything that falls outside of language, but since humans are able to grasp non-signified (as in, things without a sign) concepts, I suppose that is not a valid statement.

      I guess I’m not really sure. Answering the question means taking into consideration everything you know/understand/feel ‘resounds’ with you, everything that doesn’t, and then everything that everyone else does/doesn’t know, etc.

      This is a good question.

  181. Ben White

      The soul goes with the transplant, if one could transplant a brain (which is not currently possible and won’t be for the forseeable future). Because everything we see, know, feel, be—everything that we connect with humanity—is in the brain.

      The soul is a construct of highly variable meaning, so much so that it’s difficult to discuss. Suffice to say that what does or does not have a soul probably depends mostly on how charitable you want to be.

  182. Ben White

      The soul goes with the transplant, if one could transplant a brain (which is not currently possible and won’t be for the forseeable future). Because everything we see, know, feel, be—everything that we connect with humanity—is in the brain.

      The soul is a construct of highly variable meaning, so much so that it’s difficult to discuss. Suffice to say that what does or does not have a soul probably depends mostly on how charitable you want to be.

  183. Tim Horvath

      I’m almost certain that the Human League aren’t human.

  184. Tim Horvath

      I’m almost certain that the Human League aren’t human.

  185. Michael Schaub

      If you look up the White Zombie song “More Human Than Human” on Wikipedia, which you should, you will find this sentence:

      “The song was played prominently in the opening “teaser” segment of the critically-acclaimed pilot episode of Chris Carter’s landmark television series Millennium. The song is heard playing (presumably in the background) of a racy strip joint in Seattle where girls are seen dancing provocatively in lingerie.”

      I just thought everybody here should know that.

  186. Michael Schaub

      If you look up the White Zombie song “More Human Than Human” on Wikipedia, which you should, you will find this sentence:

      “The song was played prominently in the opening “teaser” segment of the critically-acclaimed pilot episode of Chris Carter’s landmark television series Millennium. The song is heard playing (presumably in the background) of a racy strip joint in Seattle where girls are seen dancing provocatively in lingerie.”

      I just thought everybody here should know that.

  187. KMH

      I thought the discussion was about what isn’t ‘human,’ not “the limits of human experience and language.” It seems careless and sloppy to just drop a numbered proposition from the Tractatus (a work which–does anyone ever bother to mention this?–the man himself practically disowned) without any context into a discussion that features the memorable assertion “everything is gibberish,” especially since one of the main ideas in the Tractatus is the picture theory of meaning and the (strict!) truth criteria that go with that–ideas that Wittgenstein used to show that there are logically representable true sentences (non-gibberish) and sentences whose pointed-to facts obtain nowhere, ever (gibberish)( and if there is any single thing that’s non-gibberish, then there’s no way everything can be gibberish). Quoting Wittgenstein in the manner that you did seems pretty inappropriate because you’re ignoring the complexities of the whole work in order to pluck out a nice little fortune-cookie-esque line that can be bent to your own uses (I can see how tempting it is though, since those numbered propositions are so authoritative).

      I liked “non-apposite” over “inapt” or “non-apt.” The last two just seem overly clunky. “Apt” is definitely better than “apposite” though.

  188. KMH

      I thought the discussion was about what isn’t ‘human,’ not “the limits of human experience and language.” It seems careless and sloppy to just drop a numbered proposition from the Tractatus (a work which–does anyone ever bother to mention this?–the man himself practically disowned) without any context into a discussion that features the memorable assertion “everything is gibberish,” especially since one of the main ideas in the Tractatus is the picture theory of meaning and the (strict!) truth criteria that go with that–ideas that Wittgenstein used to show that there are logically representable true sentences (non-gibberish) and sentences whose pointed-to facts obtain nowhere, ever (gibberish)( and if there is any single thing that’s non-gibberish, then there’s no way everything can be gibberish). Quoting Wittgenstein in the manner that you did seems pretty inappropriate because you’re ignoring the complexities of the whole work in order to pluck out a nice little fortune-cookie-esque line that can be bent to your own uses (I can see how tempting it is though, since those numbered propositions are so authoritative).

      I liked “non-apposite” over “inapt” or “non-apt.” The last two just seem overly clunky. “Apt” is definitely better than “apposite” though.

  189. Sabra

      I think about Hamlet when he was deliberating whether or not to kill himself. To be or not to be–was about life being a nightmare, but then Hamlet wondered if death was like some nightmare you couldn’t wake up from, like some terrible lucid dream nightmare where you didn’t have any control, and decided he’d take the chance of living life out with all the craziness involved. That’s always messed with me.

  190. Sabra

      I think about Hamlet when he was deliberating whether or not to kill himself. To be or not to be–was about life being a nightmare, but then Hamlet wondered if death was like some nightmare you couldn’t wake up from, like some terrible lucid dream nightmare where you didn’t have any control, and decided he’d take the chance of living life out with all the craziness involved. That’s always messed with me.

