Replying to Avatar Keith D Johnson

Entranced ants. Are humans in a pheromonally induced death spiral?

(3) "A death spiral is a phenomenon that has ants going around in circles. Because they are in a pheromonic trance. So somehow, the army ants dislodge from the rest of the colony and they enter into some unfortunate loop and they just keep on going around in circles. The pheromone that they’re secreting tells them that just keep on walking, just keep on walking. We’re almost there, just the left turn, just another one, just another one, and then they die exhausted in that circle. They literally die. Another name for that death spiral is called ant milling, or ant mills.

I think maybe if you’re sensing what I’m sensing, that we are anthro-milling too. We are are caught up in circles. We’re telling ourselves we’re almost there. We’re about to arrive. Just keep going. You can do it!"
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Keith D Johnson 2y ago

(4) "We need a different story altogether, a different framework. What climate scientists are struggling for, because they know they’re stuck. They’re producing all this knowledge. What they don’t have yet is wisdom. Because wisdom is that which disturbs the continuity of our knowledge-making rituals. Wisdom steps in the way. Wisdom is an impediment. If it doesn’t impede, then it doesn’t sing. It steps in the way and it says, “You will not pass. You will have to lose shape to pass.” Knowledge is: free ride. Wisdom is: stop here. And there’s nothing more prestigious, there’s nothing more luxurious, there’s nothing more advantageous to us gestating in modern cities, than the privilege of being said “no” to."

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Keith D Johnson 2y ago

(5) "As a psychologist, my work was to shrink people, literally, to reduce their problem, so to speak, in a way that made a colleague of mine suggest that psychology is the policeman of capitalism. Because our work is to keep you functioning, to keep you going. And grief gets in the way, you see. Therapy rooms are not designed for grieving. They’re designed for productivity. So it gets in the way. We don’t want you to slow down. We want you to keep going. And that becomes a problem."