June 2008 Archive

The Possibility of Time Travel

I just ran across this interesting article on time travel published by BBC News. The basic idea is that there are essentially two formulas: (a) time travel is not possible (ostensibly because we have never encountered its affects in the present) or (b) time travel is possible, but something is preventing it from changing the present. As the article points out, option (a) seems more intuitive, but option (b) is certainly plausible insofar as Einstein’s general theory of relativity points to a space-time curvature in which time loops back over itself (and, derivatively, that quantum physics does not distinguish between moving back and forward in time).

In attempting to articulate a more cohesive materialist formula for examining history, I thought this passage was particularly interesting, especially in regards to its Hegelian flavor:

It is as if, in some strange way, the present takes account of all the possible routes back into the past and, because your father is certainly alive, none of the routes back can possibly lead to his death.

I think it’s also worth pointing out, at least humorously, that the entire article is postulated around the murder of one’s father, which will no doubt elicit a smirk from psychoanalytically-informed readers.

—Bryan Klausmeyer

Chris Marker on Hitchcock’s Vertigo

Fascinating essay on the meaning of the repeated phrase “power and freedom” in one of Hitchcock’s best films. (Via 3 Quarks Daily.)

—Bryan Klausmeyer

An Important Question

What font do you think in?

Futura, size 48, bright red with a black stroke in a medium weight.

What am I thinking?

This.

—Mark Elliot Cullen

Get Disappointed By Someone New

In honor of Barack Obama’s rejection of campaign finance, support for FISA and, most recently, his denouncing the Supreme Court decision to reject the death penalty for child rape, linking to this bumper sticker by Edge of the American West seems like the only appropriate measure.

(All proceeds go to the Obama campaign.)

—Bryan Klausmeyer

Three New Beck Tracks

Free to stream, no registration or other red tape. Might be a good album…

—Mark Elliot Cullen

The Monstrous Body of Capital

Rough Theory has posted links to and excerpts from Steven Shaviro’s series of reflections on Capital, all of which are worth reading.

—Bryan Klausmeyer

What Is Keeping Oil Prices So High?

The BBC narrows it down to about five major factors.

—Bryan Klausmeyer

The Ambiguous Legacy of ‘68

A new article by Slavoj Zizek in In These Times. For those that have kept up with Zizek’s recent editorials or have read In Defense of Lost Causes, the majority of this is excerpts and summary.

—Bryan Klausmeyer

The Paintings of Fred Einaudi

Amazing.

—Bryan Klausmeyer

Scarcity and Desire

Two related posts on scarcity and desire posted over at Larval Subjects. The discussion on contingency, necessity and scarcity in relation to After Finitude seems like a really interesting topic, as in history I think that people don’t do enough to emphasize not only the contingency of certain historical events, but the way in which their outcome shapes how we reflect on them retroactively. If history is to move beyond the economy of scarcity, and therefore beyond ideology and metaphysics, which attempt to establish the necessity of causality, then it should take up the task of locating what, within history, supersedes it, demonstrates its inherent deadlock / impasse.

—Bryan Klausmeyer

Secret of the ‘Lost’ Tribe That Wasn’t

Wasn’t this the plot of a terrible movie?

—Bryan Klausmeyer

Zizek on Philosophy

A series of three articles written by Zizek on philosophy, examining the relationship between Spinoza-Kant-Hegel, Deleuze-Derrida-Lacan and, lastly, Badiou. I thought this was especially well-put, as its an insight that many come to experience at a University, but never really consider as a problem outside of the way “Philosophy” departments are run:

This theory of the four “conditions” of philosophy allows us to approach in a new way the old problem of the “role” of philosophy. Often, other disciplines take over (at least part of) the “normal” role of philosophy… in US today - in the conditions of the predominance of cognitivism and brain studies in philosophy departments -, most of “Continental Philosophy” takes place in Comparative Literature, Cultural Studies, English, French and German departments… What if, then, there is no “normal role”? What if it is exceptions themselves which retroactively create the illusion of the “norm” they allegedly violate? What if not only, in philosophy, exception is the rule, but also philosophy - the need for the authentic philosophical thought - arises precisely in those moments when (other) parts-constituents of the social edifice cannot play their “proper role”? What if the “proper” space for philosophy ARE these very gaps and interstices opened up by the “pathological” displacements in the social edifice? Along these lines, the first great merit of Badiou is that, for the first time, he systematically deployed the four modes of this reference of philosophy (to science, art, politics, and love).

(Via Naught Thought.)

—Bryan Klausmeyer 2 Comments