[RD] Butlerian Jihad.

[Ajidica]

The core of most European cities is pretty walkable, and even in the suburbs it's a question of distance more than actual possibility. I could walk pretty much anyway I'd ever need to be, and Glasgow isn't exactly a marvel of urban design. (I don't, because I'm lazy. But I could.) I think most older American cities are similar.

Heck, it doesn't have to be older American cities. Minneapolis/St Paul aren't what I would call old cities and so long as you know how to use public transit (bus and two light rail lines) any of the inner-ring suburbs would be "walkable". (I know a fair number of people who either bike or bus to work. Some still use cars because they have to travel to the suburbs for work.) Heck, I live in an outer-suburb and excepting heading into the city to meet up with friends at night* I take bus to work and the grocery store is within walking distance.

*Metro Transit is trying, but their late-night service to the outer suburbs, even to the park-and-ride stations, is pretty dismal.

I never lived in a large city, but from what I saw of them they're basically just highway and parking lot.

I thought you lived in Georgia? I thought MARTA was at least acceptable in park-and-ride mass transit.
Though, perhaps you might want to experience, or at least learn about, other large cities before condemning them all as concrete hellscapes filled with parking lots and highways.

Where does the 'jihad' part come in, that would make someone think of her rather than the obvious reference to Jehanne Butler in Dune?

Still not acknowledging the KJA books, eh Valka?

 

[sophie]

If you live in Texas or Southern California, I guess, but most Western cities achieved their basic geography before private automobile ownership was widespread. They just packed a bunch of suburbs around the outside.

Well, I mean, they also bulldozed significant portions of all American cities to put in fudgtons of highways.

The automobile lobby was and is absurdly powerful.

 

[Bootstoots]

Do you have a community of like-minded people you can participate in? That's sort of the main prerequisite for having this work out for you. Even though electronic communication is a terrible substitute for the real-life thing, and there are likely serious psychological consequences to spending too much time in front of a glowing rectangle, giving them up entirely is likely to make you even more isolated than when you were using them. Are you thinking of joining a kibbutz or something similar?

Some sort of compromise where you still have a dumbphone and a desktop computer that you limit your access to is probably best until and unless you have integrated yourself into a community or routine that lets you separate yourself more fully from electronics.

Funnily enough, I was writing a reply to you this morning but got kicked off midway through by Cold Turkey, when I hit my scheduled 10 AM - 2 PM "get offline and improve yourself" block. I'd highly recommend it for anyone wanting to limit their internet use.

 

[The_J]

2. No computers. I have to give up gaming and the internet entirely. Fortunately, I could never stand ebooks, so I already have a stock of physical books on hand. I'll probably kick out movies as well, except on social occasions.

This will limit your job opportunities to like... nearly nothing. You should overthink that.

Going nuclear on modern technology will probably not help you. No matter hwat you desire, the world around you is evolving, and you need to deal with it.

3. Local transportation. I want to have to walk places. Fortunately, there are plenty of religious communities that were built with Shabbat in mind - for those of you in the West, I don't know of any options beyond the Amish and some frozen polar towns. Maaaybe Barcelona, but I'm skeptical about any major city.

Come to the Netherlands, people cycle everywhere .

Also think sports are incredibly boring.

I'll just say that oyu haven't found the right one yet.
Being a gym bro is very different to playing football is very different to going to group lessons.
If you want to have something more practically useful, maybe try climbing .

Even though I'll have to put it up on the internet, there's no excuse for writing the story on a computer. I need to redevelop my atrophied handwriting and learn how to do research offline, like, in libraries. There are, however, significant drawbacks to handwriting: I have to type out everything once I'm done, have less of an ability to edit and tinker with the story (often I remove whole sections just the see how the story feels without them), and can't back it up as easily.

While I can see why someone would want to do the other points you raise, this here sounds purely like torture. Rejecting a tool which will make your life easier just for the point of rejecting it, without getting any benefits out of it.

