• Bannings


    A sad day at TPF. Another old timer bites the dust, and it feels bad. I respect it, though.
  • Feature requests


    In other words, you have a flip phone.
  • What are you listening to right now?


    Fascinating artist. I used to work at a music venue, and one night she performed a sold out show. Bjork was in the audience. After the show, I was heading downstairs to the office to get my stuff and leave for the night, and the two of them were ever so slowly walking down the stairs having a close, intimate conversation. I had no choice but to tippy toe out of ear shot behind them and try not to be noticed, until they made it to the green room.
  • Any academic philosophers visit this forum?
    I never understood why we need more academic philosophers on an Internet forum. Don’t they have their colleagues to spar with? Us amateur philosophers often aren’t surrounded by that many other philosophically minded people, so sites like this give us an outlet for our thoughts.
  • Is Atheism Significant Only to Theists?
    Nowadays, it's mainly a revolt against the unprecedented range and speed of change in modern culture.Wayfarer

    Have you read The Battle For God: A History of Fundamentalism by Karen Armstrong?
  • Currently Reading


    Fun in a twisted sense, yes.
  • Currently Reading


    Thanks for the info. Do keep us updated if you think of it.

    I'm reading Leech by Hiron Ennes. It's their published debut as of 4 months ago, recommended by my writer brother. It's honestly addictive, although not for the squeamish. The author creates a very distant post-apocalyptic world which feels both realistic and fantastic at the same time. It's interesting to read "current" sci-fi/fantasy, something I never would have done if not for my brother's influence. The writing can get a bit wordy, but overall very engrossing.
  • Currently Reading


    Hmmm, interesting. For some reason your description reminds me of Candide, which I'm not a big fan of.
  • Currently Reading


    This looks fascinating. Recommended? Based on what you know of my taste.
  • Is the music industry now based more on pageantry than raw talent?
    How many of the multiple comments on youtube 1960’s songs saying they wish they were alive in that era, that the music was much better then, come from people younger than 30?Joshs

    How would you or I know? Youtube has been around for over 14 years; it's used by people of all ages.

    It was not the Beatles that were great, it was the era, the environment of frenetic experimentation, that produced greatness.Joshs

    I will acquiesce to this.

    I have 2 nieces in their teens and both of them told me that a lot of their favorite music is from the 1970’s and ‘80’s ( Queen, Fleetwood Mac, Billy Joel. Yech), and they are far from alone in their generation.

    No, something else is going on here beside the rootedness of old-timers to what they grew up with.
    Joshs

    I'm a millennial, but the sense I have is that Gen Z is obsessed with the 90's. Grunge is back, 90's clothes are back. To me that smacks of my assessment of different art forms having arcs that eventually come to an end; specifically, if the 90's are now retro, music truly is on the decline.

    If anything, maybe we're kind of in agreement here; just that my idea of art form arcs doesn't seem to have taken hold with you or others (maybe it's crap, or maybe others haven't seen it yet).
  • Is pornography a problem?


    Apologies BC, I was a bit toasty last night.
  • Is pornography a problem?
    It seems like this model would lead the producers of pornography into absurd sexual territoryBC

    It does; you're clearly just not privity to it.

    My preferred style of pornBC

    Exactly. With all due respect, BC, your opinion is essentially meaningless here.
  • Top Ten Favorite Films


    Wow, I would love to watch that. Do you know anywhere that it's available from?
  • Is pornography a problem?
    What may happen to some pornography users is that they become desensitized to sexual imagesBC

    Isn't this known to be the case scientifically? I'm too tired to pull up references. I'm pretty sure this happens to all porn users, not some. Framing porn use within addiction terms once again, the initial stimulus isn't enough after awhile. The required stimulus needs to be stronger and stronger, which translates to harder and harder core porn. Using addiction language here, it looks like...an addiction.
  • What are you listening to right now?


    In fact I'll raise you one Jan Hammer to one Richard Barbieri:

  • What are you listening to right now?


    Haha, funny to watch him in a more contemporary context. I think of him as a member of the short-lived Mahavishnu Orchestra.
  • Is the music industry now based more on pageantry than raw talent?
    but I'm worried you're going to say Steely Dan... :wink:Tom Storm

    I don't remember exactly, but it was probably something along the lines of Massive Attack or Portishead.
  • Is the music industry now based more on pageantry than raw talent?
    t's also interesting to me that most people's taste in music, film, clothing seems to ossify at a particular point in time.Tom Storm

    YES, that's exactly what I'm trying to illustrate. Myself included, the only difference being that I'm (hopefully) aware of the phenomenon happening to me.

    the 28 year-olds are laughing at the 22 year-old's musical taste, muttering about how music isn't what it used to be.Tom Storm

    Haha, my work experience is similar, but with different ages. I hadn't realized how "weird" my taste in music was until this 24 (?) year old guy got hired and my other co-worker informed me that my musical choices "gave him anxiety".
  • Is pornography a problem?
    Glad to see the forum perspective on porn shifting from positive to negative over the years. I remember getting laughed off the screen for suggesting porn was detrimental years ago.
  • Is the music industry now based more on pageantry than raw talent?
    At the risk of tooting my own horn, I feel that most of y'all are perpetuating and embodying the point I made above:

    I think our perception of originality in music (or whatever art form) is often just a projection unto the external world of our own experience of being exposed to new music. As we age, new music or art seems less original because it doesn't match our past seminal experiences of newness. We tend to chase that first "hit" of a perception-altering musical or artistic experience in the same way an addict chases that first high.Noble Dust

    The mistake made is that one's own perception of a sort of musical "pantheon" is just exactly that; one's own perception. The fallacy is that one's own perception of some pantheon represents some sort of objective reality, which it does not.
  • What are you listening to right now?


