Lately, I see systems. This is less Sixth Sense and more Little Man Tate, although without the glowing blue lines or floating numerals. Simply put, subjects that previously held no interest for me – politics (particularly political rhetoric), international relations, macroeconomics, business organization – are suddenly fascinating because they share a common platform of complex systems. This revelation ought perhaps to come as little surprise, given the predilection among the geek set for the systematic and ordered. In a post detailing aspects of the nerd psyche (with workarounds!), Rands describes the obsession with systems as a coping mechanism. For example, the nerd “sees the world as a system which, given enough time and effort, is completely knowable. This is a fragile illusion that your nerd has adopted, but it’s a pleasant one that gets your nerd through the day.” This system-centric perspective is also broadly attributed as the cause for abnormal geek socialization, since most social conversation is not directly results-oriented (I once gave up on conversational segues, much to the bewilderment of my interlocutors, before reading S.I. Hayakawa’s Language in Thought and Action). Likewise it could explain the attraction of conspiracy theories, which neatly knit together compelling fact or fact-like statements to make a reassuring whole that explains some otherwise puzzling event.

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With Deathly Hallows out awhile, the Harry Potter omnivore has moved on to movie news, JK Rowling pronouncements, and social commentary. These have trickled in at various times since the final book’s release, not necessarily in this order. (more…)

A recent story about progress towards beginning construction of Ballpark Village next to the new Busch Stadium – now with condos, and the possibility of breaking even! – reminded me of an article by William Gibson. Gibson wrote of the “gone world” in a city as described by a friend, the familiar buildings and areas of New York City that natives knew but were gradually disappearing over the last 20 years as they gave way to new development meant to ‘regood’ the city:

The sewing machine spare-parts quarter, for instance (gone), or the tenement that once housed McGurk’s Suicide Hall (gone). Bits and pieces of SoHo and TriBeCa and Chelsea, all gone. Had I not had so observant a guide, I certainly would have missed them, these glimpses of vanishing things, but my friend had treasured them all, and was pained by their going, and took care to show them to me. It was his conviction that they were invariably replaced by much less interesting things (to put it mildly), and I generally agreed.

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