 

[Farm Boy]

There is a different flow to composing longhand, it's not necessarily worse.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Still not acknowledging the KJA books, eh Valka?

I asked about "Judith Butler" and why she would be connected to a jihad.

And no, I don't acknowledge the KJA/BH books. The Dune Encyclopedia was published decades before the nuDune stuff, with Frank Herbert's approval; its articles on the Butlerian Jihad cite Jehanne Butler's aborted-right-before-birth baby as the catalyst for the Butlerian Jihad (the decision to abort was made by a diagnostic AI that deemed the baby to be defective, which she wasn't). Therefore, "Serena" is just an unnecessary retcon, and so is her background.

There is a different flow to composing longhand, it's not necessarily worse.

True. During my hospital stay I had a notebook and pen with me and used that to keep writing my story until someone brought my computer. Then I spent several days transcribing written material into my Open Office document where the rest of the story is.

Longhand has advantages of not needing batteries or electricity. But it gets tiring and it's not as easy to make revisions.

 

[Ajidica]

And no, I don't acknowledge the KJA/BH books. The Dune Encyclopedia was published decades before the nuDune stuff, with Frank Herbert's approval; its articles on the Butlerian Jihad cite Jehanne Butler's aborted-right-before-birth baby as the catalyst for the Butlerian Jihad (the decision to abort was made by a diagnostic AI that deemed the baby to be defective, which she wasn't). Therefore, "Serena" is just an unnecessary retcon, and so is her background.

Was the Dune Encyclopedia given the "I agree with everything in here" stamp by Frank Herbert? I was under the impression it got the "Nice job, cool story bro" stamp.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Was the Dune Encyclopedia given the "I agree with everything in here" stamp by Frank Herbert? I was under the impression it got the "Nice job, cool story bro" stamp.

Frank Herbert and Dr. McNelly were friends, and yes, the Encyclopedia had Herbert's approval. He did say that he might contradict parts of it in his future novels.

Note that he did not give carte blanche to his son and Kevin J. Anderson to spit all over the Encyclopedia and his own life's work - which is what they basically did.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

As in: I thought this thread was going to be about Judith Butler

same

Where do you live, though?

I live in Frankfurt.

I meant the idea in general and the link, yeah

 

[Lexicus]

Where does the 'jihad' part come in, that would make someone think of her rather than the obvious reference to Jehanne Butler in Dune?

MW's views on both feminists and Islam are well-known to us. I too was expecting some kind of "THE FEMINISTS ARE PLOTTING TO DESTROY CIVILIZATION, SEE????" thread, but pleased to see I was wrong about that.

 

[Mouthwash]

MW's views on both feminists and Islam are well-known to us.

Not to get off-topic, but I don't recall talking about Islam much on CFC (I happen to think it's a far superior alternative to secular life).

 

[Arakhor]

Moderator Action: This is an RD thread, folks. If you could discuss the thread topic, rather than just the title or its creator, that would be great.

 

[civvver]

Ok but why? You list a bunch of steps towards a solution but never define the problem. Just saying technology conflicts with a healthy productive lifestyle is vague. For example technology makes us much more productive with regards to things like producing food and energy, housing, clothing and clean water, just basics of living.

So what's the problem you are trying to solve with this life style change?

 

[Farm Boy]

Technology itself is a bit vague. But studies have come out again and again and again that regularly unplugging for periods of time/the day/the week from social media and 24/7 news/twitter/always something going on online decreases depression rates. Simply fasting from it one day a week is supposed to pay dividends. Like, somehow, spending all your time either reading about things you have almost no power to change and saying things everyone can judge makes people anxious and neurotic. Or something shocking like that.

 

[civvver]

I don't disagree but mouthwash never said he's doing this to fight depression. Just be healthier and more productive.

