I expected a bit more from this one. All I got was a rather shallow overview of things many people already know pretty well.
Byrne is for sure a charismatic bloke, but I feel he’s not very consistent throughout this book.
Also, the reader should be aware that this is not a very ‘scientific’ read. Maybe I wasn’t aware myself , that’s why I didn’t like it that much…
Personally, I would not recommend Kreimer’s book, unless you are curious (as I was) as to the philosophy behind Soma’s founder. In terms of philosophy alone, it is problematic on a number of levels. For instance, Kreimer rejects religion as a foundation for ethics and instead wants to use science as that foundation. However, how can science alone provide such a foundation? Kreimer never establishes that. It is like he read Nietzsche and digested Nietzsche’s critique of religion, but did not see that Nietzsche was also warning us not to simply replace religion with science. Indeed, science becomes the new religion and faces the same problems. At least Kreimer concedes that he is not a professional philosopher.
That’s completely valid. Not much secret sauce and the title is definitely misleading.
I quite enjoyed it, but i could be blinded by my fandom.
The title could possibly be “My Somewhat Layman Fascination with Music as an Anthropological Phenomenon”. Something like that 
The fascination part is the strongest here for sure.
It is a compilation of writings and descriptions of personal points of view about creativity and technological tools, also lots of diagrams and pictures of different artowrks made by Fell. There are also some interesting anecdotes and personal accountings. Some parts are boring theory stutter and others are completely the opposite, very fun an interesting. I like SND and his solo output a lot, not so familiar with the installations though. I met him once when he played in my city Montevideo, nice lad, very kind. The concert was tremendous, huge sound, loved it.
I’m reading Renegade Snares: The Resistance and Resilience of Drum and Bass by Ben Murphy and Carl Loben.
I’m a big drum and bass head and this is nostalgic. It’s an easy read. I need to read a lot of technical documentation for my work, so this is nice and easy on the brain… Just going down memory lane, thinking about artists I used to listen to and their influences. It’s also an interesting cultural story, like almost on an anthropological level.
Thanks for your reply. You misunderstand my comments a bit. I was certainly not suggesting that ethics be founded on religion. There are more options than religion and science when it comes to providing such a foundation. Ethicists (of whom I am one) generally do neither. Kreimer needs to read more literature by professional ethicists. Regarding my sentence about science becoming the new religion, I was not giving my own view, but rather Nietzsche’s. If science is used as the be-all and end-all then it becomes just another faith-based system–that was Nietzsche’s point. And I see Kreimer as trying to push this kind of scientism. But he is not consistent, for sometimes he does point out that, as you say, atoms don’t care whether we murder each or not. So I am just pointing out that he needs to be more careful in general. Also, I never suggested that he and Soma are somehow destroyers of life and culture. That is why I read his book, to see whether or not this was really true! He seems to have the best intentions, but even those with the best of intentions can make serious blunders. I didn’t mention this earlier, but some things he says are a bit worrying. One example is his contemporary version of Plato’s Myth of the Metals. That is, his view that each of us (and each group) has an “optimal position in society.” Plato too had the best of intentions, but such a view has been used to justify some pretty oppressive practices.
this looks cool, ordered! i’ll probably be out of my depth but some of Mark Fell’s essays are entertaining and accessible so i’ll give it my best shot
You can always skip boring stuff, he dwelves too much on the topic of happy accidents in technology, or the idea that ideas come out of machine interaction, not domination. Finds a zillion ways to justify this, I guess trying to contradict the strict academic art scene he grew up in. But there are loads of interesting bits all over the book.
That space trilogy is rare and dope, I think I read one and a half of the them, now they are gone from the library at work… anyway, rare and great!
I deleted my comment because this is probably a better discussion for DM than public discussion.
I would like to clarify that my question is whether Mr. Kraimer aligns with the Other Vlad, who is clearly a destroyer of life and culture. I share your broad concerns, but have yet to see a smoking gun that confirms such alignment. I’m being slightly obtuse here to avoid slandering a good name and brand, I hope you can see what I’m getting at. 
I’ll still be cautious about bringing my Lyra out in public in Chicago. There is a great deal of pain in the world, and I certainly don’t want to contribute to it with my fun hobby.
Everyone’s reading heavy literature and I am over here diving into Simpsons comics. I binge watched 20 something seasons during the pandemic and I just found some comic collections at the library. They feel like original episodes and are hilarious. If anyone here likes the show or liked the earlier seasons of the show, I recommend checking out the comics.
i saw Principal Skinner and Mrs Krabapple in the cupboard making four bar loops and they made a four bar loop and the four bar loop looked at me
He’s a twitter friend and I’ve always had an interest in the public defenders and the law. It’s really fascinating.
If this is your jam, I wonder if you would also be interested in “Carceral Capitalism” by Jackie Wang?
Hahaha is that real?
it is! there are photos of him wearing one at gigs…
You won’t be disappointed with 1Q84
Almost finishing Ulysses. I’m fascinated by the experimental nature of the book: how Joyce keeps reinventing himself throughout the novel - each chapter written in a different style - and challenging us to reconsider how language has evolved and changed us as individuals and society as a whole. The aesthetic vs content overarching dilemma will keep me intrigued for a long time because it could be applied to almost everything.