    People I respect are Beck fans, but I never wrapped my head around his music. Thanks for this, I like it. Reminds me of Robin Trower.
  • Top Ten Favorite Films
    Mad Max: Fury RoadMoliere

    Ah add this to my list.
  • Top Ten Favorite Films
    I’m not a big film buff but here’s a few:

    Children of Men
    Stalker
    The Lord of the Rings
    Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011)
    Mirror
  • What are you listening to right now?


    Y'all know the story of Miles cover of that song? Supposedly Miles was driving around the Upper East Side and saw David walking down the street. He pulled over and was like "Come check out the version of your tune I recorded, dude". He brought David back to his place, played him the track, and David in no uncertain terms told him how much he hated it. Miles kicked him out.

  • Is the music industry now based more on pageantry than raw talent?


    I think our perception of originality in music (or whatever art form) is often just a projection unto the external world of our own experience of being exposed to new music. As we age, new music or art seems less original because it doesn't match our past seminal experiences of newness. We tend to chase that first "hit" of a perception-altering musical or artistic experience in the same way an addict chases that first high. This leads to this sense of disillusionment that characterizes your commentary, I think.
  • Is the music industry now based more on pageantry than raw talent?
    I learned to use LogicProWayfarer

    I use Logic as well. Quite a powerful program. I've been using it for over 10 years and am still learning it. It's a bit of an endless rabbit hole.
  • Is the music industry now based more on pageantry than raw talent?


    In a way, yes. I made a thread awhile back about the gestation periods of art forms. I'm of the position that music has peaked and is on the decline. Kind of depressing, but I think it's the reality. In terms of talent taking a back seat to someone's looks, or the mass produced nature of modern music, I always have to remind myself that the music industry is an industry; it exists to make money like any other industry.

    Musical artistry can exist independently from the music industry. Musical artists like myself who still have day jobs can still create authentic music and share it with a few people.
  • To what jazz, classical, or folk music are you listening?
    I don't know much earlier Stravinsky, so this is pretty interesting:

  • What are you listening to right now?


    My favorite cathartic angry music is probably Nine Inch Nails.

  • Evidence of Consciousness Surviving the Body
    My attempts at a 180proof-ian idiolect were grossly foiled by my failed attempts at forum formatting. Imagine a lot more bolded and underlined type in my post above.
  • Evidence of Consciousness Surviving the Body


    True, that was an ad hominem, to which I apologize, although I would continue to describe your attacks on Sam's ideas as fundamentalist.

    No nerve was struck, and I'm not a "magical {wishful} thinker", although that's certainly an ad hominem on your part.

    As to your fundie type, Karen Armstrong describes fundamentalists in "The Battle For God" as those who are disenfranchised from a tradition that is being taken away by the modern world. In your case, what's being taken away is the tradition of the strident materialism of the first half of the century, if I'm not mistaken. :wink:
  • Evidence of Consciousness Surviving the Body


    Thanks, subscribed. Your veracity in research certainly seems strong, and the out-of-hand dismissals of fundamentalists like @180 Proof only point to the veracity of the research. Keep on. I personally would like to see specific literature that you're referencing for your research. Peer reviewed studies linked, etc.
  • The Shoutbox should be abolished
    In those days, a strange wanderer named @Agustino fell in with them. And lo, he created mayhem and havoc wherever they might go, until he mysteriously disappeared, having most likely been taken up to heaven without tasting death.
  • The Shoutbox should be abolished
    This morning I had left over fries diced up and re-fried, topped with provolone and ketchup. Unhealthy but tasty.
  • To what jazz, classical, or folk music are you listening?


    My favorite Guthrie Govan video is this in which Hans Zimmer awkwardly watches him solo and doesn't know what to do with his hands:

  • What are you listening to right now?
    Wow, I'm ashamed of how far behind I am on this thread. Some wiki rabbit trail today put me back on to this obscure English early modern composer. There's an austerity that speaks to my present musical mind.



    As to the Coltrane conversation re: @busycuttingcrap @Jamal @Amity @180 Proof, I'm partial to his last years. This track, Welcome, is to me his magnum opus. Devastatingly beautiful and life affirming. A true "tune" in the tune-iest sense.

  • How to hide a category from the main page
    during my introductory philosophy classesHanover

    :chin: