Strange Attractor Roundtable Ep 3: The Philosophy of Cool

5 snips

Jun 11, 2021

Guest

Alex Ebert

Guest

Thomas Hamelryck

Thomas Hamelryck, a bioinformatics lecturer with an interest in René Girard, brings academic and mimetic theory angles. Alex Ebert, multiplatinum songwriter turned philosopher, discusses cool as attentional strategy. They debate attention math, occlusion and status, shamanic sovereignty versus individualism, media eternalization, normcore recuperation and how cool survives or collapses over time.

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INSIGHT

Comedy As Ritualized Scapegoating

A comedian functions as a controlled scapegoat: vulnerability allows audiences to vicariously transgress.
That role converts potential mob violence into sanctioned ritual release and laughter.

INSIGHT

Cool Is Dialectical, Not Fully Calculable

Coolness is dialectical and resists full capture or calculation by algorithms or logos.
Its emergence is surprising and pathical, visible only in hindsight despite systemic patterns.

ADVICE

Don't Try To Be Cool Permanently

Avoid trying to be perpetually cool: prolonging a performance state turns authenticity into fakery.
Change roles and contexts instead of seeking a constant, permanent cool persona.

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After listening to Alex Ebert’s fantastic presentation ‘Dead Cool’ at the Stoa we thought we would invite Alex, who like Alexander Bard, is a pop star turned philosopher for a discussion on ‘The Philosophy of Cool’. What is cool in the age of attentionalism? What is fake cool and what is real cool? How is cool related to Réne Girard’s theories of mimetic desire. Originally part of the Sweeny vs Bard podcast, we thought it exemplified a lively round table and should be part of the Strange Attractor series. After all ‘cool’ is a strange attractor and mysterious enough to merit a serious conversation.

One of the coolest (in the sense of ‘most awesome’) conversations so far. Part 2 coming soon.

Alex Ebert is an erstwhile multiplatinum songwriter and Golden Globe-winning film composer now taking up philosophy in New Orleans. He is currently finishing his first book, Dead Cool, an analysis of sociodynamics and status anxiety in the age of Cool.

Alexander Bard: Alexander Bard is a Swedish author, lecturer, artist, songwriter, music producer, TV personality, philosopher and political activist, and one of the founders of the Syntheist movement along with his co-author Jan Söderqvist. His books include “The Futurica Trilogy”, “Digital Libido” & “Syntheism”.

Thomas Hamelryck is a Lecturer and Researcher at the Bioinformatics Centre at the University of Copenhagen Biocenter. His academic research interests revolve around Machine learning, Bayesian statistics, Protein Structure Prediction, Probabilistic Programming, Deep Learning. He is also an enthusiast of Réne Girard, and denies all rumours that he was once the keyboard player for Depeche Mode.

Andrew Sweeny: Andrew Sweeny is a writer, editor, blogger, Youtuber, published poet, podcaster, musician, and teacher. He has worked as a touring musician and put out several albums, published a book of poetry, and animated two popular podcasts and a philosophical blog on Medium and now on Parallax. He Lectures at Sciences Po, in Paris, France.