  191. jereme

      i dunno ben. you sure talk like you know shit that is unknown. i mean if something hasn’t been done how could you possibly tell me what will or won’t happen?

      i’m just saying. that dude einstein made us rethink some shit and that was what 40-50 years ago?

      i’m just saying.

      why make assumptions?

  192. jereme

      i dunno ben. you sure talk like you know shit that is unknown. i mean if something hasn’t been done how could you possibly tell me what will or won’t happen?

      i’m just saying. that dude einstein made us rethink some shit and that was what 40-50 years ago?

      i’m just saying.

      why make assumptions?

  193. jereme

      the unknown should fuck with your head. that’s the point.

  194. jereme

      the unknown should fuck with your head. that’s the point.

  195. david erlewine

      that little dude could act. made karras look like eucker.

  196. david erlewine

      that little dude could act. made karras look like eucker.

  197. david erlewine

      i got screwed up on the replies. i meant brad green’s line about publishing in an internet journal. my bad.

      but i know from tough love. i saw scared straight as a kid.

  198. david erlewine

      i got screwed up on the replies. i meant brad green’s line about publishing in an internet journal. my bad.

      but i know from tough love. i saw scared straight as a kid.

  199. Brad Green

      Nothing wrong with an Internet journal. It is, however, the most likely place a “non-human” text would show up. Much more cutting-edge or experimental work is published on the Internet, I think. That’s all I meant. It wasn’t meant in a negative way.

      Abjective might be the leading candidate for putting out this sort of text. Darby is always looking to blow the seals out on the envelope.

  200. Brad Green

      Nothing wrong with an Internet journal. It is, however, the most likely place a “non-human” text would show up. Much more cutting-edge or experimental work is published on the Internet, I think. That’s all I meant. It wasn’t meant in a negative way.

      Abjective might be the leading candidate for putting out this sort of text. Darby is always looking to blow the seals out on the envelope.

  201. Brad Green

      Damn, why can’t one reply to a reply? Makes it hard to follow a thread at times.

  202. Brad Green

      Damn, why can’t one reply to a reply? Makes it hard to follow a thread at times.

  203. Ken Baumann

      Thank you for the thoughtful response.

      I inferred that when talking about what is or isn’t human, you have to then define ‘human’, which leads to defining the human experience… we can’t reach a definition by going around experience, we have to act through it.

      Yes, LW disowned it, but I think that it is still a seminal work. It certainly continues to inspire, I’d say even more so than Philosophical Investigations. To paraphrase Clancy Martin: I tend to read philosophy as if it’s fiction/story. And, yeah, the enigma and authority that the rigid analytical construct asserts is provocative. Easy; yes, it can be. But, I do understand Tractatus (or at least: I agree with you on what it addresses; what it defines.) :)

      Aligning with LW’s mental state at the time, Tractatus then begins to address the mystical, the transcendent… And 5.6 is in that section of the book. Blake, Sabra, and Jereme were talking above about constructed metaphysical/pataphysical ideas, and I thought it would be apt to bring the discussion back around to this conceit: We cannot escape language, especially when trying to breach the mystical, and therefore everything remains a construct of language, thus: Blake’s original question cannot be answered, especially in this forum, or any forum!

      The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.

      Thoughts?

  204. Ken Baumann

      Thank you for the thoughtful response.

      I inferred that when talking about what is or isn’t human, you have to then define ‘human’, which leads to defining the human experience… we can’t reach a definition by going around experience, we have to act through it.

      Yes, LW disowned it, but I think that it is still a seminal work. It certainly continues to inspire, I’d say even more so than Philosophical Investigations. To paraphrase Clancy Martin: I tend to read philosophy as if it’s fiction/story. And, yeah, the enigma and authority that the rigid analytical construct asserts is provocative. Easy; yes, it can be. But, I do understand Tractatus (or at least: I agree with you on what it addresses; what it defines.) :)

      Aligning with LW’s mental state at the time, Tractatus then begins to address the mystical, the transcendent… And 5.6 is in that section of the book. Blake, Sabra, and Jereme were talking above about constructed metaphysical/pataphysical ideas, and I thought it would be apt to bring the discussion back around to this conceit: We cannot escape language, especially when trying to breach the mystical, and therefore everything remains a construct of language, thus: Blake’s original question cannot be answered, especially in this forum, or any forum!

      The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.

      Thoughts?

  205. Matthew Simmons

      everything that isn’t human isn’t human.

  206. Matthew Simmons

      everything that isn’t human isn’t human.

  207. Matthew Simmons

      that is to say: ida know.

  208. Matthew Simmons

      that is to say: ida know.

  209. Derek

      wait, Blake, you have a dog?

  210. Derek

      wait, Blake, you have a dog?