 

[Lexicus]

Here are my four main goals:

1. No phone. Since so much of the world now runs on the ability to instantly contact anyone at any time, this may restrict me from holding certain jobs or dating certain people. As a replacement, I would like some form of Whatsapp-style means of contact that (A) cannot be transported easily and therefore stays at home, and (B) cannot do anything beyond that single function. A virtual mailbox, essentially. Is there a way I could have this custom designed?

(I also wonder if it's possible to get a 'normal' phone, or whatever we call those bulky things that came before cell phones, without a landline.)

You absolutely should be able to get a simple cell phone that can only do calls and texts. I did not have a smartphone until fall of 2016, and I found that it actually helped with socializing to some extent because many people found it interesting and endearing that I was not - could not be - in constant contact with them via snapchat and other similar apps. It is something that differentiates you and that's always a good thing if you're looking to start conversations with people etc.

3. Local transportation. I want to have to walk places. Fortunately, there are plenty of religious communities that were built with Shabbat in mind - for those of you in the West, I don't know of any options beyond the Amish and some frozen polar towns. Maaaybe Barcelona, but I'm skeptical about any major city.

I live in DC and I basically either walk or ride my bike everywhere, only taking the metro when weather conditions or distance make the other two totally impractical. If you get a good bicycle and get into decent shape you should have a pretty large range of places you can go.

4. Being forced to exert myself. I don't want to have to deliberately exercise to stay in shape; sustainable exercise is best done through a daily routine that is structured around other goals (e.g. head-carrying in traditional cultures). I have no idea how to make this happen, but I do know that I'm not capable of running aimlessly for an hour every day, for years. Also think sports are incredibly boring.

Dovetails nicely with using a bicycle or walking everywhere you need to go. Eminently doable if you live in a decent-sized city; it's out in the countryside or in the suburbs that you'll have problems with this.

5. Variable temperature. I think that maintaining a constant, comfortable temperature at all times weakens modern people and removes their ability to endure anything else. No real plan for how I'm going to overcome this. I live in the desert, so that may be an advantage.

This one I don't know about; I've heard that exposure to wildly varying temperatures is bad for you, reduces your immune system for example. May also have metabolic effects.

 

[Farm Boy]

I've rhumenated on it, and but for an earmark on a continuum that designates disease, I'm really not seeing much if any difference. Exercise is good for the non-obese too, right? But lifestyle changes are hard.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

You absolutely should be able to get a simple cell phone that can only do calls and texts. I did not have a smartphone until fall of 2016, and I found that it actually helped with socializing to some extent because many people found it interesting and endearing that I was not - could not be - in constant contact with them via snapchat and other similar apps. It is something that differentiates you and that's always a good thing if you're looking to start conversations with people etc.

"Endearing"? People get irritated when they find out that my only phone is a landline that doesn't have an answering machine, and I tell them that email is a more reliable way to reach me.

This one I don't know about; I've heard that exposure to wildly varying temperatures is bad for you, reduces your immune system for example. May also have metabolic effects.

How "wild" a variance are you thinking of? Not that long ago I posted a temperature of 6C (warm for January) and tonight it's expected to get down to -45C. To put this in practical terms, I wore my knitted gloves to bed last night. My apartment is freezing.

 

[Lexicus]

"Endearing"? People get irritated when they find out that my only phone is a landline that doesn't have an answering machine, and I tell them that email is a more reliable way to reach me.

Well that's no surprise: I was talking about having a flip phone, or a "cell phone" rather than a smart phone with a touch screen and all. Like this:

How "wild" a variance are you thinking of? Not that long ago I posted a temperature of 6C (warm for January) and tonight it's expected to get down to -45C. To put this in practical terms, I wore my knitted gloves to bed last night. My apartment is freezing.

I don't know any concrete numbers. I don't even know if there is solid science behind the idea. Doing some Googling it appears that lower temperature=lower immune system function is commonplace, but I can't find anything about temperature swings. However ~50C is a large temperature swing and I would certainly expect that to qualify as a swing that could affect one's immune system if such a thing is possible.

 

[civvver]

I don't have a facebook account. Does that make me fascinating in this day and age?