socio-history – Stepping Stones

Solitude in Context – Part I: Being and Culture

The first in a series on solitude and solitary activity, this article outlines the personal, interpersonal, and social modes of being before discussing how postmodern culture obscures solitude and attenuates personal being.

*A consideration of* *personal being in the postmodern world.*

Solitude is an integral aspect of human experience, hence its eternal relevance. By intention or by circumstance to either positive or negative effect, people experience periods of aloneness to some extent and degree. More fundamentally, a human being is a separate sentient entity prior to his associations with others, no matter the degree to which he is immersed in a social environment. Thus, solitude is an inherent aspect of life whether one cultivates it personally or suppresses it collectively.

Based on my regular practice of solitary activities (which are to be the topic of subsequent articles), this article establishes solitude as an important yet misrepresented aspect of life. After outlining modes of being I then discuss the sociocultural status of solitude in the postmodern world, specifically, the various ways it has been disassociated from its authentic meaning and demoted from its traditional value.

Transhumanism: Religion in Plain Sight – Part 3

This article features a selection of quotes from the book Homo Deus, each accompanied by my notes, comments, and references to related media.

*Transhumanism: Humanity in ‘Upgrade Mode’*

Part 3 of this article series features my expansion of Ncaps 31-40 for the book Homo Deus (as discussed in the Introduction, which also includes the full list), as a basis for identifying points of significance and referencing a variety of relevant media.

Themes covered in Part 3 include Dialectics of Government, Principles of Revolution, Submission to Authority, Continuity of The Establishment, Emotional Decision-Making, Elite Minority Rule, Conceits of Modernity, Social Instability, Civilized Barbarism, Collectively Believed Fictions, Society as Entrapment, Hindsight via History, Suppression of Awareness, Ideological Bio-Engineering, Prophetic Sci-Fi, Modern Forms of Religion, Rationalized Immorality, Incongruous Speech, Hypocrisy of Civilization.

Transhumanism: Religion in Plain Sight – Introduction

This article features a discussion of the book “Homo Deus”, including an explanation of its use in this article Series; followed by the list of points I made from the book, each of which will be expanded on in the subsequent articles.

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow (2016 Book)

This article series is based upon the book Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, by Yuval Noah Harari (2016), which I read last year. More specifically, it is based on the notes I made whilst reading the book, in which I encapsulated (in list form) the many substantial points raised and discussed by Harari; and so this series is more of a multi-part ‘study’, as I expand on the various significant themes I took note of.

To concisely state the most significant aspects of Harari’s thesis: Humanity is sleepwalking towards Post-Humanism; and to elaborate, this means that Society—above all its citizens—are blindly following the trends of ‘technological progress’, i.e. without truly examining these trends, in order to question, debate, and then make informed decisions in the direction this technological development should be taken for the betterment of Humanity.