
Simone Weil is the patron saint of anomalous persons - chesterfield
https://aeon.co/essays/why-simone-weil-is-the-patron-saint-of-anomalous-persons
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mark_l_watson
I really appreciated this article. I had never heard of Simone Weil but I just
bought “Simone Weil: A Modern Pilgrimage”.

I also question how people can go about their lives ignoring the suffering of
others, buy into the bullshit that is known as ‘political parties’, etc. I am
looking forward to getting to know Simone Weil through Dr. Cole’s book.

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Nasrudith
Yeah I embarrassingly thought this was related to the 'shitty robots' girl at
first but she certainly seems to have very interesting ideas to consider even
if you don't agree with her.

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inflatableDodo
Agree with her on the dangers posed by political parties. Most people don't
seem to have a political position, they have a team.

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Nasrudith
While I wouldn't go as far as her I agree that political parties are
problematic but perhaps also symptomatic of a larger underlying problem with
the political structure - that the process of 'making the right decision' and
the process of 'winning the election' have two separate strategies. I cannot
say for sure if it is solveable or unsolvable and in what contexts or systems.

For instance we know now with game theory that first past the post essentially
guarantees a maximum of two viable political parties and a candidate with a
political party has a substantial advantage against an independent one unless
there are truly unprecedented degrees of bad reputation to the only major
political party.

One small advantage that political parties and representatives in general
address is 'what to do when you don't know' and division of knowledge and
labor. Even in the past when the domain of knowledge was smaller it wasn't
really viable for everyone to know everything. It is essentially the Ian
Stewart paradox on a societal level that “If our brains were simple enough for
us to understand them, we'd be so simple that we couldn't.”

Technocratic concepts had one proposal of limiting votes to experts in domains
but that isn't really viable or a good idea. The fatal flaw is in deciding who
is the expert and the even nastier feedback loop that has on incentives and
truth seeking. Naked absurdities would prevail like miasmists denying germ
theory to hold onto power.

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atoav
I think the true question isn’t whether it is _solvable_ , but if it can be
solved by better means than a two party system (it can, just look in other
nations).

Two party systems are good for _simulating_ democracies because you
effectively prevent newcomers from bringing fresh uncorrupted ideas into the
discourse. The only way of delivering positive change that isn’t for the worse
at the cost of the poor majority in such a system is crisis or very
exceptional circumstances.

We all liked democracy, because it allows us to change regime without
revolution, in a two party system with corrupt actors on both sides this is
essentially impoasible

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shishy
Fantastic article. Thank you for sharing. I'd come across some of her writings
many years ago, but this motivated me to take a more in depth look. Just as I
was looking for something new to read.

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vixen99
The photo used in the article (and in most others about her) is of Simone Weil
when she was thirteen. That's a little unusual except in the case of child
film stars where it's obviously relevant. As suggested, Weil later went out of
her way to dress in such a way as to minimize her physical attractiveness.

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bayareanative
It's too bad she didn't orbit near, in spacetime, to Lord Byron.

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sittingnut
some real content for a change.

