https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUvFeyGxaaU Those who have seen (or in my case, binge-watched) the Comedy Central series Key and Peele may be familiar with this clip. A schoolyard bully's reign of harassment has one curious twist: he describes the deepest personal realities behind his every action and statement. The result of this obscene display is a… Continue reading ‘Key and Peele’ and the existence of meta-language
If you look carefully enough, there's a paradox at the heart of our experience. Consider the flash of a walk signal, inviting you to cross an intersection. It seems to happen immediately: an observation which seems obvious enough. The image presents itself to our consciousness in an all-or-nothing, singular moment of experience. … Continue reading Puzzles, prisoners, and discs: how time structures human subjectivity
To call René Descartes a father of Western philosophy is no exaggeration. His contributions to philosophy and mathematics dominate our thought, ranging from his famous declaration 'I think, therefore I am' to his construction of the Cartesian coordinate plane. But what were once considered foundational paradigms are becoming increasingly frustrated by advances in contemporary neuroscience.… Continue reading Critique of Cartesian dualism III: Jacques Lacan’s theory of the subject
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcX0Ve9abHo Anyone familiar with Jake and Amir, one of the most successful web series to emerge from CollegeHumor, will recognize this video as a perfect encapsulation of the eponymous characters' dynamic: Amir as the borderline-psychotic but somehow lovable counterpart to Jake's role as perpetually tormented straight man. But more than eliciting laughs, I claim that… Continue reading ‘Jake and Amir’ and the function of fantasy
Prophemy 