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calends
@calendsofapril@kolektiva.social  ·  activity timestamp 4 weeks ago

I was raised by an anthropologist to be an anthropologist*, with all that entails.

She also raised me to be christian, I suppose, though never with much enthusiasm. And though she tried, disability and intermittent poverty meant that what science education she was able to provide was spotty.

I never told her I was an atheist. I think it's possible she was one, too.

When I was a young college student in the 1990s, I encountered postmodernism. I flirted with it. It was seductive. A professor I respected warned me to be careful with it. I was.

When I was a young mother in the 1990s and into the new millennium, I scoured every children's book purporting to be about science before I brought it home. Creationism was seeping into the world my children inhabited.

The resurgence of creationism in education in the 2000s—and the resistance to it—became one of the defining cultural battles to play out during my young adulthood.

I thought I understood where the resurgence came from. I had, to my horror, brushed up against reactionary christianity as a teenager. I had seen these people in their own environment. So I thought I could see the bulk of the iceberg under the wedge at the surface.

But what I was able to see didn't quite explain the anti-vaxxers.

That particular branch of anti-science sentiment was as likely to be embraced by "progressive" hippy homesteaders as reactionary christian natalists. Where did the anti-vaxxers come from?

What lead to denial of reality across the political spectra?

I did not know about the science wars in the 1990s. I did not know the role postmodernism played in driving anti-science sentiment on the right. I want to understand.

I'm reading Did the Science Wars Take Place? by William Gillis @rechelon . There are pieces missing in my understanding, and I want to slot them in. I want to understand the whole. Reading this book is part of that.

I'm going to share quotes and thoughts as I make my way through the book. You're welcome to join me. Scroll down in the linked thread. Let's try to work this one out.

Here's the thread: https://kolektiva.social/@calendsofapril/115169983053251178

*I am not an anthropologist. By the standards of the academy, I am not anything. I am an anarchist.

#realism #postmodernism #creationism #anthropology #anarchism #theory#amReading #reflections

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William Gillis 🏴
William Gillis 🏴 boosted
calends
@calendsofapril@kolektiva.social  ·  activity timestamp 4 weeks ago

Look what came today!

Did the Science Wars Take Place, by William Gillis @rechelon

More info: https://mastodon.social/@rechelon/115096303102083094

https://store.c4ss.org/index.php/product/did-the-science-wars-take-place-the-political-ethical-stakes-of-radical-realism-preorder

And I had things to do this afternoon other than reading, we'll see if any of that happens..

#anarchism #book #realism #theory#amReading

Photo of a book being held in the hand of a white person (that's me), in front of a leafy green background.

The book is:

Did the Science Wars Take Place, by William Gillis

The other text on the cover is:

The political and ethical stakes of radical realism
Foreward by Matilde Marcolli

The cover features a black and white photo of the fronts of two buildings abutting one another. One wall is rough with uneven stones and exposed brick. The other wall is smooth and finished, and has a window and a doorway. There's a fern growing in the lower corner in front of the rough wall.

The text on the cover is bold, in bright orange and pink. The effect is modern and stark.
Photo of a book being held in the hand of a white person (that's me), in front of a leafy green background. The book is: Did the Science Wars Take Place, by William Gillis The other text on the cover is: The political and ethical stakes of radical realism Foreward by Matilde Marcolli The cover features a black and white photo of the fronts of two buildings abutting one another. One wall is rough with uneven stones and exposed brick. The other wall is smooth and finished, and has a window and a doorway. There's a fern growing in the lower corner in front of the rough wall. The text on the cover is bold, in bright orange and pink. The effect is modern and stark.
Photo of a book being held in the hand of a white person (that's me), in front of a leafy green background. The book is: Did the Science Wars Take Place, by William Gillis The other text on the cover is: The political and ethical stakes of radical realism Foreward by Matilde Marcolli The cover features a black and white photo of the fronts of two buildings abutting one another. One wall is rough with uneven stones and exposed brick. The other wall is smooth and finished, and has a window and a doorway. There's a fern growing in the lower corner in front of the rough wall. The text on the cover is bold, in bright orange and pink. The effect is modern and stark.
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calends
@calendsofapril@kolektiva.social  ·  activity timestamp 4 weeks ago

Look what came today!

Did the Science Wars Take Place, by William Gillis @rechelon

More info: https://mastodon.social/@rechelon/115096303102083094

https://store.c4ss.org/index.php/product/did-the-science-wars-take-place-the-political-ethical-stakes-of-radical-realism-preorder

And I had things to do this afternoon other than reading, we'll see if any of that happens..

#anarchism #book #realism #theory#amReading

Photo of a book being held in the hand of a white person (that's me), in front of a leafy green background.

The book is:

Did the Science Wars Take Place, by William Gillis

The other text on the cover is:

The political and ethical stakes of radical realism
Foreward by Matilde Marcolli

The cover features a black and white photo of the fronts of two buildings abutting one another. One wall is rough with uneven stones and exposed brick. The other wall is smooth and finished, and has a window and a doorway. There's a fern growing in the lower corner in front of the rough wall.

