l'age d'or: a conversation between a woman and a man i.e. "maybe you should become a cultural theorist"

who is weber?

max
you know...

do you have any interest in attending a creepy/fun makeout party on saturday?

sure, whose? and why creepy?

do you have interest in doing cocaine?

sure

really?

I got some in providence, I can bring it

really? you buy cocaine!

are you reading about the protestant ethic yet?

skimming. oh weber. he is so right, so true.

you are having an intellectual love affair

I have been thinking about japanese anime and how it has a curious time/space old rural, yet at the same time, super high tech it's like a sci-fi but w/ a seamless blend of history and nature specifically nature because it seems that american sci-fi narratives take place after nature has been destroyed

star trek, for instance

and I'm interested in looking at what the difference in representation means culturally ideologically and how these images can influence what actually happens in the future
we need more green space
but if we're already seeing it as gone w/ the advancement of technology, then we're bound to lose it for real
don't you think?
so this is of course inspired by landscape architecture teachings. I think it has to do w/ religion. nature is associated w/ more pagan religions and even thinking about the protestant ethic a la weber, it seems that christianity has led us down a road to a blade runner type existence

i agree that christianity has led us down a bad road but the idea of our being doomed by industry is a relatively new idea
post-industrial revolution but actually the bible apparently talks about how when all the trees are gone, the apoclypse is upon us

I know japan kept its doors closed throughout the whole western industrial revolution but then caught up really fast
but the apocolypse is a good thing

i was just reading an interesting thing yesterday how some christians actually welcome environment destruction

cause you return to heaven
yeah totally... I can see that

they actually think it's encouraging that we're depleting our recources

there is no incentive to fix it

but i mean that is a tiny fringe of crazies

but it's interesting...

your theory is intriguing, jizz. i buy it so far. i would like to read the paper

because weber suggests that we can't do anything about capitalism

i feel like there must be some u.s. sci fi that's not post-apocalyptic

and if so, the only thing we can do is believe in god which sort of closes it up full-circle
yeah I don't know too much about sci-fi
there is the fantasy sci-fi, which doesn't deal w/ technology
I am interested in looking at the technology vs. nature reading

you lost me with the believing in god bit

ok, so weber seems to criticize the protestant belief in god's pre-destination but then he basically says now that capitalism has happened, we can't do anything about it. it's all very fatalistic. and the only thing left is to believe in the whole christian belief system that started the whole thing in the first place. and that actually makes everything ok right? with the apocolypse and all?

i don't see why the only thing we have left to believe in is christianity
why can't we believe in capitalism?
the nation-state?
these are things that would seem to undermine god
capitalism in particular

it's a cold thing to believe in... pure rationality
that is irrational

but rationality erodes belief in god

I think what is most appalling about capitalism is that it seems to undermine feelings and I still want to believe in feelings

but the more economically advanced a society becomes, the less religious it is. you could argue that the u.s. is an exception

I wonder how japan's capitalism works. it is socially very different

japanese business culture seems even colder than the u.s.'s

people kill themselves if they get fired
yeah...
1:40 AM
there's lots of 'shame' involved
not so much so in american society

yes, we're not much into shame

you'd think shame was a by product of a religious system though
I wonder where it comes from in japan

well, aren't women much less empowered?
so if a man loses his job, he's letting his whole family down?
i remember reading all those stories about unemployed japanese business men telling their families they were still employed, but going to the library all day to pretend

but the men and women don't have much of a relationship. it's less feeling bad about letting the family down than it is feeling ashamed amongst his peers and community that he is doing poorly

well the american mythology is all about bursts of success -- you might be down one minute, but you can jump right back in with one great idea

if he kills himself, it would be more of a let down, but that's the choice that is acceptable among the group

maybe the japanese are more about the slow build

I guess so

steve jobs drops of out of college, starts a company in his garage -- it makes his story that much better. we tend to celebrate success born out of failure
god, I exotify japan as much as the white man, but it sure is fascinating

ha ha!

1:45 AM
yeah. manifest destiny
it's the whole notion of going out to the boundless west
our sights aren't limited

i am endlessly fascinated by americanness

yeah totally

but I feel so american too

maybe you should become a cultural theorist