The text on the cover is bold, in bright orange and pink. The effect is modern and stark.
Photo of a book being held in the hand of a white person (that's me), in front of a leafy green background. The book is: Did the Science Wars Take Place, by William Gillis The other text on the cover is: The political and ethical stakes of radical realism Foreward by Matilde Marcolli The cover features a black and white photo of the fronts of two buildings abutting one another. One wall is rough with uneven stones and exposed brick. The other wall is smooth and finished, and has a window and a doorway. There's a fern growing in the lower corner in front of the rough wall. The text on the cover is bold, in bright orange and pink. The effect is modern and stark.
Photo of a book being held in the hand of a white person (that's me), in front of a leafy green background. The book is: Did the Science Wars Take Place, by William Gillis The other text on the cover is: The political and ethical stakes of radical realism Foreward by Matilde Marcolli The cover features a black and white photo of the fronts of two buildings abutting one another. One wall is rough with uneven stones and exposed brick. The other wall is smooth and finished, and has a window and a doorway. There's a fern growing in the lower corner in front of the rough wall. The text on the cover is bold, in bright orange and pink. The effect is modern and stark.
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Cory Doctorow
Cory Doctorow boosted
EricBono
@EricBono@sfba.social  ·  activity timestamp 4 weeks ago

Fingerspitzengefühl: IP vs process knowledge.

' But here's the thing: while "IP" can be bought and sold by the capital classes, process knowledge is inseparably vested in the minds and muscle-memory of their workers. '

' The exaltation of "IP" over process knowledge is part of the ancient practice of bosses denigrating their workers' contribution to the bottom line. It's key to the myth that workers can be replaced by AI: an AI can consume all the "IP" produced by workers, but it doesn't have their process knowledge. It can't, because process knowledge is embodied and enmeshed, it is relational and physical. It doesn't appear in training data. '

From Cory Doctorow @pluralistic

https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/08/process-knowledge/#dance-monkey-dance

' Fingerspitzengefühl [ˈfɪŋɐˌʃpɪtsənɡəˌfyːl] is a German term, literally meaning "finger tips feeling" and meaning intuitive flair or instinct.** It describes a great situational awareness**... '
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fingerspitzengef%C3%BChl

@dna #Architecture#Design#Techne#Theory

Fingerspitzengefühl (permalink)

This was the plan: America would stop making things and instead make recipes, the "IP" that could be sent to other countries to turn into actual stuff, in distant lands without the pesky environmental and labor rules that forced businesses accept reduced profits because they weren't allowed to maim their workers and poison the land, air and water.
Fingerspitzengefühl (permalink) This was the plan: America would stop making things and instead make recipes, the "IP" that could be sent to other countries to turn into actual stuff, in distant lands without the pesky environmental and labor rules that forced businesses accept reduced profits because they weren't allowed to maim their workers and poison the land, air and water.
Fingerspitzengefühl (permalink) This was the plan: America would stop making things and instead make recipes, the "IP" that could be sent to other countries to turn into actual stuff, in distant lands without the pesky environmental and labor rules that forced businesses accept reduced profits because they weren't allowed to maim their workers and poison the land, air and water.
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EricBono
@EricBono@sfba.social  ·  activity timestamp 4 weeks ago

Fingerspitzengefühl: IP vs process knowledge.

' But here's the thing: while "IP" can be bought and sold by the capital classes, process knowledge is inseparably vested in the minds and muscle-memory of their workers. '

' The exaltation of "IP" over process knowledge is part of the ancient practice of bosses denigrating their workers' contribution to the bottom line. It's key to the myth that workers can be replaced by AI: an AI can consume all the "IP" produced by workers, but it doesn't have their process knowledge. It can't, because process knowledge is embodied and enmeshed, it is relational and physical. It doesn't appear in training data. '

From Cory Doctorow @pluralistic

https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/08/process-knowledge/#dance-monkey-dance

' Fingerspitzengefühl [ˈfɪŋɐˌʃpɪtsənɡəˌfyːl] is a German term, literally meaning "finger tips feeling" and meaning intuitive flair or instinct.** It describes a great situational awareness**... '
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fingerspitzengef%C3%BChl

@dna #Architecture#Design#Techne#Theory

Fingerspitzengefühl (permalink)

This was the plan: America would stop making things and instead make recipes, the "IP" that could be sent to other countries to turn into actual stuff, in distant lands without the pesky environmental and labor rules that forced businesses accept reduced profits because they weren't allowed to maim their workers and poison the land, air and water.
Fingerspitzengefühl (permalink) This was the plan: America would stop making things and instead make recipes, the "IP" that could be sent to other countries to turn into actual stuff, in distant lands without the pesky environmental and labor rules that forced businesses accept reduced profits because they weren't allowed to maim their workers and poison the land, air and water.
Fingerspitzengefühl (permalink) This was the plan: America would stop making things and instead make recipes, the "IP" that could be sent to other countries to turn into actual stuff, in distant lands without the pesky environmental and labor rules that forced businesses accept reduced profits because they weren't allowed to maim their workers and poison the land, air and water.
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Stefano Marinelli
@stefano@mastodon.bsd.cafe  ·  activity timestamp 4 weeks ago

Stefano’s Courier Theorem: The punctuality and promptness of a courier are inversely proportional to how much you actually need your package.

#Theory#Theorem#Fact

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